Our Guide to Hideout Festival Croatia

This year ratemyrave took a trip to the ever growing festival phenomenon that is Hideout. Based in Novalja on the island of Pag, Croatia and set on Zrce Beach (pronounced Zerche) the festival consists of 5 days and 5 nights of multi genre musical madness. In this write up we will be taking you through our Guide To Hideout Festival, detailing all the top tips and secrets about how to get the most out of the festival and for the best prices, should you wish to take a trip next year.

History of Hideout/Zrce Beach :

Even from the outset Hideout meant business; their first year in 2011 landed themselves on The Guardian's list of best festivals for that year and has continued to grown ever since, selling out year on year. Fast forward to the present day and you've got 150 top international artists split between 5 open air venues consisting of daily pool parties, boat parties and night performances being streamed live by BBC Radio 1.

Since Hideout's arrival and subsequent success on the island, many other promoters and event organisers have flocked to the area and turned Zrce Beach into one of the hotspots of the globe for music events. The money that's been ploughed into the surrounding clubs on the beach has resulted in major developments and improvements to the venues, making them up there with the super clubs of Ibiza; many even featuring on DJ Mag's Top 100 clubs 2017.

Getting to Hideout 2018 (25th - 29th June)

Cash - What currency should I take?

The main currency in Croatia is kuna, however they do also accept euros for some purchases (taxis etc). The rate is fairly good at around 8 HRK - 1 GBP (as of November 2017). WARNING - Make sure you get your Croatian kuna early, as the festival is becoming increasingly popular each year and many exchange bureaus sold out of the currency on the final few days before the festival this year.

Tickets - Standard or VIP?

Festival tickets this year were £152.90 for a standard or £210 for VIP (both including booking fees).

Hideout 2018 prices have risen and are now tiered, the current standard ticket will set you back £185.90, whilst VIP are already on the 2nd tier priced at £240.90. However you can spread the cost over two payments, with the final payment being taken in April.

To save you some money, our friends at Pro-ject (official Hideout club partner) have kindly shared their discount link, with cheaper priced tickets through official licensed seller; Ticket Arena. 

Alongside the festival tickets, which will grant you access to all pool parties and night parties, are the boat parties. These run during the day, often at the same time as the pool parties and are an additional cost ranging between £20-£35. Personally, we prefer the pool parties, but if a rave on a boat is on your bucket list, it's a pretty cool place to do it.

Is VIP worth it? Previous years we would have said no, however this year there was much more on offer for VIP holders, or you could say rather less for standard holders...

VIP ticket holders benefit from separate bars, separate toilets, queue jump and separate areas of the venues. The queue jump is particularly useful, as the festival is growing every year meaning it's inevitable that queues can build up getting into some of the venues. Some of these can take up to 10-15 minutes to gain entry, so if you'd rather not wait the ticket is well worth the extra.

If you're also not one for crowded spaces and like to get a good higher view of the proceedings, then the VIP is definitely worth looking at. The majority of the venues all have balcony areas, of which this year most were sectioned off for VIP only. That said, we kept to the standard areas for most of the festival and still had adequate space and views.

To help you visualise it, the photo below shows NOA Beach Club; one of the festival's largest venues. The raised balcony area around the edge of the club is sectioned off for VIP, as well as another area close to the stage. Bottom line is, if you have an extra 70-80 quid then it's worth it.

Travel - Where's best to fly to?

So there are many different options when it comes to how you get yourself to Hideout island. One of which includes a coach, yes a coach from England to Croatia. Personally we didn't fancy 24 hours of driving so we caught a flight.

The real options are where you fly to. Unfortunately Pag (The island where Hideout is) doesn't have an airport but there are however a number of different airports in Croatia to choose from. Of these there are only 3 real contenders unless you fancy a 5hr+ transfer to the island.

Below are details of these three which we have personally flown to from London, on our previous visits to the festival. Transfer time from these can vary depending on if you book a private taxi or a coach. In our opinion Zadar is the best option, generally the most expensive however if you book early, it can work out similar in price to the others and take much less time to transfer to Hideout.

Zadar  1-2 Hour Transfer,

Price paid - £280  (booked in November)

Split : 2-3 Hour transfer

Price paid - £200 (booked in December) 

Zagreb 3-4 Hour transfer

Price paid - (£190 booked in January)

Travel - Airport Transfers

Transfers from the airport can also set you back if not done properly. Don't be afraid to book things separately from the Hideout website as it can work out cheaper, however if the timings are in line with your flight, the official Hideout transfers work out significantly cheaper than booking a private taxi.

Our official transfer from Zadar to Novalja cost £19 each, however once you're on the island you can book return transfers from the Novalja Bus Station for even cheaper. Our return transfer was booked through a company called Antonio Tours at the Novalja Bus Station and cost roughly £10, so make sure you shop around before you commit to an expensive taxi or transfer.

Whichever way you choose to get there, make sure you go to Novalja Bus Station, as this is the easiest place to collect your festival wristband and sign in to any official accommodation. Below is a photo of the bus station, the wristband collection is usually behind these buildings.

Accommodation - Where should I stay? 

