u/miss___ella

The past couple of years we've been to Dekmantel (from UK originally) we've hired bikes for getting around the city and to the festival etc as we usually stay a little longer than the festival.

This is of course really fun and affordable and the most efficient way to get around but when we were at the festival the last time we made friends with some locals and they told us they instantly knew we were tourist bc of the bikes we had (cringing).

I want to avoid this going forward – can any Amsterdam locals advise me on bike rentals that rent attractive looking bikes / bike rentals that locals use?

Thanks !!

I tend to go to smaller scale festivals now (Dekmantel, attending Solstice next week etc) but when people ask me what my ‘highlight’ was, I can never really say.

I feel like smaller festivals encourage more bopping about as it’s a shorter distance between stages, but then that results in less time actually getting into the music. It’s hard to know what you’re happy to actually commit to or what you don’t mind missing?

After Dek a few years ago I honestly thought it was just the vibe I was personally on which was why I didn’t come away really hyped, but after Gala last month I’m realising it’s probs how I’m actually navigating the festival itself.

As I mentioned I’m attending Solstice in Finland next week which should be really good as I’m booked in for all the activities around the festival, but regarding the music and overall experience I was wondering if anyone had any thoughts on this.

What’s everyone’s motives for navigating smaller festivals and getting the most out of them?