"Choirs and dancers from sixty countries fill a riverside meadow in North Wales for six days. It has been a festival of international peace since 1947, and the sound of it on a Wednesday evening is unlike anything else in the UK."

Llangollen International Musical Eisteddfod

"A no-budget, volunteer-run festival of innovative folk on three stages at Abbey Mill on the banks of the Wye, billed as the antithesis of and remedy for the X Factor."

Folk on the Lawn

"A country show in the dunes and parkland of Merthyr Mawr with countryside pursuits, craft and local food just outside Bridgend."

Bridgend Country Show

"A tiny, bargain folk festival centred on Tafarn y Bont, the village pub of Bronant deep in rural Ceredigion, where Welsh harps and trad sessions fill the day."

Gwyl Werin y Bont

"One of Wales's oldest agricultural shows, held on the Teifi meadows at Glan-Llyn with competition classes spanning cattle, sheep, pigs, horses, horticulture and dogs, drawing competitors from across the whole of West Wales."

Tivyside Agricultural Show

"A Welsh-language music festival filling the squares of this stone-built Snowdonia town."

Sesiwn Fawr Dolgellau

"A world-class international music festival fused with a summer music school since 1987, bringing young musicians from across the world to perform alongside established artists on the spectacular Cardigan Bay coastline."

Musicfest Aberystwyth

"Around 400 handmade scarecrows take over gardens, houses and businesses across the village for a weekend Grand Fete that draws roughly 3,000 visitors to the Overton Recreation Centre grounds."

Overton Scarecrow Festival

"For one July weekend the narrow-gauge railway threading the Mid Wales hills runs its original 1902 locomotive on a mixed train of replica Pickering carriages and goods wagons, alongside Austrian balcony carriages acquired from the Alps in the early days of preservation, recreating scenes from two entirely different railway traditions on the same track."

Welshpool and Llanfair Light Railway Vintage Weekend

"Four days at Builth Wells that is the nearest thing Welsh agriculture has to a national parliament, supreme livestock, hundreds of trade stands, and a Friday evening atmosphere that is all its own."

Royal Welsh Show

"A volunteer run village celebration of music, writers, street food and children's activities set against the Solva harbour coastline, with every penny going to good causes."

The Edge Festival

"A market town show in the Brecon Beacons foothills that has been bringing Welsh Black cattle and mountain ponies into the ring since the 19th century, surrounded by mountains on every side."

Brecon County Show

"A beloved small village show five miles east of Aberystwyth, with shire horses, fancy dress driving classes, cattle, sheep, a dog show and a produce tent where the competition is fiercely local and entirely serious."

Capel Bangor Show

"West Wales' premier agricultural show packs the Aberteifi field with cattle, gentle giant shires, a vintage parade and the Tivyside Hunt."

Cardigan County Show

"Over 100 food and drink exhibitors fill Parc yr Odyn in Pentraeth each August Bank Holiday weekend, celebrating the exceptional produce of Anglesey and North Wales in a setting looking across the Menai Strait to the mountains of Snowdonia."

Menai Food Festival

"Wales' largest cultural festival pitches its pink pavilion in a different corner of the country each year for a week of Welsh-language song, poetry and ceremony."

National Eisteddfod of Wales

"Marking 850 years since the first eisteddfod held at nearby Cardigan Castle in 1176, this touring Welsh-language cultural festival returns to North Pembrokeshire with 6,000 competitors across music, dance, literature, and visual arts on a maes open to all."

National Eisteddfod of Wales (Eisteddfod y Garreg Las)

"A one-day show on the Gower Peninsula, Wales's first Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty giving its Sunday to cattle, ponies, goats and a showground that sits quietly between farmland and the sea."

Gower Show

"A compact and friendly August show in the ancient county town of Pembroke, with sheep, horses and craft ring set against the walls of one of Britain's finest Norman castles."

Pembroke Town and Country Show

"The 167th year of the largest one-day traditional agricultural show in Pembrokeshire, held at Cefn-y-Dre Fields with cattle, Welsh ponies, Shetlands, show jumping, pigs, vintage machinery, a food and craft marquee and a dog show."

