The biggest festivals in Germany: 10 events worth the trip

Germany has a festival for almost every taste: metal in a Schleswig-Holstein village, techno on a former airfield, Wagner on a hill in Franconia and brass bands under a beer-tent roof. This guide covers the ten best-known festivals in Germany, with the city, the month, the genre and a practical tip for each.

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Festival culture in Germany is built on two traditions that rarely meet but happily coexist. One is the Volksfest, the local fair with beer tents, rides and live bands, which almost every town stages at least once a year and of which the Munich Oktoberfest is the famous extreme. The other is the open-air music festival, which grew up on race tracks, speedway ovals and disused airfields, where camping for three or four days is part of the deal.

The calendar follows the weather. The big camping festivals cluster between early June and mid-August, while the cities take over in late spring and September with street festivals, jazz weekends and showcase events. Because Germany is a federal country there is no single festival capital: Hamburg, Berlin, Munich and the Rhineland each have their own scene, and some of the most famous events take place in villages most Germans would struggle to find on a map.

The festivals

Oktoberfest

Where München, BavariaWhen September–OctoberGenre Folk & worldSince 1810

The Oktoberfest, or Wiesn as locals call it, is the folk festival the whole world has heard of. For just over two weeks the Theresienwiese fills with beer tents, fairground rides and visitors in Dirndl and Lederhosen, and the whole city takes on a holiday mood. It opens when the mayor taps the first keg and closes in the first days of October.

Music is at the heart of every tent. By day brass bands play Bavarian standards and marches; in the evening the same stages switch to party bands that get the whole tent standing on the benches. The tents belong to Munich breweries and long-established hosts, each with its own character, and outside them the fairground runs until late.

Tip: Go on a weekday morning for a seat without a reservation; the bands in each tent are booked by the tent hosts, not by the city.

Rock am Ring

Where Nürburg, Rhineland-PalatinateWhen JuneGenre Rock & metalSince 1985

Rock am Ring is the grand old festival of German rock. Held at the Nürburgring race circuit in the Eifel hills, it brings three days of rock, metal, punk and alternative music to a place better known for motorsport. Its reputation rests on decades of headline shows and on a crowd that turns up whatever the weather, which in the Eifel can change by the hour.

The stages stand in and around the circuit, with camping spread across the surrounding slopes. The programme is shared with its twin, Rock im Park in Nürnberg, which runs on the same weekend, so most bands play both. Expect big international rock and metal acts alongside German-language bands and a few surprises from hip-hop and electronic music.

Tip: Book camping with the ticket, arrive the day before the first bands to claim a decent pitch, and pack wellies and sun cream in the same bag.

Wacken Open Air

Where Wacken, Schleswig-HolsteinWhen July–AugustGenre Rock & metalSince 1990

Wacken Open Air turned a small farming village north of Hamburg into the spiritual home of heavy metal. For a few days each summer the fields around Wacken become a self-contained metal town, with fans arriving from all over the world, camping in the mud or dust and greeting each other with the same devil-horns salute. Its fame comes from that community as much as from the music.

Several open-air stages cover every shade of metal, from classic heavy and thrash to black, folk and symphonic, with a medieval-themed area and plenty of beer gardens for the hours in between. The villagers are famously part of the event, and the festival has a reputation for being remarkably good-natured given the volume.

Tip: Tickets usually sell out long before summer, and unsigned bands can try for a slot through the Wacken Metal Battle, which holds qualifying rounds in many countries.

Hurricane Festival

Where Scheeßel, Lower SaxonyWhen JuneGenre Pop & mixedSince 1997

Hurricane is the big northern open-air for people who like their line-up mixed: indie and rock headliners, pop, hip-hop and a strong electronic strand. It takes over the Eichenring, a speedway track outside the village of Scheeßel between Bremen and Hamburg, for three days in June. The mood is relaxed and young, and the weekend is as much about the campsite as about the stages.

Its southern twin, Southside in Neuhausen ob Eck in Baden-Württemberg, shares the same weekend and largely the same programme. Hurricane's site is flat, green and easy to navigate, with the stages arranged around the oval and the camping fields alongside. Acts range from arena-level headliners to newcomers on the smaller stages.

