Travel calendar: discover your next holiday destination
Let this month-by-month calendar of events inspire your next holiday, whether you’re a die-hard Elvis fan, a sports nut or an art aficionado.
Travel for the sheer joy of it is a strong motivator, but plenty of Australians need a carrot dangled in front of them before dusting off the hard case and loading a roaming e-SIM. According to a report by travel site Skyscanner, one in four Australian travellers in 2025 is headed to a sporting event, more than half are seeking a cultural fix, and a trending search term is “eclipse”.
There’s an event for everyone, somewhere in the world in 2025, so try some of these.
January
Celebrations of Elvis Presley’s life will have particular poignancy in 2025, for what would have been his 90th birthday on January 8. You could follow the sequinned jumpsuits to Parkes in NSW for its annual Elvis Festival (January 8-12), where every theatre, park and hotel will feel the heartbreak of a life cut short. The true Elvis pilgrims, though, will be at Graceland in Memphis, where celebrations (January 8-11) will be led by many who sang back-up to the King in his later career. A new 90 for 90 exhibition will feature select artefacts from the 1.5 million-strong Graceland collection. An Elvis or two might pop up at the World Buskers Festival in Christchurch (January 24-February 2) but also expect circus, comedy, cabaret and jam sessions.
February
Strap yourself in for four weeks of intense arts in the South Australian capital. Adelaide Fringe (February 21-March 23) is a free-for-all where artists and performers self-produce their work wherever they can find a venue and an audience. And out of the centre rises the main Adelaide Festival (February 28-March 16), kicking off with the Australian premiere of much-lauded opera Innocence, starring Teddy Tahu Rhodes. American singer Cat Power recreates 2023 album Cat Power Sings Dylan, while Tim Winton heads a weighty collection of authors for Writers Week. And Irish actor Stephen Rea stars in Beckett’s masterpiece, Krapp’s Last Tape. The traditional companion event is WOMADelaide (March 7-10), with 50-plus world musicians, artists and dancers.
Prince Harry’s Invictus Games for injured service personnel in Vancouver and Whistler (February 8-16) are including winter sports for the first time and, with reconciliation to the fore, they’re being held in partnership with Canada’s First Nations
February 28 is a red-letter day for stargazers, with a rare lineup of the seven other planets visible from Earth appearing at once. The more remote your viewing spot, the better, so maybe the outback.
March
All of Brazil will be sashaying for nine days of Carnival (February 28-March 8), and a lot of the world joins in, with two million visitors a day in Rio alone. They come for the blaze of colour and movement, where samba schools compete in everything from the nuance of their movement and significance of the song to the costumes. Once a street parade, in Rio it’s now in the Sambodromo, a grandstand-lined avenue, where the grand finale will be judged on March 8. There are still street parties all over town, and it’s fine for visitors to join in. Other cities have different music styles and dances, but it’s all about carefree joy in this traditional lead-up to Ash Wednesday.
The same joyful philosophy applies to Holi, the spectacular dye-splashing Hindu festival (March 14) celebrated all over India.
Bendigo Art Gallery in Victoria continues its impressive lineup of must-see exhibitions with Frida Kahlo (from March 15), including prized items from the Mexican artist’s personal belongings.
Northern Canada is a prime destination for viewing the notoriously fickle Northern Lights, but there’s a guaranteed astronomical double of a total lunar eclipse (March 14) and a partial solar eclipse (March 29).
April
Great world expos have been held since 1851, but these days they’ve pivoted from random exhibitions of wondrous things to a melting pot of ideas, and the 2025 edition opens in Osaka, Japan, on April 13. The following six months will be an exchange of ideas between companies, NGOs, citizens’ groups et al to help resolve issues facing all mankind. The nuts-and-bolts exhibits encompass smarter mobility, including future-life pavilions showcasing cities, food, culture and healthcare, “advanced air mobility” (drone taxis), a water/air spectacular called Under the Midnight Rainbow, and AI-generated visitor experiences.
The whole month of April delivers four weeks of supreme regional flavours and festivities at Newcastle Food Month. Pop-ups, street markets, chef takeovers, masterclasses, long lunches, high teas and children’s workshops are backed up by music and drinks events right across the NSW city, from fine-dining places to cafes, pubs, bars and breweries.
May
Eurovision in Switzerland might sound like a culture clash, but the multicultural host city of Basel could be the catalyst that turns this event (May 13-17) on its head. The nations slug it out in song in St Jakobshalle, but there are several peripheral free sites across the event week, including fan zones, concerts and appearances by past Eurovision stars.
The 80th anniversary of a free Europe is celebrated on VE Day (May 8), particularly in erstwhile Euro-participant Britain. The public is encouraged to hold parties in the streets, gardens, churches, halls and pubs, while cathedrals all over the country will ring their bells at 6.30pm, followed by a lighting of beacons and lamplights of peace at 9.30pm
If people-watching is your thing, nothing beats the parade of panache passing into the Met Gala in New York (May 5), where this year’s theme is Superfine: Tailoring Black Style, exploring the “indelible style of black men in the context of dandyism”. The museum exhibition runs from May 10-October 26.
The end of the wet is anticipated mightily up north, and Kununurra’s Ord Valley Muster (May 16-25) doesn’t hold back, with a week of music, dance and original outback cuisine.
June
FIFA has filled a hole in its calendar of sporting dominance with the inaugural Club World Cup, in the US (June 15-July 13). Clubs from the six international confederations will compete, including heavyweights Bayern Munich, Juventus, Real Madrid, Chelsea and Boca Juniors. Oceania’s sole representation is Auckland City, so c’mon Kiwi, c’mon. Venues are spread across the country, from New York and Los Angeles to Cincinnati, Nashville and Charlotte, North Carolina.
