Medieval festivals in May 2027

Stéphane D · CC BY-SA 2.0

Featured

Living History & Museums Castle Events

Guédelon Castle (living medieval construction site)

Treigny, France

Guédelon is a 13th-century castle being built from scratch in a Burgundy forest quarry using only the tools, materials and techniques of the 1230s, open to visitors from spring to autumn since the first stone was laid in 1997. Around forty masons, carpenters, blacksmiths, tilers, rope-makers and carters work in front of the public, and the site draws roughly 300,000 visitors a season.

On now until 1 Nov

Family

Al Bundy at da.wikipedia · CC BY 3.0

Jousting & Tournaments Living History & Museums

Middelaldercentret (The Medieval Centre), Nykøbing Falster

Nykøbing Falster, Denmark

Middelaldercentret is an experimental living-history museum on the Guldborgsund opposite Nykøbing Falster, where a reconstructed Danish market town of around the year 1400, Sundkøbing, is populated by costumed staff who stay in character all day. Its season runs from early May to late September with daily trebuchet firing, jousting and craft demonstrations, plus an autumn-holiday week in October and a Christmas market.

On now until 20 Sep

Family

Hiroki Ogawa · CC BY 3.0

Featured

Living History & Museums Historic City Celebrations

Der Meistertrunk (Rothenburg Whitsun Festival)

Rothenburg ob der Tauber, Germany

Rothenburg ob der Tauber's Whitsun festival re-enacts the legend of 1631, when former mayor Nusch supposedly saved the town from General Tilly's army by emptying a tankard holding more than three litres of wine in one draught. Citizens have performed the play 'Der Meistertrunk' since 1881, framed by a four-day festival with a costumed procession, military camp, shepherds' dance and crafts market.

4–6 Sep 2026

Family

CesisCastle · CC BY-SA 4.0

Medieval Markets & Fairs Living History & Museums +1

Cēsis Castle Medieval Days (formerly Cēsis Medieval Festival)

Cēsis, Latvia

Cēsis Castle, the Livonian Order's mightiest fortress and Latvia's best-preserved castle ruin, runs a costumed 'medieval season' from May to September with craft days in the castle garden, a Hanseatic market during the July city festival and period-dressed castle folk on summer weekends. A standalone annual Cēsis Medieval Festival, the successor of the Baltic Medieval Festival first held here in 2001, could not be verified as still running in 2026, so this listing is marked unverified.

Expected May–Sep 2027

Family

Living History & Museums Historic City Celebrations

Medieval Mdina Festival

Mdina, Malta

The Medieval Mdina Festival brings re-enactors, falconers, flag-throwers and musicians into the walled streets of Malta's old capital for a spring weekend. Organised by the Mdina Local Council, it recreates life between about 1200 and 1500 with battles, parades, crafts and street scenes inside the bastions.

Expected May 2027

Family

Carolus · CC BY 3.0

Featured

Historic City Celebrations

Procession of the Holy Blood

Bruges, Belgium

Every Ascension Day more than 1,800 people from Bruges carry the relic of the Holy Blood through the historic centre in a four-part pageant of Old Testament, New Testament and city history, with horses, carts, choirs and over 250 live musicians. The procession is dated by the city to 1304, has been on UNESCO's Representative List of Intangible Cultural Heritage since 2009, and next takes place on Thursday 6 May 2027.

6 May 2027

Family

Featured

Historic City Celebrations

Corpus Christi in Toledo

Toledo, Spain

On Corpus Christi the 16th-century Custodia de Arfe, a three-metre Gothic tower of gilded silver, is carried out of Toledo Cathedral and through two kilometres of streets hung with awnings and tapestries and strewn with thyme, behind the banners of the city's old confraternities and guilds. Toledo keeps the feast on its traditional Thursday, sixty days after Easter: 4 June in 2026, and 27 May expected in 2027.

Expected May 2027

Family