The Best Art and Culture Festivals in Germany and Switzerland

Summertime is festival time! There are great opportunities to experience art and culture outdoors – music, dance, theater, films, interdisciplinary art, and much more – there is something for everyone. We already gave you a brief overview of the best art and culture festivals in Austria this summer, so now we’ll put Germany and Switzerland into the spotlight!

Do you like going to multi-day festivals, camping, and wandering from stage to stage? Or would you prefer visiting a literature festival just for one day in your hometown? There are plenty of opportunities to experience arts and culture festivals this summer! We took a look at the festivals in Germany and Switzerland and put together a few highlights for you.

Music and Dance

Ready to dance the night away to your favorite music? We’ve got you covered!

One of the biggest festivals for music and art, the MS Dockville, is taking place again in Hamburg (August 19^th – August 21^st). If you are quick, you can also still visit the Kunst!Rasen Festival in Bonn, which is ongoing till August 13^th, or you can shake it off at Tanz im August in Berlin (August 5^th – August 27^th).

September also has a lot to offer in Germany, where you can visit the Superbloom Festival (September 3^rd – 9^th), the big Lollapalooza Berlin Edition (September 24^th – September 25^th), or the Believe Festival in Leipzig (30.09).

Switzerland also has a lot on the table when it comes to music and dance festivals!

The Openair Gränichen (August 5^th– August 6^th) is an annual evergreen, as well as Stars in Town (August 4^th– August 13^th), or the  Summer Days Festival in Arbon (September 3^rd – September 4^th).

Theater and Literature

Theater lovers, take note! Don’t miss out on the Bayreuther Festspiele, the world’s most famous music theater festival dedicated to Richard Wagner’s last ten operas (July 27^th – September 1^st). A different kind of theater festival evolving around politics and the concept of power is “Politik im Freien Theater”, taking place from September 29^th – October 8^th in Frankfurt.

Our favorite theater festivals in Switzerland are the Nord Art Theaterfestival (August 10^th – August 20^th) and the Theaterfestival Basel, taking place from August 24^th – September 4^th.

If you are a literature fan, our highlights this summer are the African Book Festival (August 26^th – August 28^th)  and the Internationales Literaturfestival (September 7^th – September 17^th)  Berlin, the Poetenfest in Erlangen (August 25^th – August 28^th) , and the Harbour Front Literaturfestival in Hamburg (September 8^th – October 22^nd).

Film

Turning to film festivals, we are especially looking forward to the British Short Film Festival (August 5 – August 11), Filmfest Weiterstadt or the Five Lakes Film Festival (August 24 – September 04). Did you also know that Switzerland has several film festivals going on? There is, for instance, the Zürich Film Festival (September 22^nd – October 2^nd) and the Locarno Filmfestival (August 3^rd – August 13^th).

Interdisciplinary & Street Art

Last but not least, we have the highlights of interdisciplinary and street art festivals. This weekend, you can party at the Artlake Festival in Lichterfeld (August 4^th– August 8^th) or you can participate in some thought exchange at the Mind on Fire Festival in Herbstein (August 11^th– August 14^th).

For street art lovers, your best bet is to visit the Street Art Wilhelmshaven in Germany (August 5^th – August 7^th) or the Vevey Street Artists Festival (August 18^th – August 21^st) at Lake Geneva.

We hope you could something among those culture festivals that intrigues you! For now, all there is left to say is to enjoy the rest of your summer, and see you outside at one of the many cultural events!