Loco

EXIT is by all accounts an absolutely quality dance music festival located in a fortress north of Belgrade. Not for the light-hearted, there are over ten stages, the most notorious being the Dance Arena where the huge rave goes on until well after sunrise. Prepare for utter madness, a lot of smiling, and Eastern Europe at its cutting edge best.

2009 was EXIT’s 10th birthday, and it was bigger, better, and most importantly greener. In association with 50 of Europe’s biggest music festivals, EXIT participated in a ‘leave no trace’ campaign, and will be doing even more to reduce it’s carbon footprint in 2010. Now that’s music to our ears!

Last year boasted acts as diverse as Prodigy, Carl Cox, the Arctic Monkeys, Kraftwerk, Korn, Lily Allen, Madness, and Moby, not to mention all manner of incredible Djs and dance acts from Europe and the World.

The best way to get to there is by train, using an Inter-rail pass. The simplest route from the UK is to go via Paris, Munich and Budapest which is what we have featured here. From Budapest it’s a 6 hour regional train ride to Novi Sad where the festival takes place. Three trains leave the Capital daily for Novi Sad from Keleti Station so we’ll leave it up to you to choose.

The coach is another option that should work out cheaper than the train. The best bet is to get the coach to Budapest via Vienna, and then the train onwards to Novi Sad. We’re still too early to view the timetables for July 2010, but below are last years details for you to mull over.

By Train

There are lots of different combination’s you can take to get to Novi Sad. We chose this one because it gets a good balance between time and changes – there are a few routes (on the way there and the way back) which take a bit less time but have some awkward changes.

With an Inter-rail pass you can be flexible in your journey planning, though if you are using a 5 in 10 day Inter-Rail pass you’ll need to ensue that (i) the days you’re on trains doesn’t exceed five and (ii) your total trip is not longer than ten days from the day your pass starts. The route outlined above uses a total of four days (for outward and return journeys).

If you can be flexible then going via Budapest is straightforward and well worth a visit. Further West, but also within easy reach especially if you go via Munich, are Zagreb and Llubljiana.

Use our journey planner to create your own journey.

Things to note

The main factor affecting the overall price of the journey is the Eurostar ticket. It doesn’t matter where you buy your ticket, it will be the same price everywhere, but each train has a certain number of cheap tickets and once they’re gone, that’s it. The cheapest you’ll get a return to Paris or Brussels for is £59 minus the discount that you’re eligible for with an Inter-rail pass.

If you start your journey without purchasing night-train reservations, you should be able to get them on the way at any major train station, but there is a small chance that the trains in question will be full. If you choose to spend nights in the cities and take trains in the day instead, then there will be fewer, if any, compulsory reservation fees (though obviously you’ll have to pay for accommodation in the cities).

Note that for night-train journeys that begin after 7pm, you only use up one day of your inter-rail pass (as long as you haven’t already made a journey using the pass on that day).

Take the coach (2009 details)

Unfortunately the Eurolines website is rather lame at helping you plan your journey to Novi Sad by coach. However, do not fear, Loco2 is here! And so is a nice man called David who has helped with the instructions on how to get to Novi Sad by coach.

The best way is to get the coach from London to Budapest, and once there pick up a train to Novi Sad. It’s easy as pie, and you can pick up your train ticket at the station in Budapest. The coach ticket costs less than £90 if you book it quickly, and the train from Budapest to Novi Sad should be less than £40 return.

On the way back you should definitely stop off for a night in Budapest and sample the delightfulness of the natural hot spring baths, and ludicrously hot saunas. I literally can’t think of a better way to unwind after a massive Eastern European rave. Even if you paid me a million pounds to think of a better way I would still come up with that answer – that’s how serious I am.

Photos: Steve Angello, Amaiia

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