Frommer’s 300 Unmissable Events & Festivals Around the World

Frommer's 1 September 2009

Try something different next year by sampling one of the inspirational, unusual or bizarre 300 Unmissable Events and Festivals Around the World, published in a new guidebook on 12th October.

This new offbeat Frommer's® guide to exciting global events includes the condensed wisdom of www.whatsonwhen.com, the definitive events website used by three million people every month.

Frommer's® 300 Unmissable Events & Festivals Around the World www.whatsonwhen.com/300festivals is designed to help travellers plan unforgettable trips and is packed with essential tips and practical advice from the events experts about when to buy tickets and how to get there. Researchers distilled the 300 events chosen from more than 30,000 published on whatsonwhen. Unlike any other events guide, the £14.99 book is usefully divided into special interest themes such as music and family, through to spiritual, or downright weird and it features hundreds of full colour images.

Anna Goldrein, editorial manager at whatsonwhen said: "this guide is a labour of love and we think it's the perfect gift for adventurous, or armchair travellers. We know increasing numbers of people want more than a tan when they go on holiday. They want to take part in local life and take home fabulous memories. So we've picked out our favourite events that we believe will inspire people to do just that - from free festivals to blow-the-budget events, through to gourmet experiences and natural wonders. Each event in the book has approximate dates and cost ranges and once people have been inspired they can check more detail, dates prices and web links in a dedicated website."

Examples from among the 300 unmissable ideas from each category in the book include:

Culture - Buenos Aires Tango Festival in Argentina, August
Buenos Aires Tango Festival in Argentina, runs over ten days in August, with organised championship events and spontaneous street-corner dances. Concerts take place between 6 and 11pm but there are also tango films and exhibitions during the day. www.festivaldetango.gov.ar.

Family - Vancouver International Children's Festival, May
Vancouver International Children's Festival in Canada runs over eight days in May with ticketed shows as well as free workshops and activities ranging from juggling and hula hooping to an interactive sound tent with sound sculptures and instruments. It's claimed this is where children's face painting originated. www.childrensfestival.ca.

Food and Drink - Melbourne Food and Wine Festival, March
Melbourne Australia reasserts itself as the culinary hotspot down south every year over 17 days in March when you can savour one of 200 gourmet events at the Melbourne Food and Wine Festival. Or sip the best from more than 60 of Victoria's boutique wineries. www.melbournefoodandwine.com.au

Glamorous - Rose Ball, Salle des Etoile, Monte Carlo, Monaco, March
With a guest list of royalty and A-listers you'd be forgiven for thinking that Monaco's Rose Ball is invitation only. Think again then shimmy into your finest gown and gear for the fragrant rose-filled Salle des Etoile for a champagne dinner in aid of charity. The ball is held on the final Saturday in March every year. www.montecarloresort.com

Music - Exit Festival, Novi Sad, Serbia, July
Over three days in July the medieval Petrovaradin Fortress in Serbia hosts international rock bands. World-class DJs rock the party crowd thronging in the grassy moat and campsite looks out over the shimmering calm of the blue Danube. www.exitfest.org

Natural wonders - Naga Fireball Festival, Mekong River, Thailand, October
Gaze in wonder at the red, pink and orange fireballs that soar from the river into the night sky. This natural phenomenon is believed by Buddists to be the underwater serpent Phaya Nak's homage to Buddah and is the centerpiece of a two-day celebration with light and sound shows and boat contests. www.tourismthailand.org

Spectacular - Day of the Virgin of Guadalupe Cliff Diving, Acapulco, Mexico, December
Feel your stomach turn as dare-devil divers plunge 45m off rugged cliffs into an impossibly narrow strip of water in honour of their patron saint, the Virgin of Guadalupe. At night, divers raise the bar even further by leaping through a circle of flames. www.clavadistadelaquebrada.com.

