PsyTrance Festivals 2017 – a list of all the music festivals that we want to attend this year. 

Full power, 24 hours, no shower?

Well, sometimes we shower but we’re usually full power.

The year 2016 was our craziest year because we traveled around the world and attended many PsyTrance festivals. A lot of things happened when we traveled around the world for music festivals that made us realize which festivals we should skip and which ones we should definitely attend again. Some of the smallest festivals (like Dance of Shiva in Manali) surprised us with their awesomeness while some really big festivals disappointed us.

Disclaimer: Just because we attend music festivals, doesn’t mean that we participate in intoxicants. We do it for our love of music and nothing else. Yes, we perhaps the most sober people in a festival with just a beer or two in their system.

Based on our experience, we have shortlisted a few festivals that we definitely want to attend this year. The idea is to start the year with a bang and relax a little to get ready for a very wild and full power summer. After this we want to relax and rebuild our energy for our favorite New Year celebration.

So here’s a list of 17 Psytrance Festivals that we want to attend in 2017:

January

01 | Atman Festival

Location: Arugam Bay, Sri Lanka

Schedule: 28 January – 2 February 2017

 

If you think PsyTrance is too much, then Dark Trance will kill you. Or you may just fall in love with it. San and I love taking things up a notch and absolutely love high BPM forest and dark music. This is exactly the reason why we have decided to start our year on an active tandava mode in Sri Lanka because Atman is going to be one hell of a party!

A year back, we met Pooriya Nik who made us watch the video of this festival and we decided to do everything we can to be a part of it. The main stage had a massive demon like décor that matched the dark vibes of the music. We can’t wait to fly to Sri Lanka and head to the beautiful Arugam Bay to stomp to the music of some of our favorite artists like Arjuna, Zik, Kindzadza, Giuseppe, Orestis, and more!

While you’re in Sri Lanka, don’t forget to check out the view of the famous Sigiriya citadel from Pidurangala rock.

February

02 | Hilltop Festival

Location: Vagator, Goa, India

Schedule: 10 – 13 February 2017

Website

Did you know that Goa is the birthplace of psychedelic trance music? A few decades back, the hippies arrived here and fell in love with this glorious land. Many of them did not leave Goa and started calling it home. This is when the era of trance parties with super psychedelic UV décor started and spread all over the world. No matter how many festivals I attend all over the world, nothing compares to the magic of a good old PsyTrance party in Goa.

With its UV painted palm tree trunks and old school rainbow décor, Hilltop in Vagator is one of my favorite party venues in Goa. It is a big party venue and is well maintained with really clean toilets. Many local women set up chai stalls inside this venue and sell affordable snacks. This year, artists like Hilight Tribe, Govinda, Burn In Noise will be playing here. Moreover, Goa is one of my favorite places in the world and you can read my travel articles here before visiting.

While you’re in Goa, don’t forget to check out Bhagvan Mahavir forest reserve and Dudhsagar waterfall.

 

03 | Envision Festival

Location: Rancho La Merced, Uvita, Costa Rica

Schedule: 23 – 26 February 2017

Website

Imagine dancing in the middle of Costa Rica’s rainforest and then heading for a dip inside the warm waters of the Pacific Ocean. Sounds good? That’s Envision festival! Just like a lot of festivals in this list, Envision is also a “leave no trace” event where every step is taken to ensure that the venue is in in as good if not better condition as before the party. The organizers go to great lengths to ensure that it’s a family friendly event and also provide a silent campground that’s away from the music.

While you’re in Costa Rica, check out Arenal Volcano, La Fortuna waterfall and Paradise Hotsprings.

 

February & March

04 | Tribal Gathering

Location: Near Cuango, Panama

Schedule: 24 February – 13 March 2017

Website

Tribal Gathering is a yearly ritual around the full moon in February, where indigenous communities, and global psychedelic tribes come together to meet and celebrate life. This festival is different because it is an 18-day event on a beautiful Caribbean beach in Panama. Throughout this event, there are hundreds of workshops that are organized about community management, sustainability, environment, permaculture, health, philosophies, tantric sex and alternative financial systems. Moreover, during the first few days of the festival, the attendees can attend various ceremonies with shamans from multiple indigenous tribes.

