Hidden gems: the best festivals of 2025

In 2025, we are taking a new and fresh approach with some gems to start your year on the right note. With up-and-coming bands, DJs and comedians already out for your enjoyment, we are giving you the chance to expand your festival knowledge like never before with the best festivals of 2025. Spanning across a multitude of genres, scroll down and check out to see which ones you’ll want to be at this year. 

 

 

Beyond The Valley (BTV)

Photo: Beyond The Valley / Facebook.com

When: Sunday 28th December 2025  - Thursday 1st January 2026

Where: Barunah Plains Homestead, Victoria, Australia

If you want to go to a pretty cool festival where you feel like you’re time travelling with or without some special help then you should know more about one of Australia’s musical pride of joys; Beyond the Valley. Located in Barunah Plains Homestead in Victoria it’s the perfect location to have those post-Christmas and NYE celebrations across 4 days.  

Since 2014, BTV has been bringing some huge names to their stages, including, Tyer the Creator, Bicep, Peggy Gou, Central Cee, Mall Grab and more. This year is no exception as they have Ice Spice, Fisher, and Imagine Dragons as headliners, and Barry Can’t Swin, Sammy Virji, Confidence Man and more in their gleaming lineup. Displaying their strong love for the musically talented across all genres from, dance, hip-hop, indie, electronic and more it;s an easy choice when adding it to the list of the best festivals in 2025. 

 

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Open’er Festival 

Photo: Open'er / Facebook.com

When: Wednesday 2nd - Saturday 5th July 2025 

Where: Gdynia-Kosakowo Airport, Gdynia, Poland

Open’er, Poland’s largest and most musically diverse festival, is a cracking choice. Despite how huge and well-known it is over in its home country, there’s a solid chance you might not have heard about it yet. Since 2002, the festival has attracted punters from all over who are keen to enjoy a lineup spanning rock, indie, pop, hip-hop, dance, and more.

For this year's bash, they've already confirmed Linkin Park, Massive Attack, Brutalismus 3000, Caribou, FKA Twigs, JPEGMAFIA, Justice, and more will be performing. Plus, the drinks are cheap, there’s a beach nearby, and it’s an incredibly well-organised do. 

 

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2000trees

Photo: 2000trees / Facebook.com

When: Wednesday 9th - Saturday 12th July 2025 

Where: Upcote Farm, Cheltenham, England

Winner of Best Medium Festival in 2022 and 2023, 2000trees is, for sure, one to keep an eye on. If you love heavy tunes, head over here to tear up the pit with around 15,000 other live music fans. 

Boasting relatively cheap tickets, that buzzing, welcoming atmosphere, and hard-hitting lineups, the ones who know about 2000trees remain loyal followers. Go for mostly emo, punk, rock, and metal; this year's big names include Kneecap, Paris!, Taking Back Sunday, Coheed and Cambria, and Alexisonfire.

 

Find more information on 2000trees

 

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Lost lands

Photo: Lost Lands / Facebook.com

When: Friday 19th - Sunday 21st September 2025 

Where: Legend Valley Thornville, Ohio

Feast your eyes on one of the most jaw-dropping EDM festivals in America. Lost Lands is a beast when it comes to production with its huge main stages featuring volcanoes. Displaying more than 100+ dinosaurs around their campsite, some of which you can ride, Lost Lands has no issues feeding strongly into their prehistoric theme, especially with their location adding to the effect. 

Enjoy a weekend filled with more than just music as they also have yoga workshops, music workshops, live painting, immersive environments and more, it’s simply one of the best festivals of 2025. Plus for those who don’t want to end the party early, Lost Lands also has a Late Night Sounds Camp, where you can witness some breakthrough DJs display their genius and a few special B2Bs. With the lineup TBA they've always delivered with previous years featuring some of the best bass music artists in the game from, DJ Snake, Boogie T, Camo & Krooked, Delta Heavy, Ahee, Lady Faith, and Dirty Monkey just to name a few. Breezing into their 8th year of epicness, get a load of Lost Lands this year. 

 

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Mighty Hoopla

Photo: mightyhoopa.com

When: Saturday 31 May - Sunday 1 June, 2025

Where: Brockwell Park in London

Crowned as one of the best UK’s pop festivals and a fabulous extravaganza, let us introduce you to Mighty Hoopa. Welcoming a crowd of 30, 000 people, Mighty Hoopa is a festival that brings in a diverse group of people and every year with a lineup that always reflects that. With their high encouragement of the LBGTQ+ community, they welcome new and established acts from across all spectrums to bring the fun to London’s Brockwell Park. 

With the choice to choose between bathing in the sun with some fizz or dancing the night away, with the help of 200 artists across 10 stages, including Ciara, Pixie Lott, Kate Nash, Jojo, Loreen, Vengaboys and so much more, you couldn't really ask for more!

 

Find more information on Mighty Hoopla 

 

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EXIT Festival

Photo: Exit Festival / Facebook.com

When: Thursday 10 - Sunday 13 July, 2025

Where: Petrovaradin Fortress In Novi Sad, Serbia, in Novi Sad

Exit this way (literally). Get a load of Exit Festival, one of the biggest techno festivals in Serbia. Created out of liberation in 2000, as a student movement, Exit has flourished into an absolute force to be reckoned with as an award-winning festival. Set on the banks of the River Danube, Exit Festival offers a diverse range of music and entertainment for you to experience. 

