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It’s summer time soon! It’s that time of the year again when San and I start getting ready with our tents and hammocks to hit a few psytrance music festivals. Yes, this list is late because we started our year with the Experience psychedelic festival on Koh Tao and it took us a while to recover from the awesomeness (obviously). We may not be able to visit every festival on this list, but even if we do half, we’re happy! Yes, this list ONLY has psytrance music festivals because that’s the genre that we feel most connected to.
May
01 | Dance of Shiva
Location: Manali, India
Schedule: May 2 – 4, 2016
Website
What better place to enjoy a psychedelic experience than the Himalayas? The location of this festival is Manali, which is one of our favorite summer destinations in the Parvati Valley. This festival is definitely not mainstream and they sell ONLY 400 tickets. It gets better – the 2016 edition is Dance of Shiva’s 10-year anniversary! Oh yes, we already have our tickets for this one. Out of all the psytrance music festivals that are scheduled for 2016 in the Himalayas, this looks the most promising one.
June
02 | Trimurti Festival
Location: Golden Ring, Russia
Schedule: June 9 – 13, 2016
Website
Trimurti is an environment friendly festival in Russia that is a completely ecological event since 2011. The organizers make an effort to reduce the use of plastic and inorganic materials. They also have a UFO center in this festival which acts as an information point and well, it also looks like a UFO!
July
03 | Freqs of Nature
Location: Niedergörsdorf (Near Berlin), Germany
Schedule: July 7 – July 12, 2016
Freqs of Nature is rated really high by festival goers. Our friend Sei Ru says “They manage to strike a really good balance of intensity with the forest floor and friendly vibes at the progressive stage. There’s also good vibes at the techno stage, which wasn’t just some neglected backwater stage. There’s an open ground chill stage and a really good art gallery in an old military hanger. It also never felt overcrowded and the toilets were always spotless”
04 | Solar United Natives Festival (SUN Festival)
Location: Csobánkapuszta, Hungary
Schedule: July 18 – July 25, 2016
Website
The best thing about this festival is that it works like a community which people can enter by buying membership. Many crucial decisions about the festival are decided after the organizers conduct a poll with the members. San and I have a lifetime membership so we can enter this festival anytime without buying a ticket. However, they now have an annual membership option because the lifetime option is no longer available. Yes, we are very excited to attend this festival this year.
05 | Transylvania Calling Festival (Wonderland)
Location: Comuna Ponor, Dupa Deal, Apuseni Mountains of Transylvania, Romania
Schedule: July 18 – July 25, 2016
Website – Facebook page – Facebook Event
The music festival Transylvania Calling is held every year on summer.
The festival is known as one of the art and music quality festival that are held on open air in Romania. Transylvania Calling Festival, Photo courtesy of www.transylvania-calling.com
During the festival’s days, lots of musicians perform in various styles, bands and compositions. Artists and players play in various shows, etc… More than two thousands visitors, locals and tourists, attend the festival. The festival’s program, lineup information is present in the festival’s website.
06 | MoDem Festival (or Momento Demento Festival)
Location: Near Primislje, Croatia
Schedule: July 25 – July 31, 2016
Website
Modem festival is famous for its dark psy and forest psy music. The camping area is on a pretty little river island where people can feel closer to the nature. With a name like “The Springs of Mreznica” for the camp site, I just can’t stop myself from obsessing over the pictures of this festival! The best part – no cell phone connectivity in the festival area. Oh yes, you guessed it, we already have our tickets for this festival. Out of all the dark psytrance music festivals, Modem is perhaps the most famous one.
07 | Wonderland Festival (Waldfrieden)
Location: Stemwed-Wehdem, Germany
Schedule: July 28 – July 31, 2016
Website
Waldfrieden means “forest peace” and true to its name, the location is a slightly slanted empty patch with forest around it. There is a little pond and it’s possible to put the tents around it if you get in early. There is an indoor area as well with mind blowing decor. We have already attended this festival a few years backand we had a memorable experience. This is one of those rare festivals where they don’t do any publicity on Facebook to keep it low key, but the old timers never miss it. After all, this festival has been happening since 1997 (even before the overly hyped EDM festival – Tomorrowland) and is one of the oldest psytrance music festivals.
August
08 | O.Z.O.R.A. Festival
Location: Dádpuszta, Hungary
Schedule: August 1 – August 7, 2016
Website
With almost 60,000 attendees in the year of 2015, Ozora is one of the biggest psytrance festivals in the world in terms of the headcount. Its lineup boasts of some of the most famous names in the psytrance community. Starting from Lord of the Rings to UV garden this festival’s décor is something that you will remember for life.
