Ozora Festival 2024
- Darby Grace
- Sep 3, 2024
- 8 min read
Ozora Festival 2024
I have known about the Ozora festival since the summer of 2023 when I went to Boom. I heard it was one of the biggest festivals in the world. I thought I would do it next year (2025) when I went back to Boom. I then made a sudden decision to go this year by myself for my 22nd birthday.
Luckily I knew a few friends from around the world who were also going to be at the festival. I met up with a friend of mine from Australia, sweet Ayesha, and camped with her and her friends.
This festival brought me so much love, so many new friends all around the world, new music, new ways to dance, and most importantly I discovered more of myself within. Thank you to everyone who played their part. Friends, lovers, strangers, dance partners, and everyone in between. I feel beyond lucky to have experienced such greatness within people and music.
Everything about the festival that I say is based on my personal experience. I always tell people to at least try everything once to get their own opinion of it. I don’t see myself going back to Ozora next year. There were things at the festival that bothered me. I am also doing most of my comparing to Boom. I think Boom just thinks of everything to make everyone comfortable.
For example, Ozora sold things in glass bottles (wine and drinks). Glass bottles break. There are thousands of Hippies and Gypsies walking around barefoot, including myself. I want to feel comfortable and safe as I walk around. This is just one little thing that goes a long way.
The bathrooms at Ozora were pretty bad, they smelled awful (this can be controlled by putting hay onto the piles making them smell less). There was often no toilet paper and only a sink or two at each bathroom spot. There are thousands of people and to keep it sanitary is the #1 thing. I know many many many people including myself got very sick after Ozora. This is of course expected in some way, our immune systems are down and we’re in close contact with a lot of people over 11 days. This time though I was extremely sick for many days. I feel like the man-made lake also had a contribution to this. They ended up shutting it down for the last couple of days.
Alright a couple of things off my chest, now let’s talk about all the amazing things.
The music, holy shit the music was amazing. I witnessed some of the best sets ever at the festival. They had everything perfectly timed to having certain people play night sets, day sets, sunrise, and sunset sets, everything felt perfect. You could bounce from stage to stage and find the music you were looking for.
Ozora MainStage is amazing. It’s so beautiful throughout the day, it is also very muddy there. Whereas at Pumpui and the Dome, it is very dusty. For the most part, I didn’t wear shoes. I enjoy dancing in the mud and in the dust so I liked that they had both.
I didn’t spend a lot of time at the dragon’s nest. The shows seemed to happen when I had a certain set I wanted to see. I walked by once and tried to stay but it just wasn’t my vibe that time. I hear some amazing artists perform there.
I also didn’t spend a whole lot of time at the Dome, but when I did it was so much fun and groovy.
I loved the cooking groove. The music and the atmosphere were so welcoming and warm. You could flow and move your body all while cooking. Amazing concept for everyone of all ages to enjoy. Being able to have the space to cook is perfect if you’re trying to save money and if you love to cook.
If you’re not into cooking at festivals (or at all) there are plenty of options for you to choose something to get for breakfast lunch and dinner. The main cafeteria-style food place had an insane amount of options and the pricing I considered so good for the portion sizes you got. I mean the size of lasagna they were serving was insane. There are vegan and vegetarian options as well all over. I’m vegetarian and I found it super easy to get anything at any point. The fruit stand was my favorite. Any fruit you wanted or were craving was there for a good price.
If you didn’t want to have a crazy day on the dance floors, there were lots of options for you to do things during the day and night. Different workshops happen all around the festival. Along with performances to go watch at the Circus, arts and crafts to do at Artibarn, yoga at the Lotus, board games at the Pyramid, and of course swimming in the lake. If you had a good camping spot then hanging out at your campsite is always a good way to chill and rest your body.
Ozora doesn’t have a lot of trees for you to camp under. Personally, something I think they could work on and help the environment that way as well. Plant some trees, help the earth and in many years help the festival goers by providing some shade.
I hate to keep saying negative things about the festival but some things needed to be worked on. I had questions throughout the festival and would go to the information tent and every time I went the answer was “I don’t know”. Trust me I wasn’t asking difficult questions and I also wasn’t the only one who had this problem. Pretty frustrating for me since I was there alone trying to figure things out.
