Ultra Music Festival Split Croatia is a 3-day electronic dance music festival usually hosted in Split. But the Ultra Festival brand is held in multiple locations around the world and on almost every continent. The Ultra brand hosts a raft of various other festivals; which includes a total of 34 festivals around the world. I did absolutely no research into this festival before purchasing tickets and boy, was that a big mistake.

About Ultra Music Festival Split Croatia

Every year in July, Croatia hosts  Ultra Europe  and the ports of Split become infested with party goers and young travelers. More than 50 artists occupy multiple stages within the chosen stadium, music doesn’t kick off until around 6pm and it doesn’t stop for a modest 11 hours.

Ultra Music Festival Lineup

The lineup for Ultra Music Festival Split in 2017 was more than I could have asked for, seeing some incredible DJs from around the world and throughout time was a dream come true.

• Adam Beyer
• Afrojack
• Armin Van Buuren
• Axwell and Ingrosso
• Carl Cox
• David Guetta
• Dj Snake
• Martin Garrix
• Steve Angello
• Steve Aoki
• Tiesto
• and 47 more artists

My Ultra Music Festival Bender

I attended Ultra Music Festival Split in 2017 at Poljud Stadium. This European music festival was my first big event, 2 weeks into a 5 month European ‘overseas experience’, and it kicked my ass. Our apartment fridge was stocked with bacon, hash browns and eggs in preparation for our hangover meals. And the rest of the available space was jam packed with beer. We played enough games of beer pong that I should really be better at the game than I currently am.

Ultra Music Festival Split Day 1

I started the first day of Ultra with a hangover, so we were off to a great start. We were planning on reaching the Ultra Stadium mid-afternoon so our drinking games started relatively early.
The time between leaving the apartment and getting into the festival is a bit patchy, I remember squishing into a taxi after someone having a tactical, arriving at the gate and the security guard jokingly denying me entry because my outfit was too revealing, to which I told him to “shush” and waltzed straight past him and through the gates. I didn’t do any research into looking at the time slot allocations for each act, and that was my first big mistake. 2am rolled around and I was preparing myself for the end of the show; not expecting it to go on for another 3 hours… The walk home was torture and my body has never experienced such exhaustive pain before but watching the morning sun hit the harbour made me forget for a moment just how rancid I felt, and probably smelled.

Ultra Music Festival Split Day 2

Woke up at around midday and a few of us trudged out to the supermarket for food. The boys started their drinking games not long after lunch, but I passed on night two of Ultra Music Festival thanks to some sciatic back pain which came back with a vengeance thanks to my extremely unsupportive shoes from the night before.

I thought I would treat myself to a night of relaxation, but instead I accidentally treated some guys on the street to a pop-up show of my naked silhouette. A backlit bathroom with a shower right next to a frosted window is a recipe for embarrassment.

Ultra Music Festival Split Day 3

Day 3 was just like day 1 but with far more preparation, so it was already lined up to end on a high. There is very little I remember about the last night of Ultra Music Festival, but the breakfast the next morning was well required to help with recovery.

Ultra-Festival wasn’t my most favoured EDM Festival in Europe, but it was still a great experience. If I would do it all over again, I would prepare myself a whole lot better for 11 hours of dancing… 3 nights in a row.

How to get Tickets to Ultra Music Festival Croatia

A 3-day Ultra Music Festival ticket can cost you anywhere between €159 to €389. This allows you access to the stadium, multiple stages and even more artists. I purchased my ticket straight from the Ultra website Check their website for more ticket options. To avoid buying fake tickets be sure to always buy from the designated website, especially when purchasing tickets for overseas events.

Tickets to Ultra Music Festival don’t commonly sell out in record time like other festivals like Coachella or Tomorrowland. Still it’s worth being prepared when the tickets are first released. And always keep in mind the exchange rate.

Accommodation and Transport in Split, Croatia

Finding accommodation in Split isn’t too difficult to pin down. There are plenty of hostels and apartments that line the port as well as neighbouring streets only a short distance from old town. We stayed in a 3-bedroom apartment not far from the port, but old town is riddled with hostels. Check out HostelWorld or AirBnb for any available accommodation in the area.

