If you’re looking for a last minute midsummer festival trip, here is our round up of the top five destinations within striking distance. Dreaming about all the magic and delight that comes with the summer solstice in late June led us to seek out the best festivals, parties and celebrations you can find this month. If you’re looking for an escape, here’s our choice of top, easy to reach destinations. 1. Stonehenge First up, it’s our very own Stonehenge. It’s a prehistoric site which has been a place of worship and celebration at the Summer Solstice for thousands of years. It’s free to visit on the Solstice, but there are strict rules – no alcohol, music speakers, or drones! English Heritage is expecting 20,000 people to visit on 20-21 June and see the sun rising here on the longest day of the year. 1000 Words / Shutterstock.com 2. Croatia The Island of Pag plays host to dance music festival Hideout from 26 th-30th June. Hideout boasts five days and nights of boat, pool and beach parties, with more than 100 DJs and scores of partygoers getting their kicks. Croatia’s popularity as a music destination continues to soar as the business machinery behind it grows ever slicker. Tipped as the next Ibiza and getting there fast. www.ticketarena.co.uk 3. France Head to Paris for free gigs of all genres, all over the city, all through the night on the 21 June. The annual Fête de la Musique is celebrated countrywide and worldwide but Paris is set to be the epicenter this year with concerts in theatres, bars, clubs and street corners and with musicians even performing from their apartment balconies. You can drift from place to place as you hear and follow the kinds of music you love. 4. Russia Bask in the White Nights of St Petersburg where the sun never sets in midsummer. The city basks in an ethereal glow and the locals go a little euphoric. The whole city stages a month of festivities from dancing in the streets to opera and ballet at the Mariinsky. Join a million others at the Scarlet Sails event on 25th June and witness one of the brightest water shows in the world - a pirate battle on the Neva River followed by a firework spectacular which culminates in the appearance of a tall ship with blood red sails. Vitaly Ilyasov / Shutterstock.com 5. Sweden Dance around a maypole with a Swedish family. Midsommar will be celebrated on Friday 24 June this year. Head out of Stockholm to the countryside with everyone else at midsummer – the best place to be is in a meadow filled with wild flowers and with a group of Swedes. It’s a long and crazy night of pagan celebration, with plates of boiled potatoes, meatballs, pickled herring and generous quantities of aquavit. Piotr Wawrzyniuk / Shutterstock.com
