The best music festivals in the UK and Europe

Festival season in the UK and Europe is drawing ever closer, so we’ve broken down the best of the best for 2025, from legendary events that have shaped the history of music to lesser-known celebrations in remote corners of Europe. Olivia Rodrigo, Deftones, Chappell Roan and Jamie XX are among artists touring the UK and US festivals this year, while fans are waiting in suspense for the Glastonbury line-up.

We’ve drawn up a definitive shortlist of the 2025 music festivals with the best line-ups, locations and atmosphere for unforgettable live moments, whether you’re a fan of rock, pop, electronic or jazz, as well as considering sustainability initiatives. So get stuck in, and book tickets for your favourite event while they are still available.

Primavera Sound, Barcelona and Porto

When: 4-8 June 2025
Location: Barcelona, Spain
Price: Weekend pass from 295 EUR
Who’s playing? Charlie XCX, Haim, Deftones

Nothing says the start of Europe’s festival season like Primavera Sound in Barcelona. For the last 21 years, the festival has transformed the Parc del Fórum into a week-long musical extravaganza, and since 2012, has expanded its offering with a festival in Porto the following weekend. Primavera has been pioneering a 50/50 gender and pronoun split for its line-ups since 2019, and is the only festival in the world to be co-signed by the United Nations for its sustainability efforts: all on-site vehicles are powered by electricity, there’s a stage powered entirely by renewable energy, and single-use plastics are banned from the site. With eclectic headliners for 2025 including Charlie XCX, Jamie XX, Haim and Caribou alongside performances from Deftones and Beach House, you know it’s going to be a good one. There is no camping at Primavera, so take your pick from Barcelona’s excellent selection of hotels, hostels and Airbnb rentals.

Meadows in the Mountains, Bulgaria

When: TBC
Where: Smolyan, Bulgaria
Price: Weekend pass from 220.64 GBP 

Meadows in the Mountains has what is possibly the most beautiful setting for a festival right now: a private plot of land up in the Rhodope mountains of Bulgaria, with far reaching views over wildflower meadows, mature woodland and rolling hills. The festival is also one of few championing regenerative environmentalism in the industry, having built solar power infrastructure, water treatment schemes, rainwater retention landscapes, compost-to-biogas converters and ‘manure-heated shit-hot showers’, as well as a ‘food forest’ and reforestation plans. The festival itself is kept intentionally small to foster a genuine sense of community – you’ll very likely make new friends and continually bump into them throughout the weekend. The organisers offer a few free tickets each year to guests that make the most effort to arrive at the festival without flying, so start researching train routes, or strap some panniers to your bike and get peddling.

Sónar, Barcelona

When: 12-14 June 2025
Where: Barcelona, Spain
Price: Weekend pass from 350 EUR
Who’s playing? Plastikman, Peggy Gou, Four Tet, Honey Dijon

Two weeks into festival season and Barcelona is blessed with another weekend of music, specialising in all things electronic. It’s also a city festival, which means gigs occur across various venues, and there’s no camping included, so make sure to book a hotel, hostel or Airbnb rental nearby. The line up is split into day and night programming, and covers a swathe of artists, from big hitters like Peggy Gou and Plastikman to a slew of exciting emerging artists. OFFSónar, the series of parties that runs in parallel to the festival itself, has a lineup that complements the main event, curated by leading electronic music labels and artists.

Glastonbury, UK

When: 25-29 June 2025
Where: Pilton, UK
Price: Weekend pass from 335 GBP

This wouldn’t be a guide to the best European festivals without mention of Glastonbury. As one of the longest standing festivals (the first one was held in 1970), it has contributed to the blueprint of what makes a good music festival like few others. The iconic Pyramid stage, the rolling fields of Somerset grass (or mud), an endless array of stages, performances and experiences, and the mad rush for tickets – all of these are intrinsic parts of the experience. Tickets are currently sold out for 2025’s edition, and headliners are yet to be announced, but a small batch of resale tickets are to be released in the first week of April, so keep your eyes peeled.

