Notting Hill Carnival

For one August bank holiday weekend each year, the terraced streets of Notting Hill and Ladbroke Grove disappear beneath feathers, sound systems and the smell of jerk chicken. Rooted in the Caribbean community that settled in west London in the 1950s and 60s, Notting Hill Carnival has grown into Europe's largest street festival, a rolling celebration of Caribbean culture that draws around a million people over two days. It is free, it is enormous, and it is one of the defining sights of the London summer. ## What to expect Carnival 2027 runs on Sunday 29 and Monday 30 August, and the weekend has a shape. Sunday is Children's Day, a slightly gentler affair when family bands lead the parade and the crowds are more manageable. Monday is the main event: the full costumed masquerade bands, the mas, wind their way along a route of roughly three miles through W10 and W11, past dozens of static sound systems each pumping a different flavour of soca, reggae, dub or house. The Panorama steel-band competition, held on the Saturday warm-up night, is a highlight for purists. Expect dense crowds, deafening bass, street food on every corner and an atmosphere that is overwhelmingly joyful. Go early in the day for the parade and the best of the costumes, travel in by Tube or Overground rather than car, and agree a meeting point in advance because phone signal buckles under the crowds.

In 2026 the carnival marked its 60th anniversary, celebrated as the Diamond Jubilee, sixty years on from the 1966 street party arranged by Rhaune Laslett and the London Free School. Sixty years, not sixty carnivals: the street event was cancelled in 2020 and again in 2021, moving online both years.

• Before you go, read the UK government's FCDO travel advice for the United Kingdom (entry requirements, safety and local laws).
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