Where to go on holiday in August 2015

The Great Migration across Kenya is an amazing sight

Creative Commons / Thomson Safaris Tanzania

For city slickers...

Short haul: Zurich, Switzerland

Like a well-oiled uncle at a wedding, watching economic powerhouse Zurich in full speakers-up-briefcase-down mode is a moment to treasure.

Catch this rarity in August when a million mystics, freaks, ravers, trippers, imbibers and technoheads visit the Swiss city for the annual Street Parade (29 August).

Nina Kraviz, Luciano and Steve Lawler will man the decks as around 30 Love Mobiles (floats with sound systems set to deafen) wind around Lake Zurich. Expect plenty of pre- and after-parties across the city too. Sleep optional.

One million revellers are expected for Zurich Street Parade
Zurich Street Parade

Long haul: Singapore

It’s not just the Street Parade that will be bringing out the big guns this summer. Singapore is set to celebrate 50 years of independence on 9 August by showcasing the country’s defence capabilities as part of a National Day Parade.

Although only open to residents, visitors will be able to see the planes and helicopters buzzing overhead as the festivities spill out across the city.

Not feeling the patriotism? Get a real taste of the city at Singapore Food Festival (27 July - 2 August) or visit the free Singapore Night Festival (23-24 August and 29-30 August) where museums open late, art installations move outdoors, and music fills the air.

Singapore will celebrate 50 years of independence with a military display
MagicColors / Thinkstock

For beach bums…

Short haul: Budapest

A small unassuming island in the Danube River becomes one of Europe’s biggest festival hotspots come August thanks to the week-long musical shebang that is Sziget Festival.

Join 70,000 revellers and some formidable names in rock, pop, world music and electronica for a colourful and wholeheartedly surreal extravaganza on Budapest’s Óbuda Island from 5-12 August. It's a world away from the city’s art nouveau architecture and stately bridges.

The shaded beach chairs and freshwater of popular Sziget Beach on the banks of the river offer cool respite form the sizzling Hungarian summer sun – and there’s even a cocktail bar.

Those with time to spare after the festival can head back to the city in time for St Stephen’s Day on 20 August, and enjoy traditional food and fireworks on the country’s most celebrated public holiday.

The Danube acts as a beach for Budapest's Sziget Festival
Sziget Festival

Long haul: Barbados

Rum cocktails chink to the alluring calypso beat as the caribbean island known for its sugar-white beaches and dipping palms celebrates its annual Crop Over festivities.

Traditionally to mark the culmination of the year’s successful sugar cane harvest, Crop Over is an island-wide affair, with food markets, music concerts, flamboyant parades and of course plenty of rum.

The carnival-like Cohobblopot is one of the biggest spectacles with calypso and soca artists getting huge crowds shaking their thing throughout the night.

After festival finale Grand Kadooment, with its carnival parade and epic street party, there’s the island’s legendary Platinum Coast for some seriously laid-back beach vibes.

Barbados' Platinum Coast is famous for its seriously laid-back beach vibes
Tyler Brown / Thinkstock

For thrill seekers…

Short haul: Llanwrtyd Wells, Wales

Most ideas that emerge from a bladder full of bitter are best left in the boozer, but thankfully others are pursued until you’re doggy-paddling through a bog in Wales.

Hence why the World Bog Snorkelling Championships celebrates its 30th anniversary this August bank holiday.

Returning to the Waen Rhydd peat bog in Llanwrtyd Wells, another tenscore competitors will try and drag themselves through 55m (60ft) of swamp in the quickest time possible, while the more sane watch from the bank.

Bog Snorkelling: it sounded alright in the pub
Matt Cardy / Thinkstock

Long haul: Great Migration, Kenya

Watching the largest gathering of mammals on the planet thunder across Kenya's Maasai Mara National Reserve is one of the most spectacular natural events you can witness. 

This vast park is a sight to behold at the best of times: powerful beasts and exotic creatures, thousands of miles of undulating golden and green savannah, all silhouetted against fiery sunsets. 

But throughout August, when thousands of wildebeest (together with zebra, eland, impala and gazelle) migrate across the park and back to neighbouring Tanzania, the action really begins. Climactic river crossings with predatory crocodiles waiting to snap make it all the more dramatic.

Wildebeest cross the Maasai Mara during the Great Migration
Creative Commons / Christopher Michel

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