Editors’ Picks: 5 festivals for July 2025
Festival season is in full flow. Come with our editors as they take a spin around the Forbes Global Properties world for where to laugh, listen, groove, dance and thrill to July’s most immersive global events, from Montreux to Montréal.
The one and only Grace Jones graces this year's Lake Stage on Saturday, July 12. Expect theatrics, mesmerizing beats and bewitching wardrobe changes from the divine disco diva. (©Andrea Klarin)
Montreux Jazz Festival
Montreux, Lake Geneva, Switzerland
July 4–19, 2025
All you see is glory. So sang Nina Simone during her performance of the Janis Ian song “Stars” at the Montreux Jazz Festival in 1976. A lyric “so intimate, raw and authentic,” said the visual artist Lakwena, that it became her inspiration for creating the official poster for the 2025 festival. A rhythmic swirl of shapes and colors – waves on Lake Geneva? sheet music? a dreamlike dance? – floats below the typographic statement and sets the tone for the 59th edition of one of the music world’s most revered performance festivals.
Since 1967, the idyllic lakeside setting, in the shadow of the Swiss Alps, has been a beacon to musical greats across eras and genres, from Miles Davis and Ella Fitzgerald to David Bowie and Prince. More recently, the lake’s waves have hummed a gentle backbeat to performances by Lady Gaga, Pharrell Williams, Lizzo, Radiohead and Alicia Keys.
This year, more than 250 concerts and over 600 free activities draw superfans and the muso-curious to one of Switzerland’s prettiest – and, turns out, most acoustically pleasing – settings. Highlights include shows by Neil Young and The Chrome Hearts, Chaka Khan, London Grammar, Diana Ross, FKA Twigs, Brandi Carlile and Beth Gibbons of Portishead.
Our bets for the best-dressed audience? Grace Jones. Bien sûr.
The Hanagasa Junko ("Flower Hat") parade at Gion Matsuri is probably its most photographed. This year's two main grand processions take place on July 17 and 24. (Shutterstock)
Gion Matsuri Festival
Kyoto, Japan
July 1–31, 2025
This month-long celebration in Japan’s historic former capital city vibrates with tradition and ritual, color and symbolism, myths and legends. Recognized by UNESCO as a cultural World Heritage event, Gion Matsuri began in 869 CE as way to appease the gods against an epidemic. Now, it’s all parties, parades, traditional dress and the spectacle of elaborate floats that keep the festival’s hundreds of volunteers busy for the months leading up to the event.
Also not to be missed is Byobu Matsuri – the Folding Screen Festival – which sees wealthy families display their private traditional treasures in front of their homes for the public to view. More Antiques Road Show than yard sale.
Each year, visitors gaze skyward at the Speed Central Feature poised in front of historic Goodwood House. Last year was a celebration of 100 years of MG. This year? Perhaps something... faster for the 75th anniversary of Formula 1. Just guessing... (©PA Media)
Goodwood Festival of Speed
West Sussex, UK
July 10–13, 2025
This is no ordinary show and shine. Not just a family day out for engine-geeks to flare their nostrils over new-car smell. Set amid the manicured grounds of the family seat of the 11th Duke of Richmond, the annual Goodwood Festival of Speed is billed as “motorsport’s ultimate summer garden party.” Which means? Thrilling races, tense auctions, fun games, luxury hospitality and the absorbing Future Lab – not for those wary of robots. Expect a heavy Formula 1 presence – 2025 marks the 75th anniversary of the first F1 race, held in 1950 at the nearby Silverstone Circuit (nothing wrong with a little healthy competition).
Petrolheads unite!
Forget what you've heard about Montréal winters (yes, they can be harsh!) – because July is the warmest month, when the city comes alive with café culture and 'l'esprit de la comédie'. (Shutterstock)
Just For Laughs Comedy Festival
Montréal, Québec
July 17–27, 2025
No joke – the world’s biggest comedy festival did, in fact, go broke and have to cancel last year’s event. But a serious investor swooped in to save the day and this year the 43rd edition of Just For Laughs / Juste Pour Rire returns to its spiritual home, Montréal – a city that comes alive in summer.
A relief for a new generation of comics looking to follow in the footsteps of big names who launched their careers here: Kevin Hart, Amy Schumer, Jimmy Fallon, Ali Wong, Dave Chappelle, Jim Carrey, Jon Stewart… an acceptable track record. This year, headline laughs come courtesy Kumail Nanjiani, Nick Mohammed, Russell Howard, Sarah Millican, Ed Gamble, Carlos Ballarta and Danny Bhoy. And for next year? See who stands out at the New Faces of Comedy series and place your bets. We’re serious.
Against the backdrop of a gigantic outdoor natural soundstage, Vancouver becomes even more attractive as night falls, the music starts and the pyrotechnics are launched skyward from a barge in English Bay. (Shutterstock)
Honda Celebration of Light
Vancouver, British Columbia
July 19, 23 & 26, 2025
As jaw-dropping cityscapes go, Vancouver will always inspire oohs and aahs with its mountains-meets-ocean magnetism – a real natural beauty, no jewellery required. So expect heads to be fully turned in July when the annual Celebration of Light (headline sponsor: Honda) turns the city into an unabashed display of bling.
Teams of creative fireworks professionals – aka pyrotechnicians – will converge on Hollywood North, not to film but to produce a spectacular live symphony of light, fire and music. Oh, and it’s competitive. Unusually this year, the competition features only Canadian entries – from Nova Scotia, Québec and Yukon.
Related Properties
- CAD 3,159,000 (US $2,317,743)
- North Vancouver,
- British Columbia,
- Canada
- 3253 Kerrstead Place
- GBP 52,000 (US $71,505)/Month
- Greater London,
- England,
- United Kingdom
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- GBP 2,700,000 (US $3,712,735)
- Greater London,
- England,
- United Kingdom
- Royal Court House
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