Something I was a huge fan of was the firetrucks. They would go around spraying water which did help throughout those hot days. It was a perfect alternative to the lake since over time the lake got dirty and then closed. It was a lot of fun to go dance with everyone at the fire trucks, the vibes were always ecstatic. Any dance floor for the most part was on fire.
I did struggle at night to be out alone. I was finding darker energy throughout the night which can be normal. Maybe since I was by myself this festival I struggled a bit at night. Not that I thought anything would happen to me but it was a darker energy. I of course thrive with the lighter and higher energy during the days. Even after meeting someone and being with them for a couple of days, we still found the nighttime energy too tough for us to enjoy our time.
Again please remember I am speaking from my personal experience at this festival and doing some comparisons. If I were to recommend a festival I would tell you to go to Boom over Ozora. With that being said I am a firm believer in go try it out yourself and develop your own opinion.
As for getting there and the things I brought, it was pretty easy and well set up. They have a bus that will bring you from the airport to the festival and back. It is about a three-hour bus ride. You have many days and times to choose from as well. I honestly did an amazing job of bringing (almost) everything I needed to the festival. Before I left I ordered a tent and sleeping blowup mattress from Amazon. I put the links at the bottom. Super easy to pack and small enough to fit into my backpack. The list I made for the festival is at the bottom of this blog. The thing I didn’t pack for was the very very cold nights in the valley. I packed for the hot days, not the cold nights… lesson learned.
Let’s talk about the budget. My roundtrip flight from Newark, NJ to Budapest was about 600 USD. I stayed at a hostel before and after the festival, for about 25 USD per night. 3 nights in total so 75 USD when I stayed in Budapest. I bought a tent and blowup bed which added up to about 55 USD, 27 USD for the tent, and 28 USD for the inflatable bed. When I was at the festival I think I spent the most on food. I wanted to make sure I stayed healthy and full of energy. I would say I spent maybe 350 USD on food. That honestly might even be an overestimate. I spent about 200 USD on extra things which was about how much I was willing to spend. This is all a rough estimate, I tried to keep track of how much I was spending but over 11 crazy days, it’s hard to say.
Ozora was an amazing time. I met incredible people and felt so much love. I had some of my best days ever at this festival. I love to dance so to have an amazing festival with so many amazing artists was just unreal. I loved the energy I received during the days. I had strangers become friends and lovers. I had solo mission days where I danced on my own time to whoever I wanted, with whoever I wanted, and wherever I wanted. The liberation I felt being at this massive festival with no fear of conquering it myself. Like I said before this is all based on my experience and journey through the festival. It was an all-around amazing journey. I will be eternally grateful for my days at the festival.
Below is the list I made before going. Some things I brought and used. Also, some things I brought and didn’t use. And a couple of things I wish I had brought. There will be a link below to the Amazon mattress and tent.
Keep Discovering Dancing,
Darby
Electrolytes- brought and didn’t use even though I should have
melatonin - brought and used it every night!
headlamp- brought but the battery was low so I didn’t use it that much
neck pillow- it is perfect to have with the bed I used
tent and air mattress- duh
cold and rainy weather clothes- I brought 1 pair of pants and 1 long sleeve shirt… no rain clothes
portable charger- brought two of them and they were perfect for charging my phone
new water bottle- brought it everywhere, sometimes annoying to carry but it’s good to have
Sunscreen- brought and used it on my tattoos only
hat and scarfs- yes yes yes, I should have brought more scarves and only 1 hat
bug spray wipes- didn’t bring, didn’t need
gum - yes lots of it
candy - I had gummy bears when I needed my blood sugar up
groceries - I brought some but ended up mostly buying stuff there to eat
lights to light up my tents- important for finding your tent at night
Bandaids- bring them for yourself and the people around you
Blanket- took the one from the plane and brought a sheet from home.
Sleeping bag- didn’t bring it and wish I did
wet wipes- brought them and used them every night for my dirty feet
slippers and boots- brought boots and wish I had brought slippers instead
earplugs- I should have brought and these are so important. Life hack shove tissue in your ear
Lighters- brought and used
ibuprofen - brought and used! Your body will be sore
deck of cards- didn’t bring but would have been nice for the travel days
Fan- brought but didn’t use that much
eye mask- I use one every night of my life
take out money- bring cash! They have ATMs but better to have and not worry about it
Amazon links (not sponsored)
Comments