have tent, will travel...

So you didnt get Glastonbury tickets? Poor you. Missing the chaos of nearly 200,000 people knee-deep in mud, soaked with rain, shivering in the cool breeze of the British summer, with only a few solar showers for comfort... oh, and hundreds of marvellous bands well yeh, okay, thats definitely a bummer.

Or is it?

What about hot showers, guaranteed sunshine AND fabulous music? - and sometimes all for less than the cost of a UK festival ticket!

That will be just one of many great festivals on in Europe this summer. Its easy to forget how close to the rest of the continent we are. Did you know its only 312 miles from London to the Pinkpop festival in the Netherlands, but its a whopping 430 miles from London to Kinross in Scotland for T In The Park?! A 5 hour drive London to Glastonbury, or a 2 hour 30 minute flight to Budapest? Does that whet your appetite enough? Or would you like to see some line-ups?

Pinkpop boasts Marilyn Manson, Razorlight, Iggy & the Stooges, Snow Patrol, Muse, Lostprophets, Amy Winehouse, The Fratellis, Scissor Sisters, Arctic Monkeys, Linkin Park, The Smashing Pumpkins, Dave Matthews Band, Evanescence, Korn, Macy Gray, The Magic Numbers AND The Kooks.

If thats not good enough for you, how about Chemical Brothers, Faithless, Laurent Garnier, The Good The Bad And The Queen, The Hives, Juliette and the Licks, The Killers, Madness, Mika, Nine Inch Nails, Pink, The Rakes, Sinéad OConnor and Tool all at Sziget in Hungary?

eFestivals suggests that if flying you always off-set the resulting carbon emissions - this planet is for us, our children, and our children's children.

Heres a selection...

Pinkpop
When: 26-28 May 2007
Where: Megaland, Landgraaf, The Netherlands.
Price: 115 (£77 approx) Weekend ticket includes camping.
Line-up: Juliette & The Licks, Marilyn Manson, Good Charlotte, Razorlight, Iggy & the Stooges, Snow Patrol, Muse, Lostprophets, Paolo Nutini, Maxïmo Park, Amy Winehouse, The Fratellis, Wolfmother, Scissor Sisters, Arctic Monkeys, Linkin Park, The Smashing Pumpkins, Dave Matthews Band, Evanescence, Korn, Macy Gray, The Magic Numbers, The Kooks
How To Get There: KLM fly to Maastricht for around £130. Taxis will take you the few kilometres to Landgraaf. Alternatively, take a taxi from the airport to Maastricht Central train station and take the train to Landgraaf. From Landgraaf station, shuttle buses are available from the train station to the festival site or its a 10 minute walk.

Rock Am Ring
When: June 1-3 2007
Where: Nürburgring racetrack, near Cologne
Price: £86 (www.tickets-per-post.de or 00 49 69 9443660 -English spoken)
Line-up: The White Stripes, The Hives, Arctic Monkeys, The Kooks, Kaiser Chiefs, Scissor Sisters, Maximo Park, Machine Head, Good Charlotte, Amy Winehouse and The Fratellis
How To Get There: Easyjet flies to Cologne-Bonn from £50 or fly to Düsseldorf with Air Berlin from £33 From both airports you can get a train to Koblenz where there are shuttle buses running throughout the festival.

Sonar
When: 14-16 June 2007
Where: Barcelona, Spain.
Price: General Special Pass: (3 Days + 2 Nights) + Opening Night Concert Ticket (Thursday 14th Night): 170 (approx £116) or General Pass (3 Days + 2 Nights): 140 (approx £95) for more ticket options including day tickets, click here.
Line-up: Beastie Boys, Altern8, Cornelius, Dave Clarke, Devo, Dizzee Rascal, DJ Nu-Mark, Jeff Mills, Mogwai, New Young Pony Club, Radio Slave, Simian Mobile Disco, Timo Maas.
How To Get There: Fly to Barcelona with Easyjet from £70 return. The festival takes place in various locations around central Barcelona so its easy to find cheap accommodation.

Novarock
When: 15-17 June 2007
Where: Nickelsdorf Austria
Price: 93 (approx £63) including parking and camping from the Novarock website. Caravan tickets can only be bought via OE ticket or Music Ticket and cost an extra 30.
Line-up: Pearl Jam, Marilyn Manson, The Smashing Pumpkins, The Killers, Billy Talent, Slayer, Linkin Park, Incubus, The Hives, My Chemical Romance, Machine Head, Papa Roach, Lordi, Editors, Frank Black, Clawfinger, Bright Eyes, The Dykeenies.
How To Get There: Fly to Vienna with Austrian Airways or British Airways for around £120. Eurolines run buses to the festival (which is around 50km from Vienna).

Open'er
When: 29 June-1st July 2007
Where: Airport Babie Doly (where the festival is held), Gdynia, Poland
Price: 249 PLN (approx £44) without camping and 269 PLN (approx £48) with camping for the weekend. One day tickets are 130 PLN (approx £23). Paper or e-tickets are available from the Open'er website.
Line-up: Sonic Youth, The Roots, Beastie Boys, Muse, Groove Armada, Björk, Bloc Party, LCD Soundsystem, Beastie Boys (exclusive instrumental show)
How To Get There: Fly to Gdansk with Ryanair from £80. The airport is roughly 10 km out of the centre of Gdansk. Trains from Gdansk to Gdynia take about 25 minutes. A free bus will be running between Airport Babie Doly and main railway station every half an hour.
Other costs: Expect to pay around £1 for a beer and £2 for food.

