Me and my friend Mark drive from the sleepy town of Calpe to –what we think- is yet another sleepy town. We see loads of young festival goers wearing their floral prints and aviators walking up and down the main street, looking totally at ease with what they’re doing and where they’re going. We’re just driving round with my parents looking for the festival itself. This was our first festival, and we’d been counting down the days since we’d got the tickets. So anyway, we find the road signs and drive up to camp FIB, our home for the next five days. The sun was covered by clouds, a real god send when you’re trying to set up a tent. So anyway, tip one – get to the camp sites in good time, when we arrived on Wednesday, the organisers tried to place me and mark at the back of the site, on rocks. We had other ideas! We separated from the group and pitched our tent on this little grass ledge, next to the shaded area. Although not ideal, I do wish that we’d gotten under some shade, because believe me, waking up in sauna for a tent when you’re horribly hungover is a bit hot. Tip two-when pitching your tent, get under shade. Our neighbours where two lads, Tom and Tom from Leeds, who couldn’t have been nicer.
So…fast forward to the night time. It’s about 10 o clock, me and mark bought ourselves 24 small Amstell cans, it’s still hot, we’ve had hardly anything to eat, but we’ve managed to consume about 75% of these cans, with help from neighbours. Me, being a horrible lightweight end up being horribly sick. NOT GOOD. Tip three- drink to what your body can handle. I literally had about 5 cans, but because of the lack of water and food, it really got to me.
I think the only bad time in the festival was on the night when Gnarls Barkly and The Raconteurs played. There i was dancing away, then BANG! I experienced the worst pain of my life. My stomach was killing, not like anything I’d felt before. I did the clever thing of diagnosing myself with appendicitis. I had all the symptoms. However, when I went to sleep and drunk lots of water, in the morning it was gone. I should mention that i was saved by my knight in shining armour. The pain, I later found out, was due to overindulgence (obviously), lack of water and food, and exhaustion. The last one, I couldn’t get. See, I got about 2 hours sleep a night. It was too hot to sleep in the day-Mark did it somehow- and got covered in shaving foam. Ah pranks. Anyway. The only time to get sleep was in the night, it was cool enough, but when you woke up, it was so hot. So in Beni 09, I know I’ll be drinking more water and eating more. However, sleep is out the question. I don’t want to miss one waking moment of this festival.
Ok so…key things to remember- basically the rest of my numbered tips-
- Drink shed loads of water; you don’t understand appreciate water so much as when you’re actually there.
- Wear a high factor sun cream- see; I’m sounding like your mother already.
- Make friends, Beni was the friendliest place I’ve ever been in my life.
- Eat FOOD. I advise Nutrigrain bars. I got through 8 boxes. Lovely.
- Spend at least one hour in the shower a day! You’ll see what i mean what you get there. Cold showers have never been so nice.
Where to Eat
Eat at a restaurant called Terra Magica. ( i want to buy that place, it was amazing) Two Beers and a pizze is 7.50 euros and a baguette and a beer is 4 euros. Thats the cheapest place we found and the nicest. Pool table, table tennis, little indoor football, and a GAINT ball pool- the ultimate come down after a good night. I saw about 8 random extremities coming out of that pool. Plus it had ‘FIB music’ playing as it advertised. It did as stated, with the odd smiths song thrown in (Morrissey would not be pleased)
My Beni best bits:
Pete Doherty sitting down and reading hand written lyrics of a scrap piece of paper.
Not sleeping from Sunday morning till Monday night.
In a nutshell the whole festival, every waking moment was fantastic.
But the ultimate highlight was when –during intimate time with a girl in his tent- our neighbour Tom asked me what time it was. To his disgust it was 3am and Mika had already started. ‘SHITE!’ he said ‘Mika’s already on? Sorry love, get your skirt, you’ll have to go.’
Crackin.
ALSO CHECK COMMENTS BELOW
Ness Jun 2nd, 2009 at 8:26 pm
Hey Ness, I’m an Aussie going solo. Have a group of mates (guys and girls) going aswell but will be meeting them there as I’m doing a bit of a trip prior. Your more than welcome to join us. Whats your plans? Where you from in Oz?
How do you get from Barcelona to Bena? I’m flying to Barca on the 11th and so will be camping from the 13th.
Is there a shuttle service?
Is train better?
Do we book in advance?
Also, where is the best place to head to once in the main camping area to get the best spot?
And about how much money will you need once inside?
