India’s Holi in all its vibrancy or Brazil’s Carnival in all its electric glory, the world houses the most incredible gatherings of people every year. These are the kind of occasions that define culture, religion, music and community — not to mention unforgettable experiences and a rich connection to local traditions. So, where are the world’s largest festivals held, exactly? Let’s take a global tour.
1. Carnival – Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
As one of the most well-known festivals on the planet, Rio de Janeiro Carnival is an exhilarating explosion of samba music, flamboyant costumes and jaw-dropping parades. This celebration, which occurs every year before Lent, brings 2 million people a day onto the streets of Rio.
2. Oktoberfest – Munich, Germany
Munich is the place to be every autumn when beer lovers from around the world decend on the city to attend the world’s largest beer festival, Oktoberfest. This 2+ week, alcohol focused festival is complete with traditional Bavarian music, food, and over 6 million people and becomes a tribute to Germany’s great brewing history.
3. Holi – India and Nepal
Holi—also called the Festival of Colors—is celebrated with great enthusiasm in India and Nepal and among Indian communities around the world. Revelers hurl colored powders, dance and feast on sweets in a celebration of the victory of good over evil and the onset of spring.
4. Glastonbury Festival – Somerset, England
Glastonbury is one of the biggest global music events, featuring leading international musicians and more than 200,000 visitors. On a sprawling English countryside farm, it’s more than just music — it’s a culture experience featuring art installations, workshops, performance spaces and drag performances, among other activities.
5. Burning Man – Nevada, USA
Burning Man is a one-of-a-kind, week-long experiment in art, self-expression, and community, held in the Black Rock Desert. Each year, nearly 80,000 people build a temporary city here, celebrating radical creativity before stripping everything away and leaving no trace.
6. La Tomatina – Buñol, Spain
La Tomatina If you have ever wanted to participate in the world’s largest food fight, this is the festival for you. Held in the small Spanish town of Buñol, some 20,000 people converge for this tomato-pelting fest, literally getting in on the action.
7. Diwali – India
Not strictly a one location event but Diwali, the Hindu Festival of Lights is celebrated in a big way all over India and in lots of other places too. Cities sparkle with lanterns, fireworks and candles to represent the triumph of light over darkness.
8. Chinese New Year – China and Global
The Lunar New Year, which began on Saturday, was celebrated all over China and in Chinatowns around the world as the start of the Chinese lunar calendar. It is one of the biggest annual human migrations, as millions of people move from one place to another to be with their families, and is celebrated with fireworks, dragon dances, red envelopes and traditional meals.
And these festivals are more than crowd sizes, they are an expression of cultural lineage, art scene and human harmony. Whether you’re dancing in the streets of Rio or throwing colored powder in Delhi, celebrating at one of the globe-trotting world’s biggest festivals is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that brings people together from every corner of the world.
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