Washington DC hosts 2025’s World Pride, three weeks of celebrations culminating in the WorldPride Parade (June 7), as well as choral and sports festivals, and concerts, including an event opener headlined by Shakira.
Solstice-seekers can go north, to dance around the maypole under the midnight sun at the Midsummer Festival (June 19-22) at Riksgransen in Swedish Lapland.
Or head to Cusco in Peru for the winter solstice ritual, Inti Raymi (June 24), centred on a parade of dance, acting and music from 800-plus performers.
After being scaled back in 2024, Hobart’s DarkMofo (June 5-15) has bulked up with a full program of cool creativity and events such as the Night Mass, the Winter Feast and the Nude Solstice Swim.
July
Queensland’s premier food festival, Curated Plate (July 25-August 3), covers most parts of the Sunshine Coast, but that’s because it has so many producers and purveyors to include. There are long lunches in the hills, seaside soirees, food trucks, distillery doors and cocktails under the gumtrees.
Even if you’re not into barrel racing, bull riding or tied-down roping, the Calgary Stampede (July 4-13) is still a spectacle, especially against the backdrop of the Canadian Rockies. Outside the rodeo events, there are concerts, marching bands, agricultural competitions and First Nations culture.
August
The world changed forever on August 6, 1945, when the first atomic bomb devastated Hiroshima. Every day these weapons are not used is marked with gratitude in this city, and the 80th anniversary commemoration will be solemn and low-key but, as always, sincere, with an overarching message of “give peace a chance”. As with many things Japanese, it’s best understood with local interpretation, and Inside Japan Tours includes both Hiroshima and Nagasaki, which was bombed three days later, on its Peace Park and Museum outing.
Held in northeast Arnhem Land, Garma (August 1-4) is the Northern Territory’s most remote festival but that’s part of the allure, alongside four days of art, music, dance, ceremony and song, plus plenty of keen debate on Yolngu cultural issues.
September
Auto shows have largely gone the way of V8 engines, but not so the venerable Frankfurt Motor Show, repackaged in recent years as IAA Mobility and based in Munich (September 9-14). About 150 new and updated vehicles will be revealed and test-driven, alongside numerous concept designs and crystal ball-gazing.
Although Jane Austen’s 250th birthday isn’t until December, Bath has timed its tribute festival for more ambient dates (September 12-21). There’ll be wall-to-wall readings, Regency dancing and costume parades, plus a promised “large-scale, outdoor Sense and Sensibility-themed event”.
Politics occasionally takes a back seat in Canberra, particularly during Floriade (September 13-October 12), Australia’s premier horticultural event. The garden displays also serve as a backdrop to workshops, music events, art shows and food, and it has dog-friendly aspects.
The most NASA will say about the launch of Artemis II, its first crewed mission to within shouting distance of the moon since 1972, is that it will be “no earlier than September”, so keep an eye on the skies around central Florida.
October
The Sound of Music film is too important to Salzburg to confine its 60th anniversary to one event, and it will be well into a year-long program by the time the Grand Anniversary Week begins (October 23). A gala event will be headlined by SOM stars, and there’ll be exhibitions, an audio-described walking trail, a Segway tour, special menus, and revivals of the stage musical in traditional theatre and marionette mode.
Twice a year, one of ancient Egypt’s architectural marvels, Abu Simbel, bears witness to an astronomical marvel, where the sun shines right on to holy statues deep inside the 3400-year-old main temple. It occurs only on October 22 (birthday of its founder, Rameses II) and February 22 (his ascension to the throne).
November
The Loy Krathong Festival (November 6) is celebrated across Thailand, in tribute to water goddess Phra Mae Khongkha, where baskets adorned with candles, incense and flowers float along any convenient canal, river or lake. It’s accompanied by beauty pageants, dance performances and markets.
JMW Turner might wince at sharing his anniversary with great rival John Constable, so the Tate in London has struck a balance by opening its twin retrospective (November 27) midway between their respective 250th birthdays. Besides many dozens of their works, described by critics as a “clash of fire and water”, there’ll be insights through their sketchbooks and personal items.
December
Johann Strauss’s 200th birthday is being marked by a year of waltz and whimsy in his home town, Vienna, with the crescendo on New Year’s Eve, when the square outside the City Hall will see a 100-strong super-band usher in 2026 with an “unusual new arrangement” of the Blue Danube.
Norway’s northerly location means the winter solstice falls on St Lucia Day (December 13), honouring a fourth-century Sicilian who wore a candle-laden headdress to light the way in tunnels for persecuted Christians. It’s a communal festivity, marked by a procession of young girls handing out saffron buns and ginger cookies.
And don’t miss …
The Pink Soup Festival (May 31) in Vilnius, Lithuania, where beetroot is the star ingredient in soups, seafood dishes, desserts and cocktails all over town.
Heso Matsuri (July 28-29) in the central Hokkaido town of Furano has a simple premise: turn your bellybutton into a face using paint, props or whatever, and dance in the streets. There are prizes.
The Umhlanga (or Zulu Reed Dance, September 1) is an eye-opening ritual in the tiny southern Africa nation of Eswatini, where thousands of young women dance and ululate before their king, to honour their virginity ahead of marriage.
The World Stone Skimming Championships (September 6) is very serious and highly technical, held annually at Easdale Island, near Oban in Scotland.
Many events are still finalising their programs, so check ahead of planned travel dates for more details.
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