1-4th – Rocking The Daisies (Cape Town, South Africa) – When South Africa plays a music festival, especially one they’re trying to turn into an international draw, they’ll book at least one big name as well as loads of local ones. This year, Milky Chance are playing amidst a group of Afrikaans singers you’ve never heard of. It’s a decent strategy. Come for the excellent live band, stay for the scenery and new discoveries.

2-4th – Hermanus Whale Festival (Hermanus, South Africa) – Seems like September is actually the month of animal homecomings, but in October’s defense, whales are a whole hell of a lot more exciting to see than cows (and they smell better). Everybody in town gathers on the bluffs to watch the whales come swimming back into the harbor. Or, well, I guess just the tops of them. Occasionally. When they need to breath. They fill the time between whale breaths with food, concerts, arts & crafts. So if you go, don’t get so drawn in to the distractions that you forget to check out the whale backs in that slim window where you can actually see them.

22nd – Sun Festival (Abu Simbel, Egypt) – Ramses II was the greatest pharaoh of the Egyptian Empire, even if his name isn’t as cool as King Tut’s. He also knew a thing or two about the sun (I mean, come on, they worshipped it) – his temple was built such that the internal chamber lights up twice a year. Once on the date of his ascension to the throne, in February, and once on his birthday. Because everybody wants a birthday party. It’s still celebrated to this day, and when the light creeps into the inner chamber, you’ll be able to dance with the locals to celebrate a king you know nothing about.

25-31st – Creole Festival (Victoria, Seychelles) – The Seychelles are where wealthy Americans go when they want to go to Africa without being bothered by all the white guilt. The islands are far off the coast and feature some pretty stunning beaches. As it turns out, those beaches go very well with the old Creole tradition, that French Louisiana style of food and culture you know about because of Mardi Gras. Turns out the French colonized more than one place. The Seychelle Creole tradition is pretty similar to the American one, with drinking and dancing in giant colored outfits big enough to make you forget you’ve ever left the Bayou.

13-21st – Navratri (Vadodara, India) – Navratri is a Hindu holiday celebrating the deity Durga, with ten days to celebrate ten different forms of dancing. The festival itself is actually celebrated five times a year, but the equinox Navratri, called the Sharad Navratri, is the most important. You might not have the largest role here (unless you’re Hindu), but it’s nice to take a break from the raging every once in a while to appreciate some of the more beautiful aspects of the local culture.

15-26th – Vegetarian Festival (Phuket, Thailand) – You know what? No. I’m not going to tell you anything about this festival. You’re gonna go and see it for yourself, because you’re a vegetarian, and you’re looking forward to some great health food and maybe some informational lectures about the benefits of clean living and humane treatment of animals. That’s what you’re gonna go and expect to see. And when you come back horribly scarred (though, as you’ll find out, not as scarred as some), you’ll both hate me and thank me for telling you to go visit. And if you’re one of the strong stomach’d who gains a new appreciation for piercings, well, you’re in Thailand. Bad, drunken decisions come practically guaranteed.

27th – Full Moon Party (Koh Phangan, Thailand) –I always give EDM festivals a hard time for involving ridiculous foreigners getting out of control. So I don’t know why I’ll give the Full Moon Party such high marks. Maybe because I’ve been. I’ve seen the people fucking in the water while logs of human shit float right into them. And yet, there’s still something fun about the beach party that makes it okay, if only just once.

16-17th – Popload Festival (São Paulo, Brazil) – If you’re unable to make it down to Music Wins Fest or Primavera Fauna (maybe you actually managed to bag a model at Fashion Rio and didn’t want to leave), then you’re still in luck. These South American festivals borrow lineups from each other and the bands are essentially doing a Che Guevara border tour of the continent. They’re all playing at Popload, and although you’ll miss the Pablo Ruiz cover from Tame Impala, something tells me you’re not going to miss out on much when you’ve got all of Brazil behind you.

24-26th – Oktoberfest (Colonia Tovar, Argentina) – The best scene in X-Men: First Class was undoubtedly when Magneto went a-Nazi huntin’ down in Argentina. I could watch an entire movie of that shit. There’s truth to it – a lot of Germans did emigrate there after the war. They brought their traditions with them, and now Argentina plays host to one of the largest Oktoberfest celebrations outside Munich in the world. If you can handle the fine weather and even finer women, this festival may be for you.

1-4th – Oktoberfest (Munich, Germany) – I don’t normally include events in these that started in the month before, but it’s fucking Oktoberfest – I’d feel dirty if I didnt include it in the October Elsewhere Plans. It’s the event that needs no introduction. It’s been going on for a while now, so if you’re just arriving, you may need to step over the passed out bodies of the brave men who drank before you. But hey, maybe you could rifle through their pockets and find some money for a few more maßkrüges.

