The best sporting events around the globe, according to Frequent Traveler

Whether you’re getting tickets to an actual sporting event or just joining the locals to watch a game together, I recommend including sports in your itinerary for an authentic cultural experience.

Here are five of the sporting events we’ve attended around the world that I think should be on everyone’s travel bucket list.

Rain, hail or shine — the show goes on at Japanese baseball games.

I took my family to see the Hanshin Tigers at a Japanese baseball game. Despite persistent rain throughout the afternoon, the crowd sang and chanted non-stop.

We were the only non-Japanese people in our section, and the fans hugged us and taught us their unique cheers for each player.

A tradition they have is releasing yellow balloons after the seventh inning, filling the sky with color. My kids loved this part more than the game itself.

The fan festival I attended in Finland was a great way to experience the locals’ passion for ice hockey.

At many major sporting events, there are free fan events where people can gather to watch the game. These are usually held in large venues with giant TV screens, food trucks and beer tents. It’s a great way to enjoy the game with thousands of other people.

I was lucky enough to travel to Finland while they were hosting the Ice Hockey World Championships. If there’s one thing Finns are passionate about, it’s ice hockey.

The atmosphere at the Helsinki festival was amazing, even if learning the Finnish songs after a few beers was a bit difficult.

It was incredible to watch Bhutanese archers celebrate hitting a target with song and dance.

Although the players are competitive, there is a unique camaraderie among archery participants in Bhutan.

I was surprised to see that when an archer hit a target, the game was stopped and the scoring team formed a circle and broke into a folk song accompanied by a dance. It was fantastic to watch.

I celebrated my bachelor party at a University of Texas football game.

I’m Australian and married an American in 2022. Since we had our wedding in Texas, many of my friends traveled to the US for a week long celebration. I decided to hold my bachelor party at a University of Texas football game.

None of the Australians had been to an American football game or tailgated before, so watching with approximately 100,000 passionate Longhorn fans made for a fun and unique bachelor party.

My hometown in Australia is also a great place to watch local sporting events.

I am fortunate to have some major sporting events in my hometown. After all, my hometown of Melbourne is called the sporting capital of the world.

Every year I participate in the Australian Open, which Roger Federer nicknamed the “Happy Slam”.

With so many tourists present, it often feels like I’m on a foreign adventure – minus the jetlag, of course.