Ever plan your trip down to the last detail only to find you missed a fabulous festival or event just down the road the day after it happened? Use this handy
search engine from
Travel Cuts, a Canadian student travel agency, to find worldwide celebrations and happenings before you leave home - search by country, theme and/or date. The engine offers the option to search up to two years in advance, but you'll probably only see this year's dates for festivals unless they're annual events and take place at the same time every year - you'll see a disclaimer if it's possible that a particular festival's details may change.
Themes
Without specifying destinations, a random search for special events and festivals in the ten theme categories pulled up some examples of interesting things to see and do in July:
Arts - Karlovy Vary Film Festival, Karlovy Vary, Czech Republic - International and national film screenings - documentaries, short films and features and Czech films, including old flicks. Shares its founding date (1949) with the Cannes festival. Interesting history! - once repressed, now cutting edge!
Bizarre - World Mountain Bike Bog Snorkeling Championships, Waen Rhydd Bog, Llanwrtyd Wells, Wales - yep - riding a mountain bike through a six foot deep, swampy bog with a snorkel.
Classical Music - Romanesque Summer Music Festival, Cologne, Germany - sacred music including Bach and handel classics, contemporary works and world music helf in medieval churches.
Festivals & Heritage - Palio of Siena, Piazza del Campo, Siena, Italy - a day of events centered around a wild bareback horse race established in 1310. Centuries of bribery and death threats attest to the intesity of this competition.
Gay and Lesbian - Vienna Rainbow Parade, Vienna, Austria - 100,000 people kick off Vienna's demonstration of gay pride, Rainbow Celebration, with a parade of 12 floats around the Ringstrasse accompanied by blaring classical and techno music.
Kids and Family -
Fourth of July - Boston, MA, USA - a day of festivities concluding Boston's HarborFest celebrations. 300,000 gather for a Boston pops performance on The Charles River followed by fabulous fireworks.
Lifestyle - Sydney Good Food & Wine Show, Sydney Convention and Exhibition Centre, Sydney, Australia - 300 exhibitors sho off Autralian produce, celebrity chefs and Australia's best restaurants are showcased and, of course, the World of Wine and Beer.
Music & Nightlife - Live 8, Hyde Park, London, England - Sir Elton John, Madonna, Sir Paul McCartney, REM, Coldplay, U2, Dido, Keane, Annie Lennox, Mariah Carey, Muse, Scissor Sisters, Joss Stone, Stereophonics, Sting, Robbie Williams, Velvet Revolver, The Killers, The Cure and show producer Bob Geldof are among the line-up for this recreation of Live Aid. The concert highlights poverty and debt problems in Africa. Rock on!
Science & Knowledge - Astronomy Festival of Mont-Mégantic, Mont-Mégantic Astrolab, Notre-Dame-des-Bois, Canada - lectures, confernces, workshops and, of course, night sky watching. Intended for anyone interested in astronomy!
Sport & Outdoors - Mystic Skate Cup, Mystic Skatepark, Prague, Czech Republic - vert and street skateboarders vie for $30,000 in prize money in this global competition. DJ's, live bands and the legendary Mystic Party.
Details
When you click into an event, you'll be taken to its individual page with details like dates, venue and contact info, location and directions, a weather link, tourist offices and a link to the event's website if one exists. Because Travel Cuts is a full-service student travel agency, a bonus is that any event's home page also contains links to information about the hosting country:
Overview
Introduction
Government
Environment
Society
Economy
Pre-departure
Climate
Communication
Getting There
Getting Around
Culture
Images
Map
The Bottom Line
The search engine is surprisingly comprehensive, considering that it attempts to cover events and festivals worldwide. Play around with it for a bit and you may find yourself changing your travel plans to make sure you hit the Swiss National Yodelling Contest or the Japanese Rice Planting Festival.
"I think that travel comes from some deep urge to see the world, like the urge that brings up a worm in an Irish bog to see the moon when it is full."
--Lord Dunsany
