Bilbao BBK Live 2012

[ionicmoose]

Hi,

Just wondering if anyone from eFests is going to Bilbao BBK this year? It'll be our first time there and the past lineups seem great, especially for how cheap it is!

Haven't seen anyone on the forums talking about it so thought I'd start a thread as there seemed to be a few posting last year.

[mblackhouse]

Hi!

Yep we are going as a rgoup of 5 or 6. Booked flights and hotels, just waiting to book tickets (before the 24th to get them cheap, then they apparently go up by around 25%)

Looks like a great little festival and a well kept secret!

[ilikespecialcake]

Have you been before? We've now got tickets and flights booked, planning on driving to San sebastain afterwards and spend 5 nights there after the festival.

[mblackhouse]

Not been to bbk live before but we chose it as an alternative to optimus alive (less faffing around with getting back to hotel after - we're 20 mins walk from festival site and 15 mins walk to the main bars bit of bilbao too in hotel zenit). Thinking of extenidng to go to san sebastian afterwards now too....

[kaytee...]

I'm hoping to go this year but it looks like there's no direct flights from Liverpool or Manchester to Bilbao. Does anyone know which airport would be best to travel from via train/bus?

[pete76]

I'm hoping to go this year but it looks like there's no direct flights from Liverpool or Manchester to Bilbao. Does anyone know which airport would be best to travel from via train/bus?

[mblackhouse]

Easyjet fly direct to Bilbao in the summer on a Tuesday or a friday

[mblackhouse]

In fact I've just checked on the easyjet website. Means you'll have to extend your stay in Bilbao but there are worse places to spend a week...

[the_derminator]

I'm hoping to go this year but it looks like there's no direct flights from Liverpool or Manchester to Bilbao. Does anyone know which airport would be best to travel from via train/bus?

[ilikespecialcake]

We found flights with easy jet to Bilbao from Manchester or London. These were so cheap before Christmas but have gone up a good bit since. Were traveling from Newcastle, mega bus to London and flying from London cost us around 107 each. We found this a lot cheaper than flying from manchester. Not bad at all.

[ilikespecialcake]

And wow our tickets came already!

[thegeeza]

i went last year, its an amazing festival. so laid back and cheap compared to Benicassim. Theres a great bar between the campsites and the entrance which is really cheap for its location ( could buy a bottle of wine for 3euro) sells basic food and plenty beer garden sitting to spend your afternoons if you don't wanna take the shuttle buses into town.

We drove from newcastle,took us just over a day to get there and we were also doing the bull run after the festival then driving to Benicassim.Don't know if it was just last year but the weather is not like Beni, it rained most evenings and got cold (which caught us out as we were used to beni and only had shorts and t shirts) but during the day was usually nice and pleasantly hot. The bands don't overlap either so you get to see every band you want to see. The shower facilities were poor tho so hopefully this gets fixed this year as the water kept going off last year. They have mojitos on tap too but i'd recommend the local drink of kalimotxo,its red wine and coke mixed together and tastes amazing. Literally all the locals drink it too and if you are heading to the bull run you'll see how much the the locals love it!! I can't recommend this festival enough especially for its ultra cheap price.

Hope this was useful for you as i really struggled to find info about it before i went last year. If you have any questions about it just give me a shout and i'll try and answer them for you!! Enjoy

[ilikespecialcake]

i went last year, its an amazing festival. so laid back and cheap compared to Benicassim. Theres a great bar between the campsites and the entrance which is really cheap for its location ( could buy a bottle of wine for 3euro) sells basic food and plenty beer garden sitting to spend your afternoons if you don't wanna take the shuttle buses into town.

We drove from newcastle,took us just over a day to get there and we were also doing the bull run after the festival then driving to Benicassim.Don't know if it was just last year but the weather is not like Beni, it rained most evenings and got cold (which caught us out as we were used to beni and only had shorts and t shirts) but during the day was usually nice and pleasantly hot. The bands don't overlap either so you get to see every band you want to see. The shower facilities were poor tho so hopefully this gets fixed this year as the water kept going off last year. They have mojitos on tap too but i'd recommend the local drink of kalimotxo,its red wine and coke mixed together and tastes amazing. Literally all the locals drink it too and if you are heading to the bull run you'll see how much the the locals love it!! I can't recommend this festival enough especially for its ultra cheap price.

