Dancing, music and masquerade – join the Carnival fun in London's Notting Hill

The Notting Hill Carneval, is Europe's biggest street festival. It takes place in London from 9am on Sunday 28 August 2016 and the same time on Monday 28 August. If you are a party-lover you need to be there for this weekend. The music fills the air for miles around with traditional and contemporary sounds, from Reggae to R&B, Funk, House, Dub and more. There are bands in magnificent costumes who dance to the rhythms of the mobile sound systems or steel bands.

Beside the celebrating mood you will find traditional Caribbean food there. The Notting Hill Carnival provides the perfect introduction to jerk chicken, rice and peas and rum punch as well as the odd taste of the other exotic cuisines.

If you are wondering about why it is called Carnival but takes place in summer, it originated in 1964 as a way for the Afro-Caribbean communities in London to celebrate their own culture and traditions. At its roots are the Caribbean carnivals of the early 19th century – a particularly strong tradition in Trinidad – which were all about celebrating the abolition of slavery and the slave trade.