Europe’s best small-town carnivals: fasnacht, floats & local flair
Europe’s carnival season isn’t just Venice and Cologne. Seek out smaller parades—especially in Germany and Switzerland—for costumed “witches,” marching bands, lanterns, and intimate, photo-friendly vibes. Time your visit around local parade days to catch the magic up close.
Known in the United States as Mardi Gras (actually French for “Fat Tuesday), the traditions of excessive celebrations and outrageous carnival parades before the pre-Easter fasting during Lent date back many centuries in Europe.
But you don’t have to head to the crowd-filled streets of big towns like Germany's Cologne or Düsseldorf, France’s Nice, or Switzerland’s Basel to experience some great carnival parades in Europe. And you don’t even have to indulge in excess!
Small towns can have fantastic carnival parades and celebrations – with a more intimate and friendly atmosphere. Forget pushing and shoving or waiting long hours in the cold to see the carnival parade floats or eccentricities. Just walk right up and celebrate elbow-to-elbow with the town folk!
Carnival parades and shenanigans in Switzerland
Every region and town in Germanic areas, particularly the smaller ones, has its own customs, celebrations and events.
We have been to the great carnival parades in towns like Dusseldorf, but we truly cherished the small town carnival parades, celebrations and customs in smaller towns like Altstätten in Switzerland. There, the so-called Röllelibutzen organize carnival events, which date back to at least 1617, and the area is considered a real stronghold for carnival events.
There, we enjoyed a weekday afternoon children’s parade in 2015 where participants and observers alike donned at least a mask or hat.
Want to check out a small town Mardi Gras party? Then head over to Altstätten.
Carnival traditions in Southern Germany
Then there are the small towns of Southern Germany in the state of Baden-Württemberg, an area that includes the renowned Black Forest. In this area, the “Swabian-Alemannic” carnival traditions are quite different than those farther north. Here, too, carnival associations spend the entire year continuing the traditions, working on costumes, and planning parades and events. You can only take part if you have lived there for a minimum number of years, and costumes and masks must conform to historical precedents.
Some of the costumes are quite old and handed down generation to generation to continue the carnival celebrations and their history. There, we were street side at the carnival parade in a small town called Geislingen, where many clubs have their own traditions, including the “Feuerhexen” (fire witches). Click here to see a list of other groups in the area, and don’t miss the photo galleries if you don’t speak German!
HITT Tip: This website lists the celebration dates in Germany a couple of years in advance, based on school holidays – itis essential to make the party time a holiday, right? Here, you can find the upcoming dates for Basel’s party.
Traditions behind carnival parades and parties
Carnival’s roots actually date back to pre-Christian times, when masks were worn to ward off winter spirits. Celebrations of some sort start as early as November, but the biggest week is, of course, the last week leading up to Ash Wednesday. That means, of course, the dates for the big week of carnival parades in Europe change every year. Still, they are generally in February, with some festivities also taking place in January.
So get ready to catch a few sweets tossed from the parade or be covered in confetti. Don’t forget your camera, and be prepared to join in, since great carnival parade participants are known to dance, harass, or even kiss those on the sidelines! Yes, we earned a few smacks – and deftly avoided a few rather drunken ones too.
In larger cities in Germany, the celebrations can get quite political (Warning: this is not PG material) with global and satirical statements, some of which can be quite controversial, particularly noteworthy for a country where correctness is usually king.
HITT Tip: Looking for a great small town carnival parade or week of events in German-speaking countries? Remember: “Karneval” is the name given to the celebrations in the northern Rhineland areas of Germany, such as Cologne. Other than that, look also for “fasching,” “fasnacht,” “fastnacht,” and even “fassenacht” or “fasnet.” It’s also known as the “fifth season.” The name varies by region, as do the traditions and origins. Look closely, however, and you see some form of the English word “fast” (to abstain from eating) in many of these forms! (This website out of Cologne has some fun tales and history about the event, but it is only in German.)
And if you haven't been to a Mardi Gras-like Fasching celebration in Europe, add it to your bucket list and be sure to book well in advance. They are very popular.
