Medieval festivals in Europe

May 2027

• Medieval Markets & Fairs Castle Events +1

  MPS Rastede (Mittelalterlich Phantasie Spectaculum)

  Rastede, Germany

  The Mittelalterlich Phantasie Spectaculum's four-day stop in the Schlosspark of Rastede over the Ascension weekend is the longest on its tour: a medieval-fantasy market of around 120 stalls, more than 50 encampments, tournament arenas for mounted and foot combat, fire shows and bands, in the park of the Oldenburg grand dukes' summer palace on the site of a 1091 abbey. The market, camps and tournaments are the medieval backbone; the costumes, the theme and the name are openly fantasy.

  6–9 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
• Medieval Markets & Fairs Castle Events +1

  Elfia Vorden

  Vorden, Netherlands

  Elfia is the Netherlands' largest outdoor fantasy and cosplay festival, and since 2026 its spring edition is held in the park of Kasteel Vorden in the Achterhoek after 23 years at Kasteel de Haar. The medieval side is the castle, first recorded in 1315, the craft and costume traders and the folk bands; the fantasy layer is everything else, from elves and cosplay to the costume parade and the election of a king and queen of Elfia.

  Expected May 2027

  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.

  14–17 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

June 2027

• Historic City Celebrations

  Lajkonik Procession

  Kraków, Poland

  Once a year a bearded rider in Tatar dress on a white hobby-horse — the Lajkonik, or Konik Zwierzyniecki — parades across Kraków with a band and a costumed retinue, from Zwierzyniec to the Main Market Square, tapping bystanders with his mace for luck. The pageant is held on the octave of Corpus Christi, the Thursday eight days after Corpus Christi, and is organised by the Museum of Kraków; the 2026 edition was on 11 June and 3 June 2027 is expected.

  Expected Jun 2027

  Family
• 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
• Jousting & Tournaments Living History & Museums +1

  Královské stříbření Kutné Hory (Royal Silvering of Kutná Hora)

  Kutná Hora, Czechia

  The Royal Silvering of Kutná Hora recreates a visit by King Wenceslas IV and his court to the silver-mining town around the year 1400, with a costumed procession from the Italian Court to St Barbara's Cathedral, mounted tournaments, period music, crafts and a torchlit evening programme in the park below the royal mint. Held on a weekend in late June since 1992, it reached its 32nd edition on 20–21 June 2026.

  Expected Jun 2027

  Family
• Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 3.0

  Featured

  Jousting & Tournaments Living History & Museums +1

  Landshuter Hochzeit 1475

  Landshut, Germany

  Every four years about 2,500 costumed citizens of Landshut restage the 1475 wedding of Duke Georg the Rich and Princess Hedwig of Poland over three and a half weeks of processions, tournaments, camp life and plays. First performed in 1903, it is Europe's largest historical costume festival; the next edition runs 25 June–18 July 2027.

  25 Jun–18 Jul 2027

  Family
• Christophe Degryse · CC BY-SA 4.0

  Featured

  Jousting & Tournaments Living History & Museums +1

  Ommegang of Brussels

  Brussels, Belgium

  The Ommegang is Brussels' great historical pageant: more than 1,400 participants in costume, with horses, giants, stilt-walkers, crossbowmen and flag-throwers, process from the Sablon to the Grand-Place on two evenings in early July to recreate the 1549 entry of Emperor Charles V and his son Philip. Its roots go back to a 1348 procession of the crossbowmen's guild; it was revived in 1930 and has been on UNESCO's intangible heritage list since 2019. The 2026 shows were on 1 and 3 July.

  Expected Jun–Jul 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
• Medieval Markets & Fairs Living History & Museums

  Days of Live Archaeology in Kernavė

  Kernavė, Lithuania

  The Days of Live Archaeology at Kernavė are an international experimental-archaeology festival held in early July at Lithuania's UNESCO-listed medieval capital, where five hill-forts rise above the Neris valley. Craftspeople, warriors and musicians demonstrate life from the Stone Age to the Middle Ages, with staged battles, archery, ancient food and hands-on workshops.

  Expected Jul 2027

  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 Living History & Museums +1

  Monteriggioni di Torri si Corona (Monteriggioni Medieval Festival)

  Monteriggioni, Italy

  Monteriggioni's 'di Torri si Corona' festival fills the tiny walled hilltop village near Siena with costumed performers, craft stalls, taverns, games and encampments over a long weekend in July. It has run since 1990 and takes its name from Dante's line in the Inferno describing the castle's crown of towers.

  Expected Jul 2027

  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
• Jousting & Tournaments Living History & Museums +1

  Visegrád International Palace Games

  Visegrád, Hungary

  The Visegrád International Palace Games are Hungary's largest medieval festival, held on the second weekend of July around the Royal Palace and Solomon Tower on the Danube Bend. Since 1985 they have recreated the court of King Charles Robert, host of the 1335 congress of kings, with jousting, royal processions, torchlit parades, falconry and a kilometre-long medieval fair.

  9–11 Jul 2027

  Family
• Antony Stanley · CC BY-SA 2.0

  Featured

  Reenactment & Battles Medieval Markets & Fairs +1

  Tewkesbury Medieval Festival

  Tewkesbury, England

  A free two-day festival on the original 1471 battlefield that re-enacts the Battle of Tewkesbury with around 2,000 re-enactors, plus living-history camps and a large traders' market. Held every second full weekend of July since 1984, it is one of the largest medieval battle re-enactments in Europe.

  10–11 Jul 2027

  Family
• Reenactment & Battles Living History & Museums +1

  Trakai Medieval Festival (Viduramžių šventė)

  Trakai, Lithuania

  The Trakai History Museum's Medieval Festival brings re-enactors, craftsmen, musicians and 14th–15th-century warfare displays into the courtyards of the red-brick Island Castle for a summer weekend. Organised since 1998, it ran on 11–12 July 2026 with a separate €10 festival ticket.

  Expected Jul 2027

  Family
• Featured

  Jousting & Tournaments Castle Events

  Tournoi de Chevalerie de Carcassonne (Knights' Tournament and Falconry Show)

  Carcassonne, France

  Every summer the lices between the double walls of the Cité de Carcassonne host a daily knights' tournament, a 45-minute show of mounted combat in armour, billed in 2026 as 'Tournois de chevalerie et spectacle de fauconnerie' after a falconry display was added. The 2026 season runs from 12 July to 27 August with three performances a day, every day except Saturday.

  Expected Jul–Aug 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
• Featured

  Reenactment & Battles Living History & Museums

  Battle of Grunwald Reenactment

  Grunwald, Poland

  Every July around 1,400 armoured re-enactors restage the 1410 Battle of Grunwald on the original battlefield in Warmia-Masuria, watched by crowds quoted at around 100,000. The free event, held since 1998, anchors the multi-day Dni Grunwaldu with knights' camps, tournaments and a medieval fair.

  17 Jul 2027

  Free Family