SOS Festival - Murcia 2010

[fernandovaz]

Looking to go to the SOS festival in Murcia on the 30th April - 1st may 2010. This will be my first time so am looking for some advice as their website is quite limited in information.

1. Does anyone know what times the festival runs from each day and when it ends?

2. On one website it talked about beach accommodation. I know there is no accommodation at the festival (camping), but does anyone know about this beach accommodation?

3. Where in Murcia is the festival, as we may look to book a room in a hotel and want to see where would be best to stay.

If anyone else has any info or tips on this festival it would be greatly appeciated.

thanks

[danger-man]

Looking to go to the SOS festival in Murcia on the 30th April - 1st may 2010. This will be my first time so am looking for some advice as their website is quite limited in information.

1. Does anyone know what times the festival runs from each day and when it ends?

2. On one website it talked about beach accommodation. I know there is no accommodation at the festival (camping), but does anyone know about this beach accommodation?

3. Where in Murcia is the festival, as we may look to book a room in a hotel and want to see where would be best to stay.

If anyone else has any info or tips on this festival it would be greatly appeciated.

thanks

[HippyDave]

Hi guys,

Some friends of mine tripped down there last year by bus - we live north of Alicante - and they said it was good fun. It runs for a solid 48 hours from the first of May, and the lineup this year is pretty good.

The beach accomodation is a really bad idea: the festie is in Murcia city, a good 45 mins by car from the coast. This may also make you want to question whether the trip is worth it, as Murcia doesn´t have all that much to do, and has no expat community - don´t expect to get far outside the festival if you aren´t prepared to try the local culture and have a crack at the language. If that appeals to you, though, Murcians are by far a lot more friendly than many locals in more touristy areas.

If you do go as part of a longer stay, though, make sure you get to a bar called Boca de Lobo - it´s a legendary live music rock bar in the area.

If you plan to fly in, try to get a flight to Murcia airport - its well away from the main town (30 to 40 mins by car), but taxis and buses from there will be a lot cheaper than from Alicante. The airport itself is also pretty small and quiet.

Website for the festie: http://www.sos48.com/en_2010/index.

Good luck!

[st00ka]

This sounds like a great festival. Is there much cheap accomodation in Murcia - hostels, guesthouses?

[zahidf]

Also tempted by this. Anyone else been?

[HippyDave]

Just wanted to bump this for some info - I managed to bag a ticket at the last minute, and it was an excellent festival. Orbital in particular blew me away - I have never enjoyed an electronic act so much in my life!

To properly answer the questions from before:

The festie runs on a Friday and Saturday night - the music starts at 6PM and runs until about 6AM. It seems you get booted out around then, but the town offers all sorts of stuff (bars, some music, etc.) around then to keep you going if you like.

The festie takes place at the eastern end of the centre of town - aim to find somewhere in the region of Los Dolores or Rincon de Velarde if you want to walk. It did seem like a lot of the hotels laid on transport too, though, so it would be worth enquiring about that when you book. Parking nearby is pretty tough, but several enterprising locals took it on themselves to point out spaces to tourists for a couple of Euros - I took the plunge, and ended up about 5 mins walk from the entrance.

The really nice thing for many people will be the lack of Brits - although I would like to say that I feel loads of Brits really add to the atmosphere at a festival for me (I seem to be one of the few English who love my own people, warts and all!). Spanish kids tend to only turn up for the headliner, and then hang around outside, making getting in and out a bit of a headf**k - but, as I said, that is only my opinion. If you want to enjoy a pretty Spanish experience, go, hit the local bars about 7PM for some food etc., wander in 20 mins before the main act start, and drink loads of shots - you´ll pick up loads of new friends on the way.

As I said, good festie overall, some rain didn´t dampen anyones spirits - only thing was the VIP area got flooded and we had to wait a couple of hours to get in, and some locals got really pissy about it. TBH, though, they seemed to be the ones that never left the bar for any music, so I had to have a chuckle to myself. Their feet must have been hurting in their heels.....

So, highly recommended - make it a part of a long weekend (Thursday to Monday would be ideal!), and you could have a great inexpensive foreign festie experience!