51 replies to this topic

[ionicmoose]

Hi,

Just wondering if anyone from eFests is going to Bilbao BBK this year? It'll be our first time there and the past lineups seem great, especially for how cheap it is!

Haven't seen anyone on the forums talking about it so thought I'd start a thread as there seemed to be a few posting last year.

[mblackhouse]

Hi!

Yep we are going as a rgoup of 5 or 6. Booked flights and hotels, just waiting to book tickets (before the 24th to get them cheap, then they apparently go up by around 25%)

Looks like a great little festival and a well kept secret!

[ilikespecialcake]

Have you been before? We've now got tickets and flights booked, planning on driving to San sebastain afterwards and spend 5 nights there after the festival.

[mblackhouse]

Not been to bbk live before but we chose it as an alternative to optimus alive (less faffing around with getting back to hotel after - we're 20 mins walk from festival site and 15 mins walk to the main bars bit of bilbao too in hotel zenit). Thinking of extenidng to go to san sebastian afterwards now too....

[kaytee...]

I'm hoping to go this year but it looks like there's no direct flights from Liverpool or Manchester to Bilbao. Does anyone know which airport would be best to travel from via train/bus?

[pete76]

kaytee..., on 20 January 2012 - 05:46 PM, said:

I'm hoping to go this year but it looks like there's no direct flights from Liverpool or Manchester to Bilbao. Does anyone know which airport would be best to travel from via train/bus?

Went there 2 yrs ago and it was brilliant. Not really sure about this year, waiting for something good except Cure to be announced.
As far as the flights are concerned, there are 2 options from north-west.
1 - i had a flight from London to Santander
2 - came back from Barcelona to Liverpool.

of course whichever way u wanna go, you'll have to go by train. Liverpool-> London or Bilbao-> Santander / Barcelona.

Trains in Spain are really cheap if u book them in advance. Other options is to travel by bus

[mblackhouse]

Easyjet fly direct to Bilbao in the summer on a Tuesday or a friday

[mblackhouse]

In fact I've just checked on the easyjet website. Means you'll have to extend your stay in Bilbao but there are worse places to spend a week...

[the_derminator]

kaytee..., on 20 January 2012 - 05:46 PM, said:

I'm hoping to go this year but it looks like there's no direct flights from Liverpool or Manchester to Bilbao. Does anyone know which airport would be best to travel from via train/bus?

The closest airport (apart from Bilbao, obviously) is Santander, which is about 1.5 hours away. We are running shuttle buses from Santander, Madrid and Bordeaux to Bilbao for the festival. Prices start from £19 per person one way, and the buses are timed to meet budget airline flights to and from the UK.

Visit our website to check out our full schedule of bus transfers (we also sell tickets, and are building up an accommodation directory, so you can get everything you need), or just drop us an email on bilbao@eufest.com.

Derm

[ilikespecialcake]

We found flights with easy jet to Bilbao from Manchester or London. These were so cheap before Christmas but have gone up a good bit since. Were traveling from Newcastle, mega bus to London and flying from London cost us around 107 each. We found this a lot cheaper than flying from manchester. Not bad at all.

[ilikespecialcake]

And wow our tickets came already!

[thegeeza]

i went last year, its an amazing festival. so laid back and cheap compared to Benicassim. Theres a great bar between the campsites and the entrance which is really cheap for its location ( could buy a bottle of wine for 3euro) sells basic food and plenty beer garden sitting to spend your afternoons if you don't wanna take the shuttle buses into town.
We drove from newcastle,took us just over a day to get there and we were also doing the bull run after the festival then driving to Benicassim.Don't know if it was just last year but the weather is not like Beni, it rained most evenings and got cold (which caught us out as we were used to beni and only had shorts and t shirts) but during the day was usually nice and pleasantly hot. The bands don't overlap either so you get to see every band you want to see. The shower facilities were poor tho so hopefully this gets fixed this year as the water kept going off last year. They have mojitos on tap too but i'd recommend the local drink of kalimotxo,its red wine and coke mixed together and tastes amazing. Literally all the locals drink it too and if you are heading to the bull run you'll see how much the the locals love it!! I can't recommend this festival enough especially for its ultra cheap price.
Hope this was useful for you as i really struggled to find info about it before i went last year. If you have any questions about it just give me a shout and i'll try and answer them for you!! Enjoy

