Rough Guides May

Rough Guides Hopes to Inspire People to Travel to Places TheyWouldn't Have Thought of Before

Rough Guides has announced its list of reasons to travel in May. The list is designed to highlight unusual festivals and events happening around the world this month and provide readers with inspiration for their next travel experience. It's the first of a monthly recommendations list from Rough Guides, which the travel brand plans to run for the first few months of the summer.

This month's reasons to travel are:
Cheung Chau bun festival in Hong Kong, a 5-day festival that includes grown adults climbing up a 60ft tower of steamed buns.
Land-Diving on Pentecost Island, Vanuatu, an anxiety-inducing festival that features local men hurling themselves towards the ground from a great height attached by nothing but vines.
Cinco de Mayo in Puebla, Mexico, where there are month-long festivities including a parade, a food festival , and a state fair.
Maldon Mud Race in Essex, UK, a very messy event where participants must try to run through the thick sediment of the River Blackwater riverbed.
Snake Festival in Cocullo, Spain, where a life size statue of a saint is paraded through the town with a mass of live
snakes writhing on its head. Each festival has a unique history and origin story, which is explained in the article on the Rough Guides website.

Jenny Cahill-Jones, senior online editor at Rough Guides, says, "At Rough Guides we're always looking for interesting travel experiences, and we've picked out some of the most interesting festivals and events happening around the world in May."