5 tips for the perfect Sziget Festival

The festival season has come to an end. But as the saying goes: After the season is before the season. In August, we had the opportunity to go on an “excursion” of a different kind as guest authors for TRAVELITA: a detour to the Island of Freedom, to the Sziget Festival. Because it was certainly not the last visit to the Budapest festival for us, we have packed our experiences into five tips.

#1 Preparation is everything!

If you want to enjoy the Sziget Festival for seven days, you need the right accommodation.

Camping on the site is possible and is used en masse, but if you need a restful sleep like us, you should book accommodation in Budapest. By train it takes about 20 minutes to get to the site from the city center. We booked an AirBnB in the Orszàgùt district on the Pest river side, close to the H5 train line that leads directly to the site on Óbuda Island (Szentlélek tér stop). It’s worth booking early!

At Sziget, only cashless payments are made. If you register with your ticket on the Sziget app before the festival, you can already load money onto your wristband there. There is a one-time fee of HUF 300 for the top-up. The remaining balance will be automatically paid back at the end. It is also possible to pay by credit card. However, if you don’t want to run the risk of losing your credit card, you should pay by wristband. The system works perfectly.

Last but not least, prepare for the heat. Summer in Budapest is hot. We had temperatures up to 36 degrees. That’s why light clothes (even at night it never really got cold), sunscreen and plenty of water. Because the festival site is located on an island on the Danube, the frolic of thousands of people is a found food for the local mosquitoes. Therefore, pack mosquito spray or pick up a mosquito bracelet at the taxi rank (works wonders!).

#2 Food, Food, Food

Bring hunger with you! Foodies will definitely find what they are looking for on the grounds. Pizza, burgers, smoothies, Asian, gyros, freshly baked bread, barbecue, vegan, gluten-free… After seven days at the Sziget Festival, we can honestly say: there is nothing that does not exist. We were particularly taken with the premium burgers from the local hipster burger chain ZING-Burger. And if you still haven’t had enough, you should try a Hungarian Baumstriezel as a dessert (sharing is recommended;)). The unbelievable offer has another advantage: waiting times are usually limited ☺.

#3 It’s worth coming early

There is a lot to discover at the Sziget Festival. And by a lot we really mean A LOT: There is an art village, a circus, a funfair, a self-discovery labyrinth (book an appointment early! Unfortunately, we missed it), a cinema with TED talks, a theatre, a beach, dance classes, workshops, tattoo studios and so on. If you get a festival pass with lots of useful information on the first day, you can have the activities checked off on site by stamping. Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough for all the stamps because of the many great concerts and some long nights. But what we saw inspired us. So don’t look too deeply into the glass (except water;)), but save energy and time for a discovery tour on the site.

#4 MUSIC at Sziget Festival

Despite the culinary highlights and the countless activities, the focus for us was on music (after all, it’s also a music festival). In this respect, too, Sziget is a festival of superlatives. This year alone, headliners such as Ed Sheeran, Post Malone, Foo Fighters, 21 Pilots and Martin Garrix took to the stage. The music of the biggest and most famous acts can be found on the main stage or the huge tent stage. A visit to the many additional stages and locations is definitely worthwhile to experience well-known local as well as lesser-known international artists. In the Colosseum or the Bacardi Arena you will find electronic music and on the Europe Stage artists from all over the world (and not only from Europe, as the name suggests). In order to keep track of the hundreds of acts and countless stages, it is advisable to listen to the acts before the festival and put together a program on the Sziget app. You should definitely take your time to discover unknown acts on smaller stages or the rest of the festival’s program.

#5 Geniesst die Island of Freedom

Under the motto “Love Revolution”, the Sziget Festival celebrates love, diversity, peace, sustainability, tolerance and respect. The motto can be felt not only in the numerous activities on the grounds, parties in front of the main stage and the selection of many sustainable catering options. For seven days, around 500,000 visitors from over 100 countries celebrate peacefully on the Island of Freedom. Therefore, our last tip: Immerse yourself in the Sziget Experience and enjoy it!

Travel sustainably to the Sziget Festival

The Sziget Festival strives to keep the ecological footprint as small as possible and this year has proactively tackled the issue with various measures (introduction of reusable glasses, biodegradable straws, reusable paper tents, vacuum rinses to save water…) as well as educational campaigns. This also includes the Green Sziget Center on the festival grounds, where various workshops and activities on the topic of sustainability were held.

If you want to carry this spirit with you, you should ideally travel by train to Budapest to the Sziget Festival. From Zurich there is a daily, direct night train connection (EuroNight 40467) to Budapest-Keleti.