Hope this was useful for you as i really struggled to find info about it before i went last year. If you have any questions about it just give me a shout and i'll try and answer them for you!! Enjoy

[thegeeza]

No probs, language barriers pretty big (alot less english there than benicasim thats for sure, and probably a good thing,lol), but we got thru by doing the typical english thing of pointing and talking slow.

We took an asda 1 man tent each (£10) and left it there, but we drove, don't think easyjet will allow a tent in hand luggage as metal pegs and poles will be classed as dangerous, i would just check the tent in and leave it in spain!

I would definitely take a hoody at least, its at the very top of spain and you'll notice its alot greener than most of the rest of spain so must get alot more rain up there.

There's free shuttle busses to and from the camp site to the city every 10 minutes (Forgot to mention the festival is set in a park half way up a mountain which gives amazing views of Bilbao) which take you directly into Bilbao where its like most cities, shopping mall's and stuff so can easily get things if u wanna buy them there.

Hope this has helped

[ilikespecialcake]

Thanks for the qucik reply! I was actually thinking of strapping it to my regular luggage and checking it in but worried about the shape... (one of those round pop ups)

[Shambler]

Hi, joined up as I've just bought tickets to BBK and this seems the best place to get info about it!

A couple of questions if someone doesn't mind answering - what's the camping like? I mean more in terms of location and heat rather than facilities as I have no problems roughing it for a bit, but do people generally camp, or get apartments? Always thought you miss out a bit if you get an apartment, but I guess Spanish heat and tents could get a bit unbearable! Is the camping site at the festival site or more towards town?

Also, are you allowed to bring booze into the festival, or can you only drink what's available inside?

Looking forward to it - seems like a bit of a hidden gem, given the price and the line up!

[ilikespecialcake]

Hi, joined up as I've just bought tickets to BBK and this seems the best place to get info about it!

A couple of questions if someone doesn't mind answering - what's the camping like? I mean more in terms of location and heat rather than facilities as I have no problems roughing it for a bit, but do people generally camp, or get apartments? Always thought you miss out a bit if you get an apartment, but I guess Spanish heat and tents could get a bit unbearable! Is the camping site at the festival site or more towards town?

Also, are you allowed to bring booze into the festival, or can you only drink what's available inside?

Looking forward to it - seems like a bit of a hidden gem, given the price and the line up!

[Shambler]

When does the campsite open?

[ilikespecialcake]

The camping area will be available from 6pm on Wednesday 6th of July until 2pm on Sunday 10th of July.

from official site http://www.bilbaobbklive.com/2012/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=83&Itemid=12&lang=en

[ilikespecialcake]

Nice little blog here, http://disco-vigilantes.blogspot.com/search/label/Bilbao

[Shambler]

Great, thanks for that, really helpful!

Thinking about what to do on the days around the festival. Would be a shame to head all that way just to got the festival and head straight home, so thinking about a couple of nights in Biarritz afterwards. Pamplona fiesta is on before and during BBK, and San Sebastian looks great too, so maybe stop for a night there on way to Biarritz!

[neiltring]

Nice little blog here, http://disco-vigilan...ch/label/Bilbao

[neiltring]

Also forgot but the Guggenheim museum. We went in but my mate didnt want to spend the 11 Euros to go through. Shame as i really wanted to go in. Also there are some amazing markets there to visit.

[ilikespecialcake]

Useful to know about the 2 campsites, had no idea about that and would much rather be in the shaded area. What about campsite facilities and prices in the festival?

Thanks for all the info! All I need now is some Spanish phrases to get me through!

[neiltring]

Yeh i didnt know the first year but met some australians that were camping there. Had it so much better in the shade of trees. The facilities? Well the showers are good, you only get hot water really early in the morning but to be fair the cold showers were just as good since its so hot at about 9am so when i wake at 11am a cold showers is good.

Prices in the festival is as i put, like 7 euros for a litre of beer. not bad and the food is pretty decent.