The "Francisco el Hombre" Festival is the most important vallenato festival in the department of La Guajira, held annually in Riohacha since 2009, generally in March, although in recent editions it has been held in June. 

It takes its name from the legendary Francisco the Man, paradigm of the vallenato minstrel and one of the most representative characters in the folklore of the Colombian Caribbean coast who, according to tradition, defeated the devil himself in a duel with his accordion.
 

Between May and June, the Wayuu Culture Festival (Festival de la Cultura Wayúu) is held in Uribia, established in 1986 to preserve and promote the distinctive elements of Colombia's largest indigenous group, the Wayuu, whose population of approximately 380,000 represents about 45% of La Guajira’s total population.

In October, the Coal Festival (Festival Nacional del Carbón) is celebrated in Barrancas, a town located in the valley between the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta and the Serranía del Perijá. Through this celebration, the people of Barrancas pay homage to coal, which has become the foundation of the town's economy.

The Coal Festival has been held annually since its establishment in 1971, making it the oldest festival in the department of La Guajira.

Between the end of August and the beginning of September, the Return Festival (Festival del Retorno) is celebrated in Fonseca, a municipality in the department of La Guajira, a celebration that already has half a century of tradition and has become one of the most anticipated and loved festivals by Fonsequeros. 
 

In San Juan del Cesar in La Guajira at the end of June, the Patron Saint Festivities (Fiestas Patronales de San Juan Bautista) are celebrated in honor of San Juan Bautista, one of the most important celebrations in the municipality's festive calendar.
 
The main event is the solemn Eucharist followed by a religious procession in which parishioners walk through the streets of the municipality with the image of Saint John the Baptist, accompanied by songs and prayers. 

In November in Riohacha, capital of the department of La Guajira, the International Bolero Festival (Festival Internacional Del Bolero) is held, an event that was held for the first time in 2002 and was resumed in 2023 after more than a decade of hiatus.
 
One of the central events of the festival is the Collectors' Meeting, a space where great music lovers from the entire Caribbean basin come to exhibit true hidden or forgotten bolero gems, which they have kept over the years. 

In San Juan del Cesar, a quintessential land of "vallenato" that produced great exponents of the genre like Diomedes Díaz, Nelson Velásquez, and Juancho Rois, the National Vallenato Music Composers Festival (Festival Nacional de Compositores de Música Vallenata) is celebrated in early December, an event with over 45 years of tradition.

During the festival, composers from different parts of the Caribbean coast present their original songs in both professional and amateur categories.

At the beginning of December, the Livestock and Agribusiness Fair (Feria Ganadera y Agro Empresarial ) takes place in San Juan del Cesar, an event of great relevance for the agricultural and livestock sector of the region that brings together producers, businessmen, and exhibitors from various municipalities, who present the best of their products and advances in livestock, agriculture and agroindustry.
 

At the beginning of December, the Fique Festival (Festival del Folclórico del Fique ) takes place in the district of La Junta in the jurisdiction of the municipality of San Juan del Cesar, birthplace of the legendary Diomedes Díaz, a celebration with more than 50 years of tradition with which Residents of the sector pay tribute to their artisans and to this material with which all kinds of woven products are made.
 

In February of each year in Fonseca, a municipality in the south of the department of La Guajira, the carnival is celebrated, a festival with the elements of the traditional carnivals of the Colombian Caribbean coast.

During carnivals, the streets of Fonseca come alive with parades of floats, troupes and costumes, where residents and visitors actively participate in the celebrations.

Popular dances and typical music, such as cumbia, porro and vallenato, are a fundamental part of the festivities, setting the rhythm of the events.