---
type: Tip
title: Do big festivals at an organised event
description: For huge public festivals, pair the street experience with a ticketed organised event — the streets give you the raw version, the event gives you the celebration without the hassle.
tags: [festivals, safety, crowds]
timestamp: 2026-08-04T12:00:00Z
---

# Do big festivals at an organised event

When a festival takes over a whole city, Harry's approach is to see both
sides: walk the streets for the unfiltered version, then move to a ticketed
organised event for the main celebration. He was told beforehand that
organised events are better than simply roaming, and found that to be right —
without giving up the street experience entirely.

## How Harry applies it

At Holi in [Delhi](/places/delhi.md) he started on the streets of Old Delhi,
where the festival is an open paint fight and, as he'd been warned, tourists
are singled out. After strangers began asking for money and two men followed
his group for at least ten minutes, he moved on to the ticketed party in New
Delhi. That was where he found the celebration he'd come for — a packed floor,
all ages, and no bad atmosphere — for an entry fee of around 3,000 (from
video – unverified).

## Demonstrated in

- [Celebrating Holi in India with Locals](/videos/1L55nlpLbYg.md)
- [Things Got Out of Hand at Rio Carnival 🇧🇷](/videos/Rat94OD4lz0.md) —
  the same structure at a much larger scale, and the reason this page has two
  entries rather than one. Carnival in [Rio](/places/rio-de-janeiro.md) *is* the
  two halves: unplanned street blocos that start at 6am, run over each other all
  day and are found by word of mouth, and the ticketed Sambadrome at night — a
  purpose-built parade ground from 1984 where samba schools compete in front of
  up to 90,000 people. Harry does both on the same day and treats neither as a
  substitute for the other.