2026 CARIBBEAN EVENTS
Warm Caribbean Greetings!
The Caribbean—renowned for vibrant cultures, breathtaking scenery, and irresistible warmth— welcomes you to an inspiring 2026 filled with celebration. Throughout the year, participating destinations present an exciting lineup of experiences across five dynamic event categories, inviting travelers to discover energy, creativity, and authentic island spirit.
This edition of the OneCaribbeanUSA Event Calendar is organized into five distinct categories: Music Festivals, Eat, Drink & Discover culinary experiences, Sailing Regattas, Cultural Events, and Other Sporting Events.
Within each section, events from participating destinations are listed to help inspire travel planning and showcase the depth and diversity of celebrations taking place throughout 2026. Food and beverage experiences bring together bold flavors and culinary talent. Music festivals highlight rhythms and performances that define regional identity. Regattas combine competition and camaraderie on spectacular waters.
Cultural events celebrate heritage, artistry, and tradition. Sporting events deliver excitement and athletic achievement. Together, these five categories reflect the vibrancy and variety that make the region a year-round destination for meaningful travel.
Travelers from across the United States are invited to the Caribbean through these curated event listings—each one offering more than a date on a calendar. Every celebration represents connection, culture, and the unmistakable spirit of Caribbean life. Whether planning a getaway centered on music, cuisine, sailing, culture, or sport, 2026 promises memorable experiences and lasting impressions.
The OneCaribbeanUSA Team
EAT, DRINK & DISCOVER
(FOOD & BEVERAGE EVENTS)
MARCH 12 TO 16
NASSAU PARADISE ISLAND
WINE & FOOD FESTIVAL
NASSAU PARADISE ISLAND
MAY 21 TO JUNE 4
BONAIRE CULINAIR SPRING EDITION BONAIRE
JUNE 1 TO 30 FLAVORS ST. MAARTEN
JUNE 21 TO 27
RESTAURANT WEEK ST. VINCENT AND THE GRENADINES
JULY 2 TO 5
NEVIS MANGO FESTIVAL NEVIS
AUGUST 8 AND 9
INTERNATIONAL GASTRONOMY FESTIVAL NICARAGUA
AUGUST 9
FLAVR FOOD FESTIVAL GUYANA
NOVEMBER 11 TO 22
GASTRONOMY FESTIVAL SAINT MARTIN
NOVEMBER 15
TAPAS RUM & WINE FESTIVAL GUYANA
NOVEMBER 29
CONCH FESTIVAL TURKS & CAICOS ISLANDS
DECEMBER 5 AND 6
INTERNATIONAL GASTRONOMY FESTIVAL NICARAGUA
Get Ready to Fete.
It’s Carnival Time!
Article by Theresa Storm
Like a child waiting for Santa, I can’t sleep. Even though it’s past midnight and the last chance for 48 hours to give my middle-aged body any semblance of rest, I’m too excited. I lay, ears cocked in the dark hotel room, expecting soon to hear a ruckus from the street proclaiming this special day has begun.
Tick tock. The silence stretches on.
At last, it is time. Springing from bed and donning a cheap white T-shirt and shorts, I meet my group and head onto the downtown streets, which, for the next two days, will be transformed into a hedonistic adult playground.
For islanders and flocks of tourists alike, it’s carnival time at last, the frenetic climax to the bacchanal season in swing already for a couple of months. On every Caribbean isle, “carne vale” – Latin for “farewell to flesh” – is the fete (party) of the year, regardless of what month it is held (carnivals pepper the Caribbean event calendar from New Year’s Day through to the Christmas season).
The tradition dates to the late 1700s when French sugar plantation owners in Trinidad and Tobago introduced elaborate pre-Lenten masquerade balls, which the enslaved Africans were banned from participating in. Today, although there are differences between island carnivals, every one reflects the historical roots and meaning of the celebration.
