Entertainment

Travelling is more than just visiting a new destination, it’s about getting to the heart of a place. Joining in with local festivals and celebrations on your European trip is one of the easiest, most colourful and enjoyable ways of doing just that. Give yourself the chance to witness long-standing traditions first-hand and participate in local customs – be it throwing tomatoes about on a morning of madness at La Tomatina in Buñol, Spain (an annual August event dating back to the 1940s) or the joyously raucous September celebration of Caribbean culture that is London’s Hackney Carnival. You’ll take away a deeper understanding of local culture as well as lifelong memories.

Social media is your best friend when you’re trying to find entertainment options in a new place, as you can trawl through local online forums, community hubs and events listings to find festivals, concerts or markets taking place during your stay. Concierges and reception staff in hotels usually have their finger on the social pulse of a place too, so should be able to help out with suggestions of currently cool clubs or the best exhibitions on the art scene. And don’t be afraid to ask the people you meet in shops, cafés and bars for their own personal recommendations – they might even invite you along to their next gig.

Yes! You don’t need any knowledge of a local language to attend concerts, watch dance performances or see art masterpieces. Think of the legendary Parisian cabarets at Le Moulin Rouge or Crazy Horse – they’re all about the sparkle, amazing choreography and spectacular acrobatics and you certainly don’t need to understand French to appreciate that. Likewise the emotive operas staged at La Scala in Milan – they’re all about the fantastical costumes, the music, the soaring voices, the experience and not the language. With its ability to communicate ideas across cultures, great art – Picasso’s Guernica for example – also transcends language by tapping into human emotions without the need for words.

Depending on your interests, there are many seasonal events taking place across Europe all year that warrant planning your trip around. The cultural calendar kicks off in spring with Keukenhof Tulip Festival and Venice’s extravagant masked Carnival, while the summer months are filled with crowd-pulling music bonanzas including Glastonbury, Roskilde and Montreux Jazz Festival. It continues with August’s Edinburgh International Festival and Munich’s Oktoberfest, while winter plays host to atmospheric Christmas markets in cities including Prague, Strasbourg, Colmar and Brussels. If your interests are sporting rather than cultural, then you’ll need to plan your stay in Monaco around May’s Grand Prix, or book hotels in London well in advance to watch tennis titans clash at Wimbledon in July.