11-Nov 16th – Alba International White Truffle Fair (Alba, Italy) – I don’t understand truffles. It’s literally a little mushroom (that doesn’t even taste that spectacular, mind you, though my sense of taste is equivalent to that of the pigs that root them up) that somehow winds up being worth it’s weight in fucking anti-matter. So the people who go to the Truffle Fair are either those who pretend they can taste a difference in the things, or the peasants who want to see what all the fuss is about. I can only imagine their disappointment. But hey, if you’re over it, you can always just eat the pig that rooted the truffle up. It’s basically preseasoned in truffle oil.

14-18th – Amsterdam Dance Event (Amsterdam, Netherlands) – This one doesn’t really need an introduction. It’s Amsterdam, a city known for its lax take on drug use. It’s a dance event, known for being crazy. And it’s five days long. If you’re in the area, it’s not hard to imagine that you won’t be ending up there anyways. But if I still need to sell it (and if you’re not sold already, you’re probably not the type to go int he first place), then I could add that this isn’t so much a festival as it is a conference. It’s got dinners, talks, forums, and everything you need to make you feel like you’re learning something while going out of your mind.

24-25th – Primavera Club (Barcelona, Spain) – Primavera is really expanding its brand. There’re the touring parties next month and the two main festivals in early Summer. Because nothing helps a brand like over saturation (lookin’ at you, SS Coachella, may you rest gently at the bottom of the sea). Primavera Club is a smaller version of the festival and represents the organizers hopes for the future, the smaller artists that they’re banking on becoming bigger, and thus earning them a bigger bank when they get them again next year. It’s basically the hipster Primavera Sound, which I think we’re all okay with.

29-31st – Pitchfork Fest (Paris, France) – Like I said, this has been a pretty light month. For the self-professed cultural capital of the world, Paris doesn’t really have a whole lot of festivals. Even this one is an American import, an attempt to share the love with our cheese-eating (non-Wisconsonian) brethren. That said, it does have some pretty bomb new artists here as well as some older festival favorites. So if you’re in Europe and you’re looking for something to do, there are worse things than a music festival in Paris. Like talking to the locals in Paris. Or doing much of anything else in Paris. Just do the music festival.

31st – Samhuinn Fire Festival (Edinburgh, Scotland) – Samhain is a gaelic festival (the opposite of Beltane) that marks the beginning of Winter, the dark half of the year. So obviously it’s a time of demons and junk – Samhain (note, it’s pronounced Sow-win, I don’t know, old English is weird) is the precursor to the modern Halloween. People light bonfires to cleanse the air, and this has evolved into the fire festival we know today. I know that if I was a demon, and I saw a dude all dressed up swinging fucking fire nunchucks around, I’d GTFO too.

31-Nov 3rd – Brussels Light Festival (Brussels, Belgium) – Last year, I went to a festival called White Nights in Melbourne, in which the entire city was illuminated with a rainbow of lights (false advertising, I know, so disappointed). I ended up getting way too drunk, puking in a bush, and stealing a stereo I found in the street that more than likely belonged to a performer. And that’s in Australia, where the only stuff I can afford is goon. Belgium’s edition of the festival, Brussels Light Festival, has all the positives of Melbourne’s edition, plus all that amazing Belgian beer. I’ve always said Belgium does festivals the best, so stay a little more coherent than I did – the visuals are worth it.

1-2nd, 8-10th – Culture Collide (Los Angeles, California/San Francisco, California) – Culture Collide started as a little festival in LA, celebrating all the different cultures of music out there (there was a lot of Latin music). Now the cultures are colliding even more, because the festival is expanding to two other cities in America. The only other two that really do the whole “multicultural” thing, really.

2-4th, 9-11th – Austin City Limits (Austin, Texas) – Named for a PBS special and costing roughly double PBS’ yearly budget (so pretty affordable!), this guy is one of America’s premiere music festivals. Just look at that lineup! Sometimes I feel bad about recommending so many music festivals on this blog – it’s hardly the kind of cultural experience people travel for – but that’s the kind of lineup I can bite my tongue on. And hey, music festivals are pretty much what Texas is best at outside of barbecue and shitty politicians, so you’re kind of getting the full picture anyway.

