Caribbean Festivals

Celebrations reveal aspects of the local culture through spectacle. Kids will not only enjoy these parades and bands but will also remember them.

Puerto Rico's Carnival, especially the one in Ponce , features revelers wearing devilish-looking papier-mâché masks. The Cayman Islands celebrates its heritage with sea turtle-decorated floats. Many festivals also feature exciting and colorful figures such as mocko jumby dancers on stilts.

Music is the soul of many festivals. In Barbados , during Crop-Over, a three-week summer festival, costumed revelers parade to calypso music. Visiting teens can join the Junior Kadooment Parade and dance along with their Bajan peers. Jamaica 's Reggae Sumfest, held in July or August, celebrates Bob Marley and other island musicians.

St. Lucia 's Jazz Festival in May has popular jazz and rock stars performing at ticketed events. At the free Jazz on the Square series, regional bands play Trinidadian steel pans and St. Lucian jazz masters perform. Your kids can join the local school children in impromptu dances.

ANTIGUA

World Famous Annual Sailing Week Carnival - April

Carnival - July/August


ARUBA

Carnival - February

Sinbad 70's Music Festival - May


BARBADOS

Windsurfing World Cup - January

Crop Over Festival - July/August

Sir Garfield Sobers Cricket Festival - November


BAHAMAS

Caribbean Music Festival(Nassau)- June

Junkanoo - December/January


BONAIRE

Carnival - January

Annual International Sailing Regatta - October

Bari Festival of Song, Dance, Drink & Drums - December


BVI's

Carnival - July/August


CAYMAN ISLANDS

Pirate's Week - October


CURACAO

Carnival - February

Jazz Festival Under The Stars - October

Oktoberfest - October


GRENADA

Carriacou Festival - February

Carnival - August

Carriacou Parange Festival - December


JAMAICA

Bob Marley Birthday Bash (Kingston) - January

Reggae Sunsplash - February

Carnival - April

International Jazz Festival (Ocho Rios) - June

Sumfest - July/August


PUERTO RICO

Coffee Harvest Festival - January

Carnival - February

Heineken Jazzfest - May


ST. LUCIA

Carnival - February


ST. MARTIN

Carnival and Mardi Gras - February


TRINIDAD/TOBAGO

Carnival - February

Tobago Heritage Festival - July/August


U.S. VIRGIN ISLANDS

Carnival (St. John) - June/July