10 of the best festivals around the world

Despite the diversity of the many countries and cultures around the globe, there is a powerful quality that transcends them all, and that is the love of celebrating an occasion. Whether it be a celebration of life, of death, of music, art or religion, that collective effervescence is something we all understand.

Festivals foster fun and community spirit, bringing people together to commemorate something of powerful significance. They can take the form of carnivals, fiestas, fetes, fairs, galas, jamborees and ceremonies and they become part of our cultural identity.

Well-known festivals can attract thousands of people, from all over the world. Others are intimate and more low-key, enticing those who perhaps want a sentimental experience.

If you’re keen to coincide a festival with your travels, it does take some planning, but it’s a great way to enrich your holiday.

Here’s a helpful list of festivals you can visit on a Saga holiday:

Lantern festival

Where: Vietnam

When: February

Hoi An Lantern Festival in Vietnam celebrates the full moon. It’s a monthly festival that has become a tradition in the ancient Vietnamese town of Hoi An, along with the eating of a local dish called Cao Lau. Revelers celebrate by placing candles inside paper lanterns at nightfall and then floating them down the river. Also known as the Full Moon festival, Hoi An is a wonderful, ethereal celebration of Vietnamese culture.

How: Essential Vietnam and Cambodia

Holi Festival

Where: All over India

When: March

Holi is a traditional Hindu festival which falls on the March full moon. It celebrates the beginning of spring and marks the rekindling of the spirit of life. People all over India celebrate this lively festival by smearing each other with various colours and drenching each other in coloured water. Singing and dancing add to the gaiety of the occasion, along with tasty and traditional Indian food.

How: India’s Golden Triangle and Ranthambore National Park

Las Fallas

Where: Valencia, Spain

When: March

Las Fallas is one of Spain’s biggest festivals and is dedicated to San Jose (Saint Joseph). The celebrations run for just over two weeks during which the whole of Valencia throws itself into serious party mood. There are street parties, marching bands and elaborate parades and processions, the stars of which are the ‘fallas’ themselves, bold, playful sculptures often depicting famous characters or people. Las Fallas ends when all the sculptures are ceremonially burned – a ritual that symbolizes cleansing and renewal. Even for a festival, Las Fallas is a noisy affair with firecrackers going off constantly throughout the days, and fireworks lighting up the skies at night.

How: Hotel Port Denia

Cherry blossoms, Japan

Where: All over Japan

When: last week of March, first two weeks of April

During the last week of March and first two weeks of April, Japan's cherry blossom blooms, turning the landscapes a beautiful shade of pink. Cherry blossom can be seen all over Japan, including cities such as Toyko and Kyoto, but the Japanese Alps are a truly picturesque way to see this natural phenomenon. Our escorted tour Essence of Japan takes you into the mountains to the hill town of Takayama, visiting a traditional sake brewery and open-air folk museum the same day.

How: Essence of Japan

Jazz Heritage Festival

Where: New Orleans, Louisiana, USA

When: April

Regarded as the birthplace of Jazz, New Orleans is the perfect place to enjoy this lively genre of music. You can listen to jazz here at any time of year but in late April New Orleans hosts its annual Jazz Festival, attracting some of the best jazz, blues, R&B and country musicians from all around the world. It’s a celebration of culture as well as one of music, with New Orleans art, heritage and cuisine also high on the must-see, do and try list.

How: Southern Sights and Sounds

Madeira Flower Festival

Where: Funchal, Madeira

When: May

This beautiful Madeira festival takes place in the spring, when the flowers are at their best. Dozens of floats decorated with the island’s most typical flowers parade the streets of Funchal. At the same time, to mark the occasion, Madeiran artists devote their time to building unforgettable floral carpets, strategically exhibited in the streets at different points, whilst competitions are also organised to find the best decorated shop windows.

How: Madeira Flower Festival.

Corpus Christi

Where: La Orotava, Tenerife

When: May or June

Corpus Christi is a Catholic celebration that takes place in May or June (nine weeks after Easter, depending on when it falls). It’s a one-day holiday in honour of the presence of the body of Christ in the holy water and it’s celebrated widely across Spain, with city streets decorated with colourful flowers and plants. In La Orotava, Tenerife, there’s a tradition of making flower carpets and laying them out on the streets around the town hall square. Another carpet, made entirely from different coloured volcanic sand from Teide National Park, covers most of the town square itself. Back in 2007, this amazing creation took the Guinness World Record for the Largest Sand Painting.

How: Hotel Best Semiramis

Anchovy fillets, typical food of Cantabria

Where: Cantabria, Spain

When: September

The Santoña Festival in Spain is a maritime festival held in the region of Cantabria every year. It’s a week of regattas, live music, sports, fireworks and processions featuring humorous floats, the most important being the Sea Procession.

There’s a distinctly nautical theme to all the celebrations, with festivalgoers dressed as sailors, mermaids and creatures from the sea. As is so often the case with festivals, food plays a big part of the occasion. Santona is famous for its seafood and you’ll find everything from grilled sardines to squid, all fresh from the sea. Be sure to try ‘marmitada’ - a tasty tuna stew from the Basque Country - which is served everywhere during the festival.

How: Juan de la Cosa

Food platter, Gastronomy Week

Where: Trentino, Italy

When: First week of October

Italy takes its food very seriously, so a gastronomy festival in Italy has got to be good news. Time your holiday at the Alle Dolomiti in Trentino for Gastronomy Week and you’ll be introduced to the typical cuisine of this region of northern Italy, learn to cook traditional dishes and enjoy an introduction to the art of choosing the best wine to accompany different foods. Look forward to a glass of wine with dinner and take home a souvenir apron, too.

How: Alle Dolomiti

Wine Tasting Week

Where: Trentino, Italy

When: Second week of October

If you liked the sound of a Gastronomy festival in Italy, you’ll love the idea of Wine Tasting Week. Even better, the two are held back-to-back in the first two weeks of October, so you could get a fortnight of festivals in one well-timed holiday at the family-run Alle Dolomiti hotel. In Wine Tasting week, guests can visit a local vineyard to learn more about wine from the Dolomites region, sample a different 'taster' of specially selected wine with dinner each evening presented by a sommelier, and look forward to a special south Tyrolean dinner during their stay.

How: Alle Dolomiti