Festival season is upon us! The UK’s selection of summer events is plentiful, but if you’re looking for a change of scenery there are plenty to choose from across the water. The Edge has collected a factsheet of our favourite European festivals, complete with travel information (just in case!).
BBK Bilbao
The line of best fit has deemed BBK “a festival of many quirks”. The festival is set in a mountain park in a climate of sunshine, (which apparently makes getting tent pegs in the ground rather difficult). A strong line-up is always promised and the whole weekend embodies a fuss free vibe.
Where/When: 9, 10, 11 July in Bilbao, Spain.
Line-Up:
• Headliners: Mumford and Sons, The Jesus and Mary Chain, Muse
• Also: Disclosure, Counting Crows, Alt-J, Catfish and the bottle men, Of monsters and men, Future Islands, Azelia Banks.
Cost: (pint, ticket, flight)
Ticket:
• 3 day ticket (no camping) from £96
• (with access to camping): from £103 (but are selling out very fast)
• A day ticket is about £45 (£50+ if you want camping access)
Travel:
• Plane: about £100 from London via Easyjet on skyscanner.com
• Bus: Termibus connects Bilbao from the major Spanish cities, but no Bus route exists directly.
• Train: There are no direct trains, but if you change in France it costs around £164.
Pint:
• Apparently a bottle of Cava is cheaper than a bag of crisps in the UK and the spirit measures are extremely large.
• A litre of beer is rumoured at €7 (£5.16). Not bad for a litre?
Pukklepop
No mud so no need for wellies! An ambient day time atmosphere, coupled with a crazy night time one to suit all moods. Ideal if you’re keen on getting to know up and coming acts, with 8 stages hosting a variety of new music.
Where/When: 20, 21, 22 August. Kempische Steenweg, 3500 Kiewit / Hasselt, Belgium
Line-Up: Major Lazor, Mark Ronson (DJ Set), Knife part, Interpol, The War on Drugs, James Blake, Bastille, Ellie Goulding, Rudimental
Ticket:
• A day ticket costs € 95 (£70) all in (including train and bus ticket, 2 days camping at Camp Site B, € 5.5 booking fee and € 1.1 mobility contribution). But Friday has sold out already!
• A combi ticket costs € 199 (that’s roughly £146) all in (including train and bus ticket, 4 
days camping, € 5.5 booking fee and € 1.1 mobility contribution)
Travel:
• Bus: £99 return from London if you purchase your travel outside of the ticket price.
• Plane: about £76 from London via SkyScanner
• Train: Starting at £72 from London via the Eurostar
Pint:
• The food and drink outlets only accept tokens, with a value of €2.50. A 250ml drink (of beer, water, coke etc) will cost you one token (about £1.80), not too bad considering Belgium beer is delicious and quite alcoholic.
Primavera
Primavera is well known for being very warm weather (if you’re into that). The festival is also set on the Iberian coastline so boasts beautiful sea views.
Where/When: Wednesday 28th until Sunday 30th May, Parc del Forum, Barcelona, Spain.
Line-Up:
• The Strokes, The Replacements, Underworld, The Black Keys, Damien Rice, Antony and the Johnsons, James Blake, Belle and Sebastian, Alt-J, Tyler the Creator, Caribou, Simian Mobile Disco.
Ticket: € 185 for a weekend ticket (that’s £136.45)
Travel:
• There is no camping. Hotels are about 49 euros a night, and hostels are about 36. 
• Bus: Coaches from London are about £87 but don’t start running until June.
• Plane: Flights during May are about £75 from London on skycanner.com via Ryanair
• Train: From St Pancras to Barcelona, trains start at £140.
Pint:
€ 3.50 euros for a large beer (about 500ml)… about £2.58
Best Kept Secret
Best Kept secret is known for its beautiful scenery, with the festivals centrepiece being a giant Lake that backs onto Beekse Bergen safari park… You can look at Giraffes and watch The War on Drugs at the same time. The festival is also incredibly organised and tidy, and rather than leaving its patrons, makes a conscious effort to look after them, by providing free toiletries etc. (Wolf Alice’s favourite festival)
Where/When: JUNE 19-20-21
Best Kept Secret festival takes place on the event site of Beekse Bergen in Hilvarenbeek, The Netherlands (Beekse Bergen 1, 5081 NJ, Hilvarenbeek)
Line-Up: The Libertines, Noel Gallaghers High Flying Birds, Al-J, The Tallest man on earth, earl sweatshirt, ASAP rocky, Royal Blood, First Aid Kit, Death cab for Cutie, Of Monsters and Men, Temples, Drenge, Gengahr, Wolf Alice.
Ticket: A weekend ticket is € 147,50 (roughly £109)
Travel:
• Bus: By far the easiest way to get here is through Planet Festival’s UK coach travel service. Only £99 per person for a return coach & ferry travel, leaving from London Victoria Coach 
Station, Manchester, Birmingham and Dover.
Pint:
Food and drinks are paid for with tokens. Tokens cost €2 each. 0.3L beer or any soft drink costs 1.5 tokens (€3), (That’s about £2.22 for a beer…).
