Ibiza vs Croatia?

Croatia 2018 – tell us how it was

Dates you were there: 17th to 24th july

Where you stayed:

one night in zadar at small hotel.

6 nights Tisno in a mobile home at autocamp jazina. Comfy little cabin with a nice sun deck and great views of the sea and town. Right on top of a beautiful beach. Close to festival (£4 in a taxi) but away from the madness. I like to attend a festival, but i don’t want to immerse myself in it at the expense of exploring the wider area.
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Clubs visited:

Suncebeat festival at the tisno garden festival site

Those familiar with the southport weekender will know about this. A festival line up of big names in the soul/disco/house scene. Taking place on three stages – the beach stage, the olive grive, and main stage. Beautiful setting

Standout sets for me at the festival were DJ Spen, Get Down Edits, and Ronnie Herel at the festival. Hyenah best set out of my two visits to barbarellas. our festival finished at sunset on Monday with jamie 3:26 and Mr Scruff doing 3hrs back to back

The Argonaughty Boat Party
Nulu movement boat party with Louie Vega and Anane Vega. Brilliant party under the stars.

Barbarellas discotheque
This place is magic. Unreal soundsystem, outdoor dancing under the stars, no VIP. The best nightclub i,ve been to? It really is up there with the space terrace of old.

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Best night:
They were all great. Friendliest and best crowd. If i had to pick one, it would be the louie vega boat followed by Paul Trouble Anderson and Kerri Chandler at Barbarellas. Caught up with fellow spotlighter @Tucker that night too. Great to meet you mate

Best Meal:

The lounge in Zadar. Great spot on top of the old town walls on zadar harbour. Brew their own beer and specialise in raw vegan/vegetarian food. Never tried it before but my pad thai noodles and spring rolls were superb.

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Top tips

Get sime water shoes as beaches are rocky/stoney
Zadar is a really beautiful town full of roman ruins and beautiful architecture. Killer sunset too. The promenade has a floor that lights up after dark called the tribute to the sun. Also the sea organ (a bunch of holes skillfully cut into the sea wall so that the waves ‘play music’) is pretty special.

Is croatia better than ibiza?

No, but neither is ibiza better than croatia. They are just different.

True, outside of the festival site croatia may not have a relaxed hippy vibe of ibz, but years of communist oppression followed by brutal civil war is bound to have an effect. However remember vip and bureaucracy are marginalising ibiza’s hippy vibe too. however it also lacks ibz's less attractive features. croatia is not full of street urchins looking to make a fast buck or worse.

It was refreshingly clean (never saw any litter or gas bottles), very safe and uncrowded.

My age is a factor here. I’m in my 40s and not much of a techno fan, so a festival of soul and house was always going to guarantee a good time for me
Loads of new music and djs. I urge everyone to check out Hyenah....not sure what genre he plays but it felt way more tech than anything i was expecting at the festival and i was blown away by his skills.

Money spent.

Funny one to measure this as we all spend differently. However i reckon i've had 7 nights in croatia for the price of about 4 in ibiza.

Prices in festival? 0.5l beer and a rum & coke cost me about £12, which is reasonable by uk prices but high in comparison to local bars (about a half of that price). Eating out was good and cheap. Loads of choice.

great trip
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That cabin looks ace..
the cabin was sweet. chilling on the porch with a drink at evening time was heaven

wifi was a little weak to non existent at times but we had air con, fly screens on the windows and door, decent little kitchen so as comfortable as any apartment. with two small bedrooms plus sofa bed it COULD sleep 6 in there but i reckon 4 would be a push whilst remaining comfortable. for the two of us it was perfect.

the beach at the site was paradise.

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I had a brilliant time. Stayed in town in a lovely 2 storey villa with a pool - the owner lives downstairs but we hardly saw her this year, except once when she had the girls round for lunch!

Highlight for me was the Must Be The Music boat. Brilliant from start to finish, Melon Bomb got it started then Get Down Edits who I'd not heard before but loved, MCDE's set went in a blur before Joey Negro finished it off. Disco & then some! I hope both Melon Bomb & Get Down Edits become regular bookings for Suncebeat.

I also loved MCDE on the beach stage, Jamie 3:26 & Mr Scruff was great - wasn't sure how those 2 would work but it did. Louie in Barbarellas, watching Jamie 3:26 get all shirty with the sound engineers was funny. Terry Jones finale on Tuesday is always a bit of favourite. I felt like I didn't hear enough music this year for some reason - probably because I missed Kerri at Barbarellas on Sunday having massively over done it on Saturday! Having a boat party & the big Saturday night main stage did for me! Oh and get a speed boat to Barbarellas if you can, it was great fun! The whole atmosphere is so friendly, it's something when DJs hang around for days after their sets to enjoy the festival for themselves.

I love staying in town. The bars are really nice. There's loads of decent food on offer. I love 24 hour bakeries & the funny frankfurter/bready sausage rolls. The rose wine on offer was decent everywhere, no hideous Zinfandel in sight.

Now if we could just get rid of the mozzies it would be perfect!
 
avon skin so soft spray oil....the mozzies hate it. a lad i know put me onto it about ten years ago...he was in military special forces and they swear by it.
 
great review Sez. i agree the main stage night was a good night. grant nelson was a bit too mainstream for me but Spen absolutely rocked. was supposed to make it down early but had to pick up mates flying into zadar and their flight got delayed.

have booked accommodation for next year
 
Ryanair Manchester to zadar. 90 return plus all the add ons for cases etc.
Arrive on Tues 17 going back Tuesday 24. Miss the final day but not to worry.
Hey I’m going BPM Portugal this September couldnyou give me an insight to Costs for tokens? And how much tokens the drinks where? Also what is the security check like there just a standard pat down?
 
no tokens in croatia just cash bar. beer was about €4

security just checked you had a wristband on and that you weren't carrying alcohol in
 
Just returned home from Croatia after spending a few days in Split/Hvar after Suncebeat. Great to hear both @johndiamond and @Sez had a great time too. This was our 2nd year and we had a blast. Great to meet you @johndiamond :). Great reviews buy both of you. Interesting to read Johns observations about the festival and it’s music policy as they mirror my own. The niche they operate in of House/Disco/Soul is right up my street. Highlights for me were definitely the connoisseurs soul boat party on Thursday. Osunlade, MCDE, on the beach stage. Louie Vega at Barberallas. I was also unsure how Jamie 3:26 and Mr Scruff would work together but it turned out to be great.

One of the main features that make this festival special is the crowd. I can’t emphasise this enough, it is buy far the most friendly up for it crowd I have encountered anywhere. Wherever you go either The Garden, Barberallas or hanging out in Tisno town you will meet smiling faces. Making new friends everyday and bumping into the friends we made last year it really is a community vibe.
 
avon skin so soft spray oil....the mozzies hate it. a lad i know put me onto it about ten years ago...he was in military special forces and they swear by it.

Aaah I have heard about something from Avon but wasn't sure what it was. Getting some ordered now! Cheers!
 
Aaah I have heard about something from Avon but wasn't sure what it was. Getting some ordered now! Cheers!
its brilliant. i never got bitten once at the festival for first five days.

then on day six, accidentally picked up a SIMILAR looking bottle of oil. applied said oil to legs and arms. picked up a couple of bites but nothing too serious, proving that if you cannot find the avon gear, mrs diamond's toni&guy hair serum works almost as well.
 
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