Festival Trips with JOURNEYS

All JOURNEYS trips search for insights into what makes other cultures distinctive, successful and appealing. Our festival trips focus specifically on ceremonial events and themes, but also provide you with opportunities to see other prominent attractions in the destination you visit. JOURNEYS festival trips will certainly appeal to photographers, artists and musicians, but most festivals also occur at the time of year when the weather is good, the air is clear and food is abundant. These festival trips feature joyous events at which visitors are welcome. Observe these festivals not just for the color, music and ceremony, but to appreciate what local people hold as sacred and how they celebrate their understanding of God and the universe. You will join a local expert guide who will offer festival interpretation, manage travel details and provide a context for understanding the events you observe.

The festival trips listed below are likely to attract small groups of like-minded travelers on these specific travel dates. In many destinations we can provide private arrangements to visit these and other festivals. When you are considering one of our destinations, ask our staff about festivals that might occur during the period of your travel, or ask about specific celebrations or events you may have heard about and we will determine if we can plan a festival extension or private festival departure to match your interests.

Festivals for which often provide private independent or custom travel arrangements include:

FESTIVAL TRIPS

Peru: Andean Villages & Virgen del Carmen Festival
Cost: $4,150 • Duration: 12 days • Jul. 10-21, 2012

Join Florine Herendeen for a unique entree into Andean Peru, with generous time in Cusco, the Sacred Valley, and Machu Picchu. Enjoy a special JOURNEYS base camp for the spectacular festival of the Virgen del Carmen, way off the tourist path.

Bhutan: Black-Necked Crane Festival
Cost: $3,350 • Duration: 9 days • Nov. 7-15, 2012

Join Bhutanese villagers in a Buddhist temple festival honoring sacred cranes and all of nature. This trip is about art, beauty, celebration, and understanding the Buddhist spirit of Bhutan.

Mexico: Christmas In Oaxaca for Families
Cost: $2,450-$3,150 • Duration: 9 days

Celebrate Christmas in a region of Mexico known for color, crafts, hospitality and conviviality. Enjoy direct interaction with local artisans and a great coast and beach experience.

Papua New Guinea: Classic Goroka Show Tour
Cost: $7,370 • Duration: 14 days • Sep. 5-18, 2012

Combine a classic sing-sing show with explorations of the fabled Sepik River, Tari Highlands, and Waghi Valley, all with top-level accommodations.

Mexico: Day of the Dead
Cost: $3,150 • Duration: 9 days • Oct. 26-Nov. 3, 2012

Begin in colonial Morelia, continue to the villages of the Meseta Purepecha, and celebrate the Day of the Dead on the shores of Lake Patzcuaro, where traditions are more beautiful, more colorful, and more elaborate than anywhere else in Mexico.

Ethiopia Timkat Festival & Cultural Odyssey
Cost: $5,250 • Duration: 20 days • Jan. 16-Feb. 4, 2013

Join in the swirling color and passion of Timkat Festival at Lalibela, visit the castles of Gondar, the sacred city of Axum, the Gelada Baboons in the Simien Mountains and the peoples and markets of the Omo Valley.

Fall Festivals of Bhutan
Cost: $4,295 • Duration: 12 days • Sep. 23-Oct. 4, 2012

Become one with the hypnotic drumming, chanting, dancing, and devotional fervor of Bhutan's most accomplished lamas as they honor and celebrate the unseen mountain spirits around them.

Guatemala Kites and Crafts
Cost: $2,498 • Duration: 8 days • Oct. 31-Nov. 7, 2012

Enjoy an insightful eight-day Guatemala overview with a special tour focused on the color, craft, and ceremony of the Day of the Dead and Guatemala's greatest kite festival.

Papua New Guinea: Highlands Sing-Sing Special
Cost: $5,995 • Duration: 14 days • Aug. 3-16, 2012

Accompanied by our great local guide, Cedric, and Journeys founder, Will Weber, witness the famous Hagen sing-sing show, then visit the fabled Sepik River, Tari Highlands, and Waghi Valley.

Mongolia Lakes and Legends
Cost: $3,795 • Duration: 14 days • Jul. 1-14, 2012

Genghis Khan would have recommended this trip for authentic leadership and accommodations, wide-ranging sites, and the celebration of Mongolian culture and rituals.

Papua New Guinea: Mt. Hagen Show Tour Panorama
Cost: $7,500 • Duration: 12 days • Aug. 10-21, 2012

Witness the famous Hagen sing-sing show, then visit the fabled Sepik River, Tari Highlands, and Waghi Valley accompanied by great local guides.

Papua New Guinea: Mt. Hagen Show Tour Vista - ONLY 1 ROOM LEFT
Cost: $8,125 • Duration: 13 days • Aug. 2-14, 2012

See the spectacular Hagen sing-sing and the fabled Sepik River, Tari Highlands, and Waghi Valley, all with top-level accommodations and an expert escort.

Nepal: Mustang Tiji Festival Trek
Cost: $4,295 • Duration: 19 days • May. 1-1, 2012

This is a rugged trek at high elevations that takes you back in time and upward in your imagination of inspiring cultural and natural experiences.

Guatemala: Semana Santa Photographer's Odyssey
Cost: $3,640 • Duration: 9 days • Mar. 31-Apr. 8, 2012

Our favorite sites reveal themselves in the colorful and intensely spiritual, flower-filled celebrations of Holy Week. Join this special Signature Trip accompanied by JOURNEYS' photographer Wayde Carroll.

Spring Festivals of Bhutan
Cost: $4,295 • Duration: 12 days • Apr. 4-15, 2012

The great Paro tsechu is the cornerstone event of a very personal guided exploration featuring blooming rhododendrons, Himalayan views, and encounters with remarkable people.

Guatemala: Women's Journey to Semana Santa
Cost: $3,275 • Duration: 10 days • Mar. 29-Apr. 7, 2012

Enjoy the intensely colorful, flower-filled celebrations of Holy Week, and indigenous markets, villages, and textile traditions with Guatemalan textile expert Olga Reiche. Intimate, artistically-adorned accommodations are a feature of this trip.

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JOURNEYS International has specialized in ecotourism since 1978. We offer you the best nature tours, safaris, treks, adventure travel, family and cultural trips on earth. Whether you call it an eco vacation, adventure travel, ecotravel, ecotour, sustainable travel or responsible travel, for nearly 30 years we have been creating ecologically sensitive and culturally responsible travel to exotic destinations around the world. Specialty ecotrips include women's tours, Kilimanjaro climbs, exploration cruises, festival trips, student group trips and cross cultural and wildlife safaris. Read more about JOURNEYS International.