Europe’s favourite music festivals

While over half of Europe’s countries host their own music festivals, locals often travel abroad for their favourite acts. We analysed Google searches in each country to find the most popular home and away festivals in every nation. Tomorrowland, an electronic dance music (EDM) event in Belgium, is the firm favourite amongst Europeans. It ranks as the top away festival in a staggering 46 out of 53 countries.

Music fans in Spain, Italy, Bulgaria, Greece, Ireland and Poland show more interest in foreign festivals than their own. For example, Poland’s searches for Tomorrowland are almost double those for its iconic local event, Orange Warsaw.

But this doesn’t mean it’s the same everywhere.

Glastonbury Festival in the UK is the most popular home festival of all countries analysed, with over seven million searches by Brits alone. Locals are keen to attend this fantastic event, and the race to get tickets is highly anticipated every year. The French also favour Hellfest, an open-air rock festival in western France with almost three million searches since 2022. Likewise, Germans prefer their Parookaville, a three-day EDM festival held at Weeze Airport.

We also combined all searches in each European country revealing that Tomorrowland, Glastonbury and Hellfest are the top three music festivals across the continent.

Germany’s Parookaville and Rock am Ring take fourth and fifth, amassing over six million searches between them.

Aside from Glastonbury, three other UK festivals also appear in the top 10 - Reading, Download and Leeds Festival - making it one of the most popular countries to visit by European music fans.

Total searches: 16.5 million since 2022

Tomorrowland is a fantastic EDM festival in Antwerp, Belgium, renowned for its unique themes. This year’s edition marks its 20th anniversary and will take place across two weekends on the 19th and 26th of July. The theme is ‘LIFE’ to highlight iconic motifs from the festival’s history, such as the ‘Elixir of Life’ and ‘Mother Tree’. Headliners include David Guetta, Alesso and Swedish House Mafia.

Day tickets start at €129, and full weekend passes begin at €304. Festivalgoers looking to camp must also purchase a DreamVille or Global Journey Package, which allows access to accommodation. Prices start from €381 and include a weekend pass to the festivities. For those who want to camp in luxury, the festival offers ‘Mansion Packages’ and cabanas with swimming pool access. Tickets for this year’s festival are sold out, but you can start getting ready for next year’s release.

Total searches: 9.2 million since 2022

Glastonbury is by far the UK’s biggest festival, hosting around 200,000 people each year. It’s held over the last weekend of June and welcomes a diverse range of genres, from rock and pop to electronic. It hosts some of the biggest names in the music industry, with the 2024 lineup including Shania Twain, Dua Lipa and Burna Boy, as well as dance acts like Peggy Gou and Disclosure.

Full weekend tickets cost £355 (plus a £5 booking fee) and allow access from Wednesday to Sunday – although the main stages don’t open until Friday. Attendees can use the first two days to explore the site, including its food stalls, free yoga, tai chi, meditation and more. The opening ceremony takes place on Wednesday, featuring a spectacular firework display. Music fans can enjoy the smaller stages in the leadup to the big event, with plenty of DJ acts playing until late.

Total searches: 4.1 million since 2022

France’s Hellfest is Europe’s biggest heavy metal festival and the third most popular overall. This year’s edition will be held from the 27th to the 30th of June in the Val de Moine sports complex in Clisson. It will welcome over 200 artists, including Metallica, Foo Fighters and The Prodigy. The festival typically features hard rock and metal on the two main stages, with subgenres like black metal, death metal and doom metal on the smaller stages.

The four-day festival offers free campsite access to all attendees, including those with day tickets. Parking is also included. Prices for 2024 are around €329 for a standard four-day pass, and children between six and 16 are eligible for half-price tickets. For an additional €99, four-day ticket holders can also access the FANZONE, where they can enjoy a shaded terrace, free phone charging stations, mirrors, a bar and a snack area. Children under 17 can also gain free access to the FANZONE if accompanied by an adult.

Europe is home to some of the world’s most iconic festivals, but many lesser-known events are growing in popularity. We analysed which festivals saw the largest increase in searches since 2022.

• Big Smoke Festival is a brand-new event curated by rap artist Skepta. It will be held on July 6 2024 in Crystal Palace Park, South East London. It will include performances by Skepta alongside artists like Mahalia, The Streets and JME.
• South Ocean Festival is a two-day event taking place in Malmö, Sweden from the 12th to the 13th of July 2024. It features an eclectic lineup of top international and local Swedish acts across pop, rock, indie and electronic genres.
• Vaulen Open Air, held at Vaulen Beach in Stavanger, Norway, is also becoming more popular. It will take place from the 7th to the 8th of June 2024, and this year’s lineup includes Jason Derulo, Tom Odell and Keane.

Festivals can be an incredible experience to share with the whole family. The following events are open to attendees of any age, and rank as the most popular by Europeans.

• Glastonbury has family camping areas and many children’s activities, including brilliant entertainment acts. Children under the age of 12 don’t need tickets to attend. However, all attendees under 16 years old must be accompanied by an adult.
• Solidays in Paris is an affordable family-friendly festival, as those under 12 don’t require tickets. There are games, workshops and fantastic entertainment suitable for children of all ages.
• Zwarte Cross in the Netherlands features unique entertainment across the weekend, including a mini motocross track. Festivalgoers can also enjoy live music and comedy shows.

The UK is a world-class festival leader, home to around 975 music festivals.

Glastonbury is the UK’s biggest music festival, with Reading Festival following closely. This year’s edition will see artists like Lana Del Rey, Fred Again and Blink 182. The festival showcases various genres, from pop and rock to dance music and shares the same lineup as its sister festival in Leeds (which ranks fourth).

In third place is Download Festival, a renowned rock festival held annually at Donington Park motorsport circuit in Leicestershire, England. The festival features hard rock, punk, and heavy metal music, and this year’s lineup includes Fall Out Boy and Queens of the Stone Age.

Boomtown rounds off the top five. It takes place at Matterley Estate in Hampshire in August and showcases a diverse range of music, from reggae to underground electronic music. The lineup is kept under wraps until just a couple of weeks before the festival takes place.