It’s the season when the spirit of each multiracial island erupts, enveloping all who partake. For most grown-ups, the two days of carnival are a once-a-year or once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to let down their cares and feel their inhibitions melt. Just like children at Christmas, it’s impossible not to get caught up in the excitement.
Out in the tropical night, we encounter only a few, quiet people, like sleepwalkers in the wee hours. Like them, my posse (group) and I furtively slip from the road into the bright lights of a J’ouvert camp.
Here we are greeted by fellow revelers, all dressed in white: shirts, pants, shorts, skirts; some ripped into strips like rags. Most have tied scarves on their heads to protect their hair. Led into a lively bar, a stiff rum and Coke, the wake-up libation of choice, is shoved into my hand. It is just after 3 a.m.
Out in the yard, thumping Carnival tunes yank the last vestiges of tiredness from our bodies. Our hips, unbidden, begin to gyrate or “wine”, as they say in the Caribbean.
Handed squeeze bottles of yellow, blue, red and green body paint, we gleefully squirt our neighbors until they are white no more. Like kids, we slap colorful handprints on shirts and bottoms; some landing in strategic locations.
Out on the street, our amplifier-laden flatbed music truck pulls up. It’s almost time to go. But, before we do, there’s one finishing touch. Revelers swarm to pots of smooth warm mud, enthusiastically rubbing it onto faces and already colored body parts.
This is an elemental, age-old part of carnival, I learn. It goes back to the early days when freed Trinidadian slaves, unable to afford glitzy masquerade costumes, donned their worst clothes and slathered themselves in mud.
Not pretty by any means, our motley crew is ready to take to the road. Grasping a plastic drinking cup and bottles of paint to adorn spectators, we file in behind our music truck booming local soca hits.
It is 4 a.m. Carnival Monday. At last it’s J’ouvert (ju vay, a contraction of the French words ‘jour ouvert’, meaning ‘day begun’), the official opening of carnival, which kicks off two days of street parades.
Masses take to the roads jumping, dancing and shouting. Some, like I, join J’ouvert bands (parading masquerade bands), while others join the throngs of downtown spectators. Devilish traditional carnival characters sporting pointed tails and pitchforks emerge to enact the darker side.
As night fades, I’m “gettin’ on bad” (behaving with wild abandon) like I’ve been doing this all my life. Incited by this year’s popular road march songs, I jump, I chip (dance) and I wave. Surrendering to excitement and revelry, I don’t care what people think.
Immersed in the fun release it provides, I discover that a lack of sleep is not an issue. Two days later I’m still going strong. It’s Carnival Tuesday – the big day – and the ‘pretty mas’ is underway.
“Put something in the air!” commands the lead singer from his stage atop the bed of a boom box truck, inching its way through the crowded streets. Like members of a cult, I — and hundreds around me — obey, jumping up, eagerly thrusting our flags (a piece of cloth, a bandana or a hand) toward the midday sun, which is not the only thing heating up the isle. I am thrilled to be “playing mas” (participating).
“The winin’ must never stop inside of the mas’,” I belt out. The lyrics to this, and every popular road march, are ingrained in my brain like mantras. “This is car-na-val!”
Far from blessed with a model’s figure, I cannot believe I am parading past thousands of spectators wearing little more than tights and a rainbow bikini. Jewels, gold braid, sequins and chains of beads, as well as calf and wrist bands, a necklace and a sheer multi-colored cape draped down my back have transformed it from a mere swimming into a masquerade costume. The crowning glory is a headpiece that looks like the sails of a big and a small boat anchored amidst 16 half-meter-long spiral stakes.
Identically-clad, we are one section of our mas’ band. Like the other big bands, some several thousand strong, we are divided into about 20 sections, each attired differently to bring to life the band designer’s theme. As we pass several judging stations on our two-day road march, we are energetically vying for the Band of the Year title.
“Carnival is a celebration of life and of each other,” a fellow reveler, her arm draped over my shoulders, enthusiastically explains. And, like life, it is not fully experienced from the sidelines.