Roskilde, Denmark

When: June 28 – July 5, 2025
Where: Roskilde, Denmark
Price: Eight day pass is 2520 DKK (€336); two day tickets at 2,070 DKK (€288)
Who’s playing? Nine Inch Nails, Olivia Rodrigo, Stormzy, Deftones, Jamie XX, Doechii

Roskilde is one of the largest and best festivals in Europe, and the largest in the Nordic countries, with more than 130,000 festival-goers each year. It’s been held south of Roskilde city, just outside of Copenhagen, since 1971 and continues to draw top line-ups, with music running for a full week. The nonprofit festival is organised by Roskilde Festival Charity Society, and proceeds support humanitarian and cultural work benefitting children and young people. Deftones, Nine Inch Nails, Jamie XX, Doechii and Saint Levant are on the bill for 2025. Book your tickets, pitch your tent, and head down to the Orange Stage.

Love International, Croatia

When: June 9-15 July, 2025
Where: Tisno, Croatia
Price: Day tickets from 75 GBP (weekend passes are sold out)
Who’s playing: Ben UFO, Floating Points, Bonobo, Horse Meat Disco

In July, Love International festival takes over the small Croatian town of Tisno for a weekend of live electronic music, boat parties and beach-side dancing. Lap up performances by Ben UFO, Bonobo and Horse Meat Disco, against Adriatic Sea views. Love International evolved from The Garden Festival, which took place between 2006 and 2011. House, techno, disco and funk music all has a home here, and there are ample swimming and sunbathing opportunities, too.

North Sea Jazz Festival, Rotterdam

When: 12-14 July 2025
Where: Rotterdam, Netherlands
Price: Weekend pass from 365 EUR 

Running since 1976, Rotterdam’s North Sea Jazz Festival is the biggest indoor jazz festival in the world. A pantheon of jazz and soul greats have passed through in that time, and continue to do so, with the 2025 line-up soon to be announced. The curators have been paying attention to what’s been happening in the London music scene recently,, as well as rising Glaswegian jazz band Corto Alto. But it’s not all jazz on offer – expect US rap and funk soul on the bill too, which should not be missed.

Dekmantel, Amsterdam

When: 30 July-3 August 2025
Where: Amsterdam, Netherlands
Price: Four-day festival pass from 235 EUR
Who’s playing? Four Tet, Jeff Mills, Honey Dijon

Dekmantel week is a great time to visit Amsterdam. There’s not just the main camping festival in the lush surroundings of Amsterdamser Bos to the south of the city, there’s also a whole music programme on the Wednesday and Thursday scattered across industrial venues along the Ij river, which reflects Amsterdam’s pumping music scene. 2025 marks 11 years of Dekmantel shaking up the festival landscape, with a stellar combination of DJs and electronic acts with exciting left field live bands. Returning acts for 2025 include Four Tet, Jeff Mills and Avalon Emerson, as well as debuts from Honey Dijon and Call Super.

Sziget, Hungary

When: 6-11 August 2025
Where: Budapest, Hungary
Price: Six-day pass from 229 EUR; weekend pass 199 EUR
Who’s playing? Charlie XCX, Chappell Roan, A$AP Rocky, Post Malone 

Sziget, which means ‘island’ in Hungarian, is just that: an island in the middle of the Danube, on the outskirts of Budapest. Each year around half a million people populate it for a week of music and dancing, with some of the biggest names in pop, electronic and rock topping the lineups. 2025 is no exception, with Anyma, Charlie XCX and Chappell Roan joining A$AP Rocky, Post Malone and Shawn Mendes. But if you prefer to keep away from the mainstream, the festival is so massive you’re sure to find something to your tastes, with alternative stages, tents and hidden venues catering for everything from reggae to techno. Sziget was an early adopter of electronic passes so there’s no need to carry around a wallet, and the island is almost entirely forested so there’s plenty of shade to camp under – and even a riverside beach for cooling swims.

