Western Europe’s most populous country doesn’t always spring to mind as a low-cost destination. However, in a place this big and diverse, there will always be a smarter way to spend your euros.
21.07.2023 - 08:31 / roughguides.com
From Marc Bolan and free milk to stadium rave and boutique festivals, this damp isle has long been a fine place for a party. It may have nothing quite as hot as Valencia's Benicassim or as far-out as Nevada's Burning Man, but this wild bunch — from Butlins-brewed indie to Wiltshire-based world music, with stopoffs for classic metal and avant-garde electronica on the way — should satisfy anyone's hunger for music and thrills.
Like many of the smaller festivals done good, this Isle of Wight wig-out’s increased capacity has taken a little of its intimacy. But Bestival isn’t taking itself too seriously yet. The line-up mixes indie, dance and hip-hop with classic pop in groovy mix-tape style, big-selling headliners and late-night DJs keeping things busy till long after nightfall. The joyous Saturday fancy-dress parade, meanwhile, sees Stormtroopers, strange animals, space hoppers and mashed up beat-seekers join forces in the festival’s pleasantly wooded valley setting, offering one of the festival’s season’s definitive highlights.
Check www.bestival.net for more.
Over a decade after it began, ATP is full of contradictions. It brings drugs and rock‘n’roll to the faux-suburbia of a Butlins holiday camp. It marries experimental music (ferocious hardcore, wonky electronica, sublime and silly prog-rock) with a hearty sense of nostalgia (indie-group reunions are a speciality). And it works: performers and audience alike are buffeted by waves of noise, offered horrific frankfurters and grim artificial cheese and wander from chalet to rock-out to beat-fest, safe in the knowledge a hot shower is a mere shout away.
ATP takes place on various dates, typically May & Dec, visit www.atpfestival.com for more.
“It’s too big”, moan the festival veterans. “It’s too mainstream”, grumble the music lovers. “It’s too dodgy”, weep the parents. Glastonbury may be all these things – and, with its big fence, chic VIP areas and visits from royals, it sometimes feels as countercultural as a cabinet minister – but it can still be a magical place. There are countless corners to explore: dance tents, pagan villages, kids’ entertainers and, inevitably, some of the biggest bands the world has seen. You might even see some sunshine…
© benny hawes/Shutterstock
Folk is enjoying a moment in fashion’s spotlight thanks to the vigour and marketability of acts like Mumford & Sons, but it’ll take more than that to change the Cambridge Folk Festival’s mellow spots. With stripped-down narratives, foot-stamping, rootsy sing-alongs, more guest appearances than a chat show and the odd bit of blues, indie or reggae, this endearing, unpretentious festival looks as strong as ever, almost five decades after it began.
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Western Europe’s most populous country doesn’t always spring to mind as a low-cost destination. However, in a place this big and diverse, there will always be a smarter way to spend your euros.
A recent report released from travel marketing engine Sojern, analyzed travel trends from January 2015 to April 2016 and found the top international destinations for U.S. travelers as well as the top emerging and declining international spots.
Jacob Keanik scanned his binoculars over the field of ice surrounding our sailboat. He was looking for the polar bear that had been stalking us for the past 24 hours, but all he could see was an undulating carpet of blue-green pack ice that stretched to the horizon. “Winter is coming,” he murmured. Jacob had never seen Game of Thrones and was unaware of the phrase’s reference to the show’s menacing hordes of ice zombies, but to us, the threat posed by this frozen horde was equally dire. Here in remote Pasley Bay, deep in the Canadian Arctic, winter would bring a relentless tide of boat-crushing ice. If we didn’t find a way out soon, it could trap us and destroy our vessel—and perhaps us too.
For five days of the year each summer, the somewhat soulless exhibition centre in Earls Court is transformed into a giant pub (pictured above). Or at least that’s what it feels like. Gone are the trade stalls and suited delegates, replaced by an army of (mostly bearded) volunteers manning hundreds of kegs, dispensing beers few people have ever heard of to thousands of squiffy punters – a lot of whom are wearing traffic-cone hats or sombreros for no apparent reason.
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It's that fateful A-level results day again, when hundreds of thousands of hard-working students will be taking one last trip back to school to discover the outcome of those arduous and intense exams they took at the beginning of the summer. Essentially, two years of hard work will all culminate in one single letter today, and while many will be hoping they got the grade for their first choice university, others will start looking for adventure as they begin a gap year.
2020 awards season is in full swing! And what better way to celebrate than to look at some of the most beautiful filming locations gracing our screens this year. If you're still working on your travel plans for the year, read on for our pick of the top TV and Film locations to visit in 2020. Take inspiration from The Secret Garden and embark on a road trip to visit some of the most beautiful ornamental gardens in the UK or follow in the footsteps of Mulan and explore the wide-open landscapes of New Zealand’s South Island. All of the destinations on the list are just as spectacular in real life as they are on screen.