Festivals à la Coachella: the 5 festivals you want to know

Coachella is hot. Unless you've been living under a rock, you've probably seen this festival pop up on social media. Everyone who matters is there: the Biebs with his wife, the Jenners, and our own Anna Nooshin, to name a few. But as you might have guessed, there's also a hefty price tag attached to this festival. The flight tickets, the festival tickets, the accommodation, and you haven't even put your outfit together yet. So it's quite an expensive joke. But good news: you don't have to go all the way to the US to catch such a festival, there are plenty of alternatives in Europe that are at least just as fun. Check out these five festivals you want to go to this summer with your friends.

1. Tomorrowland — Belgium: Gigantically popular, so you need a bit of luck to get a ticket, but believe me: you want to go here. It's a multi-day festival where all the DJs of the moment perform, with gigantic stages, and just like Coachella, they do it two weekends in a row. Especially if you're an EDM lover, you can't go wrong here. Rent a house with a group on the grounds or just outside, and your party weekend can't go wrong.

July 19 – 21 & July 26 – 28, 2019

2. Balaton Sounds — Hungary: Here too, you'll find a lot of EDM, but also other acts like this year Sean Paul and J Balvin. Lovely in the sunshine and there's also a large lake where you can swim. Just a side note: just like the Hungarian festival Sziget (also a recommendation but not exactly the luxury Coachella vibe), you'll be sleeping in not-so-luxurious tents, and the Dixi's are not really glamorous either. My tip is to look for a nice hotel nearby.
July 3 – 7, 2019

3. Primavera — Spain: This festival in Barcelona is quite popular, so you need to act fast if you want to be there, and you do want to be there. Here, dance music is played, but also artists like Billie Eilish (who rocked the main stage at Coachella this year) and Miley Cyrus are there. The latter is replacing Cardi B this year, who unfortunately had to cancel, but seems like a great replacement to me. A recommendation is of course to tag on a weekend or week in Barcelona afterwards. Nothing is as nice as recovering in the Spanish sun.
May 30 – June 1, 2019

4. EXIT Festival — Serbia: This festival won the award for the best festival in Europe in 2018, so you really don't need many more arguments. Techno lovers will be happy here (because: Carl Cox), house lovers too (because: Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike), or just great hits (because: DJ Snake), but also Paul Kalkbrenner, Lost Frequencies, and Amelie Lens. You get it: this might just be the best lineup of all festivals this year.
July 4 – 7, 2019

5. Ultra Europe — Croatia: You might know Ultra from the American edition in Miami, but it really doesn't fall short of this European edition. Nice commercial lineup (I love it) with David Guetta, Swedish House Mafia, and DJ Snake. By the way, Croatia is also beautiful, so combining this with a vacation seems ideal to me. So book it.
July 12 – 14, 2019

I don't know about you, but I've really caught the festival vibe. The sun is finally shining here in the Netherlands and the first fun events are already around the corner. Move over, Coachella, I'm really looking forward to these festivals (also because I, like 99%, was not one of the lucky visitors). Now just to see which of these five it will be. Choice stress remains a luxury problem.

Written by: Wieke Veenboer