Summer is the best time for open-air music festivals, with adventures, great music and new acquaintances. We have made a guide to the best of them, which are worth going to the ends of the earth to find. Read about how to combine concerts of your favorite bands and beach holidays, parties in clubs and the best street food, visit ancient estates, take part in a marathon, create an installation with your own hands and then burn it.
Primavera Sound (Barcelona, Spain)
Photo: @albaruperez/Instagram.com
When: May 30 – June 3
Ticket price: 85 EUR day ticket or 215 EUR for 5 days.
Headliners: Arctic Monkeys, Björk, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, Lorde, The National, Migos, ASAP Rocky, Tyler the Creator, CHVRCHES and Fever Ray.
How to get there:From the airport to the city center there is a Renfe train during the day and bus A1 or No. 17 at night. The festival takes place in the Forum Park (Parc del Forum),
on an open concrete area. Parc del Forum is located on the seafront, accessible from the center by bus H16 or the yellow metro line, El Maresme Fórum station.
Primavera Sound is Europe’s hippest music festival with the continent’s best headliners. Over the course of five days, stars of rock, electro, pop and alternative music will perform on 16 stages. In total, about 200 bands will play at the festival, and 300 thousand spectators will come to see them. The festival takes place right on the seashore, so it’s easy to combine concerts and a beach holiday. Due to the growing popularity of the festival, organizers have been holding a smaller version of Primavera in Porto, Portugal, since 2011. This year NOS Primavera Sound will take place from June 7th to 9th, headlined by Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds, Lorde, A$AP Rocky.
Usadba Jazz (Moscow, Russia)
Photo: @usadbajazz/Instagram.com
When: June 2 – 3
Ticket price: ticket for 1 day – 2800 RUB, for 2 days – 4500 RUB.
Headliners: SunSay, Yolka, Auction, The New Power Generation, AYWA, Igor Butman, Perukua, Jacob Collier, Richard Bona Group, Manizha , Medjikul, Donny McCaslin.
How to get there: The festival is held in the Arkhangelskoye estate, which can be reached by special buses “Usadba Jazz”, which run from 12:00 to 18 :00 from the Myakinino metro station, by buses No. 549 and No. 541 from the Tushinskaya metro station or by bus No. 824 from the Rizhsky station.
Usadba Jazz is the largest jazz festival in Russia, which turns 15 this year. Funk, acid jazz, lounge, jazz-rock and blues musicians from all over the world will play on 6 stages. In 2004, it all started as a large open-air apartment building, but then Usadba Jazz became the most famous Russian jazz festival, where such stars as Marcus Miller, Branford Marsalis Quartet, Charlie Hunter Trio, Aaron Parks, The Brand New Heavies played. On the occasion of the anniversary, an art space will be organized on the festival grounds, where lectures, theatrical performances and performances will be held.
Bosco Fresh Fest (Moscow, Russia)
Photo: @boscofreshfest/Instagram.com
When: June 10 – 11
Ticket price: 2-day pass – 3000 RUB.
Headliners: Fever Ray, Talib Kweli, YUKO, Race to Space, Say My Name, Orbital, The Largest Prime Number, Moon, Let’s Go , Happy people, Alina Pash.
How to get there: this year the festival will be held for the first time at the Skolkovo business school, which is located in the Odintsovo district, 2 kilometers from the Moscow Ring Road . Free shuttles will run from the Slavyansky Boulevard metro station to the festival grounds.
Bosco Fest is a festival of contemporary music, where 13 artists of different genres will perform over two days – from hip-hop and indie rock to electronics. The winners of the competition for young musicians will open the stage; the main guests of the festival will be Fever Ray and Talib Kweli, as well as the British Orbital. In addition to them, Russian and Ukrainian punk, pop and indie bands will perform at the festival. The theme of the festival in 2018 will be space, and the organizers were inspired to create the scenery by Tarkovsky’s Solaris. In addition to concerts, the festival will include screenings of science fiction films and lectures on futurism and new romanticism.