Offering stunning views like no other while you listen to 600 artists with this year featuring Eric Pyridz, Hurts Loreen, , across 20 stages, this is the kind of fairytale experience you’ll never forget. With genres ranging from rock to indie, electronica and a heavy focus on techno this is one of the best festivals of 2025. 

 

Find more information on  EXIT Festival

 

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Down The Rabbit Hole

Photo: theboohooguide.com

When: Friday 4th - Sunday 6th July 2025

Where: Groene Heuvels in Beuningen, The Netherlands

Getting a bit zany with it, Down The Rabbit Hole goes down by a huge lake, and is all about adventure and surrealism. A place where you can walk up to a stranger and have a chat in between moments of excellent live music, it has a bit of a cult following for a reason - it’s one of the country’s best festivals.

Go down the Rabbit Hole in 2025 for unusual art, community, and sets from top-notch artists including Sam Fender, Massive Attack, Iggy Pop, FKA Twigs, Patti Smith, Beth Gibbons, Tems, Ezra Collective, Maribou State, Viagra Boys, Japanese Breakfast, and more. 

 

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Manchester/Edinburgh Psych Festival

Photo: Manchester Psych Festival / Facebook.com

When: MCR - Saturday 30th August 2025 / EDI - Sunday 31st August 2025

Where: multiple venues in Manchester, England / multiple venues in Edinburgh, Scotland  

Celebrating the more weird and wonderful sounds emanating from the indie scene, Psych Fest returns to Edinburgh and Manchester this year. The festival takes over some of the coolest venues in the cities, showcasing psychedelic music and arts. 

Both cities have Deadletter, Honeyglaze, Crocodiles, George Clanton, Bubble Tea and Cigarettes, and more to look forward to, with more artists being announced soon. Brought to life by immersive production, it’s about to get trippy…

 

Find tickets for Manchester Psych Festival 

 

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Cross The Tracks 

 

Photo: Cross The Tracks/ Facebook.com

When: Sunday 25 May, 2025

Where: Brockwell Park in London

In our list of the best festivals we have a known favourite amongst the jazz community and that's no other than, Cross The Tracks Known as Brixton's #1 soul, jazz and funk festival, Cross The Tracks festival is an unmissable festival that offers you a day filled with major festival production. 

Decorating its stages with huge names over the years, Cross The Tracks is not afraid to push the boat out and this year is no different. So far on their lineup are some incredible talents including, Michael Kiwanuka, Jordan Rakei, Shae Universe, Jaz Karis, JGrrey, Channel One and so many more. 

So get yourself down to one of the biggest events in South London and embrace the fresh air amongst the festival landscape of the luscious Brockwell Park.

 

Find tickets for Cross The Tracks

 

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FLY Open Air Festival

Photo: FLY Open Air Festival / Facebook.com

When: Saturday 13th - Sunday 14th September 2025

Where: Princes Street Gardens, Edinburgh, Scotland 

One of the best festivals in Scotland, FLY Open Air is heaven for electronic dance music fans. While we’re sure a few of you will be familiar with FLY, we still feel it deserves more love. The festival takes over a UNESCO World Heritage site, where Edinburgh Castle creates the backdrop, as some of the most in-demand international DJs take to the decks. 

We don’t have a lineup for 2025 yet but last year saw Pawsa, Marlon Hoffstadt B2B Malugi, sim0ne, SOSA, Josh Baker, Max Dean B2B Luke Dean, Hayley Zalassi, Dominique., and loads more tearing it up. Go for forward-thinking beats across multiple genres, a fantastic crowd, and stunning sights. 

 

Find more infomation on FLY Open Air Festival

 

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Lost Village

Photo: Lost Village / Facebook.com

When: Thursday 21st - Sunday 24th August 2025 

Where: near Norton Disney, Lincolnshire, England 

Festivals are about escapism, right? As well as the music, of course, but you can’t beat that feeling of having no responsibilities as you run around causing havoc with your mates. So Lost Village, a festival deep in the forest, will always be a shout. 

LV invites you to wander the abandoned forest, navigate the trees, pass derelict buildings, and head deep into the woods to meet new friends, dance to the best DJs, and indulge in unreal food. Get stuck into talks, workshops, comedy, and wellness, then get lost in the music. We don’t have a lineup for this year just yet but 2024 saw sets from The Blessed Madonna, Solomun, salute, Sherelle, Horse Meat Disco, Ben UFO, Habibi Funk, DJ Seinfeld, and loads more. 

 

 

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And there you have it the best festivals of 2025, courtesy of us! With a wide range of festivals across not just genres but the world, giving you loads of choices on where to expand your music taste. With a real knack for festivals don't forget to check out what more festivals Skiddle has to offer - HERE

 

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Check out our What's On Guide to discover even more rowdy raves and sweaty gigs taking place over the coming weeks and months. For festivals, lifestyle events and more, head on over to our Things To Do page or be inspired by the event selections on our Inspire Me page.

 

 

  

 

 

Header image credit: FLY Open Air Festival / Facebook.com