Product Description

With the explosion of summer festivals over the last decade, an embarrassment of options now tempt the festival reveller. But which to choose? The Cool Camping Guide to Festivals is the brand-new, authoritative guide, offering a hand-picked selection of the very best festivals, both at home and abroad. Unlike other guides that rely on festival advertising or are affiliated with an event, this book is 100% objective and independent, telling it the way it is and only recommending the best of the fests. Festival veteran and entertainment critic Sam Pow (Time Out, the Independent) guides readers through the heady, hazy summer days and the crazy, cross-dressing, crowd-surfing nights, selecting the musical and cultural highlights from Britain and Europe. With in-depth reviews and hundreds of photos, this book transports you straight to the centre of the action; soak up the atmosphere of the main stage at Glastonbury, enjoy the simple intimacy of the Secret Garden Party or the fun and frivolity of Rob Da Bank s Bestival. Featuring interviews and insights from well-known luminaries including Emily Eavis and Franz Ferdinand, a festivals timeline and a guide to finding the best new music, The Cool Camping Guide to Festivals is a beautifully-produced, comprehensive snapshot of a rich era in festival culture - and succeeds in capturing all the energy and excitement of a great British pastime. Plan your entire summer from mainstream festival favourites The Big Chill, Rob Da Bank s Bestival, Glastonbury and Reading to the quirky Antic Banquet, IndieTracks and Festinho to the cultural delights of the Abergavenny Food Festival, Edinburgh Fringe and Hay and a side trip to Boom in Portugal, Electric Elephant in Croatia or Synch in Athens. Fifty fantastic festivals make the cut, each one offering a unique and unforgettable experience.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #6711 in Books
• Published on: 2009-04-14
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 200 pages

Customer Reviews

A brilliant book about festivals in the UK and beyond
There are several books out this year on festivals, and I've bought 3 so will review each of them.

What I like about this book is the detail and the pictures! The cover shows Beautiful Days, one of the smaller (10,000 people) and less commercial festivals.

It's music festivals that really interest me and 30 are covered in depth. It was interesting to read reviews of festivals I've been to but even more interesting to read up on festivals that I hadn't really thought about going to, some seem more interesting than I'd thought!

There is one or two pages of text on each festival with details on dates, price, capacity, location and camping. It also suggests another festival that might interest you.

There's also details on 5 UK cultural festivals, such as food and literature; 5 city festivals including Love Box in London and Sonar in Spain. The write up on sonar has made me want to go there next year! Finally there's details on 10 European Music festivals which has really made me think of getting away from the wet festivals of the UK.

Out of the 3 books this is my favourite.

Buy it and enjoy!

A proper Festivals book
At last, a book that does more than just scratch the surface of festival culture. And it's a lovely book too - great pics, great write-ups, packed full of festivals - it makes you want to go to all the festivals this summer, in fact, there's probably a festival for every weekend! It also has festivals in Europe, most of which I'd never heard of, but all of which look awesome, and sunny. So it'll suit you if you want to plan a weekend in Europe around a festival. Most of the big British ones are in there like The Big Chill, Bestival, Reading etc but there seems to be an emphasis on the smaller, boutique festivals like 2000 Trees, Truck, Secret Garden Party, Festinho, Offset and the quirky Indie Tracks. I'd never heard of some of them! I've also ordered Rob Da Bank's A-Z of Festivals but that hasn't arrived yet, looking forward to that too. Bring on the summer!

Fab for Festival Fans!
This book is just what I've been looking for to plan my festival itinerary this summer! If you check out the customer images at the top you can see just how varied it is, so much more detailed than the festival brochures the newspapers bring out, and there are really interesting other bits in there on top of the reviews and helpful info.

I especially liked the features on the best festivals to find new bands at, and Emily Eavis's favourite Glastonbury years. Also, every review comes with a recommendation of another (often less well known) festival with a similar vibe, leaving you with heaps of options.

It's a fab book, worth every penny in my humble opinion!