Jane's Midlife Journey

Beautiful World Festival (formerly World of Love Festival) is an annual cultural festival celebrating diversity and inclusion. It features music, dance, food and other activities from a range of different countries. In 2024, the festival celebrated its 5th birthday.

How to get to Beautiful World Festival

The festival takes place at King’s Park in Boscombe, which is around 2 miles north east of Bournemouth along the A338 (follow the signs to the Vitality Stadium). 

By Bus

Buses 1a/1b/1c and m2 stop at Portman Road, around a 10 minute walk away. Buses No 22, 33 and X3 stops at Kings Park, a 5 minute walk away from the festival site. Note: Although this stop is closer, these buses run less frequently, so may not be the best option.

By train, Pokesdown Station is a 15 minute walk away. (If you turn left out of the station and left into Clarence Park Road, most of the walk is through the park).

Parking

There is some free roadside parking within Kings Park. The closest car park is Kings Park Car Park. Parking costs £1.50 for 1 hour. Further details can be found here. The car park on the eastern side of the park is free.

Times

There was an element of chaos in the build up to the 2024 festival. The venue changed to Christchurch, then back to Bournemouth again. The date changed to June, then back to August again. And the duration changed to two days, then back to one day again. The event eventually took place on Saturday 3rd August.

In 2025, the festival was due to take place on 7th and 8th June, but was postponed due to bad weather. It was rescheduled for 13th and 14th September. Then cancelled due to lack of funds.

For 2026, the festival (previously known as World of Love) was rebranded as Beautiful World and took place over the weekend of 20-21 June.

Details for 2027 are yet to be announced.

Price

Entry was free in the past, but in 2024 entry fees were charged for the first time. To add to the general chaos, ticket prices started off £9.90 for adults and £3.30 for children. Then dropped to £5.50 for adults, with children under 15 being free.

Prices for 2026 were £7.50 for adults and free for children. 2027 ticket prices are yet to be announced.

Entertainment

The entertainment centres around the stage. In addition, there are zones offering a range of activities.

Stage

On the stage, you can watch a broad variety of acts, from Bollywood dance to African drumming to Japanese martial arts and Vietnamese hat dancing. It’s like a journey round the world in a few hours, all from a field on the outskirts of Bournemouth.

Happiness Zone

The Happiness Zone is dedicated to mental health and well-being. A range of activities are offered if you fancy trying something different, for example Kirtan chanting.

Sports Zone

The Sports Zone offers sports performances as well as participatory sessions. I had a go at Flamenco & Fitness.

Stalls

There are numerous stalls for you wander round and sample activities or purchase goods from each. For example, below is Indian henna painting, while next door you can get a Ukrainian massage.

Food & Drink

There are also a selection of food stalls representing many different countries; German sausages, Greek, Mexican, Indian, to name but a few. Unfortunately, I ended up with my first festival food stall fail; samosas so salty I decided I knew how a slug feels when it encounters salt and curls up and dies…

Beautiful World Festival for Children

Children have an opportunity to join in activities from around the world. There’s also craft activities, face painting and a bouncy castle.

Other Cultural Festivals

There are plenty of other global cultural festivals held locally throughout the year, including:

• Magic of Thailand: 16-17 May 2026
• Filipino Barrio Fiesta: 6 June 2026
• Dorset Mela: 20 June 2026
• Africa comes to Bournemouth: 27-28 June 2026
• BREACC (Brazilian): 28 June 2026

• Updated: July 2026

I hope you found this information useful. For more inspiration on things to do in and around Bournemouth, check out my 101 Things to do in Bournemouth here.

For more inspiration on things to do in and around Bournemouth with young children, check out my 101 Things to do in Bournemouth with Babies and Toddlers here.