Europe's Top Music Festivals This Summer
The European summer beckons, and with it some of the planet’s most exciting music festivals. Whether you’re into pop, metal, dance or rap, there’s something for you.
There’s nothing quite like waking up in a tent to the sound of your favourite band (before heading to the shower queue!). Although in recent years, festivals have begun offering higher-end accommodation options such as glamping and onsite/offsite hotels.
Of course, these optional extras do cost money, which along with the ticket price can add up. However, as you’ll see below, not all festivals are priced like Glastonbury; a 3-day Bilbao BBK ticket, for example, costs half that of a Glasto weekend ticket (and probably involves less mud!).
Check out these five amazing festivals taking place in July and August…
Sziget, Budapest, Hungary
7 - 12 August
Held on the picturesque island of Óbudai-sziget ("Old Buda Island") on the Danube, Sziget is one of Europe's biggest festivals.
With a record attendance of 565,000 (2018), you can expect this year's event to be awe-inspiring in scale (although perhaps not quite as big as pre-Covid times).
2024's headline acts include many artists familiar to Brits, such as Fred Again, Kylie, Liam Gallagher, Sam Smith, Skrillex and Stormzy. These eclectic popular artists are augmented with many up-and-coming artists.
There are still plenty of ticket options and packages, and a variety of accommodation possibilities, including camping, glamping, and offsite hostels.
While Hungary is a very affordable destination in general, Sziget's tickets and accommodation costs are comparable to Glastonbury's.
A full 6-day pass costs €309 plus fees, while a day ticket costs €85 plus fees. 3 day bundles are also available with pick-up tents and pre-pitched tents.
You can bring your own tent free of charge, but the organisers ask that you register it first.
Tomorrowland, Belgium
19 - 28 July
400,000 people will be attending this year's Tomorrowland - that's double the size of Glastonbury. It also runs for nine whole days, making it one of the longest music events on the planet.
2024 will mark the festival's 20th year, with many high profile artists including David Guetta, Swedish House Mafia, Rezzmau5 (the Canadian duo comprising Rezz and Deadmau5), Four Tet and Eliza Rose.
The full list of artists is mind-boggling in scope - but then there are enough festivalgoers to fill a decent-sized city!
Sadly tickets have sold out, but there may be some hope if you're on the waiting list. This works via an Exchange Desk that allows people with tickets to sell them at the same amount they paid.
Roskilde Festival, Denmark
26 June - 6 July
Denmark's now-legendary Roskilde Festival will take place from 29 June to 6 July this summer. Headline acts include SZA, Doja Cat, 21 Savage, Skrillex, and Kali Uchis - just some of the 200+ artists who will be taking to one of the 8 stages. The festival also boasts more than 100 offbeat non-music events.
Located 30 minutes' drive from Copenhagen, this is a truly eclectic event, with both new and established acts across many genres.
Much like the UK's Glastonbury, Roskilde becomes a vast tent city, with a vast array of food and drink outlets, as well as plenty of much-needed showers and toilets.
While the event is aimed at adults, children's tickets are available (ages 10-14), and under 10s can get a free ticket, but all under-18s must be accompanied by an adult they know. Some 130,000 people are expected to attend.
Full festival ticket (adult): 2400 Danish Krone / £271.
Single day ticket (adult): 1200 Danish Krone / £136.
Wacken Open Air Festival, Germany
31 July - 3 August
If you're a hard rock or heavy metal fan, you've already heard of Wacken Open Air Festival. Hosted in the small north German village of Wacken, the event attracts many Danish and Benelux metal-lovers, as well as Germans.
Pre-Covid, around 85,000 would attend this event each year, and although levels are unlikely to have recovered to that degree this year, it's still ranks as one of the planet's biggest heavy metal festivals.
Headlining in summer 2024 are Scorpions, Amon Amarth, Blind Guardian, Mayhem, Watain, and Pain, as well as Beast In Black, Bury Tomorrow, Blues Pills, Knorkator, Sonata Arctica, Motionless In White, Unleash The Archers, Sick Of It All - and many more.
Like most major festivals, the cost of camping is included in the ticket price (bring your own tent, of course).
If you don't fancy roughing it in the field and queuing up for showers, you can book paid on-site accommodation, such as "Moshtel", with its own 24-hour reception, lockable single or double beds, lounge, dining options, and "high-quality sanitary facilities": not very "metal", but certainly a comfortable respite from the mud and chaos!
Cost: 333 euros (incl fees) per person, which includes a free t-shirt.
Bilbao BBK Live, Basque Country, Northern Spain
11 to 13 June
With headline acts including The Prodigy, Massive Attack, Air, Grace Jones, Underworld, Arcade Fire, Jungle, Kiasmos, and Slowdive, Bilbao's premier music festival is set to be a classic.
Located to the city's southwest on the slopes of Mount Cobetas, BBK Live arguably has one of the prettiest festival backdrops in Europe. This means if you opt for regular free camping, you'll awake to some planned views before you start queuing for the lavatory.
If you have the inclination and the funds for something more comfortable, you can choose glamping, or even a hotel in the city - great if you want to do some Bilbao sightseeing. The event has some 3+ day ticket options with accommodation.
Aside from the fantastic line-up and setting, one of the best things about Bilbao BBK is the cost: a 3-day ticket costs just 175 euros, rising to 200 with camping (that's less than half the cost of a full Glastonbury weekend ticket!). A day ticket is 75 euros.
Do note that Bilbao BBK is a cashless event, so you'll need to top-up special RFID wristbands to pay for food and drink etc.