Winter is the ideal time to make your escape to Europe.

Sure, it might be a little costly there, but you can escape the cold, aim for a second summer romance, and leave whenever you want.

While South Africa hosts a few music festivals that have made their own mark in the world, European music festivals really are just bigger, better and brighter.

From the lineup to the stages, the people, the energy and the entertainment, they hold every excuse for you to grab your passport, pack your festival clothes and book the first flight over.

Ready to find a reason to flit over to Merkel land? Check it:

Oya Festival, Norway
8-12 August

Lineup:

Lana Del Rey is set to headline. Then there’s Ryan Adams, Pixies, Sampha, BADBADNOTGOOD, Car Seat Headrest, Cosima, Sigrid, Young Thug, Mac DeMarco, The xx and Chance the Rapper, plus a wealth of up and coming talent from around the world.

Bonus:

Oya was the first Norwegian festival to get the gold certification for organic food, by serving 97 per cent organic food to around 2,500 volunteers, 500 artists and 70,000 visitors.

On top of that, all of the festival waste is hand-sorted and recycled, saving 40,000 tonnes of CO2 (equivalent to the annual emissions of 15,000 cars). If this isn’t a feel-good festival, we don’t know what is.

Rock Werchter, Belgium
29 June-2 July

Lineup:

Kings of Leon, Arcade Fire, Radiohead, James Blake, Linkin Park System of a Down, Foo Fighters and Alt-J are headlining, then you’ve also got Lorde, Prophets of Rage, Agnes Obel, Mura Masa, Savages, Cigarettes After Sex, Royal Blood, Birdy, Dua Lipa, Jain, Bonobo, Milky Chance, Charli XCX, Jimmy Eat World, Glass Animals, Soulwax, Rae Sremmurd, Noname and Cage the Elephant.

Phew.

NOS Alive, Lisbon
6-8 July

Lineup:

The Weeknd, The xx, Foo Fighters and Depeche Mode, Royal Blood, Glass ANimals, Warpaint, Ryan Adams, Blossoms, Savages, Benjamin Booker and Local Natives and more, of course.

Bonus:

The festival site is 15 minutes from the beach and the first bands don’t start performing until 3pm, which gives you plenty of time to fit in some surfing, swimming, or just lounging on the sandy beaches.

Roskilde, Denmark
24 June-1 July

Lineup:

Foo Fighters, Arcade Fire, The xx, Moderat, Solange, Blink-182, Bonobo, Bryson Tiller, Father John Misty, Future Islands, Gucci Mane, The Jesus and Mary Chain, Lorde, Nas, Royal Blood, Slowdive… it just goes on.

Flow Festival, Helsinki
11-13 August

Lineup:

The xx, Lana Del Rey, Moderat, Young Thug, Vince Staples, Ryan Adams and Danny Brown. There are also stages for experimental music and the festival’s renewed Bright Balloon 360 stage.

Melt!, Gräfenhainichen, Germany
14-16 July

Lineup:

Die Antwoord, Bonobo, M.I.A, Sampha, Soulwax, Kamasi Washington, Glass Animals, Warpaint and Sohn and more.

A little thirsty for some good music? Well there are your choices. Go ahead and please, have all the fun.

[source:independent]