Thanks
Ali
»crosslinked«
is there a massive drive between barcelona main airport and barcelona reus? any idea would be great! soooooooooo excited!
Hi all!!!
So exciting!!! Right So what do you do for sleeping?? Im sorry I dont know if they were winding me up but friends said there not taking airbeds!! are they mental or just me?? Whats the best thing to take?? We’ve got flights so weight is an issue. Aswell as 6 of us in hire car! Cheers!!
HEY ALL!
Getting super excited about Beni now, theres 6 of us going.
HOWEVER, i just realised that im the only one who got confused and brought just a 4 day ticket, without camping.
Just wondering if anyone has a camping ticket who is doing the hotel or apartment thing who would be willing to do a straight swap, as you won’t need the camping part.
Slightly Paniky!
Thanks!
Hiiii!
I have a friend who’s coming a couple of days later than the rest of us but she’s staying in one of our tents will this be ok?
I thought i read somewhere that you have to turn up with everyone you’re camping with? Bit worried cos this would mean she’s stranded!! Did I just make this up? haha!
Soooo excited 11 days to go!!
hi I was just wondering if anyone went last year who was under 18. There are four of us going this year one of us is 19 and the rest seventeen. the official fib website is saying that you have to show id to get your ticket. but you if you are under 18 you can get someone who is over 18 to take responsibilty for you?Im just really worried that we could get there and get turned away .
i could really do with some advice!!!
xxx
i booked train tickets off raileurope.co.uk, it is an english site dealing in european trains, or give them a all they were v helpful… also try spanish-rail.co.uk. i’d try and book trains in advance cuz i know one of the monday trains are full already and they’re gonna get more and more crowded…
scott Jun 25th, 2009 at 11:49 am
hi booked tickets of renfe bout 2 weeks ago. Printed the tickets off straight away so u shouldnt avta worry bout postcode too much!for document type and no i put my passport number. See u posted this a week ago so u prob av tickets sorted by now but hope it helps!
Hey, i have my tickets flights everything.
But i got told its for 18+ the other week, and im starting to freak out whether its all going to be a waste of money, will we be able to get in okay? If we do, how is it with drink is that okay with taking it into camp sites. Ahh just need someone to let me know what its like and stuff, would be greatly apreciated.
Hi guys, i haven’t been to beni before i’ve only been to uk festivals, and was wondering what all your spending money goes on at beni? i was thinking more like £100 over 9 days as apposed to 600-700 as someone else said
it’s making me kinda worried…
on average at uk festivals i spend about £5 over 4 days from buying a burger or something – all i was thinking of eating/drinking at beni is cereal bars, bread, few bottles of vodka, mixers and loads of water from the supermarket – surely that wont cost too much? i just really can’t imagine what else my money will go on??
also, is it easy to buy a blow up lilo there? i was thinking of getting one to sleep on instead of the thermal matt i’ve got
so exctied
Jocelyn, i havn’t been before but i’ve been reading this site and people seem to think its fine for under 18s to get in its meant to be pretty relaxed.
and yeah you’re allowed to take whatever drink you like into the campsite, but when you go into the arena they would take it off you – however ive found from going to festivals before theres always a way of smuggling them in especially for girls
my trick is putting a couple of bottles/cans/whatever will fit into the front pocket of a hoody, then i just tie the hoody round my waist so the pockets at the back – even if they do pat me down its not noticable at all! 
this is going to be my first time there too and I also thought that 600quid was reeeally high for spending money?! I’m planning on getting by with £250, 300 absolute tops… how much did other beni veterans spend in the past?
I’d just like to say thx to matt for posting all these replies throught the past 6 months, great tips there
and oh yes, just another week now!!
x
Is it better to take a lilo or a bedroll?
Hi All
A few are asking about car parking. We took 3 cars between us last year (hire cars) and there is street parking near the campsite but you’ll fight for a space there. We parked in the public (free) car park in the town, one of the wheels got pinched from my friends car. With being a hire car though they came the next day to sort it. It’s a chance you take but we’re willing and will do the same this year, once ya parked up you can leave it there as long as you want. We’re preparing much better this year, some serious shade required! Drink is expensive in the venue so take everyone elses advise re drinking before hand and sneaking stuff in. If you’re intending on buying anything else to perk your night up, please be careful…there’s alot of rubbish out there!
Can’t wait to meet some new friends…made loads last year and simply can’t wait to get there now…..have fun….be safe! xx
almost there!!!!!!!
