Unspunnenfest

Head to the Bernese Alps if a taste of age-old tradition is what you’re after. Outside Interlaken, the meadows below a ruined castle play host to a long-running festival that dates back to 1805, when it was started in a bid to unify the nation after a Napoleonic invasion. Since then, Unspunnenfest has been held just once every 12 years, and has endured as something of a folk-style Olympics. Its colorful opening ceremony is followed by eight days of alpenhorn blowing and flag throwing, animal herding and wrestling tournaments, yodeling, a massive Swiss country banquet, and most famously, the hurling of the 83-kilogram Unspunnen stone. Expect a rockin' good time ( August 26–September 3; unspunnenfest.ch).