Jane's Midlife Journey

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

How to get to Beautiful World Festival

The festival takes place at King’s Park, 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 and buses No 22 and X3 stops at Kings Park, a 5 minute walk away from the festival site. Although this is closer, these buses run less frequently, so may not be your best option.

By train, Pokesdown Station is a 15 minute walk away.

Parking

There is some free roadside parking within Kings Park. The closest car park is Kings Park Car Park. Parking costs £1.40 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. First, the venue changed to Christchurch, then back to Bournemouth again. Then, the date changed to June and back to August again. In addition, 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 has a new and we are promised ‘something new’. No date has been announced yet.

Price

Entry has been 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 (with different prices for the Sunday, which didn’t actually happen). Then prices were dropped to £5.50 for adults, with children under 15 being free. Prices for 2026 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 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 stall for you wander round and sample activities or purchase goods from each region. 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.

Cultural Festivals

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

• Magic of Thailand (17-18 May) – Thai
• Dorset Mela (21 June) – Indian
• Africa comes to Bournemouth (27-29 June) – African/Caribbean
• Filipino Barrio Fiesta (28 June) – Filipino
• BREACC (29 June) – Brazilian
• Fiesta de Verano (12 July) – Spanish

• Updated: August 2025

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.