Spiritual and Religious - Beltane Festival, Edinburgh Scotland, April
Edinburgh's neo-pagan Beltane Festival is a dramatic take on an ancient Celtic fertility festival. Wrap up for a sunset picnic or join the white witches and crowds after dark and watch the May Queen, Green Man and White Woman arrive on the hill accompanied by hooded figures with flaming torches to enact the birth of summer. www.beltane.org

Sport and adventure - Yukigassen Finland, April
Find six friends, strap on your crash helmets and get ready to snow battle. Unlike any old snow ball fight, the Yukigassen tournament has rules, referees, tactics and spectators. Go just to watch or take part by entering at least 30 minutes prior to the first match. www.yukigassenfi.aazilla.com

Weird and wonderful - Santa Clause World Championship, Samnaun, Switzerland, November
Spectators flock here for the unique site of teams of pseudo-Santas battling it out in disciplines such as chimney climbing, gingerbread decorating and delivering gifts, as well as skiing and parties. www.clauwau.com

When buying a copy of the book, readers will also have the chance to win a holiday to Melbourne and Victoria for two with Bridge and Wickers and Etihad Airways. For further details, please visit www.wiley.com/go/festivals

Frommer's 300 Unmissable Events & Festivals Around the World by Whatsonwhen 9780470742211 Paperback
Check in at www.whatsonwhen.com/300festivals

- ENDS -

Further information
Debbie Hindle or Lucy Pennington, bgb Tel: 0207 902 2990, email dhindle@bgb.co.uk or lpennington@bgb.co.uk

Notes to editors:
www.whatsonwhen.com
whatsonwhen.com is the definitive events website providing over 20 million users every month with reasons to travel the world in search of adventure, culture, music and even cheese rolling and baby jumping. whatsonwhen authors are experts in their field. As The Guardian newspaper have said, intrigued by the depth, diversity and endless fascination of whatsonwhen events, "Is there anything happening anywhere that these people don't know about?" Frommer's acquired Whatsonwhen in 2006. whatsonwhen belongs to the Frommer's family of travel publishing and is a John Wiley & Sons Ltd trademark.

Frommer's®
Frommer's UK is the latest publishing venture from Frommer's, America's bestselling travel guide series. Founded in 1957, more than 75 million books have been sold since inception, with over 2.5 million guides sold each year. Frommer's publishes more than 300 guides and sells 2.5 million guides annually, reaching 7 million travellers who count on Frommer's for exact prices, savvy trip-planning, sightseeing advice, dozens of detailed maps, and candid reviews of hotels and restaurants in every price range. Frommers.com is a comprehensive, opinionated travel resource featuring more than 3,500 world destinations. For more information, visit www.frommers.com

About Wiley
Founded in 1807, John Wiley & Sons, Inc. has been a valued source of information and understanding for 200 years, helping people around the world meet their needs and fulfil their aspirations. Since 1901, Wiley and its acquired companies have published the works of more than 350 Nobel laureates in all categories: Literature, Economics, Physiology or Medicine, Physics, Chemistry and Peace. Our core businesses publish scientific, technical, medical and scholarly journals, encyclopaedias, books, and online products and services; professional/trade books, subscription products, training materials, and online applications and websites; and educational materials for undergraduate and graduate students and lifelong learners. Wiley's global headquarters are located in Hoboken, New Jersey, with operations in the U.S., Europe, Asia, Canada, and Australia. The Company's Web site can be accessed at http://www.wiley.com. The Company is listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbols JWa and JWb.

About the Frommer's 300 Unmissable Events & Festivals Around the World Editors
Each section of the 300 Unmissable Events and Festivals Around the world is edited by a dedicated expert.

Overall editor Anna Goldrein, Editorial Manager, whatsonwhen
Art and Culture Nick Breckenfield
Family Bernard Mulcahy
Food and Drink Claudia Fogg
Glamorous Victoria Noble
Music Mat Osman
Natural Wonders Clemmy Manzo
Spectacular Heather Sills
Spiritual and Religious Louise McGrath
Sport and Adventure Derek Lock
Weird and Wonderful Mark Crabbie

Bridge and Wickers, Tourism Victoria and Etihad Airways holiday competition
Frommer's has partnered with Tourism Victoria, Bridge and Wickers and Etihad Airways to offer readers the chance to win an exciting holiday for two to Melbourne and Victoria. Competition closes on 10th January 2010. For further information, please visit www.wiley.com/go/festivals

 

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