What's On in Londonderry

Run from the Siege Museum, the Maiden City Festival brings the Walled City’s history out onto the streets for nine days each summer. Costumed characters appear on the City Walls for Siege Tales performances, monologues telling the Siege Story are staged in St Columb’s Cathedral, and there are live cannon demonstrations, walking tours and lectures that dig into the events of 1688–89.

It is far from all history, though. The programme mixes in bagpipes and highland dancing, tea dances at the Memorial Hall, an open mic night and an evening cabaret, with venues spread between the Walls, Guildhall Square, the cathedral and the Memorial Hall.

Most events are free or low-cost, which makes it an easy festival to dip in and out of while exploring the city. Tickets for the Country Gala Night are sold through the Siege Museum, and the full programme fills out closer to the festival.

Féile grew out of the Gasyard Féile in the Bogside and has become Derry’s biggest community arts festival, returning in 2026 with its largest programme yet — more than 150 events over eleven days. Expect live music, award-winning films, sport, exhibitions, debate, comedy and family fun, with the programme reaching into every corner of the city.

What makes Féile distinctive is its geography: events take place in more than 40 venues across the Bogside, Brandywell, Bishop Street, Creggan and the Fountain as well as the city centre, so following the festival is a good way to see neighbourhoods most visitors miss.

The mix runs from big-name gigs to free community events, so check the programme on the festival website — registration and tickets for individual events are handled online, and the popular nights sell through early.

Foyle Pride is one of Ireland’s longest-running Pride festivals, and its 33rd edition fills Derry with ten days of events from 19 to 29 August 2026 under the theme “Existence is Resistance”. It is a community-rooted festival rather than a purely commercial one, with most events free and open to all.

The programme opens on Wednesday 19 August with the Football v Homophobia five-a-side tournament in the Waterside Shared Village — a friendly, inclusive event now in its tenth year. It builds across the following week to the festival’s centrepiece, the Foyle Pride Parade on Saturday 29 August, which assembles at the North West Transport Hub from 1pm and sets off through the city at 2pm.

The full line-up of talks, performances and community events is published on the festival’s social channels closer to the time, so check those for the day-by-day schedule before you travel.

Live at the Square turns Ebrington Square, the former parade ground on the Waterside bank of the Foyle, into Derry’s big outdoor concert venue for a week in late August. The 2026 run opens with chart-topping Irish folk-rock band Kingfishr on Monday 24 August — already sold out, with a waitlist on the official site — then finishes with three nights over the closing weekend.

James Arthur headlines on Friday 28 August with support from Derry’s own Conor McLain, JLS take the stage on Saturday 29, and Sunday 30 closes the series with The One and Only Big 80s/90s Party, featuring ABC’s Martin Fry, Marc Almond, Chesney Hawkes, Basshunter and INXS singer Ciaran Gribbin.

Doors open at 6pm each night and tickets are sold through the official Live at the Square website. Ebrington Square is a short walk from the city centre across the Peace Bridge.

For four days in late October, Derry fills with singing. The City of Derry International Choir Festival brings choirs from across the UK, Ireland and further afield to compete in a full slate of competitive categories, capped by an international competition and a gala awards ceremony.

The competitive singing is only half of it. The festival programme also takes choral music out into the city through community choral trails and a sacred trail around Derry’s churches, along with workshops, Big Sing sessions for schools and social concerts, so plenty of the singing can be enjoyed casually as you wander between venues.

Guest artists perform alongside the competitions each year, with the 2026 line-up announced through the festival website. If you are visiting that week, note that the festival runs straight into Derry Halloween — the city will be busy, so book accommodation early.

Derry owns Halloween like nowhere else in Europe, and 2026 marks the festival’s 40th year. Rooted in the old festival of Samhain, it draws over 100,000 people to the Walled City for four days and nights of what the organisers bill as the world’s number one Halloween celebration.

The shape of the week: from 28 to 30 October the Awakening the Walled City Trail runs each evening from 6pm to 9pm, filling the streets with illuminations, performers and supernatural characters. Then on Saturday 31 October the massive grassroots carnival parade — thousands of costumed participants and elaborate floats — winds through the city from 7pm, finishing with the famous fireworks display around 8.15pm. Around the headline events there are live music stages, street food, and the Little Horrors programme for younger children.

The trail, parade and fireworks are all completely free; a small number of ticketed events are announced with the full programme. Book accommodation months ahead — this is the city’s biggest week of the year.

Atlantic Sessions takes over the seaside towns of Portstewart and neighbouring Portrush for four days each November, with more than 30 artists playing free gigs in music venues, restaurants, hotels and bars across both towns. The music leans local and original: traditional and contemporary folk, bluegrass and americana alongside electronic, indie and acoustic singer-songwriters, mixing emerging talent with established Northern Ireland performers.

The format is a music trail rather than a single stage — you follow the programme from bar to café to hotel lounge, and every performance is free to walk into. It is a lovely excuse to visit the Causeway Coast in its quiet season, when the crowds are gone and the venues are warm and full of music.

The full programme and venue schedule are published on the festival website closer to the dates. Venues within each town are walkable, and Portstewart and Portrush are only a few minutes apart by car.