2-4th – Hardly Strictly Bluegrass (San Francisco, California) – There’s a saying: my favorite beer is free, my second favorite is cold. Now, my favorite music festival will probably always be Coachella. But for my second favorite, well, you better believe it’s Free. That means that right now, my second favorite festival is Hardly Strictly Bluegrass. Because it’s free! The lineup is great, and so is the venue. Somehow, I think the misty October atmosphere of San Fran lends itself to a bluegrass festival. Something Appalachian about it, without the incest and moonshine. But of course, this is all secondary to the fact that it’s free!

2-4th – National Storytelling Festival (Jonesborough, Tennessee) – If you didn’t know this about me, it’s time to come clean. I… am a writer. There, I said it. Man I feel great! So obviously, I’m gonna be a bit biased towards this, and if stories and literature and culture and being a functioning member of society doesn’t appeal to you, then by all means, skip it. But if you’re into that sort of thing, the National Storytelling Festival has all sorts of activities, panels, and entertainment going on over the weekend. After all, you can tell a story through just about any medium.

3-11th – Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta (Albuquerque, New Mexico) – For most of the year, Albuquerque is best known for its blue meth and being the hardest town in America to spell. But Breaking Bad is long over, so now we need something else to love. This month, people looking for some Blue Sky can find it literally with the Balloon Fiesta, a ten day hot air balloon festival over a desert that has a lot more to offer than the dead bodies of a few meth nazis.

7-11th – A3C (Atlanta, Georgia) – I know people who still won’t listen to Biggie if they listen to Tupac. And vice versa. Like, I thought we had gotten past that? (Side note, how hysterical is it that Suge Knight got shot again?) Frank Ocean is a thing now, rap doesn’t have to be about where you come from. So that’s why I like the idea of A3C, which stands for All Three Coasts. I didn’t know Atlanta was a coast, but East Coast/West Coast/Atlanta is a decent trifecta when it comes to hip-hop and rap. Now, I saw OutKast twice on this tour and wasn’t thrilled either time (neither were they), but hey, you’ve got two other coasts to choose from if one of them is lacking.

8-11th: Joshua Tree Fall Festival (Joshua Tree, California) – Outside of music festivals, I have two favorite places in the world. Phong Nga Khe Bang National Park in Vietnam is the newer entry on the list, but the original champion is Joshua Tree. There’s something magical about the prehistoric ocean desert with its truffula trees and Hexagonian (don’t look up that word) rock formations. But like I said, those are my favorites – outside of music festivals. But Joshua Tree hosts its own music festivals, and this is the fall edition held in the desert I already love so much. Music and J-Tree. It’s one of those obvious combinations that you’ve always wanted without realizing it already exists, like prosciutto and cantaloupe. Seriously, try that, guys. It’s bomb.

9-17th – Celtic Colours (Cape Breton, Nova Scotia) – Man, what this month lacks in quantity, it makes up for in duration. All of these festivals run for a long time, which I like to think is the Universe telling me it’s okay for this guide to be so late this month. Gives you plenty of time to plan. Celtic Colours is yet another music and arts festival in a colder corner of the world, and its more steeped in its own culture. Lots of music and art from around the world, and definitely a lot of families. So those looking to get fucked up, well, at least do it quietly. Sip that crotch vodka discreetly.

10th – Festival Supreme (Santa Monica, California) – This one isn’t a music festival – it’s a comedy festival. And it takes place in Santa Monica, otherwise known as the place where so many things are banned it might as well be a comedy sketch. Thinking about drinking a beer while watching the sets? Don’t even think about it. Still, there’s nothing quite like a sunset on the boardwalk. The only problem is that it’s not in Venice Beach – a Theatre of Life with professional comedians would be amazing.

10-11th – CRSSD (San Diego, California) – CRSSD is coming out of the gate flying with two editions in its very first year. The first one back in March was, by all accounts, a pretty big success (though not without its growing pains), so it’ll be interesting to see if they can carry that and improve. After One Tribe fell through earlier this month, it’s good to see an upstart spitting in the face of all those “Popping Bubble” claims.

10th-Nov 29th – Texas Renaissance Festival (Todd Mission, Texas) – See, I used to think of Texas as this big bastion of heterosexual macho-ness, the dude who wears his letterman jacket six years out of high school and beats up his nerd boss for liking comic books and making six figures more than him. But hey, looks like everybody grows out of that stage eventually! We’ve got Rick Perry getting his mugshot taken, and the largest Renaissance Festival in America taking place in the state nobody messes with. Apparently because they’ll joust you to the ground. Anything can happen.

13-18th – Indie Week (Toronto, Ontario) – Here’s another town-wide music festival, only this one is dedicated to the underground. Which is a noble endeavor; I don’t have the patience to go browsing through every list of “best new bands” put out by heatseeking music blogs. Like, I’m sure the newest Post-Shoegaze hardcore metalstep with a neoclassical blues bounce influence band is great and all, but call me when they have a hit. It sounds bad, I know. I profess to be a music fan. But it’s exhausting. So for the lazy music fans like me, Indie Week is a godsend.

