Europe's lesser-known music festivals
Kazantip, Ukraine, 31 July-22 August
The equivalent of Burning Man, Kazantip is a month-long crazy rave on Popovka beach, where bikini-clad Russians dance in the Black Sea. It is pretty wild (Google the Vice magazine film and you risk being scared off) though it has toned down in recent years. This year's hosts Carl Cox, Global Underground and Joel Xavier.
Kazantip.com. From €240 a week, including guesthouse accommodation (book via website above). Fly to Simferopol via Kiev with Wizz Air (wizzair.com)
Huw Nesbitt, music and arts writer
Koprivshtica festival, Bulgaria, 6-8 August
Koprivshticazurnas
Eng.koprivshtitza.com. Free. The best place to stay is in a traditional guesthouse – try Colorit (colorit.koprivshtitza.com/index-en.php; doubles from £20). Fly to Sofia with easyJet or Wizz Air and then a two-hour drive
Garth Cartwright, music and travel writer
Guca, Serbia, 13-22 August
Guca
Guca.rs/eng/strana.php?str=festival.Free. The festival website, above, lists accommodation from €215 for four nights. British Airways (0844 493 0 787) flies Heathrow-Belgrade. Buses from Belgrade to Guca take five hours and cost around £10 return (buy at least a day in advance at the bus station). Magelan offers airport-to-Guca transfers for €30-35 GC
Feast of the Assumption Zagoria, Greece, 14-16 August
paniyiripaniyiri
The central square is beautiful and, at 1,200m, not stiflingly hot even in August. The evenings are balmy, the celebrations barmier. Tables are laid out in the square, serviced by three tavernas, with a large area left clear for the musicians and dancing.
Around 11pm lights strung from the central plane tree come on and the band gets going. There's a singer, but it's the clarinet player who drives everything along. Then the dancing starts and people leap up from their tables to form a large circle around the musicians, holding hands aloft. When my son, aged eight, and I tentatively approached, a neighbour quickly showed us the steps. We alternated dancing with eating and drinking until nearly 3am.
Free. The Mikri Arktos guesthouse on the square has doubles from €45. Fly to Corfu, take a ferry to the mainland and then carry on to Tsepelovo by bus or hire car
Simon Broughton, founder of Songlines Music Travel
Spirit of Burgas, Bulgaria 13-15 August
Spirit of Burgas
Spiritofburgas.com. One-day pass €25, three-day €60 (€30 or €70 on the door), camping €15 for three days. Fly to Burgas from Luton with Wizz Air, or from Manchester with Monarch Airlines. Several charter flights operate in summer too (try BA, XL Airways, First Choice or Thomas Cook)
Leonie Cooper, music journalist
Boom, Portugal, 18-26 August
Boom
Boom is a bit of a hippy fest, with a strong sustainability ethos (including water recycling, composting toilets and generators powered by recycled vegetable oil), and campaigns on environmental issues and globalisation. But with guaranteed hot weather, frenzied dance music all night long, and swimming in the lake, it's also a hell of a party.
Boomfestival.org. Festival tickets, including camping, cost €180. Fly to Lisbon or Madrid and pick up a Boom bus to the festival for €55 (four hours) or €85 (six hours) respectively
Gemma Bowes, Guardian travel editor