Top 5 European Festivals
Volvo Snowbombing, Austria (4-9 April)
It’s no surprise that this was the UK Festival Award’s ‘Best Overseas Festival’ winner last year, as Snowbombing mixes all the fun of a ski holiday, with a music festival. Set in the picturesque area of Mayrhofen, there’s also the option of going on the Volvo road trip to get there, which sees acts from the festival join in as it becomes part of the whole experience. It gets the activity-filled week off to a great start, with everyone on the trip meeting on the way and taking a pit-stop in Frankfurt en route – with entertainment included.
This year’s line up sees The Prodigy headlining, with Pendulum, Magnetic Man, Chase & Status and Fat Boy Slim returning for the second year in a row.
Tickets: Prices start from £279
Hurricane, Germany (17-19 June)
Germany knows how to bring rock to a stage in style, and one of the most popular festivals takes place in the form of Hurricane in Scheeßel. The seasoned festival has been running nearly as long as Glastonbury, starting three years later in 1973 when it was referred to as “Es rockt in der Heide” (translation: “It’s rocking the heath”) and it still does.
American rockers the Foo Fighters and Blink 182 will be headlining, as well as bringing out the British big guns, Arctic Monkeys and Kasabian.
Tickets: £125
With the backdrop of the beautiful Danube in Novi Sad and t
icket prices still remaining cheap, Exit is one of Europe’s hidden gems when it comes to big music events. Started in 2000 by three university students, the aim was to create a free cultural event to encourage Serbs to rebel against the government of Slobodan Milosevic. The festival has come a long way since in size and reputation, but it still remains one of the less commercial festivals.
With Pulp, Arcade Fire, Hadouken! and Beirut gracing the stage this year, there’s an eclectic mix of music and you get a lot for your money.
Tickets: £89
Benicassim, Spain (14-17 July)
In 2009, one night was cancelled due to a sand storm which took out a good chunk of campers, but let’s hope that freak weather doesn’t make a return this year. Benicassim combines the beach holiday with the festival spirit which means you’ll still see plenty of flesh well into the early hours. You get nine days of free camping included with the ticket, but due to the hot weather it might be worth hiring an apartment which you can do pretty economically with a group of friends – and there’s a regular bus to and from the festival.
Line up for 2011 includes musical heavyweights Arctic Monkeys, The Strokes and Mumford & Sons.
Tickets: £160
The festival which takes place across a 266 acre island in Budapest is impressive not only for its vast size, but also for the variety of entertainment which includes bungee jumping and swimming. It’s Europe’s largest open-air music festival with 380,000 people attending in 2010, and it supposedly has over 1000 performances every year.
The big names for 2011 are Dizzee Rascal, The Chemical Brothers and Pulp
Tickets: €170 (€200 from May)
Tagged in: Austria, Benicassim, Exit Festival, festival, germany, hungary, Hurricane, music, Serbia, spain, Sziget, Volvo SnowbombingRecent Posts on Notebook
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