Top Music Festivals You can Experience on Balkan

Want to have a summer vacation filled with numerous festivals throughout the region? Have you visited a festival and you want to hear more? Visit the Balkans and enjoy some of the best festivals that have separated this area of the world from the rest. This guide will show you top festivals that are a must when visiting the Balkans!

Mostar Summer Fest (MSF)- 29-30th June

This festival is a trademark of Mostar that opens the season of good music to the region. It offers a blend between the early rock genres from the region to the new wave of electronic and rap music that are a youth favorite.

It brings an opportunity for the youth of the region and beyond to get together and meet up, exchange stories and experiences and to enjoy the best music that this city can offer.

The lineups and the place of the event are set a month and a half in advance and the prices for the event are 25 KM for the festival ticket and 16 KM per day ticket.

West Herzegowina Fest (WHF)- 26-27 July

West Herzegowina Fest is a festival located in Široki Brijeg that tries to combine young creative minds and author to create and present their stories and laying ground for the others to do similar things.

It has a rich program as it combines music, movie and literature elements into one big artistic event that is important both to the region and the artists.

This festival is a must see because of its versatility in materials provided to the members of the audience and the special type of interaction of film, music and literature elements that is endemic for this festival.

As said before, the place where the festival is being held is in Široki Brijeg, and there are no fees for entrance if the arrival is before 21:00 PM– and a small fee afterwards.

Exit festival 12-15 July

Exit festival is located in Novi Sad, Serbia, which is established in 2000. Other than being very famous in Serbia, this festival is well known all around Europe, even being elected as the best summer festival in 2007.

The previous festivals have reached the numbers of 200 thousand visitors that have entered during 4 long days and nights. It gathers local and world-wide known artists such as David Guetta, Martin Garrix, French Montana and many more as it offers both musical and location diversity.

It is best to visit the festival grounds a couple of days before to prepare for the amazing atmosphere and adapt to the local area. The tickets for the event go from 50 to 150 euros and provide the entrance.

Sea Dance Festival August 30th-September 1st

This festival is located in Montenegro, more specifically Buljarica beach near Budva, and it is the winner for the “Best Medium Sized European Festival 2014.”. This event gathers fans from around 50 countries from all around the world and has an impressive line up of approximately 100 most popular world artists.

Performers such as Rudimental, Skrillex, John Newman, Sean Paul and many others are some of the best representatives of the good vibes this festival gives and it shows that the Adriatic has a lot of musical representation to offer to almost 300 thousand fans of the popular music.

Outlook Fest September 2-5

Outlook Festival is a music event- world first dubstep festival that will be held in an abandoned fort Punta Christo in Pula. This special type of event is a new offer to all those who yearn to sounds that are not usual to these areas.

The line ups that will perform at this event include performers such as Benga, Skream, DMZ, hip hop crew Roots Manuva etc.

What is really special to this event is its location and how it combines the old and the new in the fusion of music and dancing.

The ticket prices go from 150-280 euros and they include entrance fee and camping passes and the visitors are advised to stock up as the nearest town is not as close as to the other festivals on this list.

Ultra Summer July 12-14 July

Ultra Europe festival is a multi-venue outside fest that is located in Split. It is a part of the seven day event that spreads across Croatia and includes the opening party, the three-day festival, yacht regatta, Ultra Beach, and a closing party.

It has started in 2013. and up to now it has collected numerous celebrity attendants from artists such as Carl Cox, Armin van Buuren, Axwell Λ Ingrosso, The Chainsmokers, David Guetta, DJ Snake and many more that create an unforgettable event that continues to spring out Croatia as one of the best festival countries not only in the Balkans, but in the entire Europe.

The prices for Ultra  usually range from 140-250 euros and include entrance fee and passes to multiple stages of the event.

Ohrid summer fest July 12-August 20

Ohrid summer fest is located on the banks of the lake Ohrid in Macedonia. The stage for this event is located all over the town of Ohrid and these include St. Clement’s church of St. Panteleimon, ancient Amphitheatre and 14 other, vivid locations.

It has a long history that goes back to 1961, where the artists from the entire world performed a  combination of ballet, theatre and music that combines into a completely new experience.

There is no entrance fee and tickets are sold individually for each event. The accommodation is rather cheap due to many locals that rent out rooms during these events.

Sziget festival 12-15 August

This festival is located in northern Budapest, Hungary with more than 1,000 performances that take place each year. This festival started as a low profiled student event in 1993. that grew into what would be called Eurowoodstock.

You may hear the sounds ranging from rock and roll to hip hop and electronic. It gathers gathers around 380 thousand people and presents music from performers such as Macklemore, Major Lazer, Artic Monkeys, Kendrick Lamar, Lykke Li, Arctic Monkeys and many, many more that take their spot during this four day event.

Ticket prices go from 80 euros per day to 350 euros for the ticket. The location is next to the fairly cheap hotels and accommodation should not present a problem, especially for younger people.

These are the best festivals that the Balkans can offer to young and adventurous tourists that are eager for some new experiences and want to listen to good and diverse music.

Ilko Bakalar

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