Benicassim, a festival by the Beach in Spain.
Lots of CLUB members are already going to this fantastic festival, why not come along and join in the fun ?
Here are some useful links to help you plan your trip:
- Offical Festival Site
- Book your flight from Coventry to Barcelona or Valencia
- Attempt to book a train ticket on this impossible to use website - or phone this number for very helpful English speaking booking line - 0207 224 0345
- Look at a picture of the incredably shady campsite
- Look at my pictures from last year
- The much feted Waterpark rumoured to be near the Festival site
All you need to know is that the bands are on at night from 7PM - 6AM in the morning, Benicassim is a small seaside resort with a great beach, there are hundreds of cafes and places to chill out during the day and there is a water park.
Although it's hot the campsites have excellent shade ( they are all in groves of Olive Trees ) 2 shower blocks with cubicles, mirrors, sinks, taps and power points for razors and other electrical hygiene equipment. The campsite also has a bar which sells water, ice, beer, food, cigarettes and is open pretty much 24/7, the campsite is patrolled by security and you need a pass to get in. Security do not hassle you in any way about anything unless you are trying to cook on a BBQ in which case they will ask you to move to a tarmac area.
There is a large supermarket which sells everything you could possibly want only 5 mins walk from the campsite.
There are a number of on-going discussion boards around the place which offer an almost too comprehensive guide to the festival - please make sure you read all relevant posts before asking a question because there is a 99.9% chance that it will have already been asked and answered 10,000 times before !
- UK Benicassim discussion
- E-Festivals Benicassim discussion
- UK Wiki with a lot of general info
- NME discussion ( nothing really of interest on here )
Festival Over
Once again Benicassim proved to be an excellent holiday, you can read my review/diary of the event by following the links below or look at some photos here
Comments
Conclusion
Just got back from Spain last night. This was the best holiday ever ! Valencia was an amazing place; relaxed, friendly, cider bars, kebabs, roof top thunder storms, beaches and an excellent prelude to the Benicassim festival it's self.
8 days of Camping averaging around 3 hours sleep per night, ridiculously strong spirits, 2 litre troughs of lager, various things supplied by "Jesus", sunshine, great bands, great people, interesting shortcuts all made for easily the best festival I have ever been to in my life, ever.
Yeah Yeah Yeah
This truly was the best holiday I have ever had.
The beginning of the trip consisted of highly attractive german girls parading around my head in their (very skimpy) underwear, drinking cider out of vases, dancing to Blondie with posh girls who work next door to me, talking to amusing gay germans, sitting in cafes, spinny things, looking at boobs and eating kebabs.
The middle was all about doing the conga with girls in bikinis, dancing until it got light to everything from Johnny Cash to the Specials, watching some fantastic live performances from the Polyphonic Spree, Peaches and Roisin Murphy, losing and then finding 300 euros, lazing around in the sunshine for hours and hours, lazing around in cafes for hours and hours, water slides, looking at boobs, eating too little and too much, been filmed for spanish television too many times to count, not sleeping at all and watching Dan fail miserably at pulling.
Finally we chilled out in Tarragona, looked at some roman ruins, recouperated and then went clubbing in Barcelona where Joe needed rescuing from several women of ill repute.
Oh and....
I forgot to mention drinking lots and lots of champagne on the beach.
Photos
Tim has taken some excellent photos of the festival which you can see here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/timparkinson/tags/spain/
Check out the digitally enhanced view of the hand print which Dan accidentally sunburned onto his shoulder blade.
Thats nice.
I am really pleased for you (and not jealous at all).
WooHoo
I am quite excited about going to FIB this year.
Are you.
Are you.
Re: Are you.
[quote=Col]Are you.[/quote]
Yes.
Although: http://www.bbc.co.uk/weather/5day.shtml?world=4171 doesn't look overly promising!
So Am I !
Castellon is obviously in some kind of freak weather zone ! It will be between 24 - 32 according to a local Benicassim forecast.
I think the forecast here is for rain, rain and more rain. What a pity.
And Valencia
Valencia is down for rain too http://www.bbc.co.uk/weather/5day.shtml?world=0205
Mind you the BBC have been known to be wrong before!
Weather.com say
about Valencia
for Castellon.
Thunder & Lightning
Cool - I love Thunder, especially when it's hot.
