Medieval music, feasts and theatre in Europe

January 2027

• Mike Pennington · CC BY-SA 2.0

  Featured

  Music, Feasts & Theatre Viking & Norse +1

  Up Helly Aa (Lerwick)

  Lerwick, Scotland

  Up Helly Aa is Lerwick's Viking-themed fire festival, held on the last Tuesday of January: about a thousand torch-bearing guizers led by the Guizer Jarl's squad in Norse dress march through the town and burn a full-size replica longship, then tour a dozen halls performing skits until morning. It grew out of 19th-century tar-barrelling, with the first torch procession in 1881 and the first galley burning in 1889; the next edition is Tuesday 26 January 2027.

  26 Jan 2027

  Family

March 2027

• Music, Feasts & Theatre Fantasy Fairs & Spectacles

  Trolls & Légendes

  Mons, Belgium

  Trolls & Légendes is Belgium's fantasy festival, held every two years over the Easter weekend at Lotto Mons Expo: three days of folk and fantasy-metal concerts, a book and comics fair with international authors, a craft market, role-playing and board games, exhibitions, films and cosplay, run by volunteers and drawing close to 25,000 visitors. It is an indoor festival in exhibition halls rather than a fair on a field; its medieval side is the craft market, the folk music and the costumes, not camps or tournaments.

  Expected Mar 2027

  Family

June 2027

• Epp · CC BY-SA 3.0

  Featured

  Living History & Museums Music, Feasts & Theatre +1

  Tallinn Old Town Days (Tallinna Vanalinna Päevad)

  Tallinn, Estonia

  Tallinn Old Town Days is the Estonian capital's annual early-summer city festival, held since 1982, when around 300 mostly free concerts, performances, tours, workshops and open-door visits fill the streets, courtyards and towers of the UNESCO-listed medieval Old Town. The 2026 edition ran from 5 to 7 June with theatre and the performing arts as its theme.

  Expected Jun 2027

  Family
• Pline · CC BY-SA 3.0

  Featured

  Medieval Markets & Fairs Music, Feasts & Theatre +1

  Les Médiévales de Provins

  Provins, France

  Les Médiévales de Provins turn the UNESCO-listed upper town into a two-day medieval fair each June, with a market of around 320 stalls, tournaments, a Saturday-night ball and concert and a Sunday parade of about 700 costumed participants. Held since 1984, it attracted 120,000 visitors in 2025, the largest attendance of any medieval festival in France.

  Expected Jun 2027

  Family

July 2027

• Samuli Lintula · CC BY 2.5

  Featured

  Medieval Markets & Fairs Living History & Museums +1

  Turku Medieval Market

  Turku, Finland

  The Medieval Market of Turku fills the Old Great Square and surrounding streets with four days of free market stalls, craft demonstrations, music and a daily street play every year at the end of June. Held since 1996, it is Finland's largest medieval event, with attendance reported at well over 100,000.

  Expected Jul 2027

  Free Family
• Mbzt · CC BY-SA 3.0

  Medieval Markets & Fairs Music, Feasts & Theatre +1

  Les Médiévales de Bayeux

  Bayeux, France

  Les Médiévales de Bayeux turns the cathedral quarter of this Normandy town into a free three-day medieval festival on the first weekend of July, opening with a night parade of more than 500 performers and continuing with a market, street theatre, siege engines and concerts. Around 60,000 people attend, making it one of the largest medieval festivals in France.

  Expected Jul 2027

  Free Family
• Medieval Markets & Fairs Music, Feasts & Theatre +1

  Festa dell'Unicorno

  Vinci, Italy

  The Festa dell'Unicorno takes over the walled centre of Vinci, Leonardo's hill town, for three days each July with themed 'worlds' that range from a medieval citadel with market and knights to steampunk, cosplay, comics and horror, plus hundreds of shows and concerts and some 200 market stands. The medieval backbone is the town itself, its castle of the Conti Guidi and the knights' quarter and market; the rest is openly fantasy, and it is Italy's largest festival of the kind.

  Expected Jul 2027

  Family
• Dark Avenger · CC BY 3.0

  Featured

  Medieval Markets & Fairs Jousting & Tournaments +1

  Kaltenberger Ritterturnier

  Kaltenberg, Germany

  The Kaltenberg Knights' Tournament is a professionally staged jousting spectacle with horse stunts and pyrotechnics in a 13,000-capacity arena at Schloss Kaltenberg, surrounded by a large medieval market and five stages. Founded in 1980 by Prince Luitpold of Bavaria, it runs over three weekends every July and draws around 120,000 visitors.

  9–25 Jul 2027

  Family
• Featured

  Medieval Markets & Fairs Jousting & Tournaments +1

  Mercado Medieval de Óbidos

  Óbidos, Portugal

  The Mercado Medieval de Óbidos takes over the castle grounds and lanes of the walled town for about 11 days each July, with a themed market, mounted tournaments, parades, street theatre and ticketed royal banquets. Organised by the municipality, it draws around 150,000 visitors a year.

