Where to travel in January: 33 festivals

Festivals and seasonal sights in 72 cities in January: Touch the Mountains New Year Concert (Interlaken), London New Year's Day Parade (London), Loony…

Top 10

Interlaken

• Touch the Mountains New Year Concert — Every 1 January: Swiss acts on an open-air stage, food stalls along Höheweg and fireworks over Höhematte. Free entry; only the Golden Circle in front of the stage costs CHF 39.
• Harder Potschete — Figures in carved wooden masks charge through town to drive out the old year's spirits, led by the Hardermannli, his wife and a monk.
• Inferno Race — Mid-January amateur ski race, 16 km straight down from the Schilthorn to Lauterbrunnen. Mürren hotels fill that week.

London

• London New Year's Day Parade — A daytime parade to shake off the fireworks hangover: American high-school marching bands and vintage cars rolling past Trafalgar Square. Kerbside spots are free.

Edinburgh

• Loony Dook — On New Year's morning people in fancy dress run into the freezing Forth under the bridges. Watching is fine; 20 minutes by train from town.

Busan

• New Year Sunrise — Ganjeolgot is known as the first sunrise on the peninsula and the roads jam before dawn. Haeundae's sand is the easy option.
• Gwangalli M Drone Light Show — About 12 minutes, free. Cancelled in strong wind, so check the Suyeong-gu notice that day.

Boracay

• Ati-Atihan Festival, Kalibo — Dancers in black body paint drag their feet to the drums in the 'sadsad' street parade. Kalibo hotels and vans fill up that week.
• Boracay Ati-Atihan — The island's smaller version of the Kalibo festival. Drum troupes move along the beach path and restaurant staff join the dancing.
• Boracay International Funboard Cup — A week of the Asian Windsurfing Tour. The east beach fills with sails.

Cairo

• Coptic Christmas — Midnight mass on the 6th is the high point, with candles and incense through the Old Cairo lanes. The 7th is a public holiday, so banks and offices close.
• Cairo International Book Fair — Late January into early February, the Arab world's biggest book fair. Families come to eat, wander and buy by the bagful. Forty minutes by Uber from downtown.

Bali

• Galungan & Kuningan — Curved bamboo penjor poles line every street and whole families go to temple. Ends ten days later with Kuningan; comes round every 210 days.
• Wet season, December to March — One heavy burst in the late afternoon, then it clears. Southern beaches collect washed-up rubbish in December and January; hotel rates are low.

Amsterdam

• National Tulip Day — Third Saturday of January: 200,000 tulips laid out on Dam Square and anyone can pick a free bunch. The queue builds early.
• Winter low season — Short days, 0–5°C, rain or sleet every other day. The upside: empty museums and cheap hotels. The canals rarely freeze.

Sydney

• Sydney Festival — A month of theatre, music and dance, with free concerts on the Domain lawn. Ticketed shows sell early.
• High summer on the beaches — Highs around 27°C and the best beach weather. Hotels cost the most, the sun is fierce around 2 pm, and a sudden southerly can bring rain.

Cebu

• Sinulog Festival — Dancers carrying the Santo Niño move two steps forward, one back, to drums, all the way through the city. The 2026 edition drew over five million people. Book rooms months ahead; taxis all but vanish that weekend.
• Whale sharks and sardines all year — Neither has a season. Oslob runs daily 06:30–12:00 and the sardines are right off the beach. In January and February the north-east wind can keep the Oslob boats in on some mornings.

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