Events
The Top 15 Free Events This Summer
Slide Nr 1Summer is the season for adventures in nature, alfresco dining, festivals in the sun, open-air art, music under the stars and fun on the beach. It’s also the season to enjoy all of these things – and more – for free! We’ve selected the best free summer events from all over the Northern Hemisphere, plus two hot “winter” events south of the equator. Find one near you, and enjoy the freedom of summer!
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Events
The Top 15 Free Events This Summer.
Slide Nr 2Fête de la Musique. Global. 21 June. – What started as a day of free street music in Paris has since expanded to a global festival hosted in 800 cities all over the world at last count. Also known as Music Day, the event basically does what it says on the tin – celebrate music – but unlike other festivals, the focus is on filling all manner of public spaces with all different kinds of music. Instead of fixed venues and curated line-ups, bands, buskers and performers take to the streets, parks and squares of participating cities.
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Events
The Top 15 Free Events This Summer.
Slide Nr 3Festa Major. Barcelona, Spain. Throughout Summer. Barcelona is a solid bet for free open-air entertainment almost year-round, but the city really springs into action in the summer months, when saint’s days are celebrated with abandon – and practically every neighbourhood has its own festival. Each of these local parties, referred to as “Festa Major”, has its own traditions. These include the streets within the “Barri” (Catalan for quarter) battling it out for the most elaborate decorations, traditional Catalan competitions, like building human towers, held on squares and fire runs disregarding both common sense and health and safety regulations. [Photo: Ajuntament de Vilanova i la Geltrú/Flickr]
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Events
The Top 15 Free Events This Summer.
Slide Nr 4European Capital of Culture. Valletta, Malta. All Summer. Valletta is Europe’s smallest capital city, but – at least in 2018 – only in physical size. As one of two European Capitals of Culture, it looms large on the continent’s cultural agenda. The entire city is a UNESCO World Heritage site, and there are plenty of free events to explore – from a white night and open-air cinema, to the special floating carnival “Pageant of the Seas” on 7 June marking the city’s 450th anniversary, plus many more aquatic events in the Grand Harbour. [Photo © Tumer Gencturk]
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Events
The Top 15 Free Events This Summer.
Slide Nr 5Pol’and’Rock Festival. Kostrzyn nad Odrą, Poland. 2-4 August. If you were too young to experience the original Woodstock, you could have visited Polish Woodstock right up until 2017. This year, the free festival has been renamed, but the “ideals of peace, friendship and love” remain. Despite the lack of a price tag, the festival regularly boasts big-name headliners. In addition to these performers, the event also hosts prominent politicians, activists and experts on social issues “to educate young people and introduce them to ideas of tolerance and peaceful dialogue” – which is probably more than the original Woodstock ever did. [Photo © Arek Drygas]
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Events
The Top 15 Free Events This Summer.
Slide Nr 6Oper für Alle. Munich, Germany. 8 July & 21 June. Every philharmonic orchestra and opera ensemble worth their salt escape the concert hall at least once a year to share their music with a wider public. Whether it’s by participating in municipal celebrations, by collaborating with pop and rock artists at a festival, or simply by setting up a stage right outside the opera house, it’s an opportunity to shed some of the unjustified veneer of elitism that clings to classical music. In Munich, the annual Oper für Alle (“Opera for All”) turns imposing Max-Joseph-Platz into a classical music festival for the masses, with one live-streamed opera performance and a live concert.
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Events
The Top 15 Free Events This Summer.
Slide Nr 7Fanø Free Folk Festival. Sønderho, Denmark. 20-22 July. If you don’t give a hoot about chart-topping headliners, superstar DJs or even recognising most of the names on the line-up, but instead value an idyllic location, chilled-out atmosphere, a friendly welcome and genuine enthusiasm from festival organisers, performers and attendants, then Fanø Free Folk Festival is the place to be. It takes place on the easily accessible yet quaint Danish island of Fanø, where concerts are staged in venues like galleries, cafés and the quaint church in the main village of Sønderho. The line-up features mainly experimental folk music and – as the name would indicate – it’s entirely free!
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Events
The Top 15 Free Events This Summer.
Slide Nr 8Grachtenfestival. Amsterdam, Netherlands. 9-18 August. It’s always a good idea to plan a trip to Amsterdam around one of the many festivals and celebrations that take place on and around the city’s famous canals (“Grachten” in Dutch). The ten-day Grachtenfestival gives young classical musicians a stage, ranging from floating pontoons and cruise ships, but also in public parks and on private rooftops. The largest event, the Prinsengracht Concert, is free of charge, as are many of the other performances. Exploring the variety of locations offers a unique view of the “most watery city in the world”. [Photo © Jeroen C van Zijp]
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Events
The Top 15 Free Events This Summer.
