A weekend at Rotterdam’s quirky contemporary art festival

Rotterdam. Another one of those city underdogs, that aren’t on everyone’s radar but became very dear to me. “Nina, you have to go to Rotterdam, you will love it!” preached Kash and he didn’t need to convince me for long. The dutch harbor town crossed my sight a couple of times already, either on blogs, Instagram or from friend’s stories. […]

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Words and Stories at Gibraltar Literary Festival

You’d be forgiven for thinking that Gibraltar is a strange parallel universe of England – albeit a hotter and more chilled out version. Red telephone boxes sit beside palm trees on the sun-soaked Mediterranean streets; schoolchildren gossip in a unique mix of Spanish and English while clutching newspaper-wrapped packages of fish and chips; and down […]

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The Calgary Stampede: Canada’s Biggest Rodeo

Downtown Calgary looks like any other affluent North American city: grid like organisation, tall buildings, and lots of glass. You need a spark of inside knowledge to find the quirkier parts of town.  Yet even the financial institutions quieten down as the biggest rodeo show in Canada comes to town, attracting over one million visitors.

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Edmonton Street Performers Festival

Edmonton sometimes seems like the Cinderella of Canadian cities, lost between the natural magnificence of Vancouver and the multicultural dazzle of Montreal. Yet beneath its under-the-radar travel persona lives a city just pleading to be discovered. It bursts with innovative cuisine, a green and plentiful cycle network that more than rewards the curious traveller, and […]

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Bloomsday: Bringing Literature To Life In Dublin

Why visit Dublin for Bloomsday? Perhaps it’s the nudge to take another nibble at a must-read literary book. Perhaps it’s the chance to throw on a straw hat and tuck into grilled kidneys. Or perhaps it’s just the chance to join in with a city when it’s in a pleasant mood.

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A Canadian Rodeo: Dust, Sweat, & Plaid Shirts

The bell rings, the gate slams open and we’re off.  Dust, sweat and incredible courage fire out into the stands as horses buck, lassos hurl, bulls charge and grown men fly through the air like projectile rag dolls.

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Got Jazz? Rotterdam Does, and Lots of It

How do you prepare for the world’s largest indoor jazz festival? Well, if you’re Rotterdam, you hold a two week, pre-festival celebration. North Sea Round Town is a collection of concerts, exhibitions, lectures, street performances and jam sessions. In 2015, there were more than 200 events throughout the South Holland city, and 2016 looks to […]

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Launch of the 2nd edition of the Must Love Festivals ebook!

  It was the Spring of 1859. A young man by the name of Samuel Clemens, was guiding his steamboat along the banks of the Mississippi River.  When he anchored his steamboat and came ashore to New Orleans he was assailed by a wondrous vision. The whole city had come alive under the influence of […]

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The Winnipeg Folk Festival: Where Everyone’s Welcome

For a summer music festival where “everyone’s welcome,” make your way to the Winnipeg Folk Festival, which takes place every year in a vast patch of land called the Birds Hill Provincial Park. Bathed in hippy-love sunshine and sprouting corn dogs, elephant ears and beaver tails from fairground vans, it’s a surprisingly mixed crowd and […]

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The magic of New Year in Dublin

Dublin is a city that knows how to celebrate, so you know that one of the biggest nights of the year – New Year’s Eve – is bound to be filled with craic. Not only does Ireland’s capital more than deserve its reputation for good times, hearty stout, and friendly locals bursting with banter, the three-day […]

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Love Wine? Germany’s Under-the-Radar Festival Is For You.

 Every August, locals from the Rheingau region and German travellers everywhere descend on the small town of Rudesheim am Rhein, along the gorgeous River Rhine, to revel in the Rudesheim Wine Festival, dating back 80 years! It’s not as wild or big as the Oktoberfest for beer lovers, but symbolizes the love and passion of […]

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Getting Jiggy at the Galway Film Fleadh

Galway’s international film festival is a “film lover’s festival.” What was born out of a beer tent nearly 30 years ago, now brings industry professionals—actors, directors, producers, etc.— film geeks and the movie-watching public together in an intimate setting. The Galway Film Fleadh, an Oscar qualifying festival, sets itself apart from other major festivals like Sundance […]

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Canada Day: Celebrating What Canadians Love

You can celebrate Canada Day anywhere but there are few better places to do it than in the country’s prettiest western city: Vancouver.  The festival takes place each year on 1st July and is an experience you can easily dip and out of through Vancouver’s straightforward public transport system and compact downtown area.

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Lumiere: Okay, Who Set Fire To Durham Cathedral?

Durham Cathedral is on fire, and everyone’s cheering. Flames licks up the time-blackened battlements, turning the sea of faces around me a lurid footballer’s-wife orange. In its thousand-year history, Durham’s never suffered a serious attack – the closest being the final battle of a failed Scottish invasion of England a few miles and seven centuries away. […]

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Festival Fun at Canada Day, Oldenburg and Montreal Jazz Festival

We asked Kash Bhattacharya from Budgettraveller, the brains behind Must Love Festivals, five of our favourite festival related questions. Our discussion ranges from learning about the motivating force behind the creation of this storytelling project, some of the new bloggers on board the festival bandwagon this year and the festivals Kash has visited this year. […]

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