Hot Tickets: Our Dance Festival Picks for 2026

Terminal V
Royal Highland Centre & Showground, Edinburgh, Scotland, 18-19 Apr
This year’s Terminal V will be a melancholy one (or as melancholy as a techno festival can be) as the event touches down in Edinburgh for the final time. Set to move elsewhere in Scotland, the festival’s ninth edition will be a fitting goodbye, with Patrick Topping, Sara Landry and sim0ne joining the four-to-the-floor send-off. terminalv.co.uk

Pavilion
Low Green, Ayr, Scotland, 2-3 May
Ewan McVicar brings the party to his hometown of Ayr for the bank holiday weekend, with DJs from Scotland and beyond joining him – including Carl Cox, La La and Leftfield. With weatherproofing over the main Electric Brae tent, there’s no chance of west coast weather dampening the festivities. pavilionfestival.com

Outwards
Progress Centre, Manchester, England, 2 May
Brand new festival Outwards has made a mark with its inaugural lineup. To get the party started, Detroit house pioneer, Moodyman, era-defining electronica duo Orbital, and jungle titan LTJ Bukem, will be getting behind the decks. Staged in Manchester’s Progress Centre, the venue brings a block party vibe with covered outdoor stages nestled between red brick industrial wharfs. instagram.com/outwardsfestival

Love Saves the Day
Ashton Court, Bristol, England, 23-24 May 
Bristol’s biggest festival is expectedly Bristolian in nature; stages plastered with kaleidoscopic colour, a lineup stacked with the best of drum and bass and a reputation for being a big, unhinged, love-in. We’ll raise a cider to that. lovesavestheday.org

Terminal V. Image: Tim Craig

Open Ear
Sherkin Island, Cork, Ireland, 28-31 May 
If you're lucky enough to have nabbed a ticket for Open Ear then we begrudgingly congratulate you, if not, then good luck finding one. For the last ten years Open Ear has brought together the best of Irish electronic music to Sherkin Island. With a population of just over 100, the island will see revellers return to dance on the white sandy beaches and inside the island’s derelict farmsteads for the last weekend of May. openear.ie

Gottwood
Carreglwyd Estate, Anglesey, Wales, 11-14 Jun 
No Houghton ticket? Then Gottwood has got you. The Carreglwyd Estate opens up its walled garden, sprawling woodlands and Saltburn-esque grounds for four days in June. Gottwood consistently crafts a varied lineup of leftfield talent, with the likes of Octo Octa, Priori and Crazy P providing the soundtrack for the picturesque festival. gottwood.co.uk

SOUNDIT
Parc Nou, Barcelona, Spain, 17-18 Jul 
Despite only being in its second year, SOUNDIT festival’s lineup is tightly curated, with back-to-backs from Martyn and Om Unit, Kode9 and Tim Reaper, and Vlada and Nosedrip. Described as a ‘festival within the festival’, the LABERINT stage is taken over by heavyweight Munich label, Ilian Tape, and revered Colombian label, TraTraTrax, for the two days respectively. Not one to be missed. soundit.es

Outlook Origins
The Garden Resort, Tisno, Croatia, 23-27 Jul 
Where better to savour the many flavours of UK soundsystem music than the bubblegum-blue coastlines of the Adriatic. Outlook has been bringing dubstep, grime and jungle royalty to Croatia for the last 18 years and this year’s lineup is no exception, with Mala, Goldie and Youngsta joining the ranks. outlookorigins.com

Pavilion. Image courtesy of Pavilion.

Junction 2
Boston Manor Park, London, England, 25-26 Jul & 2 Aug
London festivals are increasingly dogged by bad reputations – iffy sound quality, dustbowl conditions and major disruptions for the city’s public parks. Junction 2 has sidestepped these issues by holding their party under the M4. This year’s collaboration with fabric (25 Jul) sees techno legends Nina Kraviz, Jeff Mills and Nicolas Lutz take to the underpass. junction2.london

Dekmantel
Amsterdamse Bos, Amsterdam, Netherlands, 29 Jul-2 Aug 
Over 160 acts and 15,000 attendees arrive in Amsterdam for five jam-packed days at the peak of summer. The festival’s most recent addition, Dekmantel at Dawn, sees artists including Channel One, DJ Sprinkles and Sampha ease into the programming with experimental morning sets. dekmantelfestival.com

Sub Club Southside Weekender
Queen’s Park Arena, Glasgow, Scotland, 1-2 Aug 
Sub Club is set to raise the metaphorical roof with their return to Queen’s Park Arena for the bank holiday weekend. If last year's lineup is anything to go by, then expect titans of Detroit house to grace the bandstand. subclub.co.uk

Houghton
Houghton Hall, Norfolk, England, 6-9 Aug 
Sets played under the boughs of the Houghton forest become things of festival legend. Getting a ticket is hard, getting to the hallowed Terminus stage is harder. Alongside 24-hour programming, the site boasts a record fair, sculpture garden and an armadillo-shaped stage for acoustically-crisp talks by your favourite DJs. All the essentials, of course. houghtonfestival.co.uk