Fishguard Agricultural Show

"The Montgomeryshire hill farming community gathers in a small Powys market town for one of Mid Wales's most compact and friendly one-day agricultural shows."

Llanfyllin Show

"A proper Ceredigion village show on Castle Hill fields that has been going for half the 250 years the hill's house has stood, with a sheep shearing competition, horse classes, produce tent and field sports run entirely by farming families."

Llanilar Agricultural Show

"Two days at the Mona showground bring the island's farming together, livestock lines, a food hall of Anglesey produce and the particular sea light of the place."

Anglesey Agricultural Show

"One of the oldest shows on record since 1772, ending with a grand parade of prize animals and a thrilling scurry competition at half past five."

Vale of Glamorgan Show

"Three days of the finest Welsh dogs working sheep across a hill field near Brecon, with ice cream from Llanfaes Dairy and a real trial hush over the crowd."

Welsh National Sheepdog Trials

"Coracle racing on the Teifi and a quayside food market in this old Ceredigion port town."

Cardigan River and Food Festival

"Set at Cawdor Fields above the Tywi Valley in a Georgian market town, where Welsh Black cattle and cobs compete in a show that has remained unchanged in spirit for decades."

Llandeilo Show

"The market town at the heart of the Elan Valley turns its cattle market into a gathering of vintage tractors, steam engines and working machinery each August, a show that could only happen in a part of Wales where the landscape itself feels preserved from an earlier century."

Rhayader District Vintage Show

"A leisurely ride through mid-Wales hills where every checkpoint hands you cider and perry, capped by a BBQ and free live music in town."

Summer Cider Cycle

"Teams of two mountain bikers tow a charioteer in a Roman-style chariot in a flat-out dash for the world title."

World Mountain Bike Chariot Racing Championship

"A one day celebration of Wye Valley rural life with ferret racing, falconry and a bustling Home and Garden marquee across 96 acres."

Monmouthshire Show

"Three days at Withybush Showground where West Wales takes its livestock and its leeks equally seriously, a county show with the Atlantic behind it and a natural tendency towards drama."

Pembrokeshire County Show

"One of the largest one day shows in the UK gathers superbly presented livestock and craft exhibitors on The Green at Denbigh."

Denbigh and Flint Show

"A 25,000-capacity festival on a Brecon Beacons estate where ten areas wrap live music around literature, science, comedy and a giant burning Green Man."

Green Man

"The Victorian spa town of Llandrindod Wells dresses entirely in period costume for a week each August, with residents, traders and visitors all adopting Victorian dress for street entertainment, performances, markets and a grand parade through a town whose architecture still looks exactly as it did when the railway brought Victorian society to drink the waters."

Llandrindod Wells Victorian Festival

"A traditional North Ceredigion village show at the foot of Plynlimon with sheep shearing on a nearby farm at sunset, goats, poultry, cattle, horses and a large craft and produce tent where local bakers wage quiet war."

Talybont Show

"Music, talks and art in the mid-Wales town that was once Owain Glyndwr's seat of parliament."

Machynlleth Festival

"A peat bog trench in mid-Wales. A wetsuit. A snorkel. Two lengths. No conventional swimming strokes allowed. The world comes to watch."

Bog Snorkelling Championship

"One of Wales's smallest and most cherished annual shows, held on the last Wednesday in August in the village where the great Welsh revivalist Daniel Rowland preached, with horse and pony classes and a garden and produce tent where the competition is taken very personally."

Llangeitho Village Show

"An award-winning micro-festival of indie-folk, science and nature set in coastal Candleston Woods, with intimate stages tucked between the trees by the sea."

Between the Trees

"A tiny border town becomes a hotbed of brand new classical music, championing living composers and women composers in churches and halls scattered through the Welsh Marches."

Presteigne Festival

"One of the biggest prize race meetings of its kind in the UK, three days of flat-out trotting and pacing on a grass track in mid-Wales where the sport has deep roots, with sulkies rattling past the spectators at very close quarters."