While you’re in Panama, check out Volcan Baru National Park, Soberania National Park and Panama Canal.

 

March & April

05 | Shakti Peak

Location: Secret Location, Nepal

Schedule: 31 March – 3 April 2017

Website

Shakti Peak is a festival where some of our favorite artists will be playing music in the middle of Nepal’s mountains. We love small festivals because where the entire festival feels like a family. The line up for this festival is amazing which promises to bring an amazing psychedelic experience to all the attendees.

While you’re in Nepal, check out Annapurna Mountain Range, Poon Hill and Pashupatinath Temple.

 

April & May

06 | Hai in den Mai

Location: Stemwed-Wehdem, Germany

Schedule: 28 April – 01 May 2017

Website

San has attended Hai in den Mai twice and he only has good things to say about this small festival. This festival is organized by Wald Frieden Events, which means “Forest Peace”. This festival officially marks the beginning of festival season in Europe. I have attended Wonderland festival by them on the same venue, which was a magical experience. The location is in the middle of the forest with slanted mini dance floors around the main floor. There is a little pond and a hill next to it, from where you can get a good view. If you’re lucky, you can spot a few cherry blossom trees around.

While you’re in Germany, check out Neuschwanstein Castle, Rakotzbrucke or Hamburg harbor.

 

May

07 | Re:birth Festival

Location: Nokogiri-yama, Japan

Schedule: 12 – 14 May 2017

Website

Japan is a very small country but we were surprised to see a very high percentage of psychedelic festivalgoers are Japanese. Some of our closest festival buddies are from Japan and trust me – they are super psychedelic and really know how to party! After meeting them and learning about their beautiful culture, we have decided to visit Japan one day. We want to travel and explore Japan and experience a Japanese music festival. For this purpose, Re:birth seems to be the perfect choice. After the 2011 Japanese earthquake, the party scene in Japan experienced its all time low and in 2013 Re:birth festival started with a purpose of reigniting the Japanese party scene. Oh and it is more than a PsyTrance festival because it features techno and live bands.

While you’re in Japan, check out Mount Fuji, Hashigui Rock or Akiyoshi Limestone Cave.

 

June

08 | Tree of Life Festival

Location: Asprovalta, Greece

Schedule: 23 -27 June, 2017

Website

The original location of Tree of Life festival is Turkey, but for 2017 is Greece. Actually, we were looking forward to this festival last year as well but we did not find any schedule online. I wrote to the festival team and I got to know that the schedule was not published because the festival was not happening in 2016. I’m not sure of the reason, but could be because of disturbances in Turkey. Turkey is an amazing country and we would have loved to attend a festival there. If you remember, I traveled solo to Turkey last year and was stranded in Istanbul during the attempted military coup back in July 2016. So maybe it’s a good thing that the festival didn’t happen last year. Anyway, we’re very happy to know that Tree of Life festival is back and will be in Greece. We support this festival 100% and would love to be a part of it because we have always heard amazing things about it.

While you’re in Greece, check out Papingo Rock Pools, Parthenon or Acropolis.

 

June & July

09 | Dakini Festival

Location: Tuzla Beach, Constanta, Romania

Schedule: 29 June – 2 July 2017

Website

We’re really excited to attend Dakini Festival. Wanna know why? Well, it is the first inaugural edition, which means it is going to be very special experience. It’s like watching a baby being born and feeling connected to it in an extraordinary way. Secondly, the line up is very interesting with psychedelic trance artists like Astrix and Avalon, this is going to be a hell of an old school PsyTrance party. Secondly, the location is mind-blowing! Have you heard of Tuzla beach? Chances are that you haven’t because it is apparently a “secret beach” that not many have heard of and yes that’s the festival location.

Moreover, the cost of traveling and eating in Romania is much lower than many other countries so it is suited for most of the festival nomads. While you’re there, you should definitely travel around the country because it has a lot of forests and mountains. It is one of the least visited countries in Europe. If you’re in Europe during this festival season, I urge you to travel to Romania and be a part of Dakini Festival’s inaugural edition.

While you’re in Romania, check out the Iron Gates, Bucegi Mountains or Fagaras Fortress.