Tickets for Benicassim FIB
Hi, I have 2 tix for the 3 days and need to go to London that weekend. Will sell them cost price ofcourse.
Anyone interested, email me at nicole.quinn@ge.com
Cars
Just been having a quick look at the cost of hiring cars etc in Valencia. Basically it's very cheap. Medium sized car around £80 for the week, People Carrier for £175 - larger vans and stuff are around £300.
Basically for 2 people travelling together or more car hire is going to be cheaper than the train and you can stock up on loads of camping stuff / equipment in Valencia, e.g. cool boxes, cool boxes, ice, beer, beer and spirits. For 4 days ( Thu - Mon ) prices start from £70.
Benicassim is on the main coastal motorway between Barcelona and Valencia ( closer to Valencia - 90min drive ) so once you are on the 2 lane motorway all you have to do is drive in a straight line until you see the sign for Benicassim. There is a large free festival car park next to the supermarket in town ( a 5 min walk from the campsite it's self ).
Motorway
If I remember correctly the Motorway passes quite close to the the Campsite.
Car hire is a good idea Joe.
Yes,
I think you need to get off the motorway just past Castellon and then Benicassim is another 10 - 15 mins down a dual carriageway which is the same dual carriageway which goes past the end of the road the Bonet campsite is on.
Looking at a map of Valencia every single main road heading out of Valencia ends up on the right motorway within around 2-3 miles so getting lost really should not be a problem !
Route would be A7 motorway until you hit junction for N340. Drive through Benicassim until petrol station on your right, turn right and immediately see the campsite. Drive down hill, left at high street under bridge see Lidl supermarket which car park is immediately opposite.
Tolls
You have to remember those tolls whilst travelling down the Autopista.
I reckon it would be more exciting to follow the coastal route.
True
I think people are saying the tolls work out to around 20 Euros but the coastal route is just as easy to follow and I think it's a dual carriageway all the way so that should be easy enough to negotiate.
Looking at the map...
I know that 'looking at maps' is officially frowned upon in Spain so I may as well make the most of it now whilst I can; the motorway is actually the closest road to the coast all the way to Benicassim apart from when we have to leave it to join the dual carriageway into Benicassim.
Last words...
"should be easy enough to negotiate..." let's hope those aren't the words on your tombstone!
This glass is half full !
What could possibly go wrong ? All I need to do is look for the big red road, according to the map it's at least a quarter of the width of the whole city of Valencia ( you can easily fit the airport into it's central reservation ).
If I do 'buy the farm' I am taking as many people as I can down with me !
Other means of transport
I think I'll get the train.
Trains
Apparently most of the seats on trains from Barcelona are already booked out for any date after the 2nd August, hopefully ones from Valencia won't be so bad.
More Music
The FIB has just confirmed that the Cure will be headlining one of the nights now. Where is my black eyeliner ?
Duh?
Its in your handbag of course.
The Cure? Nick Cave? Whats going on? Its all a bit doom and gloom, thank god for those good old dadrocking boys The Oasis.
Cool Bands
Yo La Tengo are my most favourite band in the world ever.
This line is better than last year even if Oasis are playing. I have highlighted all the bands I want to see.
Kaiser Cheifs
I feel I should see the Kaiser Chiefs since Amazon.com is insistent that I immediately buy their albumn since it matches my likes and dislikes perfectly. Whether this is true or not I may never find out.
Stupid
I dont reckon that you would like them the all have stupid haircuts.
No turning back
I have just purchased myself a ticket, bring on the music and the sun.
How much?
How much is it costing you with airline ticket and so on??
So far, with a one way air ti
So far, with a one way air ticket to Valencia, it has cost somewhere between £160 - £170 of which the ticket costs £110 or something and the air ticket £58.
The festival tickets includes 7 days free camping in Benicassim so once I get there the only cost is food + beer but I think I am going to Valencia for half a week or so before hand.
Neither food nor beer is very expensive, there is a giant supermarket around 10mins walk from the campsite if you want to cook stuff yourself and the town of Benicassim consists of a huge street dedicated soley to cafes and restaurants of various types. A nice meal including salad starters, a large plate of pasta and coffees was under 10 Euros in many places.
Cool, the wedding present - f
Cool, the wedding present - fantastic. I wouldn't mind seeing Dinosaur Jnr as well. Actually there a quite a few bands there I wouldn't mind seeing. As soon as I get paid again I think I will by a ticket too.
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