Tip: Scheeßel has its own railway station on the Bremen–Hamburg line, a short walk from the site, so the train beats the car on festival weekend.

Parookaville

Where Weeze, North Rhine-WestphaliaWhen JulyGenre ElectronicSince 2015

Parookaville is Germany's answer to the big dance festivals across the Dutch border. Built each July on the grounds of Weeze airport on the Lower Rhine, it is staged as a fictional city with its own mayor, streets and neighbourhoods, and the visitors are its citizens. The production is lavish, the stages are enormous and the music runs from mainstream EDM to house, techno and hardstyle.

The airfield gives the organisers a blank canvas, and they use it: themed stages, a campsite that is a festival in itself and a level of decoration rarely seen at German events. International DJs headline, but the smaller stages give room to German and Dutch names on their way up, and the crowd is as international as the airport.

Tip: Weeze lies right on the Dutch border, closer to Nijmegen and Venlo than to most German cities, so it is an easy trip from the Netherlands.

Fusion Festival

Where Lärz, Mecklenburg-Western PomeraniaWhen June–JulyGenre ElectronicSince 1997

Fusion is the festival Germans speak about in a lower voice. Held on a former military airfield near Lärz in the Mecklenburg lake district, it mixes electronic music with theatre, performance, cinema and art across hangars and open fields, and it does so without sponsors, advertising or branded stages. Its own description, four days of holiday communism, captures the spirit: informal, self-organised and unlike anything else.

The site is run by the Kulturkosmos collective, and the whole thing feels more like a temporary village than a commercial event. Stages hide in bunkers, aircraft shelters and woodland clearings, and the programme leans towards techno, house, drum and bass and live electronic acts, with theatre and circus companies given equal billing.

Tip: Tickets are usually allocated through a draw rather than sold first come, first served, so register early and expect little or no line-up to be announced in advance.

Reeperbahn Festival

Where Hamburg, HamburgWhen SeptemberGenre Pop & mixedSince 2006

Reeperbahn Festival is the showcase event of the German music business and one of the most useful festivals in Europe for anyone hoping to be discovered. Over four days in September the clubs, theatres, churches and bars of St. Pauli host hundreds of short concerts by emerging artists, while the industry meets by day for a conference. For the public it is a giant club crawl with a wristband.

The setting is the Reeperbahn itself, Hamburg's famous entertainment mile, with venues ranging from tiny basement clubs to the big halls along the street. The programme covers indie, pop, electronic, hip-hop and singer-songwriters from across Europe and beyond, and its Anchor award has become a recognised springboard for new acts with an international future.

Tip: Artists apply for a showcase slot through the festival's own application window, which usually opens in the winter before the festival.

Bayreuther Festspiele

Where Bayreuth, BavariaWhen July–AugustGenre ClassicalSince 1876

The Bayreuth Festival is devoted to one composer only. Richard Wagner built the Festspielhaus on the Green Hill above Bayreuth to stage his own operas, and the summer season there is still Wagner and nothing else. The setting, the hidden orchestra pit and the famous acoustics draw an audience from around the world, and tickets have been hard to come by for generations.

Performances begin in the late afternoon and stretch into the evening, with long intervals spent on the terraces and lawns of the hill. It is a formal, concentrated occasion: no fringe, no side stages, just full productions of Wagner's major operas, performed by leading singers and a festival orchestra assembled for the summer.

Tip: Apply for tickets through the festival's online sale well in advance, and dress for a long evening: the intervals are an hour long.

Karneval der Kulturen

Where Berlin, BerlinWhen May–JuneGenre Street theatreSince 1996

The Karneval der Kulturen is Berlin's celebration of its own diversity. Every Whitsun weekend the streets of Kreuzberg fill with a four-day street festival and, on the Sunday, a parade of floats, dance groups, drummers and costumed collectives representing communities from every part of the world. It is loud, colourful and free to watch, and it belongs to the neighbourhood as much as to the city.

