With Glastonbury taking time off this summer, there is extra impetus for music fans to fiesta further afield, embracing a new city or country, its sounds and its nightlife, while they are at it.

Fortunately, Europe puts on some incredible shows, in places often likely to be sunnier and open later than those in Britain.

They also tend to take place in locations that tourists wouldn’t otherwise see. In Helsinki, Flow Festival after-parties take over late-night saunas, and pop-up bars are built into the corners of an industrial wasteland. The natural wonders of Iceland, meanwhile, are explored by revellers at its Secret Solstice festival, who enjoy special, intimate gigs both in a cave of solidified lava and underneath a glacier. A field outside Reading, this is not.

Secret Solstice

Foreign festivals also provide unique opportunities to mingle with locals. Language is no barrier to a shared love of beer and boogying.

Europe’s best festivals work hard to impress their audiences by showcasing local art and culinary talent. Helsinki’s Flow, for example, plates up an astonishing range of dishes from the city’s top chefs, while Primavera last year brought street artists together for a dazzling, 180ft mural.

These city festivals are perfect, too, for those who would rather grab precious sleep on luxury linens as opposed to curled up in a damp sleeping bag. Many offer packages that come with a range of hotel options.

The only problem is deciding which festival to go to. I have picked out my favourites for the summer of 2018 below, so all you need do is keep an eye on the line-up announcements and try to get in before the cheapest flights and accommodation gets booked up.

Primavera Sound

Probably Europe’s most hip festival at the moment, Primavera’s achingly cool line-ups are a guaranteed hit for their mix of cutting-edge acts and remember-how-you-used-to-love-these-guys classic indie, rock and pop.

Running across two sites on consecutive weekends – first in Barcelona (attracting around 200,000) followed by a smaller version in Porto – the music starts late, and so can be combined perfectly with a morning pottering around the city streets or escaping to the beach. In Barcelona, the festival is held at the Parc del Fòrum, a concrete complex on the waterfront. Ariel Pink, Lorde, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds and Unknown Mortal Orchestra play this year.



In Porto, NOS Primavera Sound is held at the much greener Parque da Cidade.

Barcelona (entrance: £160) May 30-June 3 and Porto (£93) June 7-9 (primaverasound.es)

Primavera is held in Barcelona each year Credit: GETTY

Northside, Aarhus, Denmark

Relatively unknown to British music fans until last year, this laid-back, mid-sized festival looks set to build on the name it made for itself in 2017, when Denmark’s second city was attracting tourists having been named a European Capital of Culture and festival organisers managed to get Radiohead to top their bill.

The park is a pleasant walk from the city centre, along a river where makeshift bars spring up on the banks at festival time.

The contemporary art museum ARoS is a must-visit during daylight hours. This summer sees Bjork, The National and Beck take to the stage.

June 7-9, northside.dk, £190.

Aarhus was last year's European Capital of Culture

Meadows in the Mountains, Bulgaria



As much about atmosphere as it is music, this, quite magical gathering, has expanded from its initial word-of-mouth appeal to grow in confidence each year. Stages are lovingly crafted from the forest by the organisers, bonfires burn each night and attendees camp or stay in houses in a rustic village below the festival, which is an experience in itself. Sunrise over the misty valley from the mountain stages is also something to behold. The acts have yet to be announced but the fun ends with a giant pool and spa afterparty.



June 7-10, meadowsinthemountains.com, £125

Meadows in the Mountains

Secret Solstice, Reykjavik

It’s light all night during solstice in Iceland and for those feeling the pull of the midnight sun, this festival is promising its biggest line-up yet.

The extraordinary venues being used to stage side events are enough to get excited about in themselves. These exclusive gigs cost extra, but include a surreal concert in a lava tunnel, which can also be toured with a hard hat, and DJ-led parties in a hollowed-out glacier.

The main festival takes place across five stages and is easily combined with sightseeing in tiny Reykjavik. The festival partners with a company that offers day trips for those with more time – to the Blue Lagoon spa, say, or to a whisky distillery – as well as activities, such as ice walking and whale and puffin watching. Performing this summer are a mixed bunch, including Slayer, Bonnie Tyler and Skream.