  Expected Jul 2027

  Family
• Wdejager · CC BY-SA 4.0

  Music, Feasts & Theatre Castle Events +1

  Fantasy Forest Festival (Sudeley Castle)

  Winchcombe, England

  Fantasy Forest is the UK's fantasy festival: three days in July in the grounds of Sudeley Castle at Winchcombe with folk, pagan and fantasy bands, a fantasy market, LARP and workshops, authors and a campsite, grown from just over 1,000 visitors in 2019 to a sold-out 21,000 in 2026. The 15th-century castle where Katherine Parr lies buried is the medieval backbone; the elves, dragons and costumes are the festival.

  16–18 Jul 2027

  Family
• Vvssmmaann · CC BY-SA 4.0

  Featured

  Living History & Museums Music, Feasts & Theatre +1

  Sighișoara Medieval Festival

  Sighișoara, Romania

  The Sighișoara Medieval Festival fills the UNESCO-listed Saxon citadel with three days of free parades, knights' displays, medieval music, theatre, crafts and concerts on the last weekend of July. First held in May 1992, it is Romania's oldest medieval festival; the 31st edition ran 24–26 July 2026.

  Expected Jul 2027

  Free Family
• Feira Viva · CC BY-SA 4.0

  Featured

  Medieval Markets & Fairs Living History & Museums +1

  Viagem Medieval em Terra de Santa Maria

  Santa Maria da Feira, Portugal

  Viagem Medieval is a 12-day historical recreation that turns the historic centre and castle of Santa Maria da Feira into a themed medieval town each summer, with processions, theatre, tournaments, markets and camps. Running since 1997, it is Portugal's largest medieval event.

  Expected Jul–Aug 2027

  Family
• Jousting & Tournaments Living History & Museums +1

  The Loxwood Joust

  Loxwood, England

  The Loxwood Joust is a ticketed medieval festival staged over three weekends in August on Loxwood Meadow in West Sussex, billed as the 'Kingdom of Loxwood'. Alongside daily jousting it mixes living-history camps, falconry, blacksmithing, an executioner's show, archery, music and theatrical spectacle, with weekend camping and evening entertainment.

  Expected Jul–Aug 2027

  Family

August 2027

• -JvL- · CC BY 2.0

  Featured

  Medieval Markets & Fairs Music, Feasts & Theatre +1

  Castlefest

  Lisse, Netherlands

  Castlefest is a four-day fantasy festival in the park of Kasteel Keukenhof in Lisse, built on a large market of craftspeople and traders, pagan-folk and medieval-rock bands, workshops and a Saturday-night Wickerman burning. The medieval side is the crafts, the music and the camp-style catering; the fantasy layer is the costumes, the writers and the pagan ritual, and the 17th-century castle is a country house rather than a medieval fortress.

  5–8 Aug 2027

  Family

September 2027

• Medieval Markets & Fairs Music, Feasts & Theatre +1

  MPS Luhmühlen (Mittelalterlich Phantasie Spectaculum)

  Luhmühlen, Germany

  The September stop of the Mittelalterlich Phantasie Spectaculum turns the event ground on the Westergellerser Heide near Luhmühlen into a three-day medieval-fantasy camp that the tour calls the 'Fette Heide': market, encampments, a knights' tournament, bands and street performers on open heathland in the Lüneburg Heath. The market, camp and tournament are medieval in form; the costumes and the theme are fantasy, and the setting is heath rather than castle.

  3–5 Sep 2027

  Family
• Suzelfe · CC BY-SA 3.0

  Medieval Markets & Fairs Music, Feasts & Theatre +1

  Cidre & Dragon

  Merville-Franceville-Plage, France

  Cidre & Dragon turns the Normandy seaside village of Merville-Franceville-Plage into 'Merravilla' for one free weekend every September: a medieval market of artisans, a medieval-fantasy camp with workshops and combat, stages of folk and fantasy music, authors, games and parades of dragons and costumed visitors. The market, camp and music are the backbone of a French fête médiévale; the layer on top is Tolkien-flavoured fantasy, run since 2006 by the Association Raid Tolkien with the town hall.

  Expected Sep 2027

  Family
• Featured

  Living History & Museums Music, Feasts & Theatre +1

  Karlštejnské vinobraní (Karlštejn Wine Harvest Festival with Emperor Charles IV)

  Prague, Czechia

  Karlštejn's wine-harvest festival brings Emperor Charles IV, Empress Elizabeth of Pomerania and a court of more than 150 costumed courtiers back to the castle he built 30 km south-west of Prague to guard the imperial crown jewels. Held on the last weekend of September, it combines ceremonial processions up to the castle, mounted knights' tournaments, period music, crafts and tastings of young wine and burčák; the 28th edition is confirmed for 26–27 September 2026.

  Expected Sep 2027

  Family