On the road trip from San Francisco, through the beautiful national parks of the American west coast to the California desert and Las Vegas, the journey also took me to the biggest musical spectacle of the year, the sixteenth Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in Indio, a small Californian town in the middle of Palm Desert.
The festival is for lovers of good music and cutting-edge fashions from around the world, the event of the year. Every year it takes place over two weekends in April, and "early bird" tickets for the ever more popular festival need to be secured a year before the event. The tickets, which are quite expensive by European standards, are still sold out - more than 150,000 tickets are sold out in a few hours.
Festival lives up to its reputation as one of the best in the world. Why? Organizers Coachella they think of really everything and thus create one of the most user-friendly festivals around.
To get to the festival from the surrounding area, visitors can use Uber, a cheap alternative to a taxi, which will get you to the entrance quickly and cheaply with the help of a mobile app, but of course it is also possible to use the Coachella shuttle bus.
On the festival grounds there are many information points with extremely friendly staff who come to the aid of visitors, e.g. in the orientation and schedule of performing musical groups. Visitors also have the opportunity to store their personal belongings safely in secure lockers, and they can charge their empty phone batteries at numerous mobile charging stations. From this year onwards, it is possible to pay by credit card at the festival, and ATMs are also located around the venue, and in small general stores you can buy the most necessary things that make visiting the festival a little easier. Of course, it's also easy to connect to the free wifi and all the unforgettable impressions from Coachella share with friends on social networks.
Also food and drink on site the festival they do not disappoint - visitors can fill themselves up at more than 40 stands (forget about long queues), and there are also typical American "food trucks" available, where you can satisfy your hunger, e.g. with delicious hamburgers, fries, veggie wraps or Chinese noodles.
Highlight Coachella and not only musical performances, but also exceptional art installations that liven up the festival every year with their torn forms and colors. This year, the most recognizable installation is certainly the giant centipede, which moves around the festival area among visitors and provides much-needed shade. The sky is always blue, and the temperature can rise to 40 degrees Celsius during the day.
A traditional panorama Coachella decorated with a chain of colorful balloons in the sky and a festival carousel on which you can ride 8$ dollars spin high experience the air and the festival from a slightly higher perspective. The artistic installations impress even in the evening hours, as the lighting effects ensure that the festival shines in a completely new light with its colorful palm canopies.
This year's fashionable, festival hit for girls is undoubtedly these flash tattoos of Native American motifs, temporary tattoos in silver and gold colors that are easy to stick on bare skin.
The side program of the festival is also fun, ranging from the Coachella Art Studio, silent dance party, to limbo, twister and hula hoop competitions. For cooling and visitors can also take part in throwing snowballs and throwing water balloons. Then there's getting famous pie eating contest, yoga and pilates classes, etc.
All in all, Coachella is an extremely fun, friendly and quality music festival worth visiting when you're near Los Angeles, but be prepared that your wallet will end up as dry as the desert surrounding the famous venue.
Text and photos: Ana Šmit
More information:
www.coachella.com
