Sziget 2018: Festivalguide

Sziget Festival Guide

As you may know, we love festivals of all kind. They are the perfect place to embrace yourself, to dress however you want, to dance to your favorite music, spend time with friends, make new ones and enjoy different types of food.  During this season, we will cover multiple european festivals and give you full on guides on everything related to the festival,  so stay tuned if you want to know more! 

To give a bit of a preview of what`s coming, we take you on a journey to Sziget Festival we attended in 2018, sadly we don`t have many pictures of the site itself because we were there on a privat matter, but we hope to change that this year. If there is anything you want us to cover or something we missed, please comment below, on our Instagram or email us so we can get better and add it in the following guides!

What is Sziget Festival?

Sziget Festival is a bit like a big party about love, freedom and art. There are people attending from all over the world, it takes place mid august on a small island in the middle of Budapest and there are hundreds of stages and activities all over the island. What makes it different, is that music isn`t the main thing even though they always have a strong line up with the biggest names of pop culture, there are bands of every genre playing and there isn`t one big musicial theme. The festival itself is also quite political and open minded, they alway have an NGO corner were different organisations present themselves, they support the LGBTQ community and the whole festival is wheelchair accessible. It is the right place to go if you want to leave the world like you know it for one week ( yes thats right, it is on for 7 days!) and just celebrate life.

How to get there

The unique location in the middle of Budapest makes it really easy to get there in many different ways. You can come by plane, by car ( they have guarded carparks ) or by train, and once in town, you can just take the subway, a cab or a bus to go to the site. This also allows you to combine the festival with a city trip, you can discover Budapests famous baths or historial buildings during the day or spend one night in town partying in one of the many ruin pubs. They also offer a special city pass you can by, it includes public transportation and free entry to many places.

Camping

There is no special campsite, you are allowed to camp wherever you want on the island! The earlier you arrive, the better your chance to get a spot in the shadow and if you come in a group, that you can all camp together. But even if you only got a 3 or 5 day pass, you will always find a spot. People tend to not hangout at their camping spot as much as they do on other festivals, there are so many places where you can hangout or chill, that it is usually not that busy around the tents. Of course there are also quite a few camps where you can buy tickets and have exclusive facilities, but because I always stayed in general, I can`t really say much about it. You can also rent an Air BnB in the city, it is easy to get into town at all times if you prefer to sleep in a real bed.

Music

As I mentioned above, Sziget attracts music fans from every genre. No matter what you`re into, you will find it. On the big main stage mainly play pop acts or bigger rock or hip hop names, there are two areas for different electronical music and stages for every subgerne you can think of. My favorite metal bands have played here, so there really is something for everyone. There line up is  huge and they have a theme party in front of the main stage, which is always a lot of fun too! Even though music is important and a big part of a festival, in my experience people don`t have such a tight schedule for artists they want to see and that makes it all a lot more relaxed. You can find the 2019 line up here 

People

I`ve never experienced a vibe more relaxed than on this usland. Most people are open minded, friendly and excited to experience a week full of adventures, There are quite a few kids around during the day, they have a special camp for people coming with their children, which is really cool so everybody has the chance to attend the festival and there is so much to explore. There aren`t that many incredibly drunk people, there are some who take drugs which is actually quite usual for a festival like this, but it is not extremly obvious and you can have an equally great time if you don`t drink or do something else. 

Food & Beverages

As bright as the nationality of people visiting Sziget, as various are the food offers. You really need five to seven days to try all the stalls you want to and its a paradise for all vegetarians or vegans, nearly every stall has something without meat or even dairy free! If you want to buy some snacks or grill your meat on your own, their is an Aldi store on the Island where you can get everything you need, they also have a grillstation just next to the store. 

There are quite a few big water stations around the Island where you can fill up your cup or bottle, alcoholic drinks are available at every bar and there are tons of them. Prices are actually quite low for middle europeans, but in normal price range for eastern europe.                                                                                                                                                                                                                    

Facilities

Every big festival needs a good organisation and that includes things like toilets, showers, help desks, lockers and disability access. At every big stage, you will find a `toilet city`, at two places on the island are showers and more toilets for the campers. This is also where you find drinking water to fill up your bottle or cup, help desks are marked on the island map and are really helpful if you need them. Sziget is cashless, so you got your money on your wristband and pay like this, or you pay with your contactless credit card. You can either top up during the festival, when you get your wristband or already put money on it before you come to Budapest via transaction. There are different types of lockers available, either with a charging point or without. If you need to charge your phone or camera, there are several stalls that charge it for a small fee. I also want to mention that it is really wheelchair friendly, they even have an area where you can try to drive one yourself! They also try to be friendly with the enviroment, for example you will ony get a straw if you ask for one and Food often comes in disposable packaging.

Activities

This is what makes Sziget so Special. Everywhere you go, there is something to do and explore around every corner! Even after a week you`ll always find new things, I could go forever listing it all. They got a circus, a vintage funfair, several shows, a theatre, the Magic Mirror which is a place for LGBTQ talks and shows, an art and a sports area, a beach (seriously the best place to sleep until noon!) and yoga classes, bungee jumping, a wine village, art installations wherever you go and different workshops to attend. Every year there are different activities and they publish them closer to the date, you can find it here.

2018 was my second time at Sziget, I would always come back as ist one of my absolute favorite festivals I`ve ever attended! Do you have any questions or things you wanna see in our future guides? Just leave a comment, write us on social media or via email! Really hope you enjoyed this little glimpse of what we got planned, so I will leave you with one last gem:

Faye