EXIT Festival - anyone been?

[Neil]

Might be a long shot this one but this year I intend to go to my first EXIT Festival in July. Here is what EXIT is all about:

EXIT (also known as State of EXIT) is an annual summer music festival in Petrovaradin fortress of Novi Sad, Vojvodina, Serbia. It is staged annually since 2000 and usually lasts four days (since 2003).

Held in the picturesque setting of an eighteenth century fortress by the Danube, the festival quickly grew in stature and reputation. From its grass roots political beginnings, over to occasional problems with financing, and ending with wide praise it's lately receiving, EXIT tries to stick to its initial mission of providing relevant entertainment to Serbian youth while also bringing pertinent social topics to the forefront.

The festival was started by three University students from Novi Sad: Dušan Kovačević, Ivan Milivojev and Bojan Bošković. In 2000 and 2001 festival was organized through the Students' Union of Faculty of Technical Sciences and University of Novi Sad. In the meantime several NGO's and commercial companies have been involved into organization.

UK Festival Awards 2007, together with Yourope, the European Association of the 40 largest festivals in Europe, awarded EXIT as the Best European Festival. Public from all over the world voted for abouth a month, and among 10 festivals, EXIT won this award that is being awarded for the first time in categorie of the Best European Festival.

EXIT - Home

EXIT (festival - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)

Has anyone else ever been to EXIT before? If so, have you any tips to share about the festival or travelling to and around Novi Sad and Serbia in general? Our plan is to fly directly to Belgrade and then, presumably, take a bus to Novi Sad. We're going to try and stay in one of the local hotels or apartments rather than camp. I'm getting too old for that now.

I've been about Eastern Europe a bit (Croatia, Czech Republic etc) and so I'm pretty confident I know what the deal is. Any advice or insight would be appreciated though.

[Stichman]

When I was on holiday in Eastern Europe last year, I met a whole host of people on their way to Exit. We flew to Maribor in Slovenia for pennies, a lot of folks seemed to be flying there and hopping on a bus that took them straight to the festival as far as I could gather. Apparently it worked out cheaper than going direct. They also went about a week in advance so they could take in the countries en route.

I got offered a ticket for last year, actually, but the lineup didn't interest me too much.

[FatHand]

Some of my mates went there last year and said it was amazing. One guy, after a lot of alcohol and other performance enhancers, passed out on the train going into Serbia. He could not be woken and apparently his passport couldn't be found on him so the border patrol just laughed at him and let him be.

Needless to say good times were had by all.

[pogofish]

Know a couple of folk who have been & they described it as "Amazing"

20,000 capacity Dance Arena, no sound restrictions. in a moat. or stfu

One group camped & loved the campsite partying, with its own beach & bars, whilst the other took the "party train" in & out each day. It gets hot there so if you are not up to camping in 30C+ tempratures (find shade), an air-conditioned hotel nearby is advisable & not that expensive if you book now.

Drink was expensive for that area but still less than 1 a beer (as opposed to 30-40p outside). They have some sort of festival "money" scheme going-on so take a purse/money tube as it is all coins.

Security is hardcore, fuck them about & you will get the shit kicked out of you. Fence jumpers get a particularly hard time. See you don't even register on on the police's radar & the border guards can be troublesome Otherwise, it is worth it & the friendlieness/atmosphere apparently excellent.

Scoring can be hard/touchy - They have a 24 hour detention, then a fine, then kick you out policy. Even for just smoking a spliff.