Slide Nr 9West End LIVE. London, UK. 16-17 June. If a visit to London isn’t complete without a West End show, then West End LIVE in Trafalgar Square is reason enough for a visit. On two days in June, you can enjoy a sampler of what the theatre district has to offer. Free performances come from West End shows like Les Misérables, The Lion King and Kinky Boots. Of course, after you’ve picked your favourite performances, you can still visit the full show, as most of the theatres are just a short walk away. [Photo © Pamela Raith Photography]
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Events
The Top 15 Free Events This Summer.
Slide Nr 10Street Feast. Ireland. 10 June. Food events are a dime a dozen these days. Gourmet markets and street food festivals are great for those discovering their inner gourmand and seeking to refine their palate, but they are usually all about vendors selling and consumers consuming. Ireland-wide Street Feast, on the other hand, is a community-based initiative, encouraging people to socialise with their neighbours around home-cooked or locally catered food. Locals can host an event on their street, in a local park, in their garden or courtyard. Residents and visitors alike can check the site and join a feast nearby. [Millenium Bridge, Dublin. Photo © Allen Kiely]
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The Top 15 Free Events This Summer.
Slide Nr 11Summer Stage. New York City, USA. May – October. One of the most expensive cities in the world? Sure, but New York is also one of the best cities for free events, especially in summer. The Summer Stage music programme brings more than 100 shows to 18 neighbourhood parks across the five boroughs each year. Among this summer’s highlights are Kool & the Gang playing at Flushing Meadows Corona Park in Queens; Broken Social Scene representing the Toronto indie contingent in Central Park; and local hero Talib Kweli performing in Betsy Head Park in Brooklyn. Check the full calendar for more musical freebies, from classical to opera and jazz to pop. [City Parks Foundation’s SummerStage in Central Park, July 2017. Photo © Nick Childers]
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Events
The Top 15 Free Events This Summer.
Slide Nr 12Shakespeare in the Park. New York City, USA. 29 May – 19 August. Better known internationally is The Public Theater’s Shakespeare in the Park. The first festival to perform the Bard’s works under the stars, it has inspired countless similar al fresco performances in other cities. The original is still going strong more than 60 years after its inaugural season; Meryl Streep, Patrick Stewart, Al Pacino, Anne Hathaway and many more stars of stage and screen have graced the open-air stage at the Delacorte Theater. There are several ways of getting the free tickets, but they all amount to a lottery with pretty long odds, so your best chance is still getting in line at the crack of dawn. [Photo © Tammy Shell]
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Events
The Top 15 Free Events This Summer.
Slide Nr 13Smithsonian Folklife Festival. Washington, DC, USA. 27 June – 1 July & 4-8 July. Explore the cultures of the world, all in one place, free of charge at the Smithsonian Folklife Festival. The event brings to life the work of the Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage at the US National Museum, “the world’s largest museum, education and research complex”. Over the course of two long weekends, musicians, artists, performers, craftspeople, workers, cooks, storytellers and others share the skills, impart the knowledge, cook the food and play the music of their home countries – this year with a special focus on the culture and traditions of Armenia and Catalonia.
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Events
The Top 15 Free Events This Summer.
Slide Nr 14Cairns Indigenous Art Fair/Northern Peninsula Area Culture Festival. Australia. 2-13 July. To experience an authentic cultural festival in Australia during the Southern Hemisphere winter, head to the Top End, or the far north of Western Australia and Queensland; the latter offers two easily combined events in July. Start with the Northern Peninsula Area Culture Festival, which celebrates the cultures of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island people. It’s a great opportunity to explore this remote region, often inaccessible during the rainy season, and to find out more about the indigenous cultures in a place where they are still thriving. You’re likely to pass through Cairns on the way back anyway, so plan your return to coincide with the Cairns Indigenous Art Fair for a more contemporary take on traditional arts.
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The Top 15 Free Events This Summer.
Slide Nr 15Marine Day. Japan. 16 July (Third Monday In July). Many free events around the world celebrate the ocean, but only Japan dedicates a public holiday to the sea surrounding its islands, and celebrates it with nationwide events and local celebrations. For many locals, “Umi no Hi” – which translates as Marine Day, Ocean Day or Sea Day – means a trip to the beach. Others mark the occasion with a mud-throwing competition, by visiting an aquarium, watching the fireworks display in the Port of Yokohama, or attending the Lantern Festival in Tokyo’s seaside district Odaiba. [Photo: Manish Prabhune/Flickr]
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