June 21-24, secretsolstice.is, £117.

DJ set in a glacier?

Pohoda, Slovakia



An arty, eco-friendly ethos has long set this Slovakian gem apart from its brasher, more commercial Western European cousins. With tempting line-ups spanning lots of genres and affordable drinks prices, more and more Britons are discovering the festival each year. The setting - on an old airfield at Trencin (120km from Bratislava), with acres of space and distant mountain views - isn't half bad either.

Musical highlights this year include The Chemical Brothers, St Vincent, Glass Animals and Little Dragon.

July 5-7, pohodafestival.sk, £88.



Rock Werchter, Belgium



One of Europe's more traditional rock festivals, Rock Werchter has nonetheless kept up with the times, offering something for everyone sonically and does its best to be as inclusive and as mud-free as possible. There is a regular shuttle bus for those who would rather return to a warm bed in nearby Leuven or for campers, an initiative that allows those who want to stretch out to book 8 or 16msq of guaranteed space for their tents. There is also a dedicated campsite with easy access for festival-goers with disabilities.

Headliners this summer include Muse, Arctic Monkeys and Pearl Jam.

July 5-8, rockwerchter.be, £212 (not including camping)

Rock Werchter Credit: JOKKO

Bilbao BBK Live

BBK allows festival-goers to slip easily from the beach, a 10-minute drive away, to the galleries of the Guggenheim and then into the crowds for some of Europe’s best-known bands. This is a nice size event, with a friendly atmosphere and a dedicated underground dance stage.

The festival site occupies a scenic spot on the slopes of a leafy hill and people often walk up to it in the afternoon to enjoy its views of the city. Tickets are cheap and the festival offers lots of hotel packages for those hoping to base themselves in Bilbao and fuel up on pintxos, or catch some surf.

The xx, Florence + The Machine and Alt-J have signed up for 2018.

July 12-14 bilbaobbklive.com, £88.

Bilbao BBK Live Credit: Picasa

Oya, Norway



Norway's coolest festival is effortlessly so, with an easygoing crowd of 60,000 or so lapping up a huge range of music, from hip-hop to pop to death metal in the leafy surroundings of Toyen Park, Oslo. In between the acts (which start, in the main, on Wednesday), festival-goers can browse stalls selling records, art and clothes while sampling organic food.

This year you can catch Kendrick Lamar, Arcade Fire and Lykke Li, among others.

Aug 7-11, oyafestivalen.no/en/, £260.

Oya comes with plenty of organic food

Sziget, Budapest

Taking place over a week, though better seen in a few days, this vast site on an island in the Danube features a small beach and a bewildering array of stages, hosting everything from big names in rock to jazz, blues and gipsy. In amongst all this are art installations in the trees and random outbursts of improvised fun and mayhem from the Sziget “community”.

Revellers can camp on the island but we would recommend staying in one of the city’s hotels, just a couple of train stops or a river ferry-ride away. This way you can walk Buda’s medieval castle walls by day, then crawl the city’s famous “ruin pubs” before heading down to the festival at night.

Acts for 2018 include Gorillaz, Stormzy and Arctic Monkeys.

Aug 8-15, szigetfestival.com/en, £158 for three days.

Flow Festival, Helsinki

Gaining prominence each year, Flow presents a reliably exciting line-up of on-trend acts to a sophisticated crowd, alongside helpings of delicious food from the capital’s avant-garde restaurateurs – served up in vans, naturally.

Held in the arty surroundings of a former power plant draped in fairy lights, it is proving an event not to miss. The city centre is a short hop away, giving visitors a chance to explore its boulevards, green spaces and island swimming spots.

The huge new public saunas are also the ideal place to recuperate and, in the traditional Finnish manner, relax with new-found friends.

Expect to see the likes of Patti Smith, Grizzly Bear, Shame and Kendrick Lamar this year.

Aug 10-12, flowfestival.com/en, £150.