Unconventional summer festivals this August

Just when you thought you recovered from Midburn, festival season is back - but with some non-traditional twists. These events still encourage dancing, drinking, and a damn good time, but come August, expect the unconventional: hot air balloons in the desert, sacred Israeli art and music across Jerusalem, and klezmer throughout the streets of Tzfat. From folk dancing in the north to Afro-Israeli art and music in the south, quirky live entertainment is abound this August, and not just in Tel Aviv! If liquor is the only entertainment you need, beer and wine festivals are coming to parks, museums, and train-station-turned-trendy-shopping-complexes in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. Between animated films one weekend, and puppet theater the next, taking in the cross-country festivities might leave you exhausted, but we guarantee you'll remember it all (or at least most of it).