Optimus Alive camping and travel

[Sadie Eggleton]

Hello guys. This will be mine and my boyfriends first time at Optimus Alive and we had a question about camping! We have bought the full 3 day festival ticket + camping and we were wondering what this got us.

Do we get one of those cabins with the camping price? or does that just mean we have entrance to the campsite to pitch a tent? We are just abit confused as it says full camping on the website with a picture of the cabin, but on here it says cmapign is about 13 euros per night for a cabin! Just wondering if someone could clarify!

Also on a side note, were from East Yorkshire and are thinking about travelling down to london and flying straight to lisbon. Anyone have any flight recommendations eg- airlines etc. Thanks in advance!

[Dannie Brincat]

Basically I was in doubt, like you are. We decided to buy a ticket with the camping + pay extra for the bungalow. Then we'll sort the rest at the campsite (there's no deposit)

[Sadie Eggleton]

all the bungalows are now sold out on booking.com though... which is rather annoying!

[Dannie Brincat]

I think we booked the last two available hehe

[Homer]

Bungalows are extra (I have two). Also, if you've booked a bungalow, why have you paid for coming? Presumably you don't need a camping pitch if you have a bungalow.

My Easyjet flight was £70 ret from Gatwick (I booked that in Dec though). They also fly from Luton.

Edited February 5, 2012 by Homer

[AM91]

There's three of us going and we've booked into the campsite aswell, but think we're just gonna try and buy a tent over their or try and bring 1 over between us all. Booked up our flights the other day from Bristol but that came to like 150 quid each. We're staying in a hotel in Lisbon for a couple days before and after the festival aswell though.

[Sadie Eggleton]

Yeah, the bungalows are all sold out. The only thing were thinking is taking tents, sleeping bags? Will we need them in the heat? On the aeroplane. Planning on staying in the nearest Ibis for about £30 a night before and after the festival! Anyone have any other hotel suggestions, as an Ibis seems like a cop out when we could have had those damn cool cabins...

[michael eavis' beard]

Does anyone know when the campsites open? Do they open a couple of days before the festival starts like with Beni etc? Just trying to decide when's the best to fly out. Cheers.

[flowergarage]

Does anyone know when the campsites open? Do they open a couple of days before the festival starts like with Beni etc? Just trying to decide when's the best to fly out. Cheers.

[FionaLimb]

the campsite is a proper campsite, like all the year round campsite so will be open although you may have to pay for extra days

[Davydenko]

Hi guys, is my first year too, Im from Spain, and I know people who went last year to Optimus, I can question them if you want.

I pick 3 days camping, they told me "one of the best campings of Europe festivals".

Benicasim camping or BBK camping are a **** if you compare with this one.

Sorry by my poor english. If you have any question, just tell me.

[robbo707]

I went to the festival last year and wrote a few things in the Festival topic about camping.

The campsite is really good, loads of shade and plenty of space (compared to the likes of leeds fest etc). Only downside is cold showers (although it may have just been me as I showered late afternoon before going to the festival itself. I prefered the cold showers though as the weather was pretty hot.

Top swimming pool at the campsite too which has its own bar for a few cold beers in the afternoon.

Regarding travel we interrailed for a while before the festival so arrived into lisbon train station at the end and the access from station to campsite was really easy. Jumped straight onto a bus and we were there in 15minutes. (about 5mins a taxi I reckon).

From the airport I'm not too sure but if you ask the campsite direct how to access they will tell you as they let us know about the bus from the train station. No doubt it will be no more than 10 mins in a taxi though as everything is fairly accessible.

Any more questions then don't hesitate to ask.

[Dannie Brincat]

any tips about where to go after the festival? we booked like another 4 days holiday in lisbon and need tips on where to go and what to do, we're renting out a car as well to be easier for us to go outside of lisbon if necessary.

[Blky]

Haven't been to Optimus before, this'll be my first one, looking forward to it!

with regards to camping, I've been to benicassim and exit before. Both times I have taken a tent as checked luggage and had all my clothes etc. as hand luggage. You can then take anything like liquids, scissors, extra clothes etc. in your friends' checked luggage. I guess you don't need much clothing as it's going to be hot. Also the campsite has washing machines and a hand-washing area, and it's only 3 days! you can pack really light!

Don't take a sleeping bag, it'll be the last thing you want - too hot! I have managed before with a lilo/inflatable mattress and a thin bedsheet. as there's lots of trees it'll look like a good idea to take a hammock if you have one! i predict most sleeping will be done outside your tent.

We have booked flights with TAP from Heathrow, £160. the campsite is like a 20 minute drive from Lisbon airport, so if there's a few of you a taxi will be reasonable.

We are also planning to stay in Lisbon after the festival, maybe book an apartment, but it'll be good to hear where and what's good in Lisbon.

[dougal1]

we're making a holiday of it too, heading out a few days before the festival. I've never been to Lisbon before but from reading around we're going to do all the main touristy things like the castle, museums, etc, get the train down the coast and have a couple of days on the beaches, and spend the nights in the bars and clubs of the Barrio Alto part. Anyone got any other ideas or recommendations?

[Frankly Mr Shankly]

Can anyone who's been before spread any light on the night life? What are the best clubs? I've heard good things about Incognito, Fragil and Op Art, but I don't know how exclusive some of these clubs will be? Any help would be appreciated.

[LynnOptimus]

Does anyone understand the portuguese booking site? even when I put it in english it only has portuguese descriptions and it does not say anything about the ticket with Camping (?). There is "PASSE 3 DIAS/3 DAY PASS/PASE 3 DÍAS - 13,14 E 15/07/12 - PASSEIO MARÍTIMO DE ALGÉS" which does not include camping? or does it? (but then there is no ticket without camping) and there is another ticket for 16€ that is apparently only the camping?

[Sketchead]

Why don't you book via Seetickets? Easy on there, just like booking normal tickets. £89 for ticket or £103 for ticket + camping (excluded £10ish worth of fees)

[LynnOptimus]

Well since I don't live in the UK it would be a bit annoying to pay in pounds instead of Euros.

But I think I figured it out. you just have to book camping and festival seperately and it adds up to the same as what they had on the website as festival+camping so I suppose there isn't really a different ticket for that.

[Mairead Rodden]

we naively bought camping tickets thinking we would automatically get a bungalow. Now i'm not so sure if we can manage staying in a tent in the heat

[Homer]

Why don't you book an apartment/hostel?

[Mairead Rodden]

haven't budgeted for extra accommodation and most cheaper places look like they are already booked up.

How well equipped is the campsite for showers/toilets etc?

[purplesky333]

Can anyone please tell me would it be feasible to stay near one of the beaches (estoril/cascais) and get to the festival and back each day or would staying in central lisbon be more practical, do the trains run all night? Thanks

[Homer]

Might not be the cheapest, I've gotten a cab from Lisbon centre to Cascais and it was something like 40 euros (though the fest site is obviously closer to Cascais than Lisbon centre is).

[Superscally]

If anyone's interested, we got three spaces in our bungalow in the campsite, me and two girls...

If anyone wants involved, feel free to message me, will work out less than £60 each for the week of 11th to 18th over the festival (Wednesday to Wednesday)