I had the pleasure of attending what i can only describe as a sun soaked electronic music paradise - the Stop Making Sense Festival in August of this year. Will and I got married in June so this was a little family break post wedding and we brought our son Henry with us who was not short of attention from all our friends. He loved it!!!
The festival is held in a communal camping seaside village/park in a coastal town called Tisno on the South Westerly tip of Croatia in the Adriatic Sea. We stayed for an extra week post festival and had our nanny join us for just the weekend of the festival. It was great being able to enjoy such a beautiful place with Henry. And would highly reccommend this type of a family holiday if mum and dad can juggle baby duties. It was an unusually hot time of the year so as you can see Henry struggled with the heat a bit - so if travelling with kids then ideally get a place with a pool. Also it is very rocky coast line so not the easiest place to swim for the little ones. You need to have your eyes on them the WHOLE time. Also it is helpful to know to bring some sort of jellys for soft water shoes for adults and mainly the kids. Stepping on a Sea urchin is a sure fire way to ruin a holiday.
A lovely little spot we found on the last day - typical!
Directions: From the main market square near the Bell Tower (facing water) you want to take a right and follow that road all the way down to the end a good 10/15 min walk. You will see some steps which will take you up to a tree hidden path. Get there early to get a spot. Apparently the locals go and put their towels down at like 6am. Keen sunbathers. They have these amazing buoys laid out across the seafront marking little snorkelling and diving spots.
Festival site - Rastovac Beach
Well there are daybeds and a concrete ramp to prevent you looking like an awkward grandma when you are entering the water which is always a good thing. Also the bar is handy and good music at ears length. Henry joined us down at the site a few times. He loved the attention from everyone and splashing in the shallow water. Not somewhere you want to go if you want peace and quiet and it only gets busier as the day gets on. Nice spot to hang out when the Tiki Stage opens. Obviously you will need wristbands to enter the site.
Very friendly lady looks after the property and is very welcoming and helpful. There is a communal pool and it ended up being a nice area to rejoin the group after a big day/night at the festival site.
The only downside to this place was the god damn bells. They rung almost every hour and started VERY early in the morning. NO sleepins for us - Henry was up like 'clockwork'. Thank goodness we had the nanny to share the morning duties. So we were happy to move to a rental house across the bay.
Rental House
This was a great house and depending on how many people you have you can rent the whole thing or just the top or bottom floor. its the higher end of the price range but worth it because of the pool (thats if you get stuck with the kind of heat that we had).
(Rental properties generally only do Sat-Sat bookings so bare this in mind when booking flights and organising trips.
Hotel Tisno
We didn't stay here but friends did and we were able to take a good look around. Lovely rooftop pool and good service in the cafe/restaurant.
Recommended sunbathing spots
Iza Andrije BeachA lovely little spot we found on the last day - typical!
Directions: From the main market square near the Bell Tower (facing water) you want to take a right and follow that road all the way down to the end a good 10/15 min walk. You will see some steps which will take you up to a tree hidden path. Get there early to get a spot. Apparently the locals go and put their towels down at like 6am. Keen sunbathers. They have these amazing buoys laid out across the seafront marking little snorkelling and diving spots.
Festival site - Rastovac Beach
Well there are daybeds and a concrete ramp to prevent you looking like an awkward grandma when you are entering the water which is always a good thing. Also the bar is handy and good music at ears length. Henry joined us down at the site a few times. He loved the attention from everyone and splashing in the shallow water. Not somewhere you want to go if you want peace and quiet and it only gets busier as the day gets on. Nice spot to hang out when the Tiki Stage opens. Obviously you will need wristbands to enter the site.
If you are in Tisno when there are no festivals then this is a great place to hang out as well and is open to the public.
Recommended Accomodation
Bell Tower - Dvor Maraca ApartmentsVery friendly lady looks after the property and is very welcoming and helpful. There is a communal pool and it ended up being a nice area to rejoin the group after a big day/night at the festival site.
The only downside to this place was the god damn bells. They rung almost every hour and started VERY early in the morning. NO sleepins for us - Henry was up like 'clockwork'. Thank goodness we had the nanny to share the morning duties. So we were happy to move to a rental house across the bay.
Rental House
This was a great house and depending on how many people you have you can rent the whole thing or just the top or bottom floor. its the higher end of the price range but worth it because of the pool (thats if you get stuck with the kind of heat that we had).
(Rental properties generally only do Sat-Sat bookings so bare this in mind when booking flights and organising trips.
Hotel Tisno
We didn't stay here but friends did and we were able to take a good look around. Lovely rooftop pool and good service in the cafe/restaurant.
It was magical. dreamy. vibey. exquisite.
There are 3 very important elements to a good festival
1. Crowd
2. Programming
3. Setting
The programming was outstanding and with a good choice of stages - Barbarellas Discotheque, Beach Bar and of course the lovely Boat Parties. The highlight for me was definitely the Aus Music Boat party and the Innervisions at Barbarellas on the last night made the whole festival end on a perfect note.
Photo credit: Anamolous Visuals
Photo Credit: Anomalous Visuals
Will Saul, Midland & Appleblim
Photo Credit: Anomalous Visuals
| a 30th birthday moment... on to Barbarellas we go. Cant believe i missed this. We accidentally got on our boat taxi too early :( |
My camera wasnt around all the time - i was either too busy watching Henry or too busy having fun. So photographs at a minimum. Credit to some of the photos go to Anomalous Visuals. They did a great promo feature on the festival too. Check it out here.
For info on Stop Making Sense 2014 and early bird tickets - visit them here.
Looking forward to 2014 already.
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