Have you ever wondered why people travel? Why they leave their homes and journey to far flung corners of the earth, sometimes halfway around the globe? 3 billion of us do it every year, though have you sat down and actually asked yourself why?

The reasons why people love to travel are both personal and varied, but one of the most powerful is a curiosity of other cultures. There’s adventure in not knowing what to expect, and in deepening your knowledge of other lifestyles. How do other people live? What do they eat? What are their habits, norms and values? What are their houses like?

Many travelers leave home in search of an authentic and immersive experience, and one of the best ways to achieve this is by timing your travel to coincide with local festivals and events.

Cultural Immersion Through Festivals and Events

“Festivals are a living museum of cultures and traditions in an increasingly globalised world. There is no better place for travelers to understand a country than an event where it proudly celebrates its individuality, whether through music, camel races or monumental food fights.”

But when you Google “best events in the world”, you’re greeted with hundreds of different articles, all listing their 10 – 50 top picks for festivals you absolutely have to attend.

Now that’s fantastic as an inspirational post, but what if you want access to information about all events in one place? As in a database that would give you a calendar view of every event happening in every location around the world? Something that would show you upcoming events based on your interests as opposed to planning your travels around what an internet list says you should see?

Travelendar is that resource – a free online database set up for travelers who never want to miss a festival or event.

Where to Find the Best Information and Tips For Worldwide Festivals and Events

You can hover over these (or any image) to quickly pin it!

Hundreds of small festivals and events take place across the world each year, and our friend Ben Ooi has recently set up a free travel event calendar to ensure you have access to the best information and tips for events all over the world, and never miss out on an important travel event.

After travelling to over 30 countries on his Australian passport and enjoying unique events held in each country throughout his trips, he decided there should be an avenue where he could share his knowledge and research.

A list, map and schedule of travel events and attractions that occur at different times throughout the year, Travelendar is an online database which has been created to be the number one place to visit when you need travel tips, ideas and inspiration on any event or festival.

The aim is to help make travel planning easy and fun for those who are new to the world of travel, and for seasoned travelers who might not have heard about an event.

This is Ben at Oktoberfest

How to Use the Website

When you jump over to www.travelendar.com, you’re greeted with upcoming travel events which you can filter by your interests and dates, recent posts from the blog, and additional travel planning resources.

The site has three calendars you can use to help you with your travel plans, which are a Travel Event Calendar, a Yearly Event Calendar, and a Weather Calendar.

The Travel Event Calendar presents information on when and where each event takes place. You can filter events based on categories for cultural, music, nature, public holiday, sport, or ticket sale, and filter by month.

Each listing has their own page which further information, which includes dates, locations, contact details (event website), an event overview, travel tips, and lists the closest international airport.

The Yearly Event Calendar presents all of the events in one simple and easy to read page. If you’re not sure where to go but want to avoid bad weather, the Country Weather Calendar displays the average maximum temperature and rainfall probability of cities in various countries.

There’s also an Event and Attraction Map which is a map of the world with event pins set up to give you an overview of which countries have the best festivals and events. When you click on each marker it reveals information on the best time to visit.

Don’t Settle for a TV Screen

Don’t settle for a TV screen when you can be right in the middle of the action and experience it live. Travelendar is a fabulous free resource where you can find the best information and tips for worldwide festivals and events.

Whether it’s a major film festival like Sundance or Cannes, famously popular event like Rio’s Carnival, or something local you may have never heard of, add Travelendar to your bookmarks so that you never miss out on an important travel event.

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Megan is an Australian Journalist and award-winning travel writer who has been blogging since 2007. Her husband Mike is the American naturalist and wildlife photographer behind Waking Up Wild; a website dedicated to opening your eyes to the wild & natural world.

Committed to bringing you the best in adventure travel from all around the globe, there is no mountain too high, and no fete too extreme! They haven’t been everywhere, but it’s on their list.

Follow their journey on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Pinterest and Instagram.

Photo credits: Holi festival photos (Pinterest, featured image & first image in post) by Steven Gerner.