5. Festival of Avignon, France. Mainly a theater festival, but with the stunning backdrop of the city as a stage, and plenty of off-Festival happenings, the atmosphere is unbeatable. Lasts three weeks from the second week of July.

6. Holy Week and Feria de Abril, Seville, Spain. Holy Week or Semana Santa, from Palm Sunday to Good Friday, is celebrated here with a strange mixture of extreme Catholicism and revelry -featuring hooded penitents and vast floats carried bodily by the crowds, along with carousing in the bars. The Feria de Abril, in the second half of April, usually follows soon after: a weeklong party of food, drink, and flamenco.