 

10 | Master of Puppets

Location: Near Brno, Czech Rep

Schedule: 26 June – 02 July 2017

Website

With a focus on Hi-Tech, Dark and Forest PsyTrance, Master of Puppets in Czech definitely is a festival to watch out for. Obviously things can get a little hard with more than 190 BPMs of music, so they have an amazing chill stage as well with soothing music. This is a fairly new festival and the 2017 edition is going to be the third one with a ticket sale limit of 1500. They also offer 20 free tickets each for people Greece, Portugal and Japan – out of which the only ones remaining are the Japanese ones. Yes, we’re sure you would have heard that Czech party scene is phenomenal and so have we. We want to experience it in the best way possible and Master of Puppets festival is calling out to us.

While you’re in Czech Republic, check out Prague or East Bohemia.

 

July

11 | Freqs of Nature

Location: Niedergörsdorf (Near Berlin), Germany

Schedule: 5 – 11 July 2017

Website

I did not end up attending Freqs of Nature festival last year because I was in Turkey but San did. He fell in love with this festival’s trippy high tech décor and said he spent hours looking at giant machine like alien artwork installations that displayed extraordinary mechanical engineering work. This festival has different stages ranging from progressive to very crazy hi tech. Believe it or not, but things get trippier than this because the festival location is an old military airport that was functional till 1945. This is also a fairly new festival compared to the likes of Boom, Ozora and Wonderland – it started in 2012 and has already built a good name for itself because of excellent management.

While you’re in Germany, check out Neuschwanstein Castle, Rakotzbrucke or Hamburg harbor.

 

12 | काली मेला Kali Mela – UPDATE – Kali Mela has been cancelled for 2017 but scroll down for a NEW option

Location: Near Barcelona, Spain

Schedule: 13 – 19 July 2017

Website

Kali is the name of a fierce Hindu goddess who is associated with strength, empowerment and dark side of spirituality. True to its name, the lineup is dark and powerful. To be honest, I had no idea about this festival last year because the festival organizers do everything they can to keep it low key but it is very high on my list now.

If you see the line up, it has some of the best dark PsyTrance artists that are set out to perform to ensure a truly wild psychedelic party. It has the biggest line up for Parvati records, which is our favorite record label. In fact, they have the biggest forest and groovy lineup that we have seen for 2017! Don’t believe it? Check the event page! Moreover, the organizers are taking every step possible to ensure an amazing camping experience for everyone and have put together a professional team to take care of it. We will be visiting this festival for sure this summer. We urge you to join us here because this year it’s going to be fantastic!

12 | S.U.N. Festival

Location: Csobánkapuszta, Hungary

Schedule: 20 – 24 July 2017

Website

A few months back Solar United Natives, a.k.a., S.U.N. Festival was not on this list because the organizers were not sure of it was going to happen in 2017 or not. You see, S.U.N. is a non profit festival and they weren’t able to meet their costs last year. Having attended this last year, it was one of our favorites of 2016 and we did encourage our readers to make a donation in an earlier edition of this post.

Our earlier post said this –

Special mention – our favorite festival Solar United Natives, a.k.a., S.U.N. Festival may not be happening this year but we want to encourage all festivalgoers to donate some money to keep it alive by donating. Even a small contribution can make a difference.

We’re happy that the organizers of S.U.N. festival have met their donation target and the event is on. What sets S.U.N. apart from rest of the festivals is that it is an actual community based organization where important decisions are taken by sending a survey to it’s lifetime members. No, lifetime members are not the organizers but attendees like us that have bought and opted for a lifetime membership.

The concept of this festival is to form the Solar United Natives “new consciousness” community, to shape the green development of Csobánkapuszta, and to invite friends for a family gathering in a fabulous location, where we can get closer to Nature, ourselves, thus to each other.

While you’re in Hungary, check out the sunset by Danube River, Fisherman’s Bastion or Nemzeti Botanikus Kert.

 

13 | MoDem Festival

Location: Near Primislje, Croatia

Schedule: 24 – 30 July 2017

Website

MoDem, a.k.a Memento Demento Festival was the best festival that we attended in 2016. This has got to be the most beautiful festival location that I have ever seen and is around river Mreznica. This river has very clear water and we could see the bottom of it. A dip in this river was very refreshing because the water is very cold. The alternative dance floor was right next to this river. A little walk away from the alternative floor were a few small springs and waterfalls. A little further we even found a cave. Everything around the river is very green and fresh.