[ilikespecialcake]

thegeeza, on 23 January 2012 - 01:21 PM, said:

i went last year, its an amazing festival. so laid back and cheap compared to Benicassim. Theres a great bar between the campsites and the entrance which is really cheap for its location ( could buy a bottle of wine for 3euro) sells basic food and plenty beer garden sitting to spend your afternoons if you don't wanna take the shuttle buses into town.
We drove from newcastle,took us just over a day to get there and we were also doing the bull run after the festival then driving to Benicassim.Don't know if it was just last year but the weather is not like Beni, it rained most evenings and got cold (which caught us out as we were used to beni and only had shorts and t shirts) but during the day was usually nice and pleasantly hot. The bands don't overlap either so you get to see every band you want to see. The shower facilities were poor tho so hopefully this gets fixed this year as the water kept going off last year. They have mojitos on tap too but i'd recommend the local drink of kalimotxo,its red wine and coke mixed together and tastes amazing. Literally all the locals drink it too and if you are heading to the bull run you'll see how much the the locals love it!! I can't recommend this festival enough especially for its ultra cheap price.
Hope this was useful for you as i really struggled to find info about it before i went last year. If you have any questions about it just give me a shout and i'll try and answer them for you!! Enjoy

Found it difficult to find very much info out there so thanks for this! Couple of questions if you don't mind?
What are the language barriers like? I'm hoping to learn a bit of Spanish before I go,
Did you take a tent or buy one when you got there? I was hoping to take a small pop up (strapped to my bag) but not even sure if easy jet will allow this? Wasn't planning on taking rainy day clothing!? Are you able to buy this type of gear down there or should I just pack my rain coat!?
Sorry for all the questions but any English info is hard to come by.
Cheers

[thegeeza]

No probs, language barriers pretty big (alot less english there than benicasim thats for sure, and probably a good thing,lol), but we got thru by doing the typical english thing of pointing and talking slow.
We took an asda 1 man tent each (£10) and left it there, but we drove, don't think easyjet will allow a tent in hand luggage as metal pegs and poles will be classed as dangerous, i would just check the tent in and leave it in spain!
I would definitely take a hoody at least, its at the very top of spain and you'll notice its alot greener than most of the rest of spain so must get alot more rain up there.
There's free shuttle busses to and from the camp site to the city every 10 minutes (Forgot to mention the festival is set in a park half way up a mountain which gives amazing views of Bilbao) which take you directly into Bilbao where its like most cities, shopping mall's and stuff so can easily get things if u wanna buy them there.

Hope this has helped

[ilikespecialcake]

Thanks for the qucik reply! I was actually thinking of strapping it to my regular luggage and checking it in but worried about the shape... (one of those round pop ups)

[Shambler]

Hi, joined up as I've just bought tickets to BBK and this seems the best place to get info about it!

A couple of questions if someone doesn't mind answering - what's the camping like? I mean more in terms of location and heat rather than facilities as I have no problems roughing it for a bit, but do people generally camp, or get apartments? Always thought you miss out a bit if you get an apartment, but I guess Spanish heat and tents could get a bit unbearable! Is the camping site at the festival site or more towards town?

Also, are you allowed to bring booze into the festival, or can you only drink what's available inside?

Looking forward to it - seems like a bit of a hidden gem, given the price and the line up!

[ilikespecialcake]

Shambler, on 24 January 2012 - 05:59 PM, said:

Hi, joined up as I've just bought tickets to BBK and this seems the best place to get info about it!

A couple of questions if someone doesn't mind answering - what's the camping like? I mean more in terms of location and heat rather than facilities as I have no problems roughing it for a bit, but do people generally camp, or get apartments? Always thought you miss out a bit if you get an apartment, but I guess Spanish heat and tents could get a bit unbearable! Is the camping site at the festival site or more towards town?

Also, are you allowed to bring booze into the festival, or can you only drink what's available inside?

Looking forward to it - seems like a bit of a hidden gem, given the price and the line up!

Were choosing to camp, I've not been before but read a few blogs (i will find these and post links later) the campsite is right by the festival area.  If you get there early you will be able to find a spot with plenty of shade.
Can't take drink into the festival itself but  drink is cheap enough. I read a blog saying that a litre of beer is 7€ a jack n coke is 7€ or a litre of jack n coke €11.
supermarkets close by for campsite booze aswel as a bar on site. With the music not starting til 4 it sounds like most people head to town for a few local beers!

[Shambler]

When does the campsite open?

[ilikespecialcake]

The camping area will be available from 6pm on Wednesday 6th of July until 2pm on Sunday 10th of July.

from official site http://www.bilbaobbk...emid=12&lang=en

[ilikespecialcake]

Nice little blog here, http://disco-vigilan...ch/label/Bilbao