1. Mai Jazz Festival

Each May, Stavanger hosts several of the most well-known jazz artists in the world. The venues are spread out through the town for a long weekend, packed with jazz shows. Each theatre is different, and Stavangeren, for one, is a hundred year old cubical wood house. The inside is gutted and has seats on the floor and a balcony with more seats. It is effectively a big bass speaker and the musicians love to play there because the sound resonates so well. Seeing a couple of shows there in a year can really lift your spirits to help to see you through the rest of the rainy and cloudy year. 2005's festival featured Joshua Redman's screaming sax, and the bass of Stanley Jordan. How nice it would be to be able to see such shows year round, but for four days it is a slice of pure heaven. Plan to go!