Festival Fever

It’s not just the weather that’s heating up – it’s the calendar full of festivals to add to your bucket list! Whether you’re ready for a celeb fest in California, an entire new world resurrected in Belgium, or an adventure to a castle in Serbia for some seriously good music and experiences, we have put together the ultimate festival bucket list just for you. Head into the wild with thousands of strangers, and experience a new kind of fun.

COACHELLA:

WHAT: Music & Arts festival for the famous, the fashionable & the free spirited
WHERE: Indio, Colorado Desert, California
WHEN: April

Each April, deep in the Coachella Valley, past the million-dollar resorts, pools, and golf courses, come thousands of people travel in their newly styled festival attire for two weekends of California crazy. Coachella is one of the best run festivals you could ever attend, with amazing crowds, all-star line ups, and perfect sound systems. It’s been said that even by day 3 the toilets still won’t give you nightmares, and both food and bar lines are still tolerable, and of course everyone is still well dressed.

Coachella, due its proximity to LA has a reputation for being flooded with celebrities throughout both of the weekends it runs, at times it can feel like every fourth person you see is either an actress, musician, or model.

This music and arts festival is also known for its amazing travel packages, whether you’re the type to stay onsite for the entire lineup, and find your buzz in car camping or tenting (premium options are of course available), or if you’re more the type to go back to your hotel and attend poolside parties at The Saguaro, with killer pool clubs, and of course a touch of room service after a long day in the heat.

Coachella is a festival with a conscious, donating a portion of its proceeds to the City of Indio, as well as other local charities in the surrounding area. Sustainability is another big word on Coachella’s radar, they are committed to making a effort that will benefit and better the Coachella Valley. This festival has nailed the art of recycling, with several different creative approaches to getting guests to help the environment including the Recyclosaurus Rex; that consumes bags of recyclables, and the Trashed area, where you have the opportunity to turn your rubbish into art, there is also an energy playground that systematically helps you relive your childhood and charge your phone at the same time!

www.coachella.com

Tomorrowland:

WHAT: Electronic music festival for the people of tomorrow, from every corner of the globe
WHERE: Boom, Belgium
WHEN: July

With a catchphrase like “Live Today, Love Tomorrow, Unite Forever” it’s almost an instant selling point to jump online and start booking yourself tickets to this global event.

Tomorrowland is the festival from your dreams, located in Boom (almost ironic isn’t it?) Belgium, the people of Tomorrow aim to unite you with others from places all over the world, and it happens, one year with over 75 countries represented!

With its extravagant and elaborate stage set ups, there is a special kind of vibrancy found here that can’t be experienced anywhere else.

Tomorrowland offer several different travel packages for whatever you’re looking for, with hotels selected carefully by Tomorrowland, and Friendship Travel Packages that ensure you and your new found friends will have an experience of a lifetime.

Tomorrowland knows what’s up, one glance at their website and you already feel transported.

‘We breathe by the sun, we love by the moon’ Dreamville is not just a camping ground, it’s a city to unite, to create friendships and share experiences with the other festival goers during this 5 day experience. Providing food stands from around the world, to a marketplace with everything you could dream of, and a wide range of onsite accommodation for every budget it’s an experience in itself and a location where the whole world comes home to.

For more information on Tomorrowland get submerged here: www.tomorrowland.com

Exit Festival:

WHAT: Eclectic music festival for the creatives, social activists, and humanitarians
WHERE: Novi Sad, Serbia
WHEN: July

A festival with the message of freedom. The roots of Exit started from a student movement that was created from a wish for progress and freedom, and is now one of the biggest known music festivals in the world. Not only branding themselves as a festival, but as a movement, a motor of change, as well as being a leading platform for creative industries in Serbia and the Balkan region.

Exit has a wish to evolve and progress through positive changes, by which they create the means to spread the message of freedom to as many people as possible. Their vision? To become and endure as a generator of a strong positive energy that unites people, further inspiring them and making them believe that harmony and miracles are created by us ourselves. I don’t know about you but what else could you possibly want from a festival?

Oh and I mention that it’s held in a castle in Serbia? Exit is ticking all the boxes.

And what’s more they also run Creative Climate Change workshops to help awareness, as well as having a reputation for their positive activism; they even have a publication you can read online!

Exit has a range of different accommodation options too, from the onsite camping ground, to hostels or hotels, they also offer packages depending on where you are coming from.

Currently Exit are offering 1 Ticket = 4 Festivals deal, essentially meaning you pay for one ticket and then get access into Exit’s sister festivals throughout Southeast Europe in the Summer of Love Tour!

You ready to make a difference?

Exitfest.org

New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival:

WHAT: A festival for the lovers of diversity, culture, and of course jazz
WHERE: New Orleans Fair grounds
WHEN: April-May

Cajun jambalaya, oyster patties, crawfish Monica and great live music, yep, that’s the New Orleans Jazz festival, one of the most atmospheric festivals that exists. A seven-day party that unfolds over successive weekends in April and May, and the best news is it’s suitable for anyone of any age, with multiple stages, parades and animation for children, demonstrations, and food for everyone and their grandmother, there will be something here for you.

What started out as the culmination of years of discussions and efforts by city leaders as they strove to create an event that was worthy of their cities legacy as the birthplace of jazz.

This year our girl Lorde will be making an appearance at this renowned festival, as well as a long list including Stevie Wonder, Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers, Alabama Shakes, Dave Matthews and Tim Reynolds, it just keeps getting more and more impressive.

While the festivals music lineup and jazz are at the top of the list, the culture founded within this celebration week is almost as thrilling and soul satisfying as the music itself.

With a food vendor list that will knock your socks off more than extra hot sriracha, crafts stalls like the Louisiana Marketplace, contemporary crafts, and the Congo Square African Marketplace, there’s also a Native American Village which is created as a component of the main Folklife Village where master craftsmen and tradition-bearers create cultural treasures by using generations-old techniques. The Native American Village celebrates the rich heritage of the state’s indigenous people, demonstrations take place everywhere showing festival goers the traditional indigenous crafts that include basket weaving, wood carving and beadwork, and of course there are more traditional foods to try and salivate over.

Accommodation is made simple, with travel packages available on the website and the Sheraton boasting as the festivals latest host in a prime location, all you need to do is book, and you’ll be ready for the most multicultural and soul fueling festival. What’s even cooler is that the festicval encourages people to ride their bikes, with dedicated bicycle maps, and places to lock them that are guarded by security, the jazz festival has you covered. There’s also never a reason to get lost or miss a moment of the action with the festival app that is available for smartphone’s that’ll keep you up to date on the daily happenings.