15-18th – New York City Food & Wine Festival (New York, New York) – New York is famous for its food. Well, it’s famous for the ability to get Chinese food to your door in five minutes flat. Jewish delis fit in there somehow too. Regardless, it’s a food and wine festival, and if there’s one thing I know about backpackers, it’s that free food is worth traveling miles for. It’s not free – obviously you gotta pay for your entry – but what backpacker hasn’t considered a few illegal border crossings in their time?

16-18th – Phases of the Moon (Ozark, Arkansas) – A lot of festivals try to embody a hippie-dippie vibe nowadays, but they still find themselves suckling at the teet of Big EDM eventually. Phases of the Moon, so far, has resisted that sweet, sweet beat-dropping milk. Because if there’s one thing hippies have never failed at, it’s resisting new trends. Either way, there’s a lot of good vibes at this massive festival, so even if you’re going to be blasting the latest post-neo-shoegaze-dubstep track from your shitty little Beats speakers, you’ll find a place to enjoy it.

17-18th – Treasure Island (San Francisco, California) – This here’s another festival in the “biased California festivals” category. BUT it does have a lot of its own merits. It’s on an island in the middle of San Francisco Bay. How cool is that? The island atmosphere and the two day schedule is a bit of a decompression compared to the hustle and bustle of a lot of the bigger festivals. This leads to a smaller, more intimate festival that still brings world class acts. Of course, you do have to deal with San Francisco weather in October, but then again, nobody’s perfect.

23rd-November 1st – Fantasy Fest (Key West, Florida) – Sometimes you look around while traveling and realize that it’s the most constructed, commercial thing in the world. But if it’s done right, you’re not gonna give a shit either way. That’s Fantasy Fest. A kind of mashup of Halloween and Mardis Gras, Fantasy Fest is basically two businessmen’s attempt to start capitalizing on the winter holiday season early. But damned if it doesn’t work. It’s grown out of those roots to become a crazy, downright hedonistic affair (you can smell the sex from here), and that should be enough to make you want to go already.

23-31st – Neewollah (Independence, Kansas) – If you’re not a comic fan (not looking at you anymore, Texas, you Renaissancing son of a bitch!), Mxyzptlk is an enemy of Superman who can only be defeated by tricking him into saying his own name backwards, at which point he will be banished back to his home in the fifth dimension. I know. Comics. This little town in Kansas has the same kind of logic when it comes to Halloween (if you didn’t pick up that Neewollah was Halloween backwards, then you really need to watch Trolls 2), celebrating the non-pagan aspects of the holiday in safety. There’s very little chance you’re actually going to be in this little Midwest town, but hey, if your plane crashes and you need something to do while you wait for rescue, there ya go.

24-25th – Something Wicked (Houston, Texas) – Did I mention this already? I LOVE HALLOWEEN. I’m all about those hay rides and haunted houses. Like, the kind of haunted houses you need to sign a release for before entering. So Texas getting a jump on the festivities with a haunted music festival is awesome. You can do drugs and seek comfort in the fact that all the horrible things you’re seeing are actually there. And then, when you get home the next day, you’ll be so hungover that you’ll look exactly like that zombie you’ve been meaning to dress up as anyway!

29th – Fall Opening Day (Del Mar, California) – The summer opening day of the Del Mar Racetrack is a huge deal in America, analogous to the Melbourne Cup down below. Lots of big hats and classy drunks, and I think there are apparently some horses running around as well. Those big hats (and apparently horses) have become popular enough that they can’t fit entirely in one season. Also another turf track closed and gamblers need their fix. So anyway, it’s going to be a smaller affair than the gigantic Summer meet, but the 14-stake fall meet will still offer a lot of big hats if you’re in the area and need a fix.

30th-Nov 1st – Voodoo Experience (New Orleans, Louisiana) – I could easily include this under my general classification of Halloween events, but it wouldn’t feel right. Of all places hoodoolicious and black magic-y in America, New Orleans stands high (it’s gotta stand high in something, right? Uh, that’s a levee joke, not a poverty joke), so come celebrate the spookiest season in the spookiest city that doesn’t involve deserted cabins in the pacific northwest. The lineup’s an odd mixture of rock and electronic, so you may not even see too many witchcore people. Lookin’ at you, Lorde. So talented, so creepy.