Although carnival is not for the faint of party-heart, it grants childhood abandon and induces excitement the way waiting for Santa once did.
CULTURAL EVENTS
JANUARY 1
CLOSING OF CARNIVAL MONTSERRAT
JANUARY 1 JUNKANOO NASSAU
JANUARY 1 TO FEBRUARY 18
JANUARY 2 TO FEBRUARY 15
JANUARY 31
ARUBA SOCA MONARCH CONTEST (FINAL)
ARUBA
JANUARY 2 TO FEBRUARY 15
CARNAVAL 72 ARUBA
JANUARY 31
NOS ZJILEA CULTURAL EVENT BONAIRE
FEBRUARY 1 TO 17
CARNIVAL BONAIRE
FEBRUARY 7 TO 18
CARNAVAL DE SAINT MARTIN SAINT MARTIN
FEBRUARY 14
BANDA ABOU CARNIVAL PARADE CURAÇAO
FEBRUARY 15
GRAN MARCHA CURAÇAO
FEBRUARY 20 TO 24
FESTIVAL INTERNACIONAL DEL TABACO NICARAGUA
FEBRUARY 23
GUYANA MASHRAMANI GUYANA
FEBUARY 28
NOS ZJILEA CULTURAL EVENT BONAIRE
MARCH 3
PHAGWAH (HOLI GUYANA FESTIVAL) GUYANA
MARCH 7 TO 17
ST. PATRICK’S FESTIVAL MONTSERRAT
MARCH 28
NOS ZJILEA CULTURAL EVENT BONAIRE
APRIL 3 TO 5
RUPUNUNI RODEO GUYANA
APRIL 6
HARVEST FESTIVAL PARADE – SEÚ CURAÇAO
APRIL 6 TO 12
EASTER FESTIVITIES GUADELOUPE
APRIL 10 TO MAY 5
55th CARNIVAL ST. MAARTEN
APRIL 12
SEÚ HARVEST PARADE OF THE BANDABOU REGION 2026 CURAÇAO
APRIL 14 TO 19
CURAÇAO INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL CURAÇAO
APRIL 25
NOS ZJILEA CULTURAL EVENT BONAIRE
APRIL 30
DIA DI RINCON BONAIRE
MAY 5
ARRIVAL DAY GUYANA
MAY 24
MAYO YA (MAYPOLE FESTIVAL), RACCS NICARAGUA
MAY 25 TO 30
ART WEEK KAYA KAYA CURAÇAO
MAY 30
NOS ZJILEA CULTURAL EVENT BONAIRE
JUNE 26 TO JULY 7
VINCY MAS ST. VINCENT & THE GRENADINES
JUNE 27
NOS ZJILEA CULTURAL EVENT BONAIRE
JULY 1
EMANCIPATION DAY CELEBRATION ST-MAARTEN
JULY 3 TO 5
ORIGINS FASHION FESTIVAL GUYANA
JULY 4, 11, 18 AND 25
GOOMBAY SUMMER FESTIVAL
NASSAU PARADISE ISLAND
JULY 15 TO 27
STATIA CARNIVAL ST. EUSTATIUS
JULY 18 TO 26
CALABASH FESTIVAL MONTSERRAT
JULY 23 TO AUGUST 4
NEVIS CULTURAMA NEVIS
JULY 24 - AUGUST 2
CANOUAN CARNIVAL ST. VINCENT & THE GRENADINES
JULY 25
NOS ZJILEA CULTURAL EVENT BONAIRE
AUGUST 12
‘I DO’ VOW RENEWAL EVENT ARUBA
AUGUST 27 TO 29
CORN ISLAND EMANCIPATION FESTIVAL NICARAGUA
AUGUST 29
NOS ZJILEA CULTURAL EVENT BONAIRE
SEPTEMBER 6 TO 8
ART FAIR ARUBA ARUBA
SEPTEMBER 12
REGGAE FEST GUYANA
SEPTEMBER 25 TO OCTOBER 4
CURAÇAO PRIDE CURAÇAO
SEPTEMBER 26
NOS ZJILEA CULTURAL EVENT BONAIRE
OCTOBER 24 TO 26
NICARAGUA DESIGNS NICARAGUA
OCTOBER 31
NOS ZJILEA CULTURAL EVENT BONAIRE
NOVEMBER 12 TO 15
GUY EXPO GUYANA
NOVEMBER 22
CULTR FEST GUYANA
NOVEMBER 27 TO 28
RUPUNUNI EXPO GUYANA
NOVEMBER 28
NOS ZJILEA CULTURAL EVENT BONAIRE
