501 Must-Be-There Events

There are famous sports meetings and other annual sporting events. Some events feature animals - there are wonderful festivals dedicated to elephants in Thailand, camels in India and Australia, and eagles in Mongolia. Other festivals seem to be plain silly, like the World Bog Snorkelling Championships in Wales, or the World Wife Carrying Championships in Finland, or boating without any water at the Henley-on-Todd Regatta and cockroach racing in Australia. And of course, there is music: from opera in Verona, classical music in Prague to electronic music at KaZantip in Ukraine, from jazz in Monterey to rock at Exit in Serbia or world music in Sarawak and at Mali's Festival in the Desert - whatever your taste in music, someone, somewhere will be celebrating it.

The arts have given rise to a great many annual events - as well as musical celebrations there are festivals of theatre, literature, painting and photography described here too. So from kite festivals in China to beer festivals in Germany, from film to fashion, from bull fighting to camel wrestling, from carving chocolate in Italy to carving ice in Central Asia, from celebrating the victory of good over evil during Galungan in Bali to the Festival of the Dead in Mexico, you can travel the world, meet new people, enjoy unusual festivities in foreign lands, deepen your knowledge of other cultures and religions and have a great time!