Houghton, UK

When: 7-10 August 2025
Where: Norfolk, UK
Price: Weekend pass from 297.50 GBP
Who’s playing: Aurora Halal Batu, Ben UFO, Carista, Binary Digit 

Houghton is for the woodland ravers, set incongruously in the grounds of the neoclassical 18th century manor house Houghton Hall in Norfolk. Normally visited by art fans for its sculpture garden, the estate takes on an altogether different atmosphere on this particular weekend in August, when techno and house heads party in the woods non-stop for the whole three days (seriously, there’s a 24-hour music licence here). It’s one of the UK’s newest festivals, and each year the lineup is like an A to Z of the best electronic artists active right now, so have a read if you must, or just turn up and get dancing.

We Out Here, UK

When: 14-17 August 2025
Where: Dorset, UK
Price: Weekend pass at 240 GBP
Who’s playing? Michael Kiwanuka, Kokoroko, Nala Sinephro

If you’re a fan of the current wave of young jazz artists coming out of the UK, then you probably already know about We Out Here. Curated by Radio 6 DJ, record label owner and all-round tastemaker Gilles Peterson, the festival packs in all the best jazz and jazz-adjacent acts coming up in London and the rest of the UK, with the odd international act thrown in too (2021 had a surprise set from Thundercat on the Friday night). In 2023, the festival moved location from Cambridgeshire to Wimborne St Giles in Dorset, where ravers can now enjoy a breather by the lakeside, or take some time out in the hot tubs in the wellness area. And that’s just the daytime: when night falls, things kick up a notch in the woods with a serious lineup of DJs keeping things ticking into the morning. For 2025, Michael Kiwanuka is headlining, alongside performances from Nala Sinephro and Joe Bataan.

Rock en Seine, Paris

When: 20-24 August 2025
Where: Paris, France
Price: Weekend pass from 219 EUR
Who’s playing? Chappell Roan, Suki Waterhouse

Have you ever been to a festival in a classified historic monument? Rock en Seine is held at Domaine National de Saint-Cloud to the west of Paris, inside a 460-hectare garden designed by André Le Nôtre. The day festival hosts some of the biggest names in rock and pop each year, and 2025 sees Chappell Roan and Suki Waterhouse take to the stage, with many more names to be announced. You can buy single day tickets if your favourite bands are concentrated on one day, or get the full weekend pass and stay nearby in Paris. Forgo roughing it in a tent and book a nearby hotel or Airbnb rental.

Lost Village, UK

When: 21-24 August 2025
Where: Lincolnshire, UK
Price: Weekend pass from 320 GBP
Who’s playing? Barry Can’t Swim,  Caribou, Four Tet, Maribou State, Joy Orbison

Held in a private woodland near Lincoln, only a few thousand revellers come to the boutique UK festival Lost Village each year, bringing an intimate, community atmosphere. There’s a huge emphasis on the experience here, with outlandish stage designs, roaming actors, and secret areas obscured in the woods all contributing to the mystique. There’s also genuinely good food and drink, with brands like Patrón and Żubrówka hosting their own bars and serving proper cocktails, and a lineup from some of the UK’s and London’s best restaurants and chefs. On top of all this, Lost Village still manages to book some of the best artists in the electronic world, with an all-star line-up each year. Taking place on the August bank holiday weekend, this year’s line-up includes Caribou, Four Tet, Joy Orbison and Maribou State. Barry Can’t Swim is making his first live appearance since the launch of his debut album When Will We Land?.

Dimensions, Croatia

When: 28 Aug-1 September 2025
Where: Tisno, Croatia
Price: Weekend pass from 190 GBP 

The 2025 edition of Dimensions returns to Tisno Garden Resort on the Dalmatian coast, and it’s set to cement its position as one of the best festivals in Europe. There’s the usual lineup of festival classics, B2B exclusives, label parties, and debut sets, from DJs spanning house, techno, electro, breaks, minimal, D&B, and disco. If you’re looking for the gritty sounds of Chicago, Detroit, London and Berlin, but would rather experience them under the sun beside the azure waters of the Adriatic, then Dimensions is exactly where you need to be.

Read more: The best music festivals in the US