DECEMBER 7
LA GRITERIA, LÉON & MANAGUA NICARAGUA
DECEMBER 26
NOS ZJILEA CULTURAL EVENT BONAIRE
DECEMBER 26
BOXING DAY JUNKANOO PARADE NASSAU PARADISE ISLAND
DECEMBER 26
MASKANOO FESTIVAL TURKS & CAICOS ISLANDS
MUSIC FESTIVALS
JANUARY 21 TO FEBRUARY 4
MUSTIQUE BLUES FESTIVAL
ST. VINCENT AND THE GRENADINES
JANUARY 24 TO FEBRUARY 1
BEQUIA MUSIC FEST ST. VINCENT AND THE GRENADINES
JANUARY 26 TO 28 & 30
CARNIVAL MUSIC FESTIVAL, TUMBA CURAÇAO
FEBRUARY 21 AND 22
53RD TUMBA CONTEST ARUBA
MARCH 18 TO 22
SXM MUSIC FESTIVAL SAINT MARTIN
APRIL 2 TO 4
CURAÇAO INTERNATIONAL BLUE SEAS FESTIVAL CURAÇAO
MAY 20 TO 25
SOUL BEACH MUSIC FESTIVAL CURAÇAO
JUNE 5 TO 8
TERRE DE BLUES FESTIVAL GUADELOUPE ISLANDS
JUNE 27 AND 28
HAK’E SUMMER FESTIVAL CURAÇAO
JULY 18 AND 19
ALL DAY IN MUSIC FESTIVAL GUADELOUPE ISLANDS
AUGUST 1 AND 2
AQUA MUSIC FESTIVAL GUADELOUPE ISLANDS
REGATTAS Sailing
JANUARY 29 TO FEBRUARY 1
CARIBBEAN MULTI-HULL CHALLENGE
RACE & RALLY ST. MAARTEN
FEBRUARY 12 TO 15
LAGOON FESTIVAL ST. MAARTEN
MARCH 4 TO 8
SXM HEINEKEN REGATTA ST. MAARTEN
MARCH 29 TO APRIL 1
SVG SAILING WEEK – CANOUAN CUP ST. VINCENT AND THE GRENADINES
APRIL 2 TO 6
SVG SAILING WEEK – BEQUIA EASTER REGATTA ST. VINCENT AND THE GRENADINES
JULY 3 TO 12
TRADITOUR (BOAT RACE) GUADELOUPE ISLANDS
JULY 10 TO 12
ARUBA INTERNATIONAL REGATTA ARUBA
OCTOBER 5 TO 10 (TBC)
BONAIRE INTERNATIONAL SAILING REGATTA BONAIRE
OCTOBER 30 TO NOVEMBER 8
LA ROUTE DE RHUM GUADELOUPE ISLANDS
SPORTING Other
EVENTS
JANUARY 2 TO 7
CURAÇAO BASEBALL WEEK
CURAÇAO
MARCH 1 AND 2
ULTRA MARATÓN FUEGO Y AGUA, ISLA DE OMETEPE NICARAGUA
MARCH 5 TO 8
WINE CELLAR GOLF & FISHING TOURNAMENT TURKS & CAICOS ISLANDS
MARCH 7 AND 8
ARUBA INTERNATIONAL HALF MARATHON
ARUBA
MARCH 14 AND 15
TORNEO LATINOAMERICANO DE SURF
NICARAGUA
MARCH 19 TO 22
CURAÇAO INVITATIONAL GOLF TOURNAMENT CURAÇAO
APRIL 4 AND 5
BARTICA REGATTA (SPEEDBOAT RACE) GUYANA
APRIL 27
HARRY JANSSEN INTERNATIONAL BOULEVARD RACE (10K)
ARUBA
JUNE 6 AND 7
KLM ARUBA INTERNATIONAL MARATHON ARUBA
JUNE 27
RACE FOR THE CONCH OPEN WATER SWIM TURKS & CAICOS ISLANDS
JULY 11 AND 12
GT AMERICAS CHALLENGE CHAMPIONSHIP ROUND 2
GUYANA
JULY 23 TO AUGUST 1
GUYANA GLOBAL SUPER LEAGUE EVENT GUYANA
JULY 31 TO AUGUST 9
GUADELOUPE INTERNATIONAL CYCLING RACE
GUADELOUPE ISLANDS
AUGUST 16
TIME ATTACK SERIES (MOTOR RACING)
GUYANA
SEPTEMBER 6
DAKOTA 100 CHAMPIONSHIP, ROUND 3
GUYANA
SEPTEMBER 27
DRAG RACE CHAMPIONSHIP INTERNATIONAL GUYANA
OCTOBER 18
