The World’s Best Festivals This Summer
Combine your love of travel with your love of music by following Belle About Town’s guide to the world’s best festivals this summer. From funk and folk in the Bulgarian mountains to Foo Fighters and The Prodigy in Iceland, there’s so much fun to be had, and not a welly in sight! Now just to work out how to pay for it all…
SECRET SOLSTICE, Iceland
16th – 18th June
Fallen in love with Fortitude? Dreaming of dancing under the Northern Lights? Then Secret solstice is the festival for you. Held in Iceland’s capital, Reykjavik, the backdrop to the stage and sounds include lagoon blowouts, midnight sun parties and glacier raves. The festival takes place during the summer solstice, so that’s pretty much three solid days of 24 hour sunlight, so don’t forget your heavy duty shades!
GOVERNORS BALL – New York
2nd – 4th June
Acts including Lorde, Franz Ferdinand, Wu-Tang Clan and Charli XCX, who will all appear at the three-day festival on New York’s Randall Island this summer. The event is also big on food, with many of NYC’s tastiest eateries offering their goods. And if you’ve had your fill of watching the 66+ musical acts on offer, you can have a go at ping pong, minigolf, a Silent Disco and a photo booth. Governers Ball really is a festival that never sleeps.
MEADOWS IN THE MOUNTAINS – Bulgaria
9th – 11th June
Bulgaria’s Meadows In The Mountains is a laid-back hippy haven. Hidden away in the Rhodope mountains, the three-day event is the ultimate for hippy types. With a setting in the middle of nowhere, it makes it easy to tune out everyday stresses and worries – all soundtracked by live soul, funk and folk music by day, and house DJs at night. To get to this unique event you can book an airport shuttle, take a taxi or, less unconventionally, hitch a ride on a horse and cart.
HIDEOUT – Croatia
26th – 30th June
Electronic Hideout Festival is still relatively new to the big festival scene, with 2017 being its seventh year. But just because it hasn’t been running since the Sixties doesn’t mean it should be discounted. There’s over 150 artists and big names like Major Lazer Soundsystem and Stormzy performing, and there are legendary pool and boat parties. It’s held on Zrce Beach, so it is the perfect way of combining a sunny holiday and your love of music all in one.
BEYOND FESTIVAL – Morocco
3rd – 6th March
Sick of sinking into quagmires which suck onto your designer wellies like leeches? Then why not swap the udfest of Glastonbury for the scorching setting of the Sahara? Beyond Festival offers everything you would expect from a northern African experience holiday, including sandboarding, dune climbing, desert glamping, camel convoys and even disco dodgeball. Plus, if you’re a real foodie, you’ll be dining on tasty Moroccan food, with cooling cocktails to wash it down.
LAKEFEST – Hawaii
11th – 14th August
Ok, so it’s not strictly in Hawaii… Lakefest actually takes place in good old Blighty, in the beautiful Herefordshire countryside. But this year’s festival has a Hawaiian Luau theme. The site at Eastnor Castle will be transformed to a Pacific paradise for the weekend, and fancy dress is encouraged. No word yet as to whether headliners The Charlatans or Feeder will be donning grass skirts, guess we’ll just have to wait and see!
