Eye On Travel: Immersive Festival Experiences

Gullible: Fish and Chips

August is peak holiday time. Schools are out, most employees are taking annual leave and there are plenty of people looking for something to do.

Why not have a traditional family trip to the coast? Spend the day sitting in traffic jams accompanied by light drizzle on the way to Brighton to have your fish and chips stolen by seagulls. Does it get any better than this?

Well, yes it does. So why not visit the Bureau de Change before the Pound becomes worthless and check out some August festivities happening overseas that require full involvement and in which you will definitely want to remain.

Croatia: 'Tis no Glastonbury

Music Festivals are something we are quite familiar with. But in warm and sunny weather? I see. From 4-8 August16, the fishing village of Tisno in Croatia hosts the Soundwave dance music Festival.

Multi stage outdoor dance floors are accompanied by boat parties and aftershow events that would make Ibiza jealous.

So, cheap prices, 30C sunshine and good quality accommodation. This could catch on.

GET THERE: Direct flights operate from Luton to Split which is about an hour from Tisno.

BA: You know when you’ve been Tangoed

If your idea of dancing is Madness after several pints then this probably isn’t for you. But for fans of the elegant and passionate, head to Buenos Aires from 18-31 August16 for the World Tango Festival BA.

Taking place across the Argentine capital, this is as good as it gets for Tango aficionados. For the competitive, there is the Tango World Cup. A hand from God might be useful here.

BA doesn’t do early nights so pace the dancing, the best steaks on the planet and the excellent Malbecs carefully otherwise it could get a bit Messi..

GET THERE: Fly direct from Heathrow to Buenos Aires or via Madrid.

Black Rock City: Quite literally on fire

If radical inclusion is your thing then head to Black Rock desert in Nevada in the week starting 28 August16 for the Burning Man Festival. This is a temporary city of 70,000 that participates in art and cultural events and which has been described as Mad Max meets Alice in Wonderland.

Expect all night partying, anything goes attitudes and a big wooden man being burned. Don’t expect to remember much. Afterwards, try to lose the rest of your money in the Reno casinos or go back to nature at Lake Tahoe.

GET THERE: Fly to Reno (indirect) then it’s 3 hours by Burner Express bus. If that’s too short, fly to San Francisco and it’s 8 hours from there.

La Tomatina: The Major Tom conflict

The final stop on the August circuit is a tomato festival. Sounds a bit dull? This is Spain however and you don’t look at them or eat them, you throw them! Specifically, 40,000 people throw 115,000 kgs of tomatoes at each other. No need to dress up then.

This sophisticated event is La Tomatina and it takes place in the small Valencian village of Bunol on 31 August16. Expect hot weather, plenty of cold cervezas and being stained red for several weeks afterwards.

GET THERE: Fly to Valencia and Bunol is about 1 hour away. Recover in the interesting and lively Valencia or on the nearby Mediterranean beaches.

Standard low cost packages are bookable through my multi destination EyeLine Travel website.

For tailor made packages including any of the places and events featured above or just for some information, please Contact me and I will do the hard work for you. All holidays that I arrange are ABTA/ATOL protected.

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