Jorvik Viking Festival is Europe’s largest Viking-themed heritage event, held each February in the historic city of York, England, once known as Jorvik during the Viking Age. The week-long festival brings history to life through battle reenactments, living history encampments, archaeology talks, and family workshops, all celebrating the city’s Norse past. Highlights include the dramatic Festival of Fire, where warriors clash beneath flaming torches, and the grand parade of Vikings through York’s medieval streets. Blending education, spectacle, and community spirit, the Jorvik Viking Festival offers an unforgettable journey into Britain’s Viking heritage.

London Fashion Week is London’s twice-yearly showcase of British fashion creativity in London, United Kingdom, held each February and September as designers unveil new collections through catwalk shows, presentations, and buzz-worthy industry events curated by the British Fashion Council. Expect a citywide mix of headline runways and emerging talent, with showrooms, talks, and pop-up experiences fueling the energy beyond the venues—plus street-style spotting around the central show spaces that turns the city itself into part of the spectacle.

Rochester Sweeps Festival (Rochester Sweeps Festival, Kent) is one of England’s most colorful May Day celebrations, reviving the centuries-old tradition of chimney sweeps welcoming the arrival of spring. Held each early May in the historic town of Rochester, the festival fills the streets with Morris dancers, folk musicians, giant puppets, and performers in bright green and black paint. The event opens with the traditional awakening of Jack-in-the-Green, a leafy spirit symbolizing renewal, followed by lively parades and music across the city’s medieval backdrop. Blending pagan folklore, English folk culture, and joyous revelry, the Rochester Sweeps Festival is a vibrant celebration of spring’s rebirth.

Bath Literature Festival turns the Georgian streets of Bath, United Kingdom into a citywide celebration of books, ideas, and the written word each May, drawing bestselling authors, journalists, historians, poets, and sharp-witted thinkers for talks, debates, readings, and book launches in theatres, halls, and atmospheric heritage venues across town. Expect easy-to-dip-into programming—writer Q&As, panel conversations, and occasional workshops—often kicking off with a lively, free “Party in the City” vibe that spills into Bath’s venues and bars.

RHS Chelsea Flower Show is the UK’s most prestigious horticultural exhibition, held each May in London, United Kingdom, in the grounds of the Royal Hospital Chelsea. Organised by the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) and staged at this location since 1913, the show is famed for its headline Show Gardens, cutting-edge planting trends, new plant launches, and high-profile visitors, offering an unrivalled snapshot of the year’s best garden design and floral artistry. In 2026, the show runs 19–23 May 2026.

Bath Fringe Festival is a lively, multi-venue arts festival held in Bath, England, United Kingdom, turning the city into a late-spring cultural playground of theatre, comedy, music, spoken word, film, and pop-up performances across pubs, clubs, theatres, and public spaces; in 2026, it runs from 22 May to 7 June 2026 (17 days), with a deliberately open, “few rules” ethos that invites everything from intimate showcases to high-energy nights out, making it one of the most eclectic and community-driven highlights of Bath’s early-summer calendar.

Bath International Music Festival brings a week of classical and choral concerts to Bath, United Kingdom, from late May into early June, celebrating the city’s love of live performance in its most atmospheric spaces. Expect virtuoso soloists, string quartets, and visiting orchestras in historic churches and Georgian halls, where intimate acoustics make even big works feel close-up. Between headline evenings, look for lunchtime recitals and community moments that let you hop venues and hear Bath’s UNESCO streets soundtrack themselves.

Royal Ascot is Britain’s most prestigious horse racing event, held annually in June at Ascot Racecourse in Berkshire, England. Established in 1711 by Queen Anne, it is known for its high-stakes races, royal pageantry, and fashionable dress code, including extravagant hats. The event spans five days, featuring world-class thoroughbred racing, highlighted by the Gold Cup and attended by members of the British Royal Family, who arrive in a royal procession. Combining sport, tradition, and elegance, Royal Ascot is a key fixture in the British social calendar, attracting elite guests, celebrities, and racing enthusiasts from around the world.