You don’t get the full experience of your travel destinations unless you attend their cultural festivals.

Tourists often fall prey to the passive sightseeing of mainstream tourist destinations, making their travel experience a mechanical attempt to check off boxes on an itinerary. Don’t let your excursion be a mere box-ticking exercise! Traveling to a new country opens up a horizon of experiences and memories. New places grant you the opportunity to immerse yourself in a new culture and meet new people.

Experience the pulse of the places you visit through their cultural festivals and create movie-like memories from Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara to Coco. Beyond the top Google-searched destinations, around the world lies a myriad of cultural festivals that bare the country’s soul. By actively participating in these festivals, you become part of the community, unfolding a whole new side of the new country you’re visiting. Here are some cultural festivals worldwide that you should be a part of. Plan your trip around these festivals to have a more enriching experience.

1. Dia de los Muertos, Mexico

On the surface, it might seem like a Mexican iteration of Halloween, but it holds a more revered significance. The Day of the Dead is a week-long celebration that begins on October 31st. During this festival, families pay homage to their deceased relatives, as you may have seen in Disney’s Coco. They decorate altars in their homes and public spaces, awaiting the ‘return’ of their loved ones. However, the festival is not as grim as you may expect it to be. It’s a vibrant occasion, and the cities are adorned with flowers, pumpkins, and decorated sugary skulls. Families take to the road in costumes and engross their evenings in storytelling, singing, and feasting.

2. Rio de Janeiro Carnival, Brazil

Thrumming with energy, this is the largest carnival in the world. It offers the experience of a street festival like no other. Dramatic parades, colorful costumes, pulsating drum beats, and energetic samba will excite you because this is how you party. For eight days every year, in February, the carnival takes the streets in storms with millions dancing. It’s a chaotic whirlwind of colors, dance, food, and music.

3. La Tomatina, Spain

This is obvious on the list, everyone needs to have their Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara moment. Celebrated in the Valencian town of Buñol, the last Wednesday of August, it’s one of the unhinged yet exhilarating festivals. Revelers hurl tomatoes at each other in a maddening frenzy. It has been continuing since 1945, where every year folks flock to Buñol and embrace the euphoric mayhem. It’s simply an unforgettable experience where you get to mingle with the locals in the best way possible.

4. Oktoberfest, Germany

If you are a beer aficionado, this festival will be your paradise. This is the world’s largest beer festival, 16 days of celebrating beer and the Bavarian culture. Held in Munich, over six to seven million tourists attend the festival every year. With parades, carnivals, traditional outfits, and music, you truly get a firsthand experience of German culture. Along with good beer, you’ll also find delectable traditional dishes. It’s an annual festival held from mid or late September to the first Sunday in October.

5. The Fuji Shibazakura Festival, Japan

Thousand of purple, pink, and white shibazakura flowers bloom at the bottom of the snow-clad Mount Fuji during this festival. It’s held at Fuji Motosuko Resort near Mount Fuji in Japan during the flowering season in April-May. It’s a wonderful sight to behold, the mountains tucked within the sea of blooming flowers.

Plan your next trip around one of these incredible festivals to truly immerse yourself in the culture and create unforgettable memories. Let the festivities guide you to a deeper connection with your travel destinations.