Note: The last Garden Festival – the tenth edition – was held in 2015. This festival is sadly no more, but its organisers are still a permanent fixture in Croatia, running the excellent The Garden Tisno site, which is home to many of the Festivals in Croatia. (They’re also behind the awesome The Garden Lounge in Zadar – do check it out if you’re in town.)
We’ll keep this page up and running to remember the good times!
There’s unfortunately some sad news concerning the Garden Festival, Croatia’s oldest dance music festival. It’s 2015 event – the tenth – will be the very last to be held…
But don’t get too upset just yet. For its ‘Going Out With A Bang’ event will celebrate all ten years of the Garden Festival in spectacular fashion, and will make sure that the final festival is one that will be remembered for some time to come.
As it’s the final year, much of the line-up for the Garden Festival has already been announced. Acts and DJs such as Crazy P, Bonobo, Seth Troxler, DJ Harvey and Joy Orbison are all on the bill, but there’s still plenty of names to be announced in due course.
Don’t forget that the festival site – named The Garden Tisno – hosts several other festivals each summer, and will continue to do so going forward. In fact, the team behind the Garden Festival have stated that they’re fully committed to concentrating on hosting festivals and events at the site for many years to come. And there’s also always the excellent open-air Garden Lounge in Zadar which is a must when visiting this lovely town.
The Garden Festival
Now located in the beautiful setting of The Garden Tisno, revellers will be spoilt by the idyllic private bay with its own sandy beach (something of a rarity in Croatia!).
Three stages host all the acts – including a beach stage – and the infamous boat parties are as popular as ever. (Tip: Snap up tickets for these boat parties soon – they tend to get sold out very quickly.)
Barbarella’s Discotheque is also a key part of the Garden Festival in a great location just 10 minutes away, by organised transfer, for you to party the night away after the festival ends each day. Barbarella’s is larger than it was at the Petrcane location, meaning there are no capacity restrictions.
Tickets for the Garden Festival
Tickets are available now on the Garden Festival website, and for 2015 you can purchase a full week’s pass for £120. (Same price as last year!)
There are also special bundle deals – you can buy six Garden Festival passes for the price of five (saving you £120) or twelve passes for the price of ten (saving you £240).
The Electric Elephant Festival takes place directly after the Garden Festival in the same location, so you can also buy what’s called a “Double Whammy” pass for the amazing price of £175. Wow – what a price for two weeks of revelry in the Croatian sun!
You can also buy one-day tickets for any day of the Garden Festival – these are priced at £15, £20 or £35 depending on which day you go.
Boat party and after-party tickets at Barbarella’s must be purchased separately to main Festival tickets.
Accommodation for Garden Festival
The location of Tisno means there is now the opportunity to book more on-site accommodation for the Garden Festival, with both apartments and camping (actually, glamping!) within the festival grounds on offer. For something extra special, there are also a very limited number of beautiful airstream trailers that come equipped with a bathroom, kitchenette and air-con.
Once again, see the full details – including photos – on the Garden Festival website. Accommodation options are likely to get snapped up quickly, so make sure you act soon.
Alternatively, you can also book your own accomodation in Tisno or nearby using the search box below:
As you will see, there are a number of small hotels and private accommodation choices in the town itself. There are also a few more options in other nearby towns such as Murter, Pirovac and Vodice.
Getting to Tisno
Tisno is approximately halfway between the town of Zadar and the city of Split which is a great location – not just for the festival, but also for the ease in reaching it.
Split has always had connections from the UK, with flights from Heathrow, Gatwick, Luton and Stansted in London, as well as Bristol, Manchester and Glasgow. Additionally, for 2015, British Airways have a new route from London Heathrow; Easyjet have three new routes from London Luton, Manchester and Newcastle; Thomsonfly have a new route from Manchester and Jet2.com will be operating flights from Edinburgh. See our Getting to Split page for full details of air routes. There are also many flights to Split from elsewhere in Europe.
Ryanair fly to Zadar from London Stansted, Manchester and Dublin airports – and, once again, there are plenty of flights from the rest of Europe. See the Getting to North Dalmatia section.
You can contact the Garden Festival to arrange an transfer from either of these airports, or take a bus from the airport you fly into to the main bus station in that town and then travel on from there.
If you’re having trouble getting public transport to Tisno, try searching for buses to “Murter”. Alternatively, Sibenik is the nearest large town to Tisno and the island of Murter, so you can easily get a bus to here from either Zadar or Split (or elsewhere in Croatia).
Do also take a look at our Getting to Croatia & Travelling Around Croatia sections for other possible options of reaching the country and then travelling to Tisno. (Or away from Tisno after the Festival ends.)
For more on the town of Tisno, check out the website of Tisno tourist office.
Garden Festival Reviews
If you’re looking to reminisce about previous Garden Festivals, take a look at reviews of events in years gone by to see what went down! See The Guardian’s review: Garden Festival (18th July 2010) and a piece from Scotland on Sunday: Croatia – the Dalmatian Coast and Garden Festival (24th August 2010)
More info
There’s full information about the festival on its official website thegardenfestival.eu although it’s also advisable to check out their Facebook page for the latest news as and when it’s announced!
Images thanks to Damo at Tandem PR.