If you prefer sun, sea and Sangria to wellies and lager, look no further. Here’s our pick of the best music festivals in Europe this summer
What’s better than watching your favourite band perform outside to a crowd of adoring fans ready to let loose after two years of minimal social contact? Watching your favourite band perform outside in a hot country just yards from the beach, of course.
While UK festivals start kicking off around May, those wanting to go abroad for their music fun fix will have to wait until June – but that leaves more time for planning and packing for your trip.
From indie legends like The Strokes and Pavement to rap titan A$AP Rocky and pop’s darling Dua Lipa, you’ll find plenty of options on the continent for summer 2022. With Covid rules on the bloc having been relaxed and travel restrictions scrapped, there’s no better time to replace your disposable rain-mac with sun cream and book those flights.
Here is our guide to the very best festivals taking place throughout the rest of the year (although events could still be subject to change).
Located in the majestic Bois de Vincennes (Wood of Vincennes) only a short metro ride from central Paris, We Love Green is a sort-of Utopia for eco-warriors: as well as music (Gorillaz, Massive Attack, Phoenix and Koffee), the festival is designed to act as a ‘laboratory’ that informs us about sustainability and the future of the planet. Tickets are available here.
If Glastonbury is the world’s biggest music festival, surely Primavera Sound is the hippest. Revered by celebrities, effortless music-fans and industry figures alike, this year’s lineup packs massive punches with the likes of The Strokes, Pavement, Beck, The National, Gorillaz, Tyler, the Creator and Dua Lipa all featuring over two weekends in sunny Barcelona. Tickets are sold out.
Promising to be one of the most sustainable festivals on the summer calendar, Rosendal Garden Party will take place just a short stroll from Stockholm city centre. Packed with eco-friendly food and drink, art and music – from The Strokes and Florence + the Machine to Sharon Van Etten and The National – this is one not to be missed. Tickets are available here.
Thanks to its position as a city slightly more off-the-beaten track of tourists than its Scandinavian neighbours, Oslo remains one of Europe’s coolest weekend breaks. If you’re ready to explore for the first time (perhaps also influenced by The Worst Person in the World), check out Loaded, a bustling festival at the city’s heart that will see indie icons like The National, Wilco and The Dandy Warhols take to the stage. You can get tickets here.
Copenhagen’s historic Royal park, Søndermarken, will play host to the first edition of the festival, packed with sets from Liam Gallagher, Foals, Wet Leg and First Aid Kit, that will offer a cultural oasis at the heart of the bustling, eternally-cool Scandi city. Tickets are available here.
Italy’s brand new festival boasts a fantastic lineup that’s sure to entice music-lovers to the country’s idyllic coast: catch the likes of The National (who said "any chance to visit Tuscany is hard to resist" – we agree), Jamie xx, Bonobo, Easy Life and Duran Duran. You can get tickets here.
Fancy grooving to Diana Ross while looking out over the sparkling waters of Lake Geneva? Then Montreux Jazz Festival, the second largest jazz festival in the world, is the perfect event for you. With a wonderfully eclectic lineup featuring everyone from Stormzy and Maneskin to Herbie Hancock and Van Morrison, there is something for everyone, alongside DJ sets that go onto the early hours, as well as pool parties and workshops throughout the day. Tickets are available here.
Promising a combined programme of ‘music, art, activism, camps and freedom’, Roskilde – often called the Dane’s answer to Glastonbury – is a gem of the cultural world, its mission feeling even more fitting post-Covid. Catch sets from Dua Lipa, Tyler, the Creator, Haim and Fontaines D.C. in beautiful green surroundings. Weekend tickets are sold out, but some day tickets are available here.
Spend your mornings exploring the beaches of the Baltic Sea coast (and the wonderfully affordable bars and restaurants) and your evenings watching the world’s biggest artists; Open’er has plenty of both. From US sensation Doja Cat to The Chemical Brothers and Little Simz, this is one worth checking out. Tickets are available here.
The Portuguese version of Rolling Loud (the festival has a twin event in Miami, Florida) will see the beachfront city of Portimão play host to some of hip-hop’s biggest stars, including A$AP Rocky, J. Cole and Future, as well as British grime pioneers Skepta and AJ Tracey. Tickets are available here.
With flights from Stansted to Lisbon currently costing less than £50, it seems rude not to book a ticket for one of Portugal’s best festivals: do so and you can enjoy sets from Metallica, Imagine Dragons, alt-J and Phoebe Bridgers before sampling everything the capital has to offer when you return to your accommodation from the festival site. Tickets are available here.
Never has a festival been so perfectly catered to the tastes of guitar-purist fathers: with sets from Metallica, Queens of the Stone Age, Muse and Placebo, Mad Cool guarantees a good time complete with sweaty moshing crowds under the Spanish sun. Full weekend tickets are sold out.
Filled with some of Europe’s most interesting architecture and cultural venues, Bilbao is a hidden gem that often gets neglected in the face of more popular Spanish cities. But let this year’s festival be your reason to travel, as huge artists like LCD Soundsystem, The Killers, Pet Shop Boys, Bicep and Supergrass take to the stage against a backdrop of luscious, rolling green hills. Tickets are available here.
The jewel in Eastern Europe’s musical crowd returns for its 22nd year, complete with a stellar lineup that ranges from classic rock with Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds to electronic, thanks to Calvin Harris and German DJ Boris Brejcha. One of the few European events to offer on-site camping, you can get a group of friends together to pitch a tent and feel like you’re back home in the UK… just without the damp sleeping bag. Tickets are available here.
A rite of passage for any lover of electronic music, Tomorrowland is more of a trippy Disneyland than a standard music festival. Taking place for the first time since the pandemic, superstar DJs like Diplo, Eric Prydz and Armin van Buuren will all flock to the gloriously onomatopoeic-named city of Boom, Belgium over two weekends in July. Tickets are available here.
Thanks to consistently top-rate lineups and a stunning location – the festival site is a short walk across a colourful bridge from Budapest’s mainland to an island surrounded by the Danube – Sziget has become a must for any fun-loving music lover. This year, you can see Arctic Monkeys, Justin Bieber, Dua Lipa, Kings of Leon and Calvin Harris; if you missed out on tickets to Reading and Leeds, this might be your best way of catching Alex Turner and co. this summer. Tickets are available here.
From the creators of fellow Spanish festival Bilbao BBK comes Cala Mijas, complete with a bumper-packed lineup sure to be the perfect (and still hot) end to your summer. Catch sets from Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, Arctic Monkeys, James Blake, Liam Gallagher and Bonobo. You can get tickets here.
Nestled in Bela Vista Park, one of Lisbon’s largest and greenest urban parks, Meo Kalorama packs a heady line-up punch for its first edition this year. Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, Arctic Monkeys, The Chemical Brothers, Kraftwerk, Bonobo and James Blake will all perform. Tickets are available here.
Always a highlight of the European festival season, some of the world’s biggest DJs will descend on The Garden Resort in Tisno, Croatia for its 10th anniversary addition in September. Catch sets from Helena Hauff, Aletha, Pariah, Paula Tape, Moonear and more in a location that feels like paradise. Tickets are available here.
This article is kept updated with the latest information.
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