Nos Alive (Oeiras, Portugal)
Photo: @j0sefernandes/Instagram.com
When: July 12 – 14
Ticket price: 65 EUR day ticket, 124 EUR for 2 days, 139 EUR for 3 days. A camping spot for 3 nights costs 19 EUR, for 4 nights – 25 EUR, for 5 nights – 31 EUR.
Headliners: Arctic Monkeys, Pearl Jam, Queens of the stone Age, The National, Nine Inch Nails, Jack White, At The Drive- In, Franz Ferdinand.
How to get there:The festival takes place on the banks of the Alges River in the suburbs of Lisbon. The airport is located just 6 kilometers from the city, from where there is a metro line and bus number 22 to the city center. From the railway station to the embankment where the festival is held you can take buses 706, 728, 781, 782, the green metro line and the river tram.
Nos Alive is a young indie, rock, pop and alternative music festival with a top-notch lineup of headliners and excellent organization. In 2009, NME magazine included Nos Alive in the list of the best music festivals in Europe and the number of visitors increased several times. Over the years, Bob Dylan, Radiohead, Arctic Monkeys performed here, and in recent years, among the participants, groups playing RnB, hip-hop, house and disco, such as Disclosure, The Weeknd and The Chemical Brothers, have increasingly begun to appear.
Positivus Festival (Salacgriva, Latvia)
Photo: @axelschillingphotography/Instagram.com
When: 20 — July 22
Ticket price: 50 EUR for 1 day, 70 EUR for 2 days, 80 EUR for 3 days, 85.6 EUR – ticket for 3 days and a place in the camping.
Headliners: Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds, The Prodigy, Years & Years, Tove Lo, Mura Masa, Lauv, Torres, The Barr Brothers, Youngr, Jeremy Loops, Marlon Williams, Ivan Dorn.
How to get there: from the airport by bus number 22 or by Airport Express shuttle to Riga. A free Positivus express shuttle will take you from the Palladium Riga concert hall in the city center to the area where the festival is taking place.
Positivus Festival is the largest music and arts festival in the Baltics, where 30,000 people come to listen to pop, indie and electronic music. The festival is held next to the beaches of the Gulf of Riga, in a meadow surrounded by a pine forest. What distinguishes it from other European festivals is that it is suitable for family holidays – children are allowed here, there is a Kids Island space where you can leave your child and go to a concert. The festival also features a Positivus Arts and Crafts fair with jewelry and designer clothing.
Tomorrowland (Boom, Belgium)
Photo: @tomorrowland/Instagram.com
When: weekend 20-22 and 27-29 July
Ticket price: 225 EUR for 3 days (20-21-22 or 27 – 28 – 29 July),
101 EUR for 1 day.
Headliners: Martin Garrix, Hardwell, Alesso, Armin van Buuren, Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike, Axwell ^ Ingrosso, Charlotte de Witte, Solomun, Lost Frequencies, Carl Cox, Jamie Jones, Sven Väth, Paul van Dyk.
How to get there: The festival is held in the town of Boom,
in Parc de Schorre,
which during the festival turns into the DreamVille tent camp. The nearest airports are Antwerp (12 km) and Brussels (32 km),
from where you can get to Bum by train.
Tomorrowland is one of the largest electronic music festivals, featuring world-famous bands and DJs, amazing decorations, and light, laser and fire shows. The festival was first held in 2005 with the participation of Armin van Buuren, YOJI, Technoboy, and twelve years later it was attended by the King of Belgium and another 400 thousand spectators, for whom 200 bands played, including the leaders of the Top 100 DJs — DJ Mag.
Øya (Oslo, Norway)
Photo: Markus Thorsen/@oyafestivalen/Instagram.com
When: August 7 – 11
Ticket price: full pass for 7 days of the festival – 293 EUR, for 1 day – 103 EUR.
Headliners: Lykke Li, Arcade Fire, Kendrick Lamar, Patti Smith, Paradise, Arctic Monkey, Cezinando, Fever Ray, And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead, Brockhampton, Chelsea Wolfe, Converge.
