Changing habits/customs“Ethnic” campsites appeared at the festival a few years ago, but these quickly transformed to fit the spirit of Sziget, since the festival is about opening up and meeting new people, rather than isolation.
The selection of these campsites has expanded in recent years, so this year, besides the Francophone Apéro, we can mostly find themed campsites that provide better services – according to András Berta, the festival’s director for international relations.
Despite the extra cost, foreigners prefer to go more to these camping spots. Parents are more at ease if their children come here, and senior university students and younger adults readily pay a bit more for the enhanced comfort and security.
Nevertheless, each of the three campsites we visited had a sense of “ethnic” character to them, so now we will show these features to you.French are French here, tooApéro is a French campsite (more specifically a Francophone campsite, since there are a lot of Belgian and Swiss campers as well), and the composition of temporary residents is still rather mixed in a relatively homogeneous medium, since the festival-goers here came from more than 30 countries.
It would be impossible to deny the influence of French cuisine: there are croissants for breakfast, and the chefs of Retro Bistro also serve tarte flambée (Alsatian onion bread), ratatouille (traditional stewed vegetables), and coq au vin (rooster with wine) to gourmet residents.
This campsite is all about community building, according to outdoor festival promoters András Derdák and Anita Földes. They carry out campaigns of Sziget in French, from Montpellier. We can see that they are not far from reality: at the reception space, we are welcomed by a Francophone staff, piano, literary works, and pleasant French music; we are not even surprised by the free make-up and hairdresser anymore. Naturally, we can also try playing pétanque.
We could observe the result of the organizers’ work in Paris. András even held a talent competition there, so this year we have two young DJs as well. Tip: anyone who is not registered to stay in this campground cannot go into the campsite after the concerts, but there usually are some chill parties in front of the entrance.
In the campsite, we talked with some pleasant festival-goers. They came from Dijon, and this is their first time visiting Budapest, which is why they might think that one kilogram of bread costs 3-5 euros in the city (eds: it's more like half a euro). They already managed to take a look at the Parliament House, but they also plan on staying for another day after the festival, to do some sightseeing.
Another remarkably cheerful group arrived from a city in the same region of Dijon, and came here to party before they start to study or university or to work. When we asked them why they chose Sziget for their grand summer festival place, they brought up the prestigious programs and the videos from the
previous festivals. When they saw the latter, they sent it out to everyone, and they all knew: on y va, meaning that we have to go!
Among the bands playing at Sziget this year, all of the campers mentioned Placebo and Outkast, but no one talked about Blink 182 or Queens of the Stone Age, both of which are considered very important and popular in Hungary.Orange everywhereAt the entrance of the Alternativa Campsite – made distinct by green-white-red tricolors – we are welcomed by Italian speech, espresso and ice cream stands, and the wooden installation of the Apulia region.
There are lots of Italian guests, but in this campsite, even in the more “international” Siesta Campsite, Dutch festival-goers seem to be in the majority. No wonder, since the oranges love camping, anyway – so we are not even surprised to find three-generation families at this place.
The small group of Robben we talked to were visiting Hungary for the second time, so they were quite aware of Hungarian prices.They know that they are in an “Italian” campsite, but they go by the philosophy that whoever clicked first gets the place. By the way, they also chose the festival not because of the prices, but because of the atmosphere and the music, and because this festival is the longest – and the best. No arguments from us!
