Upcoming Events in 2027 Worth Planning a Trip Around

Planning a trip more than a year ahead feels absurd until you look at what 2027 actually holds. There is a day next August when the moon will blot out the sun for longer than it will again in your lifetime, and the hotels underneath that shadow are already filling. There are three World Cups on three continents. Glastonbury comes back from its rest year. A city most people cannot place on a map is hosting Eurovision.

Some of these you can book next spring with zero stress. Two or three of them punish anyone who waits past this autumn. Here is the full 2027 calendar with verified dates, sorted by what actually matters: how soon it sells out.

(Still working out this year first? We covered everything left in 2026 separately.)

Circle August 2, 2027 in red

One date next year stands above everything else, twice over.

The total solar eclipse. On August 2, the moon's shadow crosses from the Atlantic over southern Spain, Morocco, Libya, Egypt and Saudi Arabia. Near Luxor, totality lasts 6 minutes and 23 seconds - the longest total eclipse on accessible land until 2114. Read that year again: nobody alive today gets a second chance at this. For comparison, the 2024 American eclipse peaked at about 4 and a half minutes and set off a travel frenzy across a path with millions of hotel beds. This one's sweet spot sits over a Nile-side city with a few thousand.

Egypt is the connoisseur's choice for a colder-blooded reason too: August cloud over Luxor is close to nonexistent, the most reliable eclipse weather anywhere on the path. The pragmatic fallback is southern Spain - up to 4 minutes 39 seconds of totality, a fraction of Egypt's heat, and Andalusia's hotel capacity. Either way, this is the one 2027 booking that genuinely cannot wait: eclipse chasers started reserving Luxor years ago, and Nile cruise cabins for that week are being chartered whole by tour operators.

The Kumbh Mela's first royal bath - the same day. By cosmic coincidence, August 2, 2027 is also the first Shahi Snan of the Nashik Simhastha Kumbh Mela, the mass Hindu pilgrimage that assembles crowds measured in the tens of millions on the Godavari river. The Kumbh cycles between four Indian cities; Nashik's turn comes roughly every 12 years, with further royal bath dates on August 31 and September 11-12. No ticket exists or is needed - what you plan is where you sleep, and the organized tent camps are what fill first.

One astronomical spectacle, one human one, same sunrise. Whatever else 2027 holds, August 2 is its center of gravity.

Three World Cups, three continents

2027 is the busiest World Cup year on any calendar, and the three tournaments barely overlap with each other's audiences.

FIFA Women's World Cup - Brazil, June 24 - July 25. The first Women's World Cup in South America, played across eight stadiums including the Maracanã. Brazil in a football World Cup summer is its own argument; the women's game has outgrown every stadium projection made for it since 2019, and Rio in July is dry-season perfect. Ticket sales run in phases through FIFA - registering interest early gets you into the first windows.

Rugby World Cup - Australia, October 1 - November 13. The first 24-team edition, spread over seven cities with the final in Sydney. Australia hosted in 2003 and still talks about it. Six weeks, spring weather, and the kind of country where the days between matches are the actual holiday - the Queensland coast sits an hour's flight from the group-stage venues.

Cricket World Cup - South Africa, Zimbabwe and Namibia, October 4 - November 21. Southern Africa's first Cricket World Cup since 2003, and Namibia's first time hosting any senior one. Here is the play nobody prices in: the rugby and cricket tournaments overlap almost completely, and Sydney and Johannesburg are connected by direct flights. One long-haul trip in late October can put you at a Rugby World Cup quarter-final and a Cricket World Cup group match in the same ten days, with a safari between them.

Add the Africa Cup of Nations (Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda co-host, June 19 - July 18) and football, rugby and cricket cover every month from June to November.

The comebacks: Glastonbury, Eurovision and a first-time host

Glastonbury - Worthy Farm, June 23-27. After its 2026 fallow year (the farm literally rests every five or six years), Glastonbury returns, and post-fallow editions sell even faster than usual - think 200,000-plus tickets gone in well under an hour. The mechanics matter: you must register (free, with a photo) BEFORE the ticket sale, which lands in the autumn before the festival. If Glastonbury 2027 is your plan, registration this autumn is the whole game; there is no walk-up, no resale market, nothing to buy later at any price.

Eurovision - Burgas, Bulgaria, May 11, 13 and 15. Bulgaria hosts for the first time ever, in a seaside city on the Black Sea coast rather than a capital. Burgas in May means beach weather, EUR-cheap dinners and a host country throwing the party of its life. Arena tickets are a scramble whenever they drop, but Eurovision week in a host city is famously fun even without one - big screens, fan villages, and the semi-finals are far easier seats than the Saturday final.

Expo 2027 - Belgrade, May 15 - August 15. A specialized World Expo themed "Play for Humanity", with 130-plus national pavilions. Expos are oddly underrated by Western travelers - Osaka 2025 drew tens of millions - and Belgrade is already one of Europe's best-value capitals. Three months of run time means zero booking pressure; pair it with the eclipse trip if your August routes through Europe.

A vintage year for one-day sporting pilgrimages

Beyond the World Cups, 2027's one-off fixtures read like a bucket list emptying itself:

• Super Bowl LXI - February 14, SoFi Stadium, Los Angeles. The first Valentine's Day Super Bowl. Book dinner for two somewhere else.
• Tour de France Grand Départ - Edinburgh, July 2. The Tour starts in Scotland for the first time, with the opening three stages crossing Scotland, England and Wales before heading to France. Roadside viewing is free, which makes this the cheapest world-class sporting event of the year - you just need a bed in Edinburgh, booked early.
• The Open - St Andrews Old Course, July 15-18. Golf's oldest major back at its home. Ticket ballot; St Andrews accommodation is a known pinch point, but Dundee and Edinburgh commutes work.
• Ryder Cup - Adare Manor, Ireland, September 17-19. Europe versus the USA in County Limerick, Ireland's first Ryder Cup since 2006. Tickets run by ballot and the Irish sale drew headlines at EUR499 a day - this is a plan-a-year-out event on both tickets and beds.
• World Athletics Championships - Beijing, September 11-19. Back in the Bird's Nest two decades after 2008.

And for a UK summer chain: Glastonbury ends June 27, the Tour starts in Edinburgh July 2, and the Open tees off at St Andrews July 15. One rental car, three weeks, three global events - a trip that will never be assemblable again.

The cultural calendar fills the gaps

The fixed stars of the festival year all land in 2027 as usual, and they slot neatly between the marquee events: Rio Carnival (February 5-13), Holi across India (March 21-22), Songkran's water fights in Thailand (April 13-15), Oktoberfest in Munich (September 18 - October 3), Diwali (October 29) and Loy Krathong's lanterns in Thailand (November 14).

Two quieter notes worth knowing. Brunei has declared 2027 a national visit year around the Sultan's diamond jubilee, which usually translates into festival programming and airfare promotions all year. And if Bhutan is on your long list, the discounted $100-per-night sustainable development fee is currently slated to expire at the end of August 2027 - the rate is expected to double after, so a spring 2027 Bhutan trip beats an autumn one by real money.

What to book now, soon, and later

The honest urgency ladder, standing in August 2026:

The pattern from every sold-out event of the last decade holds: tickets have phases and ballots and second chances - accommodation does not. Decide your one or two anchor events, put beds on them first, and let the rest of 2027 arrange itself around them.

If you are wrangling a group into any of these (and the World Cups and Glastonbury are absolutely group trips), our guide to planning a group trip abroad covers the coordination half - and Tripmojo keeps everyone's flights, rooms and tickets in one shared itinerary instead of a group chat full of screenshots.