Tregaron Festival of Harness Racing

"A classic Montgomeryshire village show in one of Wales's prettiest black-and-white villages, with livestock competitions, produce displays, craft stalls, children's entertainment and live music filling the showground every August Bank Holiday."

Berriew Show

"The Folly Cross Fields at Camrose host one of Pembrokeshire's most popular community events each August Bank Holiday, where vintage tractors and working machinery are demonstrated alongside heavy horses and stationary engines by families with deep roots in the county's farming past."

Camrose Vintage Working Day

"A mini triathlon that swaps clean water for a peat bog, sending you swimming, cycling and running through mud, ditches and hills."

Chapel Bogathlon

"A tiny Pembrokeshire village hosts one of Wales's smallest but most characterful late-summer agricultural shows, with the evening social at the hall drawing as many locals as the ring."

Clunderwen Show

"The Rhys Thomas James Pantyfedwen Eisteddfod, held over August Bank Holiday in a Ceredigion university town, with choral, poetry and prose competitions continuing a Welsh cultural tradition of centuries."

Lampeter Pantyfedwen Eisteddfod

"Artisan stalls line Bronllys Road and the Great Barns fill with live bands before the whole town gathers to cheer the famous duck race down the River Ennig."

Talgarth Festival of the Black Mountains

"Competitors snorkel two lengths of a peat bog trench without conventional swimming strokes, in Britain's smallest town."

World Bog Snorkelling Championships

"A proper village show on the banks of the River Usk inside the Brecon Beacons, celebrating local farming, food and craft."

Llangynidr Show

"The whole of this painted Georgian harbour town tips into the streets on Bank Holiday Monday, with a carnival parade from Cadwgan Place, live music and the fishing harbour as a perfect backdrop."

Aberaeron Carnival

"The show at the heart of Welsh mountain farming and pony country on the vast Cors Caron bog, with classes for the rare Welsh Black cattle and the fiercely contested Welsh cobs that have given Tregaron its reputation since before the droving roads."

Tregaron Agricultural Show

"The last big show of the Ceredigion summer season at Hengae Fields on the wooded Teifi, drawing competitors from across the county for cattle, horses, sheep and a horticultural tent that rounds off the village show circuit with real finality."

Llandysul Show

"The 12th annual festival fills Newtown's Town Hall Grounds with over 60 local and international food producers, chef demonstrations, live music across genres and a dedicated children's village in the heart of Mid Wales."

Newtown Food Festival

"A classic Welsh mountain show high on the Brecon Beacons, where Welsh Mountain sheep and Black Cattle compete in a village famous for its autumn sheep mart with the Black Mountains visible in every direction."

Sennybridge Show

"Anglesey producers gather in the shadow of the medieval castle on the Menai Strait."

Beaumaris Food Festival

"Over 100 makers fill the stunning grounds of Cardigan Castle for three days of sculpture, demonstrations, walk-about theatre, Welsh language workshops and the best of contemporary British craft overlooking the River Teifi."

Craft Festival Wales

"The walled harbour town of Tenby hosts a week of exhibitions, concerts, comedy, poetry and visual arts each September when the summer crowds have gone and the light on the Pembrokeshire coast turns the town's coloured houses into something you want to paint rather than just photograph."

Tenby Arts Festival

"Running every year since 1844, this is one of the biggest one day shows in Britain with steam corner, a companion dog show and freestyle motocross."

Usk Show

"Four days of self-guided walks through some of Britain's finest scenery, ending with a Blister Ball of live music and dancing."

Mid-Wales 4 Day Walking Festival

"The food festival that started the whole British movement, filling a Monmouthshire market town under the Sugar Loaf with Welsh lamb, farmhouse cheese and orchard cider every September."

Abergavenny Food Festival

"Flintshire's market town throws a 20th anniversary feast of cookery theatre, live music and the best of north Wales producers."

Mold Food and Drink Festival

"A free three-day town-wide immersion in wartime Britain with a real Spitfire, tanks, military vehicles, re-enactors in period dress, swing bands, a blitz ball and the Longest Yarn exhibition bringing the whole of Welshpool back to the 1940s."

