A guide to events worth planning a trip around. Events are listed by location first, and then date. For a comprehensive calendar, see www.honoluluadvertiser.com/travel.

IN THE ISLANDS

MAUI

Ka'anapali, Aug. 31, 15th Annual Maui Chefs Present. Themed dinner and cocktail party under the stars, 6-10 p.m., Hyatt Regency Maui. Admission. www.visitlahaina.com; Lahainatown Action Committee, (808) 667-9175; (888) 310-1117

MOLOKA'I

May 17-19, Moloka'i Ka Hula Piko (Birth of Hula) Festival. This free, noncompetitive hula festival at Papohaku Beach Park, founded by the late kumu hula John Kaimikaua, celebrates The Friendly Isle's contributions to Hawaiian dance and includes lectures and workshops as well as a craft fair and performances. www.molokaievents.com; (808) 553-3876

O'AHU

Waikiki, Oct. 7, Moloka'i Hoe canoe race. The Moloka'i Hoe Outrigger Canoe Championship, regarded as the men's world championship of long distance outrigger canoe racing, ends with festivities and excitement shortly after midday at Duke Kahanamoku Beach in front of the Hilton Hawaiian Village. www.ohcra.com

MISSISSIPPI

Natchez, now through April 14 and Sept. 29-Oct. 13, Natchez Pilgrimage Tours. Every year since 1932, the owners of Natchez, Mississippi's, historic antebellum homes, have thrown open their doors and unveiled their gardens for tourists to enjoy. Additionally, a spring pageant brings to life scenes of Southern life, and there are concerts and theatrical presentations, as well. www.natchezpilgrimage.com; (800) 647-6742

NEVADA

Black Rock City, Aug. 27-Sept. 3, Burning Man. Burning Man, declares the Web site, is "an annual experiment in temporary community dedicated to radical self-expression and radical self-reliance." It's been described as an arts festival — art installations depicting a particular theme are an invariable part of the event — but it's also an annual bonfire (hence the name), a nudist mecca, a place to indulge your right brain and your idealism. The planners insist it can't be described; you have to be there. www.burningman.com

SOUTH DAKOTA

Custer, Sept. 29-Oct. 1, Buffalo Roundup and Arts Festival. Have your own "Dances With Wolves" moment in the Black Hills of South Dakota when you watch from the designated viewing spots as cowboys round up thousands of wild buffalo at the 71,000-acre Custer State Park preparatory to branding time. The roundup is Oct. 1; the annual Buffalo Wallow Chili Cook-Off is Sept. 30. www.sdgfp.info/Parks/Regions/Custer/round.htm

CENTRAL, SOUTH AMERICA AND THE CARIBBEAN

Belem, Brazil, mid-October, Virgen de Nazaré Festival. This annual festival on the Amazon's main port city honors a particular manifestation of the Virgin Mary said to convey good fortune; activities include elaborate processions in which statues are carried through the streets. The main procession takes place Oct. 14 this year. www.belemtur.com.br

Port of Spain, Trinidad, Feb. 4-5, 2008, Trinidad and Tobago Carnival. This Caribbean version of Mardi Gras brings together a variety of enthusiastic competitions (Band of the Year, Soca and Calypso Monarch, Carnival King and Queen) and thousands of costumed revelers who party in the streets literally through the night. www.visittnt.com

EUROPE

FRANCE

Chaumont-sur-Loire, April 28-Oct. 14, Festival International des Jardins (International Garden Festival). Held in Chaumont-sur-Loire near Bloir, on the grounds of a chateau once owned by Catherine de Medici, this annual months-long celebration of all things floral includes dozens of show gardens, family activities, restaurants and shops, and tours of a magnificent orchid hothouse and of an experimental garden in a gully transversed by a suspended wooden bridge. www.chaumont-jardin.com (French language site; if you access via www.Google.com, request translation)

GERMANY

Munich, Sept. 22-Oct. 7, Oktoberfest. The largest public festival in the world, Oktoberfest — held each year in Theresienwiese meadow in Munich's city center and affectionally known to Germans as "Der Weisn" — encompasses dozens of festival tents serving beer and food and offering nightly music and dance events, parades and an agricultural show. www.oktoberfest.de

ASIA AND THE PACIFIC

THAILAND

Nong Khai, October, Naga Fireball Celebration. This two-day celebration, held annually on the first full moon night in October, celebrates a puzzling and unexplained phenomenon — balls of light that appear and disappear above the Mekong River. Some say it's a put-up show, some say it's the result of gases from decomposing vegetation. In any case, boat races and other festival events have grown up around the event. www.tourismthailand.org

Chiang Mai, first weekend in February, Chiang Mai Flower Festival. Floral displays, beauty pageants, parades, handicraft sales and thousands and thousands of orchids make up this annual event in the city known as "The Rose of the North." Day trips are available from Bangkok. www.chiangdao.com

MALAYSIA

Kuala Lumpur, January or February, Thaipusam. Annual Hindu festival sees devotees, who train for months and years for this, processing through the streets carrying offerings to the god Lord Subrahmanya, skewering themselves with barbs and hooks called kavadis and accompanied by hundreds of supporters chanting and drumming them on their way. The date changes annually, related to the time of the full moon. malaysia.travel/consumer

UP, UP AND AWAY

What began as a small gathering of gas balloon enthusiasts — 13 balloons total — outside of Albuquerque, N.M., in 1972 has become the best-known event of its kind, the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta Oct. 6-14, attended annually by thousands and featuring more than 700 balloons. The main show remains the balloons themselves, ascending en masse, racing each other and glowing in the dark at night. But attendant events have grown up around the balloon celebration, including a wine festival, fireworks displays and concerts and other entertainment. www.balloonfiesta.com

OCT. 31

BIG PUMPKIN

Since 1990, Lahaina has been the Halloween place to be. These days, more than 20,000 costume revelers take to the streets, with events such as a children's costume parade and the Maui Tacos Halloween Costume Contest, plus arts, crafts, food sales and more along Front Street and in Banyan Tree Park. Free admission. www.visitlahaina.com; Lahainatown Action Committee, (808) 667-9175; (888) 310-1117

JULY 6-15

RIDE 'EM

It's the place to go to cowboy up: The Calgary Exhibition and Stampede in Calgary, Alberta, planned this year for July 6-15. So much more than a rodeo, the week-long event encompasses concerts by the likes of Gretchen Wilson and Big & Rich, a parade, an agricultural fair, an amusement park with rides, the annual chuckwagon race and lots of food and drink. www.calgarystampede.com