Each month we try to highlight festivals around the world that may be of interest to you if you are planning to travel to a particular location. The month of June has lots of options. Here’s our list of the top picks for this month.
Bonnaroo, Tennessee- June 12-15
Bonnaroo is a huge music festival that takes place in Tennessee every year. It consists of all kinds of music, but it’s based largely on its folk music roots. This festivals is very popular and has a lot of big named stars playing at it including Kanye West, Elton John and Lionel Richie. General admission tickets are $285.50 and include all four days of the festival.
Meadows in the Mountains, Bulgaria- June 13-15
This festival is romantic, wild and just a lot of fun. The main theme of it is music, but is enjoyable even for the literature and art lover. Its setting is the Rhodopian Mountain which borders Greece. One of the aims of this festival is to spread awareness about reducing our carbon footprint and to promote sustainability and earth friendly practices. One of the best things about this festival is that all the food and drink prices are very affordable, even taking into account exchange rates. Standard tickets to this event are around $170.
Echo Festival, Croatia- June 18-24
If you love electronic music then the Echo Festival is the perfect festival for you to go to. The event will feature artists that are up and coming in the industry. Most of them are from the U.K. The festival has a beach set-up which is perfect for the hot weather that is often experienced in Croatia during this time of year. Tickets cost about $115.
Stonehenge, England Summer Solstice – June 20-21
Celebrating the longest day of the year at an ancient, prehistoric site. More than 20,000 witnessed the Summer Solstice sun rise in 2013. You are sure to see several white-robed druids who want to watch the sun rise above the Heel (aka Sun) Stone. Sunset on Friday the 20th will be at 9:26 p.m. and sunrise on Saturday the 21st will be at 4:52 a.m. Admission is $19. Parking is quite difficult. You may want to drive to the town of Amesbury and take a bus from there. You can also get there by train from London, Bristol, Bath and Southhampton. You cannot take chairs or play loud music. There will be entertainment. You are permitted to have sheets or blankets to sit on. There are areas to camp nearby.
Festival of the Sun, Cusco Peru – June 24
Known as Inti Raymi, the festival of the sun has been done since the 1500’s in honor of the god Inti. At the height of the Incan Empire, the ceremony involved the king, a sacrifice so they would have a good crop season in the coming year and music, worship and dancing to pay homage to the sun god. It is the 2nd largest festival in South America for the week long celebration, lasting for a total of 9 days. The celebrations include colorful costumes, music, lavish banquets and historical recreations. June 24th is a day long event where they reenact the rituals of Inti Raymi in front of the Santo Dominigo Church, which was built over the original temple of the sun in Koricancha Square.
There is another large event taking place in Brazil this month, the FIFA World Cup Soccer Carnival. It’s so big in fact that we are going to be dedicating a whole blog post about it. Be on the lookout for it in the next couple of days.