One week to go guys…see you all there fellow boppers! xx
Hii
Does anyone know approximately how much a taxi from barcelona airport to barcelona train station is? Or if it’s walking distance? Thankyou (: any help appreciated
See you all there x
Morning campers. With beni 09 just days away, I was just wondering If anyone had any info on what you do upon arriving to the arena on the thursday?
Do you have to get wristbands?
What are the best times to get to the arena? (bands and entertainment starting)
Are there any info packs and programs?
I like to try to be prepared and ready for what I hope is the best fest of the year. So any tips and any advice would be great from you Beni veterans out there. cheers….
You can get a metro,train from the airport to the station in Barca cant walk it you will die on the motorway!
hi everyone, i went to beni last year for first time it was amazing!! got a question hopefully someone will be able to answer. there are two of us going but people arriving late meeting us out there. we have a 4 man tent for us and 2 others and now we are also taking our friends 4 man tent to set up for her. will they allow us to do that? we want to be given enough space for two 4 man tents but if theres only 2 of us queuing will they be arsey with us about it? also, will the late arrivers be ok to get in and explain that their tent is already set up and just meet us in there?
can’t wait either way!!!!
thankyou chris (:
hope everyone has a lovely time x
There is a new forum for benicassim fest where you can get any questions answered as well get to know other festival go-ers, tell stories of Fibfests of the past. It’s the best Benicassim Forum out there at the moment www(.)fibfest(.)com
THAAAAANKS FOR MAKING IT CLEARER!!
ITS TOMORROW AHH!!
Hi there. Just ordered my Benncassim ticket using my mums card and it says her name at the top, does this make a difference on entry and will i have to show any i.d?
Thanks.
Hey, i’ve read as much as i could from the above comments to try and avoid repeating anyones questions, but here we go. Me and 6 mates are going to the festival for the first time this year, unfortunately, due to some pretty retarded communication we’ve managed to book tickets on different days so 3 of us will be arriving on sunday night in alicante, and 4 the next night. There were a few things that i wanted to make sure of.
1 – Arriving late at around 11.30 in alicante we’re going to try to get a train or bus to benicassim, but i am not sure how this will work out. Has anyone got any advice on the best way to get there? Cheapest and reasonable comfort i would hope, we were looking at ALSA buses but i’ve heard that they’re pretty low quality, any chance of us catching a lift with some other festival goers? As we will all be under 18.
2 – Money, i read on this post from one person that 600 pounds was needed, i was a little worried at this as im nowhere near going to have that much money, but i then read that 250 was a figure from someone else, what’s it really ganna cost?
3 – Tents, i read that lilos are the way to go for sleeping so would it be possible to bring just a few tents between us and use them for storage?
Cheers, reading this post is getting me super psyched for the festival, cant wait.
Hey guys, I live in Barcelona, and I am looking for trnasportation to Benicasim. It appears that there are only a few trains and bus lines suck big balls, because you have to stop in Tarragona o Castellón or others. Does anyone know if there are special bus lines from Barcelona to Benicasim during FIB?
To get it off my chest i am absolutely BUZZING for benicassim. Myself and 15 others are arriving in Alicante early on sunday morning and catching a train to benicassim (around £30 open return i believe). Firstly, i estimate that i can afford an absolute maximum of £50 a day which would amount to an overall spenditure cost of £400 (despite some of my mates are taking up to £100 a day!). I’ve got a tent to myself and a light weight sleeping bag although i’m likely to be sleeping on top of it!
I’ve read numerous posts but cant decide where to camp. I think the majority of the party i’m going with is rooting for the beach scene because it’s closer to some shops and we don’t reckon the walk to arenas will be that awful. After taking in some tips from this forum i think i’ll more than likely be taking less clothes than expected and a very minimal amount of shoes!
Are there any lockers or anything to store valuables in?
Where abouts are the showers?
Cheers
Hi
Im goin to Benicassim for the first time in July, I was just looking for some advise on where the best airport to fly into would be and whats the best area to stay in etc. Any tips or advice would be great!!
Thanks in advance
We have full details of Flights here http://benicassimfestival.co.uk/benicassim-festival-flights/ and for where to stay http://benicassimfestival.co.uk/test-hotels/
normally special buses running we will add details on buses and coaches available
Hey peeps!!! Has anyone got an ideas of what the VIP tickets and Villacamp are like??? Just got some tickets for VIP for a present and can not find anything about it, only little snips about an illuminated swimming pool!!! any ideas???
Cheers !
T