11 Best Festivals in Autumn Around the World

Here are the best festivals in autumn for your annual world festival calendar. Number 9 would be the autumn festival of choice for me!

Autumn is here, and it is time to pack your backpacks for your next adventure – one of the many great autumn festivals.

Fall festivals

From Halloween to Thanksgiving, to diverse festivals of lights and lantern festivals too, there’s a lot to cover this season.

Here are the top festivals in autumn for your seasonal bucket list…

Best festivals in autumn

Just because summer’s over doesn’t mean the festivals are. These are the best autumn festivals for you to look forward to.


1. Boun Awk Phansa, Laos & Thailand

28th October 2023

Marking the end of a three-month-long Buddhist Lent period, Boun Awk Phansa is a time of celebrations with lights and lanterns. During the Buddhist Lent, happening during the rainy season, monks hide themselves to meditate. 

On the Full Moon day of the eleventh lunar month, the monks come out of their meditations. To mark this occasion, people would offer gifts, set out boats with incense and candles in the Mekong River. It’s a belief that focuses on honouring the ‘river spirit’. 

autumn festivals

People would also light paper lanterns at night, which creates a mesmerising ethereal glow. There are fireworks and decorated wats too as part of celebrating this festival in autumn.