Five of the Best Winter Festivals

Photo: Transition Festival

So summer is well and truly gone, the barmy late nights and glorious sunshine have long since been replaced by a million shades of grey and varying levels of dampness.

But fear not festival lovers, things are hotting up again (in a figurative sense) as we swap the green fields of the UK for the ski slopes of The Alps, enormous inner city warehouses, seaside ballrooms, and county showgrounds in a bid to make the most of the bleak, cold months. Here are just five of the winter festivals we're most looking forward to.

Rise Festival 12th-19th 

Rise Festival 2014 from Running Wild on Vimeo.

Promising a week of snow, skiing and music, the French festival, located high up in Les Deux Alpes makes the most of the truly gorgeous surroundings by hosting one of Europe's true winter festival highlights.

With hundreds of kilometres of ski slopes and tonnes of winter activities, it's superb for fans of winter sports, but it's the line up that really seals the deal, with Paleman, Mella Dee, Jackmaster, Skream, Artwork, High Contrast and London Elektricity amongst the acts hooked in. Head here for more on Rise Festival.

Get Rise Festival tickets here.

Blackpool Rocks 19th December

Blackpool seems like a town intrinsically linked to the warm summer months, but Blackpool Rocks is a festival that has proven there's more to the place than donkey rides, sand castles, and fair ground attractions.

Returning once more on the last Saturday before Christmas, Blackpool Rocks brings the likes of Lethal Bizzle, Mistajam, Shadow Child, Annie Mac, Duke Dumont, a rejuvenated Craig David and local hero Danny Howard to the town's Winter Gardens for an entire day of rave-worthy exploits. Find out more about Blackpool Rocks here.

Get Blackpool Rocks tickets here

Transition 13th - 19th December

We're back in the French Alps, this time in the stunning mountain resort of Avoriaz for Transition Festival. Brought to you by the same creative minds behind the mighty Snowbombing Festival, Transition features a wealth of alpine adventures, a raft of world class artists appearing across eight clubs, daily mountain raves, forest-lit outdoor stages, intimate bars, igloo disco battles and unique pop-up parties that will stay with you long after you've left the snowbound paradise. 

Dizzee Rascal, Wilkinson, Bondax, B.Traits and James Zabiela headline. Head here for more on Transition Festival.

Get Transition Festival tickets here

The Winter Social 6th February

Credit: The Social

Nic Fanciulli's The Social brand continues to go from strength to strength, and following the huge sellout success of September's all dayer, it's back again for its winter incarnation, with yet more titans of house and techno on the bill. So far, Nina Kraviz, Maya Jane Coles, Guy Gerber, Ame and of course Fanciulli himself are confirmed. Find out more about The Winter Social here.

Get The Winter Social tickets here.

Cosmosis 12th March

OK so technically this falls just outside of winter, but we could hardly leave off without mentioning Cosmosis Festival.

Even with just the first few acts announced, it's already looking like it'll be one of the highlights of Manchester's year, with shoegaze and noise rock pioneers Jesus and Mary Chain, Danish garage rock icons Raveonettes (watch them in action above), modern classical auteur Ulrich Schnauss and many more lined up to enchant everyone in attendance at Manchester's Victoria Warehouse. Get more info on Cosmosis Festival here.

Get Cosmosis Festival tickets here

More like this? Find out what our five favourite festival moments of 2015 have been.