Welshpool 1940s Weekend

"One of the longest established and friendliest food festivals in Wales, spread beside the Town Moor with chefs, stalls and local bands."

Narberth Food Festival

"Ploughmen from across Monmouthshire turn up to a rotating farm venue each October for their county match, a competition held in the border country between Wales and England where the hedged fields and red Hereford cattle still look much as they always have."

Monmouthshire Ploughing Match

"A brutal 50km ultra up the 25 percent Devil's Staircase that rewards finishers with a devil medal and a bowl of Welsh cawl."

Trailhead Get Jerky Devil's Staircase Ultra Trail Race

"Violinist Rachel Podger leads world-class period-instrument music in the intimate churches and halls of a small market town wrapped in the Brecon Beacons."

Brecon Baroque Festival

"A challenging, mostly off-road half marathon through mountainous scenery run in memory of a much-loved local runner."

Ron Skilton Memorial Half Marathon and 12k

"A one-day showcase of the best dairy animals in Wales and the Borders at Carmarthen Showground, where Welsh dairy farming culture is celebrated through cookery demonstrations, children's competitions and the kind of competitive pride that takes years of early mornings to earn."

Welsh Dairy Show

"Race days at this grandstand-free National Hunt course on the River Dee offer live jump racing in a natural grass-bank amphitheatre, with free entry for all under-18s at every fixture."

Bangor-on-Dee Races Family Fun Day

"The Llys Y Fran Young Farmers Club hosts a fireworks display beside the reservoir in a rural Pembrokeshire valley completely free of light pollution, making for an unusually vivid and atmospheric bonfire night sky."

Llys Y Fran Fireworks Display

"A lantern parade winds through the colourful hilltop town as independent Welsh shops throw open their doors for a sparkling pre-Christmas weekend."

Llandeilo Festival of Senses

"A ten-day celebration of real ale centred on the Neuadd Arms Hotel in Britain's smallest town, anchored by the Real Ale Wobble cycle ride and the Real Ale Ramble walking event across the Mid Wales hills."

Mid Wales Beer Festival

"A waymarked mountain bike ride where beer tokens buy you locally brewed real ale at the finish, followed by a beer while your bike gets washed."

Real Ale Wobble

"Llandeilo's free three-day pre-Christmas festival fills the independent shops, cafes and streets of this Carmarthenshire market town with food, crafts, live music and a festive lights switch-on every third weekend of November."

Llandeilo Festival of Senses (Llandeilo Christmas Weekend)

"A walk through unspoilt countryside with the organisers' own free beer stops at each checkpoint, run alongside the town's 10-day beer festival."

Real Ale Ramble

"The magnificent Victorian Market Hall of this Welsh market town at the foot of the Brecon Beacons hosts its Christmas markets on late Sundays in November and December, offering local crafts and food in one of the grandest working market buildings in Wales."

Abergavenny Christmas Market

"One of Europe's finest prime stock shows over two winter days at the Royal Welsh Showground, where Welsh farmers bring their best cattle, sheep and pigs before Christmas and thousands of visitors shop for exceptional Welsh food, crafts and countryside products."

Royal Welsh Winter Fair

"Browse 120 Welsh artisan stalls and sip mulled cider amid the Italianate domes and pastel facades of Clough Williams-Ellis's fantasy village."

Portmeirion Christmas Fair

"The town of a thousand bookshops turns its streets into a winter market each December, where hand-crafted gift stalls sit alongside the antiquarian bookshops that have made this Welsh Borders town a destination known the world over."

Hay-on-Wye Christmas Market

"A torchlit New Year's Eve procession follows a decorated horse's skull on a pole around town, trading sung Welsh challenges for entry and refreshment."

Mari Lwyd Walk

"A beribboned horse's skull on a pole arrives at the ancient Old House inn to challenge drinkers to a sung Welsh rhyming duel before being let in."

Llangynwyd Mari Lwyd

"A fresh-air community ramble through the Cambrian hills to blow away the cobwebs on the first morning of the year."

New Years Day Walk

"Each January, Wales's smallest town dresses in togas to race mountain bike chariots around Abernant Lake and toast the Roman winter god Saturn with Welsh real ales at the Neuadd Arms."