09 | Boom Festival
Location: Near Idanha-a-Nova, Portugal
Schedule: August 11 – 18, 2016
Website
This is the festival that we’re MOST EXCITED about. This festival takes place next to a lake once in two years. Even though this festival is extremely famous, the organizers sell a limited number of tickets. In fact, the presale tickets for 2016 edition were sold out within a few hours! We were lucky that we got ours in time. Honestly, with its popularity, the organizers can easily sell at least double than what they sell now if they wanted to, but they don’t because their goal is to provide the best possible experience and not to make profits. In fact, Boom festival is entirely funded by ticket sales without any corporate sponsors. The best part – Boom has won the title of YOUROPE Green ‘N’ Clean Festival of the Year many times because it runs on the principle of self-sustainment by not using chemical products and raising public environmental awareness. If Ozora is one of the biggest psytrance music festivals in terms of numbers, Boom is definitely known to be the grandest one!
10 | Lost Theory Festival
Location: Sotoserrano, Salamanca, Spain
Schedule: Aug 23 – 29, 2016
Website
This festival is usually held in Croatia but the location for 2016 is Spain in the middle of the mountains and surrounded by fresh water natural pools. Our friends that have attended this festival tell us about Lost Theory’s excellent festival management, affordable bar and clean toilets. The location for the Croatia editions was next to a river and looks dreamy! We’re very excited about Lost Theory because of it’s lineup that promises a very psychedelic experience.
We also want to share a video of the 2014 edition of Lost Theory festival because in our opinion, it’s the most amazing festival video. It’s short, interesting, beautiful and is like a story!
11 | Psy-Fi Festival
Location: Leeuwarden, Netherlands
Schedule: Aug 24 – Aug 28, 2016
Website
Psy-Fi is one of the newest psytrance music festivals in this list but it has already become extremely popular because those who attended spoke volumes of their amazing experience. They have an interesting way of naming each edition of their festival and the 2016 edition is called “Holographic Universe”. The best part – the location that has a few private beaches, an island and forest area. WOW!
12 | Burning Man
Location: Nevada, USA
Schedule: Aug 28 – Sep 5, 2016
Website
Who hasn’t heard of Burning Man? It is definitely one of the most famous festivals. The team behind this festival work the entire year to create a temporary metropolis – Black Rock City in the middle of Nevada desert. This festival functions on its own ten principles for a more collaborative experience. This festival doesn’t run on profits and the organizers also publish their annual report and tax reports on their website.
September
13 | Ritual Open Air Experimental Festival
Location: Lastras de Cuellar, Segovia, Spain (Near Madrid)
Schedule: September 16 – 19, 2016
Why Ritual? Because we love small festivals where we feel more connected with the people and it feels like a family. The location of this festival is just 45 minutes bus ride away from Madrid and the pre sale tickets are unbelievably affordable at 35 Euros. Also, this will be perhaps the last festival of the season for Europe before it starts getting cold. There’s not much information on the official website so this event link will come in handy.
October
14 | Indigo Festival
Location: Israel
Schedule: October 2 – 4, 2016
Following the principle of “moksha”, this festival aims to provide the attendees a spiritual experience with oneness of body, mind and soul. This festival is organized by Moksha Project which is Israel’s biggest party organization.We like how this festival has a swimming pool and a beach area. It is organized on the shores of the Sea of Galilee – which is mentioned in my post about 50 Stunning Natural Pools from around the world.
November
15 | Earthcore Festival, Australia
Location: Victoria, Australia
Schedule: November 25 – 28, 2016
Website
One of the most famous psytrance music festivals of Australia, Earthcore has a bit of luxurious side to it with “glamping” options with a lot of facilities. Eathcore Festival location is just one hour away from Melbourne. This festival also has an annaul theme and for 2016 it is Parallel Universe! Yes, we want to visit and get our own dose of parallel universe.
December
16 | Universo Paralello
Location: Pratigi, Brasil
Schedule: December 28, 2016 – January 4, 2017
If San and I end up being in South America around December, then we DEFINITELY want to head to Brasil for Universo Paralello festival because we’ve been eyeing it for years! This 8-day long festival happens on a beach with campground that’s available for 10 days and is one of the biggest psytrance music festivals of South America. This festival has a “Goa Stage” which is dedicated to playing old school psy tunes.
17 | The Experience Festival
Location: Koh Tao, Thailand
Schedule: December 30, 2016 – January 2, 2017
Website
This festival may be the last on the list but it is one of the HAPPIEST psytrance music festivals in the world! This is where San and I met a few years back and we’ve been going back every year. The location is stunning with excellent décor which can turn any dark trip into a happy one. The music here is not dark and the vibe is always upbeat and energetic. This festival has surprisingly clean toilets that are airy. Showers are awesome but we prefer the nearby Freedom beach of Koh Tao for an early morning swimto revitalize ourselves. Need more convincing? Click here to read why we love this festival so much! While you’re there, don’t miss the after party on a beautiful beach bar (Ban Sabai) in Koh Phangan.
Are you visiting any of the above listed festivals this year? Let us know! We’d LOVE to meet you!
“This article was originally published on Drifter Planet by Sonal Kwatra Paladini. A hippie travel writer with flowers in her hair, Sonal Kwatra Paladini should have been born in the 1960s! Bitten by the infamous travel bug, she has an itch to explore resort-free destinations,
offbeat islands and small villages. Join her and her husband (Sandro) on
their journey as they hop from one music festival to another and explore
the beautiful world that they are in love with! Follow them on Facebook
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