Before planning a trip around a festival, verify the festival dates on the festival's website or with a local tourist information office. For more information about these and other events, visit the official tourism site for Germany.
With more than 10,000 German festivals, including some of the world’s biggest and strangest, Germany is certainly a place sagacious souls can appreciate. From the raucous parties of Karneval and German music festivals to the acclaimed Berlinale film festival or the famous German Christmas markets, there are German celebrations for all tastes and ages.
Some of the traditional festivals in Germany include Bayreuth’s Richard Wagner music festival, Munich’s restrained commemoration of beer, Oktoberfest, the world’s largest trade fair for books in Frankfurt and the Munich Opera Festival.
Since the mid-1980s, however, there has been a rapid expansion of new, more niche-market festivals in Germany. Night owls and museum geeks can revel together during Berlin’s Long Night of the Museums, an evening when the city’s museums and cultural institutions stay open into early hours. Fans of avant-garde film can fill their heads with new, esoteric anecdotes at Videonale, Bonn’s German festival for art and experimental videos. Even secret Dungeons and Dragons lovers can find a home at Bavaria’s medieval re-enactment festival Festival-Medieval. This is also alongside a world-class range of German music festivals, some receiving thousands of international visitors.
June 2–July 2: Mozartfest, Würzburg
June 9–11: Luther's Wedding festival, Wittenberg
June 9–18: Bach Festival, Leipzig
June 15: Corpus Christi (Fronleichnam, closures in southern and western Germany)
June 16–18: Stadtteilfest Bunte Republik Neustadt, Dresden (huge counter-cultural block party celebrating the Outer New Town's tongue-in-cheek status as an independent republic)
June 21–July 16: Tollwood Summer Festival, Munich (concert series, art, street theater)
June 23–25: Elbhangfest, Dresden
June 23–25: Oberlindenhock, Freiburg (street food, live music)
July 6–11: Freiburg Wine Festival (local wines, live music)
July 7–23: Kiliani Volksfest, Würzburg (county fair–type folk festival)
July 14–23: Kinderzeche, Dinkelsbühl (traditional dancing, parades)
July 15: Kölner Lichter, Cologne (fireworks and music)
July 20–24: Classic Open Air, Berlin (music on Gendarmenmarkt)
July 22–August 7: Sommerwerft, Frankfurt (theatre and arts festival)
July 23: Klassik Open Air, Nürnberg (series of free classical concerts and firewords in Luitpoldhain park)
July 27–31: Schlossbergfest, Freiburg (music festival on Schlossberg hill)
July 28–30: Bardentreffen Nürnberg (world music festival)
August 4–6: International Beer Festival, Berlin
August 5: Klassik Open Air, Nürnberg (series of free classical concerts and firewords in Luitpoldhain park)
August 15: Assumption (Mariä Himmelfahrt, closures in Bavaria and Saarland)
August 16–20: Weindorf wine festival, Rothenburg ob der Tauber
August 24–28: Wine festival, Cochem
August 25–27: Museumsuferfest, Frankfurt (music, food, culture)
August 25–September 10: Fall Folk Festival, Nürnberg (rides and costumes in Luitpoldhain park)
August 30–September 8: Rheingau Wine Festival, Frankfurt
September 1–3: Reichsstadt Festival, Rothenburg ob der Tauber (fireworks)
September 1–November 5: Ludwigsburg (Baden-Württemberg) Pumpkin Festival
September 6–16: International Literature Festival Berlin
September 16: Rhine in Flames festival, St. Goar (fireworks; nearby towns on the Rhine host the Rhine in Flames earlier in the year; check online for dates)
September 16–October 3: Oktoberfest, Munich (a.k.a. Wies'n)
September 22–October 8: Cannstatter Volksfest (Oktoberfest in Stuttgart)
September 22–October 15: Berliner Oktoberfest
October 3: German Unity Day (Tag der Deutschen Einheit; closures)
October 5–14: Filmfest Hamburg
October 6–15: Berlin Leutchtet (festival of lights)
October 11–15: Frankfurter Buchmesse (huge book fair and publishers' convention)
October 20–November 5 (likely): Halloween in Frankenstein Castle (near Darmstadt)
October 31: Reformation Day celebration, Wittenberg (closures in some Protestant areas); 2017 marks the 500th anniversary
October 31–November 5: Jazzfest Berlin
November 1: All Saints' Day (Allerheiligen, closures in southern and western Germany)
November 6: Leonhardifahrt, Bad Tölz (traditional Bavarian religious procession in spa town south of Munich)
November 11: St. Martin's Day (Martinstag) and official start to Karneval season (colorful costumes and revelry in Cologne)
November 16–January 1 (likely): Christmas Garden Berlin (light show in Berlin Botanical Gardens)
November 22–December 31 (likely): Tollwood Winter Festival, Munich (music, circus, and cultural events performed on Oktoberfest fairgrounds)
December: Christmas markets throughout Germany, particularly in Nürnberg, Munich, Rothenburg, and Freiburg, and Christmas Garden Berlin (light show in Berlin Botanical Gardens)
December 6: St. Nikolaus Day (parades)
December 24: Christmas Eve (Der Heilige Abend, when Germans celebrate Christmas)
December 25: Christmas Day (closures)
December 26: Boxing Day (closures)
December 31: New Year's Eve (Silvester; fireworks, particularly big in Berlin)
2018
January 1: New Year's Day (closures)
January 6: Epiphany (Heilige Drei Könige, volunteers dressed as Three Kings go door-to-door caroling and collecting for charity; some closures)
February: Fasching/Fasnacht (carnival season, balls, parades in the days leading up to Ash Wednesday; Cologne's huge Rosenmontag parade is February 12)
February 15–24: Berlin International Film Festival (a.k.a. "Berlinale")
March/April (2 weekends): FestungsLeuchten, Koblenz (sound-and-light show along the Rhine at Ehrenbreitstein fortress; fireworks show on final evening)
March 30: Good Friday (Karfreitag)
April 1–2: Easter Sunday and Monday (Ostersonntag and Ostermontag; closures)
Easter weekend: Ostermünde, Travemünde (beach bonfire and other Easter-themed celebrations near Lübeck)
April (2 weeks): Spring Festival, Nürnberg (rides and costumes in Luitpoldhain park)
April (2 weeks): Spring Festival, Munich (Frühlingsfestival, the "little sister of Oktoberfest")
April (3 weeks): Thuringian Bach Weeks, Erfurt
May 1: May Day (maypole dances; closures)
May 10: Ascension Day (closures)
May 18–21: Meistertrunk Show, Rothenburg (historic play and market, medieval costumes, Biergarten parties)
May 18–21: Carnival of Cultures, Berlin (street parade on Sunday)
May 20–21: Pentecost (Pfingsten) and Whit Monday (Pfingstmontag; closures)
Late May (2 weeks): Fressgass' Fest, Frankfurt
May 25–June 3: Weindorf wine festival, Würzburg