Saturnalia Beer Festival

"Hosted by Widders Border Morris on the ancient border between England and Wales, this January gathering weaves together West Country apple wassailing, the Welsh Mari Lwyd hobby-horse tradition, Morris dancing, mumming, and a ceilidh into a single boisterous riverside procession through Chepstow town centre."

Chepstow Wassail and Mari Lwyd

"Two acres of snowdrops carpet the ancient Pleasure Ground Wood at a 700-year-old Marches castle each February, with optional guided tours led by the former head gardener."

Chirk Castle Snowdrops

"Annual celebration of Wales's patron saint held in Britain's smallest city, combining a Cross Square market, community parade, cathedral concert and the Ras Dewi Sant road race."

St David's Day Festival

"A celebration of Welsh wool and natural fibres, with hundreds of stalls of fleece, yarn and craft."

Wonderwool Wales

"The Anglesey Vintage Equipment Society's show at the Agricultural Showground in Gwalchmai is one of North Wales's largest events of its kind, with vintage tractors, steam engines, classic cars and heavy horses filling a showground surrounded by the flat hedged fields and long coastal views that make Anglesey unlike anywhere else in Wales."

Anglesey Vintage Rally

"Founded in 1988 in a Welsh border booktown, this eleven-day festival draws over 150,000 visitors to hear writers, scientists, comedians and policymakers debate ideas across more than 600 events on the edge of the Bannau Brycheiniog National Park."

Hay Festival

"Five days of roots and folk music in the Welsh hills, where the campfire matters as much as the stage and the stars are genuinely good."

Fire in the Mountain

"Folk music at a ruined 13th-century castle on the Gower peninsula, with the estuary below and the sky doing something remarkable above."

Gower Folk Festival

"Mid-Wales's great one-day gathering: over 1,700 entries, national-standard sheep competitions, and the particular energy of a Welsh agricultural show that genuinely matters to the people in it."

Aberystwyth and Ceredigion County Show

"The only agricultural show in Flintshire, held at Ty Ucha Farm in the ancient fortified town of Caerwys, with heavy horses, shire horses, Shetland ponies, carriage driving, birds of prey and a live music tent running all day."

Caerwys Agricultural Show

"Runners race horse-and-rider over 22 miles of Welsh hill country, a wager born in a pub argument."

Man versus Horse Marathon

"The medieval market town of Ruthin in the Vale of Clwyd hosts a summer celebration of contemporary craft at its nationally acclaimed Craft Centre, where the permanent galleries are joined by outdoor makers markets, demonstrations and workshops in the walled courtyard of a converted medieval building."

Ruthin Craft Centre Festival

"Wales's oldest classical music festival, held in the timbered hall and gardens of Gregynog near Newtown."

Gregynog Festival

"You retrace the old cattle drovers' mountain trails to a long-lost Drovers' inn that is reopened for one day to pour locally brewed ale."

Drovers Walks

"The Carmarthenshire Young Farmers' Club summer show: a bilingual, energetic all-day event combining traditional livestock classes with a lively showcase of rural Welsh community life."

St Clears YFC Show

"A bilingual Welsh and English show in the Conwy Valley, with Welsh Black cattle and Welsh Mountain ponies competing on a June Saturday in the market town below the Carneddau."

Llanrwst Rural Show

"A warmly bilingual Conwy Valley rural show with hand shearing, shire horses, guinea pigs and pairs of sheep led two on a halter."

Llanrwst Show

"A bilingual community agricultural and rural show held at The Meadows in the Conwy Valley market town, celebrating local farming, livestock, crafts, and rural traditions in the heart of North Wales."

Sioe Wledig Llanrwst Rural Show

"Around 15 to 20 private gardens open in a small Welsh market town draped in floral displays, with a plant market and picnic spots beside the River Usk."

Usk Open Gardens

"A large Ceredigion one-day show at Pontfaen Fields with Welsh cobs and ponies at the heart of it, alongside dairy cattle, sheep, goats, a vintage display and the incomparable Rugby 7-a-side played out in the summer heat."

Lampeter Agricultural Show