DRAG RACE (BERBICE) GUYANA
OCTOBER 16 AND 17
RUPUNUNI MUSIC & ARTS FESTIVAL GUYANA
NOVEMBER 1
CIRCUIT CHAMPIONSHIP INTERNATIONAL GUYANA
NOVEMBER 13 TO 15
NATIONAL EXPOSITION OF PATRON SAINTS NICARAGUA
NOVEMBER 21
NEVIS TRIATHLON NEVIS
NOVEMBER 22
TIME ATTACK SERIES ROUND 3 (MOTOR RACING) GUYANA
NOVEMBER 22 TO 28
BATTLE 4 ATLANTIS NASSAU PARADISE ISLANDS
NOVEMBER 29
DRAG RACE CHAMPIONSHIP INTERNATIONAL GUYANA
DISCOVER THE BEAUTY UNDERWATER
St. Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG) is one of the Caribbean’s last untouched corners. Its volcanic geography provides exceptionally clear waters most of the year, and even when visibility dips, it’s still impressive.
Divers of all levels will love the vibrant reefs and abundant marine life, earning SVG the title “Critter Capital of the Caribbean” from Sport Diver magazine.
The islands offer diverse dive landscapes—walls, rock formations, coral reefs, sandy slopes, and seagrass beds—home to frogfish, seahorses, colorful mollusks, crustaceans, anemones, and tunicates. You might also encounter nurse sharks, lobsters, octopus, squid, eagle rays, manta rays, and barracuda.
discoversvg.com/what-to-do/diving-snorkelling/ to explore all of our dive sites!
INDULGE UNWIND &
With legendary Bahamian hospitality and lively rhythmic celebrations, there’s a colourful world just waiting to be explored. Rejuvenate yourself with pristine white sand beaches and clear turquoise waters. Feed your happiness at five-star resort restaurants and laid-back local cafes.
Spend less time traveling and more time relaxing with nonstop flights from most major cities.
DISCOVER THE & MORE VACATION. Visit
USA
Your Caribbean Travel Resource
Planning your next Caribbean vacation? Not sure where to go?
Start your research at OneCaribbeanUSA.com – all information, all in one place with videos to watch, island highlights, travel essentials, mustdo experiences, festivals and events and a curated collection of featured hotels and trusted partners. There is even information on where to golf, where to dive, and how to take a ferry to visit another island.
Whether you are comparing islands or searching for all the amazing events occurring across the region right now, this site brings it all together with helpful, up-to-date information and easy links to learn more.
Start exploring today and turn “Where should we go?” into “When can we leave?”.
See your favorite Travel Advisor to book your trip!