MoDem’s main floor is on top of a hill with higher hills around. The geography is such that it causes a swooshing effect with the music. The décor was very “hi-tech” and definitely the best that we have ever seen in our life. The lineup was excellent and kept us on the dance floor for hours. Overall, it was a very well organized festival with everything a person could need, such as currency exchange, charging stations, clean bio toilets amongst other things. We don’t want to miss this festival and we recommend even you shouldn’t.

While you’re in Croatia, check out the Plitvice Lakes, or book a Game of Thrones tour for yourself.

 

August

14 | Oregon Eclipse

Location: Antelope, Oregon, USA

Schedule: 17 – 23 August 2017

Website

Oregon Eclipse festival is the one that a lot of festival nomads are talking about this year and it is for a good reason. Strictly speaking, this is not a psytrance music festival but is a psychedelic music festival. This is a 6-day total solar eclipse gathering, which is definitely going to be a crazy party. Obviously solar glasses will be provided to all the attendees at the event for their safety. We don’t like big festivals but this is one of the very few ones that we’re eyeing this year that will have between 20k – 40k attendees.

While you’re in Oregon, check out Columbia River Gorge, Haystack Rock or Multnomah Falls.

 

September & October

15 | Connection Festival

Location: Sevilla, Spain

Schedule: 26 September – 2 October, 2017

Website

After a summer full of dark and hi-tech music, we want to relax in Connection festival’s easy old school psychedelic music show. Some of the most famous psychedelic artists like Transwave, Astral Projection and Shidapu, will be performing here. Yes, this is also one of the smaller festivals with only 1500 tickets.

The location is Sierra Norte Park that has strange rock formations and a small river called Hueznar. This festival officially marks the end of summer festival season in Europe and should not be missed.

While you’re in Spain, check out the Real Alcazar, Montserrat Monastery or Timanfaya National Park.

 

October

16 | Samsara Himalaya Edition

Location: Bir, Himachal Pradesh, India

Schedule: 22 – 31 October, 2017

Website

Samsara is a psyambient music festival which is organizing a Himalayan edition in India in October in collaboration with AryaMarga Yoga. Festival attendees can expect sound and vision healing through music and art. Many experienced Yoga, Qigong and Tai chi teachers will conduct several workshops here. If you have visited the Himalayas in India, you would have definitely felt the magic and the spirituality in the air. For a festival like Samsara that focuses on healing music, a location like this makes perfect sense.

It is super simple to reach Himachal Pradesh from Delhi. While you’re in Himachal Pradesh, do check out my post about 11 hippie villages in the Himalayas. You can also visit the moon lake – Chandrataal.

December & January

17 | The Experience Festival

Location: Koh Tao, Thailand

Schedule: 30 December 2017 – 2 January 2018

Website

The Experience Festival is the best way to celebrate the New Year because it’s an epic 4 day celebration. What I love about this festival is that the music changes depending on the time of the day (or night). You can expect progressive and full on during the day and darker psychedelic beats at night. The best time is when the sun rises because the view is spectacular.

After traveling from festival to festival for a few months in Europe I realized how convenient and special the Experience festival is. The location is Koh Tao, which is a beautiful island with many beaches. In many festivals we had no choice but cook our own food to save money. In order to do so, we had to get on to an expensive shuttle to go to a supermarket to buy groceries.

On the other hand, things are really cheap in Koh Tao so naturally spending things like food, grocery, scooter and the basic necessities was stress-free. Moreover, this is a small festival with not more than three thousand people and a close knit family vibe. The décor is super psychedelic and is sure to turn any dark trip into a positive one.

The toilets and showers are very clean and airy. Thankfully, they are not the portable dixie toilets that I hate but they are the fixed ones and regularly get cleaned. Maybe someone casted a magical spell on this island because the vibes are really amazing here. This is where I met San a few years back and we fell in love. We have attended this festival thrice and can’t wait to go back.

While you’re in Thailand, check out Sukhothai Historical Park, Ayutthaya Temples or the Floating Markets.

 

So which PsyTrance festivals are you attending this year? Let us know in the comments – who knows, maybe we’ll end up meeting!

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