30th-Nov 1st – Suwannee Hulaween (Live Oak, Florida) – For being a relatively small town in the public consciousness, Live Oak tends to pull off some pretty incredible festivals. The Halloween season is no different – up to 15,000 people are going to swarm in on the spooky electro beats of Pretty Lights, Odesza, and even Chance the Rapper’s collaboration with The Social Experiment. In a month where everybody’s doing their best to make Halloween the most important date, Florida may have actually come out on top for once.

31-2nd – Dia de los Muertos (Oaxaca, Mexico) – Here we go: the big guns. The holiday you REALLY look forward to in October, and it’s not even really in October. Dia de los Muertos is kind of like Halloween, except dressing up like a slutty version of something normal would probably be frowned upon. It’s very cultural but very nice to see. Of course, it has a huge following in Mexico, and Oaxaca may be the best place to experience it. However, pretty much every city in Latin America, all the way down to South America, celebrates it in some capacity, so if there’s some mad cartel violence and you wanna bail, there’s always another party out there.

31-Nov 3rd – La Calaca (San Miguel de Allende, Mexico) – Here’s another one we could have filed under Halloween, but hey, we haven’t gotten very many Mexican locations and I want to differentiate. La Calaca (a Spanish skeletal figure emblematic of Dia de los Muertos) is a festival making Dia accessible for those who may not be used to the more cultural side of things. It combines the traditional celebrations with more music festival oriented events, so if you’re just a little too afraid of spooky ghosts, let this ease your worries.

31st – Halloween (Anywhere) – But here we are. Halloween. The one day of the year a girl can dress like a slut and nobody can say a thing. God I love it. No matter how you want to celebrate, you’re doing it right. Want to have a nice night exploring a corn maze or walking through the fallen leaves? Go for it. Want to get absolutely plastered and accidentally vomit on that cute girl dressed on a cat? Your move cap’n! So no matter where you are, you’ll have something going on. But if you’re smart, you’ll make your way to New York for the Village Halloween Parade, Santa Barbara for the IV Halloween Parade (though you’re probably going to either die or get arrested on the way), West Hollywood for the best street closure festival around, or, if you really want to get weird, Escape from Wonderland up in the Bay. No matter what you choose, you’re gonna be okay. Kind of.

2-4th – Yours & Owls (Wollongong, Australia) – Yours & Owls is a small music label based out of Sydney, and every year they host a music festival in the park with some of their native talent. But Australia’s music scene is a tightly knit ball of awesome, so expect appearances by some of the bigger names of the day, including the Preatures and the Smith Street Band. There’s also a twilight market and film screenings, so you can have a perfectly chilled evening if you want. Just avoid the final day if you’re looking to get rowdy. All Ages day is sure to draw the families.

3-4th – Listen Out (Sydney/Brisbane, Australia) – Listen Out is a single-day music festival (don’t let the dates fool you) that travels around Australia. The Sydney and Perth events have already happened, and if history repeats itself, it’ll be a sight to behold. If you’re one of the more intrepid travelers, you’ll make it to both. If you’re lucky, you’ll be in the Jetstar flight that lets you know the drug situation beforehand, just for convenience’s sake.

17th, 24th – Out on the Weekend (Melbourne/Sydney, Australia) – In a lot of ways, Australia is the real South America. I mean, they’re also hillbillys who managed to get out from under England’s thumb in a way. They like drinking a lot. Their current Prime Minister is basically George Bush, but with more apocalyptic tendencies towards the Great Barrier Reef. So it makes sense that they’ve got a festival celebrating all things Americana. The music, the food, the beer. All things which are basically identical to their Australian counterparts, but the important part is having something to celebrate, right?

24th – Welcome to the Valley (Swan Valley, Western Australia) – Western Australia is usually last on the traveler’s hitlist in the state, just behind hitting a kangaroo with your car and being stabbed by a bogan meth-head on Lonely Planet’s Must List. But if you do make it out to the less developed side of the country, you’ll find a lot of cool stuff. Like Welcome to the Valley, a festival combining the beauty of Australian Spring with the majesty of Oktoberfest. So you’ll be passed out face down in a ditch, probably, but at least the birds will be singing when you wake up in the morning!

31st – Halloween Freakshow (Magnetic Island, Australia) – Magnetic Island is a sleepy little island where you wake up one day and realize you slept the entire time away on the beach and didn’t even see the things you wanted to see. Oops. Maybe that’s just me. If you’re staying at Base, though, there’s always something going on. The hostel is massive and features its own personal bungalows, a beach, car rentals, and more. They’re also desperate to be Thailand, and so they throw a Full Moon Party each month. In October, this is combined with Halloween for a massive dress up party. If it’s anything like their Boozy Bingo… it’s gonna get out of control.