There are also a number of options on where to stay whilst you're in Hideout. One option just as frightening as a 24 hour coach journey is camping, but again this didn't take our fancy. 

Aside from camping near the festival site, there are plenty of residential areas around the island, with the majority of the accommodation being apartments and one or two hotels. 

From our experiences, the centre of Novalja is the best area to stay. This is the main and most popular area for accommodation; being the best located for access to the festival and has a good selection of bars/restaurants.

The above photo shows the harbour front of Novalja, with the red circled area being the festival shuttle pick up point. Ideally you want to be as close to this red circle as you can. Don't fret if your accommodation is the further to the other end of the harbour, as it only takes about 10-15 minutes to walk the length of the waterfront seen on this map.

Accommodation - Who's best to book through? 

We've previously booked through the official Hideout accommodation and AirBnb. 

Booking through Hideout : 

Pros

• Spread the cost through instalments
• Free transfer from the check in point (Novalja Bus Station) to the accommodation. 
• 24 hour check in

Cons

• In some instances, you won't find out exactly where you're staying until you arrive
• More expensive than booking separately through another provider 

Booking through Airbnb

Pros

• Cheaper option 
• Option to contact the apartment owner before arriving to schedule check in/pick up
• Know exactly where you're staying prior to arrival 

Cons

• Full payment required upfront 
• Quality of apartments can be slightly lower 

Verdict? 

Airbnb we've used for the past two years and has generally worked out cheaper. You can also see the exact apartment you'll be staying in and know how far you'll be from the pick up point, restaurants, bars etc. The rooms can be slightly less glamorous than Hideout's accommodation but you're barely going to spend any time in them if you want to see all of the festival, so we weren't worried as long as it's clean and has a bed. That said, Airbnb also has its fair share of large plush villas for a higher price should you want to splash out. 

Living in Hideout

Festival Shuttle 

For £40 you can grab yourself a festival shuttle wristband for the week, which will get you to and from Zrce Beach in about 10 minutes, depending on how far away you choose to stay. It works out to be the cheapest option at only £2 a trip, if you go to and from the festival twice a day. (once for the day parties, once for the night parties)

Food/Drink in Novalja 

Supermarkets

Staying in Novalja centre you'll find plenty of small shops and markets selling cheap booze and food that'll see you through the week. Close to the end of the pier (near the roundabout in the above maps image) you'll also find a "Plodine" (Croatian Tesco). This is a large supermarket with everything you'll need for the week in one place, including a pharmacy. Price wise you're looking at around 10-15 quid for a litre of spirits, £1-2 a beer/cider.

You'll find most common brands for spirits including Smirnoff, Captain Morgan's, and Bacardi. Beers are mostly local Croatian names and ciders you're limited to a brand called Somersby, who do fruity flavours like blueberry and blackberry - our pick of the bunch. Food is also cheap, you can easily nab yourself a small weekly shop with snacks, ingredients for sandwiches and breakfast for around £20-30, depending on how much you pig out.

Restaurants

There are also dozens of restaurants along the waterfront selling all kinds of food. You'll find a lot of Italian style food (pizzas, pastas) as it's cuisine is fairly similar to Italy. If Italian isn't you're thing there's also burger places, steak, seafood, and various fast food outlets including a knock off McDonald's called McDarko's.

Food/Drink in the Festival

Food 
Whilst you're on Zrce Beach (the festival) you'll find various fast food outlets dotted along the seafront selling wraps, chicken nuggets, pizza, chicken wings and burgers (all of which taste pretty banging). Average price of a meal with chips will set you back around £4-8.

Drinks
Drink prices are the same across all the venues aside from Euphoria who do cheap large cocktails at only 100 kuna (roughly £11) which we highly recommend. One/two of these can easily last you a good few hours and saves you having to queue up for the bar every 10 minutes (providing you don't drink for England). Below are the rest of the drink prices for the venues :

Water : 30 Kuna (£3.50)

Beer : 45-50 Kuna (£5-6)

Mixer : 50 Kuna (£6)

Small Cocktail : 60 Kuna (£7)

Large Cocktail : 200 Kuna (£23)

Extra Strong Large Cocktail : 250 Kuna (£30)

The Festival 

Hideout Festival is set on Zrce Beach, taking over the entire beach and it's 5 award winning clubs to split 150 different acts, across 5 days of carnage. These 5 venues are Noa Beach Club, Aquarius, Euphoria, Kalypso (elrow's stage the past two years) and the main stage Papaya. For a detailed run down and review the festival itself and all the stages, including their production/sound and our pick of the bunch, check out our Hideout 2017 review.

Here's a map to give you an idea of how the beach is set out -

Keep an eye out for an info pack sent from Hideout, with key times on when you can do things like collect festival wristbands, opening times for the festival's parties and useful numbers for any emergencies. This is usually sent out in the last weeks leading up to the event. 

That's it guys, you're now ready to take on Hideout and at the best price. We hope you've found the guide useful, if you have any questions about the festival, or our guide feel free to drop us a message on our Facebook page.

See you on the island!



Useful Links :

Discounted festival ticket link

Hideout 2017 Review

Cheap coach transfer website

Cheapest flight website

Airbnb accommodation

Hideout website 

Image credit : Hideout Festival