June 24 - June 30

Olympic National Park, 5 Huge Music Festivals, Hong Kong, Battle of Wine, Kong Fu with Monks, St. John's Day, Bordeaux Wine Fest, Skaftfell & Kangaroo Island

Author

Logan Gross
April 05, 2024

There are a ton of music festivals happening this time of year (late June) so the ‘Only Time’ section is quite crowded with them. Scroll down for a full list of 13 destinations.  Forwarded this email? Sign up here

Olympic National Park Washinton, USA

BEST TIME

May to September

You don't have to travel to another country (most of you live in the US) to find a beautiful national park, and we all know that. Olympic national park is another on the bucket list of US national parks that you must see. June is the best time to avoid the peak summer crowds and still get the great weather. With 60 active glaciers and almost one million acres of land, this national park could take forever to explore. the west side of the park is a rainforest and is one of the wettest areas in the US, getting ~12ft of rainfall each year.

Learn More - Guide

Hong Kong

CHEAPEST TIME

May to September

It may be rainy and a little hot, but you can save some money by traveling to Hong Kong in the low season. A spectacular cityscape, great food, one of the most densely populated territories in the world, Hong Kong is not talked about enough among travelers in my opinion. Fun facts: English is right next to Cantonese as one of the official languages of the city. There are over 250 islands in Hong Kong. Dim Sum originated in this part of the world.

Learn More - Guide

Battle of wine Haro, La Rioha, Spain

ONLY TIME

Jun 29 to Jun 29

Imagine this. Wake up, put on some white and red clothes, go outside and join a crowd of people wearing the same, all following the mayor of the town on horseback up to the top of a nearby hill (7km actually). The mayor plants a flag and there is a short mass, then all hell breaks loose, and everyone starts to pull out their finest wine vessel and proceed to spray the sticky red liquid over everyone in their vicinity. This is a holiday that is traced back all the way to the 13th century all about spraying wine on each other. Over 10,000 people travel to this town each year for this holiday celebration.

Learn More - Official Website

Study Kung Fu w/ Shaolin Monks Henan, China

ACTIVITY JUNKIES

Apr 01 to Jun 30

Exercise your mind and body in Henan where you can learn martial arts from the monks. You can find everything from Shaolin Kung Fu to Wushu or Sanda, even Tai chi & Qi Gong. I studied Muy Thai in Thailand for a couple weeks and I would definitely recommend trying out foreign martial arts; it’s a ton of fun, a serious physical challenge, and it deepens your understanding of the culture.

Learn More - Official Website

Full Destination List

Only Time

These are temporary events that you need to go during this travel window to experience.

*Battle of wine Haro, La Rioha, Spain - Jun 29 to Jun 29 - Highlighted above - Official Website

St John's Day Lithuania - Jun 23 to Jun 23 - The most important (according to one article) holiday in Lithuania is a combination of an old midsummer tradition and St John's birthday. I'm not a Lithuanian or a Christian but you can sign me up for any big celebration involving bonfires. There is a big feast, there are fortune-telling rituals and there are bonfire dances (and jumps if you're feeling risky, maybe even with a partner). - Blog

Glastonbury Pilton, England - Jun 26 to Jun 30 - UK's biggest music festival brings over 200,000 people to Pilton. There are over 100 stages and 3000 performers... This festival is very highly regarded amongst the Brits I've met while traveiing but they all warn about the strict registration and no resale policy. Headlining: Dua Lipa, SZA, Coldplay, Shaniah Twain. In 1970 (the first year) it cost £1 and that included free milk from the farm. - Full Lineup

Summerfest Milwaukee, WI, USA - Jun 20 to Jun 22 - They claim to be the world's largest music festival at over 600,000 attendants but I found a few online (one of which is in this newsletter) that are apparently bigger, but does it really matter? It's still huge. Headliners list is absolutely crazy and all over the place in terms of genres: Mötley Crüe, Illenium, Tyler Childers, Keith Urban, Carly Rae Jepsen, Maroon 5, Lil Uzi Vert, Lil Yachty. - Full Lineup

Bordeaux Wine Festival France - Jun 27 to Jun 30 - A wine tasting on steroids that morphed into a full festival for the alcoholic grape juice connoisseur. There is also a gastronomic village to fill your stomachs and drone shows at night to fill your eyes with pleasure. - Blog

Hellfest Clisson, France - Jun 27 to Jun 30 - With 420,000 attendants this has got to be one of the biggest rock festivals in the world. Its size exploded from 2018-2020 from 180,000 to 400,000. I guess heavy metal has had a nice boost just around Covid. Headliners: Foo Fighters, Queens Of The Stone Age, Avenged Sevenfold, Metalica, Megadeth, Dropkick Murphys & more - Full Lineup

Solidays Paris, France - Jun 28 to Jun 30 - 170,000 attendants to this not-for-profit festival where the proceeds all go towards organizations fighting against HIV/Aids. Many of the performers take a reduced fee or even perform for free during this event. Headliners: Martin Garrix, Sam Smith, Diplo & more. - Full Lineup

Danube Island Festival Vienna, Austria - Jun 21 to Jun 23 - Apparently 3 million people attend this free festival each year and they generate ~40,000,000 Euros for the city (so they only spend ~13 euros each??). The festival occupies 4.5km of this island which is between two land masses in Vienna, full of vendors and musical stages of course. I messed up the dates for this one; it should have been in the last edition, but it's too big of an event to miss so I'm including it here. - Video

Best Time

This time of year offers the best that this destination has to offer.

*Olympic National Park USA (Washington) - May 15 to Sep 15 - Highlighted above - Guide

Skaftafell Iceland - May 01 to Sep 15 - Home to mountains, waterfalls and glaciers this national park (technically it is now encompassed in the larger Vatnajökull National Park) is a great place for the outdoorsy soul. In June the weather is just about as great as it'll get which means you only have to wear a couple layers. While you're there you can go on a glacier hike or go ice climbing. You can also check out the floating icebergs nearby, Check out the crazy long name of that official website haha. - Official Website

Cheapest time

This one is self-explanatory

*Hong Kong China - May 01 to Sep 30 - Highlighted above - Guide

Kangaroo Island Australia - May 01 to Sep 30 - With only 5,000 residents and over 140,000 tourists each year, Kangaroo Island has a ton of wildlife and nature reserves. It might only be home to 5,000 humans but it's also home to koalas, kangaroos, penguins and reptiles, monkeys, marmosets, dingoes, meerkats and more. In June it's a little too chilly for beach and water activities, but that's not what kangaroo island is all about anyway, so you'll be able to enjoy the island with less people around. - Official Website

Activity Junkies

For anyone like me, who is addicted to doing new and unique stuff.

*Study Kung Fu with Shaolin Monks Henan, China - Apr 01 to Jun 30 - Highlighted above - Official Website

Thanks for Reading!

If you like this project of mine and would like to support it, there are currently two ways to do that (both free).

1) Forward this email to anyone who you think might like it.

2) Reply to this email with anything; feedback, comments, maybe just “hi”. Not only do I love hearing from you guys, but replying also teaches the algorithm that this is not spam. 🙃 

Happy Travels,

Logan Gross

P.S. I don’t have any affiliations or sponsorships, so the only influence on the writing and the choice of destinations is me.