How to get there: from the airport to Oslo there is a bus (Flybussen) and a high-speed train (Flytoget),
which departs from the underground floor of the airport. The festival takes place in Tøyenparken,
where you can walk from the city center.
Øya is one of the main festivals in Scandinavia, attracting more than 60,000 people. The headliners always include world celebrities, but most of the participants are Scandinavian stars of noise, rock, hip-hop, as well as electronic and pop music. From Wednesday to Saturday, performances take place on six stages located in the most beautiful corners of Toyen Park. The park itself is worthy of special attention – on its territory there are the remains of buildings from the 16th century and a sandy beach on the river bank. After the festival ends, many Norwegian bands do not leave Oslo, but play in clubs in the city for another week.
Sziget (Budapest, Hungary)
Photo: @rockstarphotographers/Instagram.com
When: August 8 – 15
Ticket price: 65 EUR for 1 day, 179 EUR for 3 days, 250 EUR for 5 days and 275 EUR for 7 days.
Headliners:Kendrick Lamar, Arctic Monkeys, Gorillaz, Lana Del Rey, Dua Lipa, Shawn Mendes, Stormzy, The War On Drugs, Nick Murphy.
How to get there: The festival takes place in the 3rd district of Budapest, on the island of Óbudai in the middle of the Danube. For Sziget-Budapest City Pass holders, transfers from the airport to the city and from the city to the island will be free, and other guests can travel to Budapest by train H5.
Sziget is one of the largest music festivals in Europe. Over the 7 days of the festival, about 1000 concerts will be played, which will be attended by 500 thousand spectators. One of the features of the festival is its diversity of genres: pop and heavy metal, electronics, punk and industrial are played here. In addition to concerts, Sighet hosts theatrical performances, film screenings, charity marathons and master classes. In 2018, the festival celebrates its 25th anniversary, and on this occasion, the organizers promise to put on an unforgettable show.
Flow Festival (Helsinki, Finland)
Photo: @jussihellsten/Instagram.com
When: August 10 – 12
Ticket price: ticket for 1 day – 99 EUR, for 2 days – 149 EUR, for 3 days – 195 EUR.
Headliners: Kendrick Lamar, Patti Smith, St Vincent, Grizzly Bear, Bonobo, Alma, Sigrid, Mura Masa, Brockhampton, DJ Helena Hauff , and Mura Masa.
How to get there: From Vantaa Airport to Helsinki there are buses No. 620N, No. 415, No. 451 and the high-speed train. The festival takes place on the site of an abandoned power plant near the city center, which is easily accessible on foot.
Flow Festival is a growing alternative music festival, where about 100 bands play on 11 stages, including international stars and newcomers from electro, techno, indie and rock. On the territory of the ancient power station, pavilions for exhibitions and music venues of various sizes were built, the largest of which has a huge ball instead of a roof. In addition to concerts, the festival will feature contemporary art exhibitions, installations and performances, film screenings and lectures. Also at the festival you will be able to try excellent street food and dishes from the best chefs, whom the organizers invite from all over Finland.
Burning Man (desert in Nevada, USA)
Photo: AARON HUEY
When: August 26 – September 3
Ticket price: from 425 USD per ticket + car pass 80 USD.
Headliners: not yet announced
How to get there: The festival takes place in the Black Rock Desert in Nevada. The only way to get there is by car, which can be rented in cities where planes fly from Europe: Sacramento and San Francisco (5-6 hours drive),
Las Vegas and Los Angeles (10-12 hours drive).
Burning man is one of the most unusual events in the world of music and art. This is an amazing city of freedom and creativity, which the participants create with their own hands every time, and which will disappear after the end of the festival. There is almost no money used here; all products and services can be exchanged for free. Every day, huge installations are built in the desert, parties and performances are held, and music plays around the clock. Brightly decorated monster cars drive through the desert, and participants wear incredible costumes. Everything is subordinated to a common theme that changes every year. The climax is the last night of the festival, during which a huge wooden man and most of all the installations are burned.
Hotel bookings get easier with OneTwoTrip. The service offers more than two million accommodation properties worldwide.
Preview photo: @KimSanty/Instagram.com
