Autumn in Europe is all about harvest time and local food festivals, with events taking place across the continent.

Pick a country and you’re sure to find some kind of food or wine festival from September to November. Many of these festivals have a tradition that goes back hundreds of years.

Bury

Although there are no limits to the amount of harvest at this time of year, some crops deserve special attention.

Grown in Italy, Spain, France and Croatia, truffles are one of the most luxurious ways to enjoy food in the fall. There are small white truffle events in Istria, Croatia and black truffle events in France and Spain, but none of them compare in size to the one in Alba in Italy.

The White Truffle Festival in Alba is a two-month, world-famous event that takes place every year from October to December. It starts with a donkey race and includes tastings, food and wine pairings and cooking demonstrations. This is an event not to be missed.

In southern Europe, olives are usually harvested in October and November because the weather is warmer and the olives ripen faster. In France, this happens more often between November and January.

Visit an olive town and you’re sure to find a place where you can help pick and press the olives and then taste the fresh oil. Tapenade, olive-based beauty products and, of course, the olives themselves are also available for purchase at these events, which are often accompanied by parades, concerts and other events.

Many cities celebrate the season with general food festivals, such as Vienna’s Erntedankfest, which brings back seasonal foods such as mountain cheese, pumpkin-based recipes, and locally made fermented juices.

In Northern Europe, seafood is at the heart of the autumn food scene, with herring festivals in Finland, oyster festivals in England and Ireland, and shrimp festivals in France.

And as for more unique events, the following niche festivals attract and celebrate thousands of visitors each year: onions in Weimar (Germany); rice in Arles (France); sausage in Budapest (Hungary); chocolate in Perugia (Italy); seafood of all kinds in O Grove (Spain); black foods in Tallinn (Estonia); coffee in Amsterdam (Netherlands); peppers in Espelette (France); apples in Dobele (Latvia); saffron in Toledo (Spain); and honey in Corsica, to name a few.

Another great way to enjoy the harvest close to home is to find a harvest farm near you.

These farms are usually located outside of big cities, where people like to escape to the countryside for a day and bring home bags full of apples, pumpkins, and whatever else is available.

Many farms specialize in a few crops, but larger farms may have dozens of crops to choose from at different times of the year.

And raise a glass

From mid-summer to late autumn, grape harvest days take place across the continent, depending on the region and seasonal weather.

Perhaps the most famous drinking festival in the world is Germany’s unrivalled Oktoberfest (which takes place in September, not October). For an entire month, the country is awash with beer halls and tents that pop up in every town, serving not only fine beer but tasty local snacks to soak it all up. If you don’t show up to these events in traditional costume, you’ll look completely out of place.

But you shouldn’t ignore Germany when it comes to wine either. You’ll be surprised at how many wineries this country has to offer. And because they’re less touristy, they’re often cheaper to visit than the more popular French or Italian alternatives.

The Rhine Valley offers numerous wineries and the town of Boppard is a notable stop at this time of year with live music and fireworks for Thanksgiving.

Portugal, a country whose wine culture is underestimated, also has a Douro Valley that has been declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site and has been one of the oldest wine-growing regions in the world since 1756.

In September and October, volunteers are invited to help pick and press the grapes used to make the country’s famous port wine.

In Spain, La Rioja has a festival that begins on September 21st and has been celebrated for over 900 years. For a week, locals and tourists stomp grapes the old-fashioned way, accompanied by live bands, bullfights and fireworks.

Jerez sherry, produced in the Spanish region of Andalusia, is also celebrated for three weeks in September with flamenco, parades, exhibitions, concerts, bullfights and, of course, tapas and sherry.

France is probably the country with the most wine festivals, which is no surprise considering the vast area on which the famous grapes are grown. Among the dozens of celebrations in the thousands of wineries that this wine-producing capital has to offer, a few stand out in particular.

The World Heritage town of Saint-Émilion is one of the most popular places for grape harvesting, less than an hour’s drive from the wine mecca of Bordeaux. The vines here were originally planted by the Romans, but it was monks who helped them to success.

Every year in September, Heritage Night is celebrated. Members of the Jurade, the winegrowers’ guild, parade through the village in red robes and white capes and climb the church tower to announce the date of this year’s harvest.

In the Marne Valley, where Champagne is famous, the medieval town of Château-Thierry offers a great introduction to the special process of sparkling wine production, with workshops, vineyard walks and food-paired tastings from over 30 local wineries. Global Champagne Day, by the way, takes place on the fourth Friday in October, an excellent time to be in the region.

Even in Paris there is a grape harvest festival that takes place every October in Montmartre, where there is still a small vineyard in the heart of the city.

Italy’s wine culture also needs no introduction. The Festa dell’Uva in Impruneta, a town in the heart of the Chianti Classico region, which has been held since 1926, is one of the most visited wine events. Parades with floats, dancers and performances are accompanied by plenty of wine and local delicacies.