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I love Renaissance Faires, to the point where I’ve gone on two different road trips to attend Renaissance Faires in different parts of the country. As a result, I have now attended 12 different Renaissance Faires! With so many now under my belt, I guess I should rank them, and describe in detail which ones are worth attending (hint: pretty much all of them, but usually only if you happen to be in the area).

If it’s not on this list, it’s only because I’ve never been there. I have future plans to attend the other major Ren Faires in the country!

Welcome to the finale on day 12! Some of these I struggled to place, but this one is no question the best Ren Faire I’ve ever attended, truly S-Tier…

E-Tier: If you happen to live close by

#12. Midsummer Fantasy Renaissance Faire (Ansonia, CT)
#11. Vermont Renaissance Faire (Essex, VT)

D-Tier: Worth a bit of a drive

#10. New Hampshire Renaissance Faire (NHRF; Fremont, NH)
#9. Enchanted Orchard Renaissance Faire (EORF; Phillipston, MA)
#8. Robin Hood’s Medieval Faire (RHMF; Harwinton, CT)

C-Tier: Standouts

7. King Richard’s Faire (KRF; Carver, MA)
6. Maine Renaissance Faire (MERF; Acton, ME)

B-Tier: Strongly recommend

#5. Northern California Renaissance Faire (NCRF; Hollister, CA)
#4. Connecticut Renaissance Faire (CTRF; Lebanon, CT)

A-Tier: Worth a whole road trip

#3. New York Renaissance Faire (NYRF; Tuxedo Park, NY)

#2. Pennsylvania Renaissance Faire (PARF; Manheim, PA)

S-Tier: Best of the best

1. Maryland Renaissance Festival

Annapolis, MD
Last attended: September 2024
Website: https://rennfest.com/

Wow, just wow. No question, the best Ren Faire I’ve ever attended is the Maryland Renaissance Festival. When comparing PARF and NYRF, PARF had better artisans, and NYRF had better performers. But MDRF had better artisans and performers than both. Isn’t that nuts?

The site is absolutely excellent. It’s a permanent site with well-styled buildings, providing excellent immersion. I don’t think it feels quite as immersive as the NYRF, but maybe that’s because the NYRF could feel cramped and in-your-face at times. At the MDRF, the lanes are nice and wide, so it feels more relaxing to walk through as you enjoy the medieval town. It’s also huge, taking quite a while to walk from one end to the other. The stages also look great and generally have a good amount of seating (though Jacques’s show can still fill up). I’d argue it’s the best Ren Faire site I’ve ever seen.

For performers, I saw some of the best acts in the business, including Jacques ze Whipper (who needs no introduction), Ses Carny (knife thrower I’ve admired for over 15 years), Barely Balanced (which I thought was going to be kind of dumb, but ended up being perhaps the best acrobatics show I’ve ever seen), Paolo Garbanzo (popular jester and juggler), The Langer’s Ball (incredible Celtic rock duo with euphonic, energetic shows), Barleyjuice (another incredible Celtic rock band that I’ve loved for years even before I saw them live), and so many more, to the point that I didn’t even get a chance to see everything I wanted to over the two days I was there (but to be fair, this was also because I went to see The Langer’s Ball and Barleyjuice so many times, since I absolutely love Celtic rock). I’m almost upset with MD for snatching up all of the best performers I’ve ever seen so they can’t do other Faires (Jacques and Ses from KRF, The Langer’s Ball from NYRF), but hey, it’s nice to see so many amazing acts in one place.

(Side story: I remember years ago going to KRF and telling my friends to skip the last joust of the day to make it to the Secret Show with Jacques ze Whipper and Ses Carny. It was always the best show of the day, though at one of the smaller stages with only a few dozen people in attendance from start to finish. Now their secret show gets the biggest stage there with hundreds in attendance!)

The joust is by far the best one I’ve seen at a Ren Faire. Like KRF, there are four jousters instead of the usual two, and they are extremely talented, with a fantastic, brutal joust. But what really blew me away was the other incredible stunts they did. Be sure to check out the earlier jousts in the day, since at one point, one of the jousters rode around the arena while jumping from side-to-side on his hose, and even riding upside-down ! It’s also in a great arena with a dirt-covered ground, really making you feel like you’re at a medieval joust.

And artisans galore. High-quality clothing, leather work, wooden mugs, and so much more that it takes multiple days to properly visit and appreciate them all. Some standouts include Moresca Clothing (whose amazing jerkins inspired my own crocheted jerkin), Son of Sandlar boots, A Thousand Rasps leather, Hollow Earth Swordworks (the most incredible wooden swords I’ve ever seen, and I’ve seen a lot), Half Moon Travel Clothing (amazing wool coats), Goodly Woods wooden mugs… Man, there’s just too many, I’m definitely missing other standouts. As I was on their website refreshing myself to write this, I felt such wonderful memories of walking the lanes and taking in the amazing crafts all around me. I bought several items while I was there, to the detriment of my wallet.

For the food, it has some of the best prices I’ve ever seen. A beer was only $7, and that’s for a good Sam Adams Octoberfest, not some cheap Coors. Compare that to the NYRF I went to a week later, where a beer was $12. And there are tons of places to get food at a decent price, including soft pretzels for only $3, and a pretty good crab pretzel with cheese for only $12.

And like the PARF, performers don’t accept tips. So no guilt or worry about if you’re tipping enough! But still, bring cash to shows, since performers do have some great merch for sale (I really wish I bought a Barleyjuice album, but there was too much going on).

Now, the MD Renaissance Festival is not perfect. There were four main downsides:

1. Crowds. Despite them capping attendance and the wide lanes, there was still a ridiculous number of people walking through the paths.
2. Difficult navigation. The faire is not laid out very well, and it can be difficult to find things. Plus, a lot of it is on steep slopes, which can be difficult for people in wheelchairs. Though, this could also be seen as a positive, since the lost feeling can give you an additional sense of wonder.
3. Sells out quickly. Get your tickets several weeks in advance, or even months in advance, since they will sell out!
4. No fire shows. Because of regulations, they can’t have fire in shows, which are often some of best performances at Ren Faires. Barely Balanced mentioned they have to have an alternative special show due to this rule (the alternative show was extremely awesome, but fire would have been neat to see).

But these feel more like nitpicks. I mean, any popular event is going to be crowded, and while the paths can be confusing, they’re still filled to the brim with amazing stages and shops. And I guess fire isn’t good in such a woodsy area…

Man oh man, I can’t believe how good this was. The best artisans, the best performers, the best joust, the best site, even the best pricing, this beats all other Ren Faires on this list in every category. I can confidently say that the Maryland Renaissance Festival is the best Renaissance Faire I’ve ever attended. It almost makes me want to move to the area to go every year!