Around Blücherplatz the street festival runs stages with world music, folk, hip-hop and dance, alongside food stalls and market stands from many countries. The parade itself is the heart of the event: samba schools, Caribbean and African groups, Balkan brass, Asian dance ensembles and Berlin's own clubs and collectives, each with its own sound system.

Tip: Dance groups, drum ensembles and street performers take part by registering with the organisers months ahead, so this is a festival you join rather than get booked for.

Elbjazz

Where Hamburg, HamburgWhen May–JuneGenre JazzSince 2010

Elbjazz brings jazz to the working harbour of Hamburg. For two days at the start of summer, stages are set up among the cranes and dry docks of the Blohm+Voss shipyard, in the Elbphilharmonie and in venues along the waterfront, and the audience moves between them by ferry. The mix of industrial scenery, river light and music is what makes it memorable, even for people who would not call themselves jazz fans.

The programme is broad: contemporary jazz, soul, funk, electronic crossover and the occasional pop name, with German and Scandinavian players alongside international headliners. Concerts run from the afternoon into the night, the shipyard's main stage catching the sunset over the Elbe. It is a city festival without camping, so it suits a weekend trip to Hamburg.

Tip: Bring a windproof jacket even in June, and allow time for the ferries between venues, which are part of the experience rather than a shortcut.

For artists and organisers

Festival bookings in Germany run through several doors at once. The big open-airs work with national promoters and agencies, and the line-ups are fixed many months ahead. Showcase events such as Reeperbahn Festival and contests like the Wacken Metal Battle are the classic routes for unsigned bands, while city festivals, Stadtfeste and Volksfeste book regional acts directly and often at short notice. A EuroActs profile with video, prices and availability helps those bookers find DJs, bands and acts in their own language.

Organisers of smaller festivals, town fairs and company summer parties do not need an agency to fill a stage. Every act on EuroActs can be contacted directly, with no commission on the booking, and a profile shows exactly what the artist offers, where they travel and, where given, from what price. That makes it simple to compare a brass band for a beer tent with a DJ for the after-party.

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Frequently asked questions

What is the biggest festival in Germany?

It depends on what counts as a festival. As a folk festival, the Munich Oktoberfest is generally regarded as the largest event in the country. Among music festivals, Rock am Ring, Wacken Open Air, Hurricane and Parookaville are the ones most often named as the biggest, each in its own genre. Visitor figures vary from year to year, so this guide does not quote them.

When is festival season in Germany?

The main open-air season runs from early June to mid-August, when Rock am Ring, Hurricane, Fusion, Parookaville and Wacken all take place. May and September belong to the cities: the Karneval der Kulturen at Whitsun, Elbjazz at the start of summer, then Reeperbahn Festival and the Oktoberfest in September. Winter is quiet apart from indoor festivals and Christmas markets.

Which festivals in Germany are best for electronic music?

Parookaville in Weeze is the big mainstream dance festival, with EDM, house, techno and hardstyle on lavish stages. Fusion near Lärz is the alternative: techno, house and live electronics on a former airfield with no sponsors. Beyond those two, Berlin's club scene, Time Warp in Mannheim and the electronic stages at Hurricane and Southside are the usual next stops.

Do you have to camp at German festivals?

At the big rural open-airs such as Rock am Ring, Wacken, Hurricane, Parookaville and Fusion, camping is part of the experience and most visitors stay on site, although nearby towns offer hotels and guesthouses for those who prefer a bed. City festivals like Reeperbahn Festival, Elbjazz, the Karneval der Kulturen, Bayreuth and the Oktoberfest have no camping at all, so book accommodation early.

How can a band or DJ get booked at a festival in Germany?

The most direct routes are showcase festivals such as Reeperbahn Festival, band contests such as the Wacken Metal Battle, and the regional promoters who book side stages and city festivals. Germany also has a great many Stadtfeste, Volksfeste and company events each summer that book acts directly. A complete profile on EuroActs, with video and prices, makes it easier for those organisers to find and contact an act.

Festivals in other countries

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