Top 10 Festivals in September

This month you lucky backpackers can find the top ten September festivals – from across the planet, carefully selected and described in one place. Ladies and gentlemen - this is your September Top 10 Travel Tips.

Riverfront Jazz, Greenwich
On September 18, 2008 a rather spectacular music event kicks off on the south eastern banks of the River Thames in Greenwich. Expect twenty venues and fifty events at this spectacle – endorsed as: “the most popular and enduring event in the Greenwich Calendar.” It's the second largest jazz festival in Britain and best of all most of it is free! A good transport tip is to jump on an over-ground train to Greenwich from London Bridge Station. The river is a short walk from the station forecourt.
Horn Dance
On the first Monday after September 4, you are invited to witness an ancient Pagan dance in rural Staffordshire. Specifically this British eccentricity occurs in Abbots Bromley in the middle of the Midlands. It starts at 8am (I know but it's worth it) and involves a bunch of locals dancing around a 12km route - with a set of thousand year old deer antlers. It sounds bizarre and it is, but that's where the appeal lies. This is as good as the English Eccentricity that is Cheese Rolling – only there are fewer injuries incurred during this 12 hour jive – I hope.
London Freewheel
It's not categorically a festival but London Freewheel is guaranteed to have that carnival atmosphere that can only be created by the gathering of thousands of like minded folks. Come along with your two wheeled friend on September 21, 2008 and make the most of cycling around a traffic free London. Top stops include the London Eye, the Houses of Parliament, Buckingham Palace, the Tower of London, Tower Bridge, Trafalgar Square and much more. This freewheeler drew in 38,000 cyclers in 2007 and 2008 is set to be even bigger so make sure you're a part of it.
Cow Ball
In the middle of September, over in Slovenia you can celebrate the homecoming of the cows. Cattle are decorated in a number of unusual fashions and people give thanks for a dairy-full year. Cheese, milk and other lactose riddled produce are abundant at the Cow Ball and it's only right to get a photo with the milk maids in action. The mountainous surrounds of Lake Bohinj are a tiny bit awe inspiring and the hill walks around here afford just enough calorie burning exercise for you to go home without having put weight on. Take a trip to multilingual bohinj.com for all the details.
The Mayor's Thames Festival
I stumbled upon this celebration last year and if you don't mind fantastically huge crowds then you too will have a good time here. The people of London and those lucky enough to be passing through the city – all descend on the banks of the River Thames for a blow out party. Music, sculpture, type rope walking over the river and much more is on the party menu and you don't have to pay a penny to be part of it. Roads, bridges and open spaces are all closed to nasty, polluting traffic, before being transformed into visually pleasing works of interactive art. Head to the Thames on September 13 and 14, between noon and 10pm to be a part of the fun.
Oktoberfest (The Munich Beer Festival)
This one doesn't need any grand fanfare because there is an international and fantastic reputation that precedes it - like a thundering Juggernaut. Between September 20 and October 5, 2008 you should, without question, drop everything in your life and head to Munich to drink beer and listen to music. You can save on accommodation by booking a bed in Salzburg and commuting to Munich on one of the frequent, high speed, low cost trains. The first weekend is set to be a corker with breweries parading horse drawn carriages and folk groups in old school costumes, through the streets. The one litre beer mugs – Maßs - are everywhere, which is never a bad thing, just like the fact that entrance to the festival is free.
The BBC Proms
This annual event is something you have to do at least once in a lifetime, if only to say that you've been to this grander than grand hall. Queen Victoria had the British army build this venue to honour her late husband – Albert and there really is nothing like it anywhere else. These classical music concerts have tickets, times, prices and pieces to suit all tastes and if you're lucky enough to get tickets for the massively popular final night, then you can watch a bunch of patriotic Brits getting all bleary eyed over the all inclusive, Rule Britania sing along. Take a look at prices and availability throughout September on the BBC website. Splendid!
Festival of the Virgin of Mercy
If you don't like dancing giants, human pyramids, Spaniards running with fire or children launching fire crackers then you won't like this festival. Conversely if you do like all of the above and want to see out the winter with a crazy little bang then get yourself down to Barcelona for the four days around September 24, 2008. This celebration honours Nostra Senyora de la Mercè who fought off a swarm of locusts and defended the city in the War of the Spanish Succession. This festival is fiery and in your face - just like the patron saint it honours. You can't miss this gathering in Barcelona so all you have to do is head out into the main through fares.
The Autumn Equinox in London
The equinox weighs in at the smaller end of the festival scale and celebrates the point in the year when day and night are of equal length. How depressing you might say - that the nights are drawing in but at Primrose Hill, in North London there will be a bunch of rather excitable Druids who will disagree and celebrate their socks off. You can see a similar spectacle at Stonehenge near Bath and festivities are more often than not – totally free. This year the date is set to be September 22 at approximately 11.44am. Goodbye summer.
The Regent Street Festival
On Sunday September 7, 2008 Regent Street will be shut to motorised traffic between noon and 8pm. This little festival is set to attract six hundred thousand visitors – all with one agenda – the celebration of all things British. It's a quirky affair and the top attractions this year include trumpeters, dancing in the streets, vintage cars on display, great gourmet food samples, marching bands and live music. TV boy band Avenue are set to perform but apart from that it should be a good day.