Uber is available so if you can’t walk to your destination, but most things in Split are well within walking distance and public transport around and out of the country is reliable.

How to Prepare for Ultra Music Festival Croatia

Pre loading is practically a summer sport in New Zealand; most people drink all they can at home before heading to their main event for the evening. Europe has a fantastic range of beers; from pints to cans and 2 litre plastic bottles for around $4NZD; it’s easy to purchase a number of alcoholic beverages to set up games. It’s also a much cheaper option as no doubt any big event hike up the prices of alcohol. But remember to drink responsibly! The last thing you want is to be denied entry because you’re too drunk to navigate the entry gate.

Checking In for the Cashless Festival.

In the days leading up to the festival you must attend the stadium to swap your ticket for you wrist band, making the entrance to the festival much quicker and prevents any major queues. Here you can also top up your wrist band with money, Ultra is a cashless festival so the only way to pay for drinks and food is through the chip in your wrist band.

Hygiene and Health

Toilets are usually located near any of the stairways and entrances, and I never had problems when it came to queuing for a loo. However pack a hand sanitiser because those toilets don’t stay clean all night. From what I can remember they were doing pretty well to be stocked with toilet paper right up until 5am.
Bottled water is easy enough to purchase at any of the food and beverage stalls. Unfortunately the ground became swamped in plastic bottles which wasn’t fun to wade through so you’ll want to wear practical shoes. My feet and back were so close to breaking under pressure during night 1 that I had to move my way to the back of the stadium to sit down. Wear supportive sneakers that you won’t mind getting covered in mud, dirt and bodily fluids. Wear practical shoes and ones that you won’t mind getting dirty; the crowd at the front of the stage can involve spillages from everything and anything you can think of.

EU Sim Card

Just like any big event the end is always a cluster fuck of people trying to get home; organise yourself with an EU Sim card and a meeting point outside the stadium for when you leave, in case you get lost. It’s not fun being disorientated from music, booze and sleep deprivation in a foreign country at the same time that you’re trying to find your friends.

Plan a Meeting Point

We knew that once the festival finished and people started flooding out the gates that we would lose each other. Before entering the grounds at the beginning of the night we found a tree near the road that would be our marker point should we lose each other. We did, and the tree worked, soon enough we were all making the trek home together collectively smelling like a bunch of bin divers. That was by far the longest walk of my life.

Want More European Music Festivals?

Tomorrowland

If you haven’t heard of Tomorrowland then where have you been living!? Tomorrowland is one of the biggest EDM music festivals in the world, with 400,000 people attending over two weekends you would be crazy not to have this European music festival on your bucket list. Held in Boom, Belgium every year, the electronic music world goes crazy with light shows, fireworks, incredible acts performed at several stages across 3 jam packed days. Check out my survival guides for Tomorrowland to read about just how amazing it is!

Sziget

Sziget (Pronounced Zi-get) is another mental music festival worth attending at least once. This week-long music festival (yes… 7 days of absolute freedom) is hosted in Hungary each year on a small island in the centre of Budapest on the Danube river. The festival of around 530,000 attendees is so loud that it often keeps locals in Budapest awake most of the night throughout the week. Sziget not only hosts musical artists, but stage performers, painters, acrobats and comedians also perform at the festival during the week. With yoga and pilates classes available during the morning for any attendees staying on island. Stay for 1 day or party for the whole 7, either way you’ll be leaving sweaty and sandy with a constant ringing in your ears.

Things to do in Split, Croatia

Split to Krka National Park

Krka National Park is an incredible park of waterfalls, streams, rivers and lakes and is one of Croatias’ national parks. Krka is 86.6km west of Split and takes around an hour to get their either by public transport or private vehicle. Krka National Park is an extremely popular place to visit for locals and tourists so ask around any of the tour agencies around the old town in Split and you’ll find a bus that will take you directly there.

Split’s Old Town

The Old Town is an area of Split you definitely have to check out, this is where you can find some of the best restaurants, souvenir shops, candy shops, markets and shops to buy last minute outfit changes. The old town is very much a tourist attraction and you wont find a lot of locals dining here due to it being such a tourist attraction. But It’s fun, quirky and different to anything I’ve seen at home.