European Beer Festivals in Summer 2025

Is there anything better than an ice-cold beer in the summer sun? How about hundreds of ice-cold beverages to choose from in the summer sun? Yes, it’s the beer festival season, and across Europe, there are some splendid options to sample locally.

Taking a trip to a beer fest at its best, is combined with a city break, getting to experience the vibrant culture amongst the IPAs, pilsners, porters, and sours. But where to start?

Bristol Craft Beer Festival – 13-14 June

Bristol is a real home of craft beer in the UK, with many great breweries plying their trade in the city, including names like Wiper & True, Left Handed Giant and Arbor. That’s just a drop in the ocean though and Bristol Festival brings many of the city’s finest brews together, alongside many others from across the UK.

Taking place on the weekend between 13 and 14 June on Bristol’s Harbourside, it’s the perfect setting to enjoy the sunshine and the 300+ beverages on offer. The 2025 line-up is extensive, with some of the highlights including:

• Fierce
• Lost and Grounded
• Vault City
• Siren
• Somer Valley Brewing

Plus many more. That’s all combined with some fantastic food offerings in what is certainly one of the best fests in the UK, in one of the country’s coolest cities.

Budapest Week 2025 – 26 May – 01 June

Forget just a weekend of drinking, Budapest brings the best beers to the Hungarian capital for an entire week. Combining a range of tap takeovers, concerts, and professional events right across Budapest, it’s the perfect opportunity to combine a city break with some world-class brewing.

The main events take place over the weekend, so 30 May to 1 June, with the tasting sessions considered a must. Among the 45 breweries from around the world offering tastings during BPBW 2025 are Lervig (Norway), Pomona Island (UK), Verdant (UK), and Hungary’s own Balkezes, Hoptop, and Major Levante, to name a few.

There are a variety of tickets available, but you want to get one for the main beer festival at Durer Kert, where you’ll find all the beverages taking part in one building. Tickets are priced at €95, but that gives you unlimited beer for six hours, as well as various discounts and access to other events across the week. 

Great British Beer Festival – 05-09 August

Britain’s well known for its beers, whether that be the burgeoning craft beverages scene, which is seeing the likes of Manchester’s Pomona Island and Cornwall’s Verdant travel to big festivals like Budapest, or its traditional real ale, with British brewers the masters at their craft.

The Great British Beer Festival is a celebration of both, but most notably the latter, with the likes of Thornbridge, Oakham Alex, and St Austell having their own exclusive bars. 

Taking place at Birmingham’s NEC for the very first time, there are hundreds of different beverages to try, with sessions running from Tuesday right through to Saturday. It’s hosted by CAMRA and is the jewel in CAMRA’s crown, having been running since 1977.

Adam Gent, the festival’s organiser said: “I cannot wait to welcome beer and cider lovers from across the UK, and indeed the world, to the NEC Birmingham, where the fest promises to be better than ever before.”

It’s an important date in the British calendar, with the festival also announcing the Champion beers of Britain. 

Belgian Beer Weekend – 05-07 September

Taking place in the iconic Grand Place in Brussels, the Belgian Weekend is the perfect weekend for tasting the best of the best Belgian beer. The country has long been known for its brewing capabilities, and the weekend is a must for many an aficionado. But, don’t worry, if you’re not one right now, you certainly will be after a few hours here. 

This year, the fest is celebrating its 25th year, with over 50 breweries taking part and hundreds of brews ranging from hoppy IPAs to crisp saisons and the rich dubbels the country is famous for. 

Given it’s in the city square, it’s completely free to attend. However, you do have to pay for the various beverages on offer. For those wanting to explore a city alongside their beers, this is a no-brainer, with all the main Brussels attractions nearby, including plenty of spots to catch a bite to eat too!

Mini-Brewery Festival – 13-14 June

Where the Belgians are famed for their dubbels and wheat beers, the Czechs are the masters when it comes to the pilsner. The Mini-Brewery Fest is the perfect way to spend time in Prague, bringing together the city’s many microbreweries in its most iconic location, the castle. 

A great option for a group of friends, you can spend the day enjoying the sights and activities, from river cruises to trips to Prague’s many casinos, or even watching first-class sport, with nothing beating a matchday at football or hockey.

It’s living like a local, donning your Dukla or Sparta scarf, putting a bit of money on them on the betting sites popular with Czech players, as told by the experts at MightyTips, and then celebrating the last-minute winner with a pilsner or two! 

But while backing Sparta for the afternoon might be a gamble, there’s certainly no gamble in visiting the Mini-Brewery Festival in the castle’s gardens, with beers to suit all tastes. 50 microbreweries will take part in 2025, with over 1,000 people passing through each day. It is quite a spectacular event and the perfect addition to any trip to the Czech capital.

Article by Kate Richardson