Euro festivals - recommendations please

[meatyparson]

Thinking of doing a Euro Fest next year.

My shortlist so far is :

Sziget

Beni

Exit

Which would people recommend ?

[Mullin]

Sziget by miles, although it was my first festival abroad, it ranks up in the top 3 places I've been in the world. Budapest is a lovely city, the festival is really friendly and has an amazing atmosphere. Saw no trouble, hot showers of a morning (if you're up early enough), clean loo's (cleaned at least 3 times a day) and the ones by main stage were real toilets and also kept clean. It's cheap, they don't use the Euro (which I suppose is a bonus at the moment), they have free lockers on the site for you to leave valuables in.

Only downside is you can't take in your own alcohol, but for £1.40 / pint you can't complain!

Another thing I liked was that you can come and go from the island as you please, music doesn't start till 3pm (well, besides the 24hr party tent) so depending upon how early you are up / what state your head is in, you maybe able to catch the boat (for cheap) and spend a few hours round the city.

[st00ka]

Sonar.

[Squig]

Hurricane

- cheaper, comparable line ups though

- easy accessible

- not overrun by Britons like the other three mentioned.

[meatyparson]

sonar & Hurricane are too close to Glasto.

Sziget is the one im leaning towards the most, after reading quite a few reviews on here & elsewhere.

thanks for the advice so far

[mcalli2008]

MELT!

Only €99 for 3 days including camping

Had a great lineup last year

Great atmosphere

Amazing surroundings at the festival site

24 Hour music at th sleepless floor ;-)

Germany is a great country, and the drive there through France and Belgium was brilliant!

[guitarbaz]

sziget is not overrun by brits by a long shot.

but don;t go there anyway, go to benicassim, no not sziget, it's crap. horrible place. and the beer's expensive. nope, go to beni.

[Furious-Red]

Rock Am Ring or Rock Im Park in Germnay . Cheap and great relaxed atmosphere

[r0w]

Rock Am Ring or Rock Im Park in Germnay . Cheap and great relaxed atmosphere

[*Luckyman*]

head to Sziget!!!

I went last year and I'd say it's better than Glastonbury and all the major festivals here in England. 6 full days of music, the music goes on all night so none of this early curfew bullsh*t at V Festival, not oversold like glasto, cheap beer and cocktails, great food, cool atmosphere and if you pay for V.I.P camping you get to use the swimming pool.

Book it!

[evilhasnever]

Relaxed?? have u been?? Its bloody carnage! thought i was in a war zone

[guitarbaz]

head to Sziget!!!

I went last year and I'd say it's better than Glastonbury and all the major festivals here in England. 6 full days of music, the music goes on all night so none of this early curfew bullsh*t at V Festival, not oversold like glasto, cheap beer and cocktails, great food, cool atmosphere and if you pay for V.I.P camping you get to use the swimming pool.

Book it!

[Furious-Red]

Relaxed?? have u been?? Its bloody carnage! thought i was in a war zone

[TG24]

Lowlands. Its a kickass festival, though the percentage of Brits has increased over the years...

[meatyparson]

Thanks to everyone who has replied with your views.

Sziget it is !!!!!!!

[wee_insomniac]

ha ha so true. I couldnt listen to music for days after - i was soo sick of it! Been twice and this year was the most insane. Getting woken up at 6am with a hungover by some guy with a megaphone - not good! Constant music playing all day and night. But hell it's an experience - the germans party the hardest ever

[Squig]

Relaxed?? have u been?? Its bloody carnage! thought i was in a war zone

[evilhasnever]

Flo was hilarious always stuttering about with a beer bong in hand...

[allantrotter]

sziget is not overrun by brits by a long shot.

but don;t go there anyway, go to benicassim, no not sziget, it's crap. horrible place. and the beer's expensive. nope, go to beni.

[wee_insomniac]

Too true, shame i didnt take him up on his bong offers but i definately would have spewed. And mega-phone dude actually turned out to be okay, along with 'Fat Cowboy' however his other very drunkered friend who kept getting his c**k out and pissing everywhere was not pleasant!

Will you be returning next year Dave?

[moz4pm]

I went to two this year, Open'er in Poland which I wouldnt recommend, no atmosphere and you can only drink heineken. The other was optimus Alive in Lisbon which is kinda like Wireless festival in that it doesnt have a campsite but its the best festival i've been to and Metallica were awesome.

[bobtrue]

Lowlands. Its a kickass festival, though the percentage of Brits has increased over the years...

[the_derminator]

Spirit of Burgas in Bulgaria is well worth checking out (www.spiritofburgas.com). Takes place around mid-to-late August.

It's fairly new, so it doesnt get rammed like some of the bigger festivals. The flipside is you don't get the stellar depth of line-up that you do at more established ones, but last year they had Faith No More and Fun Lovin Criminals headlining, plus a DnB night with names like LTJ Bukem and Sub Focus - but the line-ups will only get stronger as it gets more established.

The festival itself - and the campsite - are both right on the beach, which is really cool. You can just dance barefoot in the sand. Best of all, though, Bulgaria is dirt-cheap (even in the festival it was like 2 euro for a beer).

Derm

[Festival Point]

I reckon Lowlands in Holland is up there with the best festivals I've been to in Europe, in terms of line-up, organisation, crowd, atmosphere etc...hard to beat!

I live in Amsterdam & there are also quite a lot of smaller festivals in Netherlands (& in the rest of europe), Dance events and big band nights, going on throughout the year, even in winter. They attract big names @ great venues for very cheap (compared to UK)! Here's an example of one you probably never heard of...

State-X New Forms Festival

...with Peaches, Battles & Gary Numan...imagine that!

You can normally get cheap flights to NL amongst other places...stuff like this could make the wait until the summer festival season starts a little more bearable!

[diogo]

I recommend you portuguese festivals, because I'm from portugal and I never went to a non-portuguese festival.

Optimus Alive - A city festival with great line-ups, good weather and also good conditions (Pearl Jam is the only name confirmed) (90euros for 3-day pass)

http://www.optimusalive.com/en.html#/ (this site it's for the 09edition)

Paredes de Coura - A festival in a beautiful place, with campsite, very good atmosphere, very good line-ups. I go there since 2007 and I hope Iwill go for a lot of years more. (70euros for the 4-day pass)

http://www.paredesdecoura.com/en/index.php

Could you make sugestions about european festivals?