With festival season firmly upon us, anyone scrambling for last-minute plans can rest assured that there are still plenty of stellar musical extravaganzas that can be booked for this summer and beyond.
For those willing to look a little further afield than the UK, and who perhaps want to maximise their chances of a few days in the sun, then the European festival circuit is looking particularly strong for the remainder of the year.
Below are some of the best European festivals you can still book for 2025.
Conveniently located in the idyllic park of Slottsskogen in the heart of Gothenburg, this year’s stacked Way Out West lineup features an eclectic mix of megastars that include the likes of Iggy Pop, Charli XCX, Pet Shop Boys, Queens of the Stone Age, Little Simz, Beth Gibbons, Yung Lean and loads, loads more.
Away from the music, Way Out West doubles up as Sweden’s third-largest film festival, premiering everything from indie music docs to global feature films, while after hours, the festival’s late-night programme, Stay Out West, takes over Gothenburg’s venues, clubs and bars into the early hours.
Way Out West’s culinary offering has also earned plenty of plaudits. As part of the team’s keen focus on sustainability, all food in the festival area is completely plant-based, and has been since back in 2012.
Set along the sprawling, canal-lined streets of Utrecht, Le Guess Who fills the medieval city’s churches, warehouses, galleries, museums, theatres and clubs with four days’ worth of adventurous, innovative and ‘often overlooked’ sounds. Running alongside the music is a curated programme of film screenings, exhibitions and talks, so there’s plenty going on if you need to catch your breath.
Conveniently, Utrecht can be reached in just 30 minutes by train from Amsterdam Schiphol airport, making it a breeze to get to from the UK. 4-day tickets are unsurprisingly sold out, but day tickets are still available for all four days.
As far as festival sites go, an old abandoned air strip in Poland is certainly one of the cooler sounding options. Throw a seriously impressive bill that features Linkin Park, Future, Gracie Abrams, Nine Inch Nails, Muse and Massive Attack into the equation, and it’s easy to see why Open’er has become a giant amongst the European festival circuit.
Given that the festival is held right by the coast of the Baltic Sea, visitors have the option to spend the afternoons at stunning beaches in nearby Sopot and Gdansk, which are buzzing, lively and joyous when Open’er is in town. It’s also as good a spot as any to sleep off any fuzzy heads brought on by the night before.
Sziget is as big as they come. Stretched over six days, the programme features over 1,000 performances across six stages upon Budapest’s lush Óbuda Island, nestled in the heart of the city on the Danube River. The tree-lined site feels worlds away from Hungary’s historic capital, when in reality, it’s just a short stroll over a bridge, making this a great option for anyone wanting to merge their festival with one of Europe’s most popular city breaks.
Sziget 2025’s lineup is topped by Charli XCX, Shawn Mendes, A$AP ROCKY, Anyma, Post Malone and Chappel Roan, and full 6-day tickets are still on sale for €355.
Portugal’s appetite for live music has given us a plethora of great festivals to pick from, and Parades de Coura, which is now 30+ years into its journey, is one of the jewels in its crown. The river beach location and serene leafy surroundings ensure attendees are fully immersed in nature throughout their stay, and mornings spent paddling and lounging by the water are very much part of the experience.
Vampire Weekend, Franz Ferdinand, Lola Young, Air and Sharron Van Etten are all performing this year, and full festival tickets are priced at an incredibly reasonable €130.
Rock en Seine is another behemoth amongst Europe’s biggest musical get-togethers, always pulling in a lineup packed full of globally renowned artists. This year is no different, as Queens of the Stone Age, Chappell Roan, Justice, Fontaines DC, Vampire Weekend, Jorja Smith, Caribou, Stereophonics, Kneecap, and Doechii all feature across the five days.
Hosted just outside of Paris, the festival site is a fully fledged historic monument, transforming the Domaine National de Saint-Cloud — a 460-hectare park and former castle — into a genre-hopping party that caters to a wide range of musical tastes.
- Words:
- Bradley Lengden
- Published on:
- Fri 20 Jun 2025
Held along the shoreline of Lake Geneva, you’ll struggle to find a prettier backdrop for a music festival than that of the Montreux Jazz Festival. Over the years, the legendary event has attracted some of the most famous musical icons in history, and for this edition, you can enjoy sets from Alanis Morissette, Sam Fender, Pulp, Ezra Collective, Jamie XX, FKA Twigs, Grace Jones and Max Richter, to name a few.
Montreux Jazz Festival’s dedicated free programme is also a major pull. With more than 600 events spanning concerts, DJ sets, jam sessions, silent discos, screenings and workshops, there’s tonnes of wonderful stuff going on that can make the glitzy shindig surprisingly friendlier on the wallet than you might think.