Roskilde
When: 5-8 July 2007
Where: Roskilde, Denmark
Price: £138 available from See Tickets includes camping. Tickets including pre-pitched tents available from approx £197 on the Roskilde website. Line-up: Arcade Fire, Arctic Monkeys, Basement Jaxx, Beastie Boys, Björk, The Broken Beats, Camera Obscura, CSS, Datarock, Holly Golightly, The Killers, Klaxons, Mika, Muse, My Chemical Romance, New Young Pony Club, Oh No Ono, Peter Bjorn And John, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Tiësto, The Who.
How To Get There: Fly to Copenhagen from £77 with Easyjet. Roskilde is located 35 km from Copenhagen (30 minutes by train from Copenhagen Airport Kastrup to Roskilde.

Exit
When: 12-15 July 2007
Where: Petrovaradin Fortress, Novi Sad, Serbia
Price: 78.50 (approx £54) available as an e-ticket from the Exit website.
Line-up: Beastie Boys, Wu-Tang Clan, Richie Hawtin, LTJ Bukem, Basement Jazz, Robert Plant, John Digweed.
How To Get There: Fly with BA from £81 to Belgrade Surcin (70 km from the site). Fly with Easyjet to Budapest from £50 or to Ljubjana from £70, then by train or bus from the respective airport. Extensive travel information is available on the Exit website.
Other costs include: Stay in the campsite, an apartment or a local hotel at very low cost more details on the Exit website. Beer for around 1.

Summercase
When: 13-14 July 2007
Where: Madrid and Barcelona, Spain (just like the Reading/Leeds set up the same bands play both locations).
Price: Until 15th April tickets are 85 (approx £58), then a new ticket price will be announced (see Summercase website for details).
Line-up: !!!, Air, Arcade Fire, Chemical Brothers, DJ Shadow,The Flaming Lips, The Gossip, Jarvis Cocker, Jesus And Mary Chain, Kaiser Chiefs, LCD Soundsystem, Lily Allen, OMD, Pigeon Detectives, PJ Harvey, Scissor Sisters.
How To Get There: Fly to Madrid or Barcelona with Easyjet for around £40. Travel from city centre to the respective festival sites by subway, bus or taxi (see Summercase website for details).

Festival Internacional De Benicàssim (FIB)
When: 19-22 July 2007
Where: Benicàssim, Spain
Price: 4 day ticket £111.00 or 3 day ticket £101.00 available from See Tickets.
Line-up: Arctic Monkeys, The B-52s, Dinosaur Jr., Iggy & The Stooges, Muse, Wilco, Amy Winehouse, Antony & The Johnsons, Armand Van Helden, Bright Eyes, Calexico, Camera Obscura, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, The Hives, Human League, Klaxons, The Magic Numbers, Rufus Wainwright, The Rapture, Cssius, Digitalism, Jamie T, The Go! Team, Ok Go, The Pipettes, Peter Bjorn & John, Simian Mobile Disco.
How To Get There: Fly with Easyjet to Valencia (92.2 km away) from £150, or to Alicante Airport (273.3 km away) from £100. Trains run from Valencia to Benicàssim (see Spanish Rail for further details). For bus services from either airport, see the FIB website.

Sziget
When: 8-15 August 2007
Where: On an island on the river Danube, Budapest, Hungary
Price: 120 (£82 approx) with camping before 16th April, 150 (£102 approx) with camping after 16th April available from the Sziget website.
Line-up: Chemical Brothers, Faithless, Laurent Garnier, The Good, The Bad And The Queen, The Hives, Juliette and the Licks, The Killers, Madness, Mika, Nine Inch Nails, Pink, The Rakes, Sinéad OConnor, Tool.
How To Get There: Fly to Budapest with Easyjet for around £100. From Budapest airport there are taxi, bus and train options, all listed on Sziget website.

Frequency
When: 15-17 August 2007
Where: Salzburg, Austria
Price: 93 (approx £63) available from Frequency website.
Line-up: Nine Inch Nails, Kaiser Chiefs, Snow Patrol, The Good The Bad & The Queen, The Sounds.
How To Get There: Fly to Salzburg from around £20 return with Ryanair. From the airport head for Salzburg station, where free shuttle buses will take you to the festival. More information on the Frequency website.

Pukkelpop
When: 16-18 August 2007
Where: Kiewit, Hasselt, Belgium
Price: Not announced. Last year ticket included your train fare and was priced at 115 (approx £78).
Line-up: Full line-up not yet announced, but currently confirmed bands include: Zombie Nation, The Noisettes, LCD Soundsystem, Cassius. This festival attracts big names so expect that line up to improve significantly.
How To Get There: Fly to Brussels with Ryanair from £30. Hasselt is an hour and twenty minutes away from Brussels and direct trains run every half hour.
Extra costs: Besides camping on-site, you can stay in Hasselt, where there are hotels for around 35 per room per night including breakfast.

Electric Picnic
When: 31st September-2nd September 2007
Where: Stradbally Estate, County Laois, Republic of Ireland.
Price: 220 (approx £150) for the weekend with camping available from Ticketmaster.
Line-up: Beastie Boys, Chemcial Brothers, Björk, !!!, Derrick Carter, LCD Soundsystem, Sonic Youth, Josh Wink, The Jesus & Mary Chain, Iggy & The Stooges, Jarvis Cocker, The Good, The Bad and The Queen, Wilco, Primal Scream, Peter, Björn and John, The Go! Team, MIA, Frank Black, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, Modest Mouse, Polyphonic Spree, Craig Armstrong, Soul II Soul.
How To Get There: Fly to Dublin with Ryanair from around £20. Stradbally is around an hours drive from Dublin best option is to rent a car from Dublin airport (there are many low cost options there best to book in advance online). There will be (expensive) buses heading from the city center to the festival on the Friday morning.

NB: All flight prices are approximate and are subject to change.

article by: Suzanne Azzopardi