As if our music guide to the Serbian capital of Belgrade didn’t give you 12 good enough excuses to head to this European country the renowned Exit Festival should fully convince you to jet off to this part of the continent.
Once you’re done with Belgrade your next stop should be the second largest city in Serbia of Novi Sad. It’s here that Exit Festival takes place within the medieval delights of Petrovaradin Fortress.
That’s right, this event isn’t just another large-scale music celebration in a paddock it’s a festival that allows you to experience the cultural significance of one of Novi Sad’s most incredible buildings whilst simultaneously enjoying the sounds of headlining international acts.
It’s undeniably an essential factor in the festival beating out 360 of its counterparts for the EU Festival Award in early 2014. Over 620 000 people voted for the Serbian event over the European heavyweights in Glastonbury, Sziget, Rock Werchter and Roskilde.
Aside from its recent day successes the idea that inspired this festival in the first place is important to mention.
Founded in the year 2000 in the University Park by a student movement fighting for the democracy and freedom in Serbia and the Balkans Exit is still to this day an important promoter of social equality.
The State of Exit Foundation works in the areas of social involvement, national branding and regional connection by using profits of the festival to promote these ideas through creative industries along with publicising positive examples of youth culture.
It wasn’t until 2004 though that the festival really started to build its reputation for jaw dropping lineups. Iggy And The Stooges, Goldfrapp, Peaches and Massive Attack gave the event international legitimacy.
In the years since the likes of The White Stripes, Franz Ferdinand, Morrissey, Pet Shop Boys, Robert Plant, The Prodigy, Arctic Monkeys, Lily Allen, The Chemical Brothers and Placebo amongst others.
This has all contributed towards a steady build for the festival, which now attracts around 200,000 visitors each year.
Which signals an important notion for those who haven’t attended the event before: it’s time to experience Exit Festival now, before it gets even bigger.
Lineup
With names still to be announced the 2014 Exit Festival lineup is already a promising summer festival outing.
At present Blur’s Damon Albarn sits atop the bill with his Everyday Robots album set to be released in 2014. Below the musician sits Skrillex, who will provid cuts from his recently released Recess, while the two biggest popular dance acts of last year in Rudimental and Disclosure will both perform live sets.
Other DJs so far booked include Carl Cox Vs Danny Tenaglia, Carl Cragi Vs Green Velvet and Dub FX amongst many others.
Check here as more details are announced.
Where And When
Exit Festival will be held at the Petrovaradin Fortress in the Serbian city of Novi Sad from the 10th to the 13th of July.
How To Get There
The closes airport to the festival is in the Serbian capital of Belgrade.
You can fly there through Etihad Airways, Jet Star, Qantas, Virgin Australia, Singapore Airlines and KLM to name but a few.
The following are estimated return airfares from major Australian cities that were available at the time of writing.
Adelaide: Two-stop flight is valued upwards of $2300, while three-stop journeys are worth around $2400.
Brisbane: Two-stop flight is valued upwards of $2300, while three-stop journeys are worth more than $3000.
Melbourne: Two-stop flight is valued upwards of $2000, while three-stop journeys are worth more than $2800.
Perth: Two-stop flight is valued upwards of $2300, while three-stop journeys are worth more than $3000.
Sydney: One-stop flights are valued upwards of $2800, while two-stop journeys are worth around $2700.
From the airport in Belgrade there is a shuttle service available with the bus taking 1.5 hours to reach the festival site. A shuttle pass starts from €10.
Alternatively the shuttle service runs from various other airports such as Budapest. You can purchase your shuttle pass here.
Where To Stay
Exit Festival have put together a handy list of the accommodation that is available in Novi Sad with hostel, hotel, village and apartments available.
The cheapest hostel option, Hostel City Centre, comes in at €12.41 a night, while hotels start from €19.45 a night.
Do your research here and get in before the options sell out!
How To Get Tickets
Tickets to this four-day event are very reasonably priced. Each ticket is valued at €122 with booking fee included.
You can also play for the Exit Adventure package (read more below), which comes in at €137.
Purchase your tickets here.
Insider Tips & Tricks/Things You Shouldn’t Miss
Drinks at Exit Festival like many others can be purchased through tokens, however grub from Foodland and souvenirs from the Exit Shop can be paid in the Serbian Dinar currency.
Don’t sweat the use of tokens though you can avoid those lines even more by buying a six-pack (a novelty for Aussie festivalgoers) and sharing it with your friends rather than lining up individually.
While there are ATMs around the festival grounds the organisers do advise to you get some cash out in Novi Sad before you go into the festival grounds.
Given the size of the festival and the high probability that set times will change we’d suggest you download the Exit mobile app. If you’re worried about the expenses involved in international roaming there are free Wi-Fi zones at the Fortress and the Novi Sad centre just in case you needed some festival updates or in the likely event that you wanted to provide some FOMO inducing updates of your own.
Exit Festival is well aware of its popularity amongst tourists and caters for English speakers just as much as the locals. They provide packages for punters coming abroad. The Exit Festival package provides you with a ticket, bus transfers and accommodation for €115.33. The Exit Adventure package includes all the aforementioned, but includes tickets to the Montenegro beachside event of Sea Dance Festival for €173.39. Sea Dance Festival runs for three days with mostly electronic acts booked for the event.
For more details head to the official Exit Festival website.
