Imagine a place so remote, it takes a plane, some trains, a bus, and maybe even a cab to reach. Then, when you’re finally standing in the midst of its glory, you look around and take in the magnificence of the mountains, the snow, the decor, and notice you’re not alone. Spectating with you are 22,000 other eager humans, coming from different corners of the world. And it’s in this camaraderie, Tomorrowland Winter begins to unfurl.
If you’ve never been to a music festival, I highly recommend making this one your first – yes, I’m completely biased in that statement, but hear me out: if you decide festivals aren’t for you, then you can at least have the very humble brag of your first being in the French Alps.
The formula has stayed consistent since its origins in 2019: Tickets go on sale in September, with previous attendants getting to book a few days before the general public. You’re going to want to set your alarms for when the packages go live, so you can book accommodations close to the venue with full/half-board options. The longer you wait, the further away from the main stage you will be, and trust me, you’re not going to love walking a few miles or even driving down the mountain to your room after partying for 12+ hours.
7-day packages include:
– A full 7 nights of lodging
– General admission for all 7 nights to all stages
– Access to lifts/gondolas for all 7 nights
– One Tomorrowland bracelet and Treasure Case per person
– An SGR guarantee, which entitles consumers to a full refund if Tomorrowland isn’t able to meet its travel obligations (city tax, service fee included in cost)
– Travel accommodations via plane or bus from select European cities
4-day packages include:
-A full 4 nights of lodging, starting on the day of the Main Stage reveal; usually falls on a Tuesday
– General admission for all 4 nights to all stages
– Access to lifts/gondolas for all 4 nights
– One Tomorrowland bracelet and Treasure Case per person
– An SGR guarantee, which entitles consumers to a full refund if Tomorrowland isn’t able to meet its travel obligations (city tax, service fee included in cost)
– Travel accommodations via plane or bus from select European cities
If packages aren’t your thing, and you’d rather play travel agent yourself, you can purchase festival passes, which only include lift and stage access. You can also add a hospitality upgrade, which gives you access to the VIP balcony section of the Main Stage (also available as a package add-on). Again, without the full package, booking accommodations are your responsibility. Most available lodgings will be off of festival grounds, in the villages at the base of the mountain. The drive up to the festival grounds from the surrounding towns is around an hour or more. Hopefully you’ll have a DD willing to put in the work.
For those of you already in Europe, looking to have fun for a day or two, there are also single day tickets available.
Lodging:
Alpe d’Huez is like any ski/board town, wherein accommodations exist on the mountain. Tomorrowland uses these establishments to house this fun, little festival community. As aforementioned, once packages go live, accommodations book up, quickly, on a first-come, first-serve basis. There are four tiers: wood, bronze, silver, and gold – gold being the priciest tier. You pay for proximity to the Main Stage, as well as comfortability, and half/full-board. Getting half/full-board isn’t really worth it, if you’re like me, and not really eating at festivals. There’s too much fun to be had to be thinking about food, if you know what I mean. However, we did opt-in to a half-board package our first year, and it was convenient to have a breakfast and dinner to go to with, “free,” wine and enough croissants to feed a herd of cattle; though, we didn’t get to experience more food on the mountain, because we felt inclined to eat at the lodge. In our second year, we didn’t get a half/full-board and experienced more of the cuisine provided at each stage; it’s really contingent on your personal budget preferences.
In 2023, the only bookable option we had (late to the party) was in the wood tier. For four days, with half-board, room, and lift/festival ticket, each of us (me, my sister, and my best friend) paid roughly $1300USD (transportation not included). In our second year, we opted for the 7-day package with bus transportation from Amsterdam, and lodging in the silver tier sans food, for about $1500USD. That’s a little over $200/day, which doesn’t even equate to some lift tickets in the US.
Transportation:
We did not book our transportation with Tomorrowland in 2023, and instead opted for the Transaltitude bus, which picked us up from the Grenoble bus station in France. There are many services available for getting you to the festival, but all need to be reserved as soon as possible. Finding a last-minute cab that will take you from anywhere in Europe to Alpe d’Huez is virtually impossible, but if you manage, please let me know how you did. Here are some other recommended services, bookable via the official website.
You really don’t save much booking your own transportation, and it saves you the hassle of having to confirm bookings across multiple facets. Plus, the official bus stops for festival-goers along the way, making it a fun pre-game to the festivities. We met a lot of really cool people from Canada, Minnesota, and Dubai in our second year of attendance.
Also worth noting: Shuttle services are only available from specific cities within Europe, which means you’re going to have to find your own way to these stations. I recommend mapping out your route/buying train tickets/reserving a cab as soon as you can. You never know what roadblocks you could run into, like a reduced train schedule (we were in France during the protests in 2023 and were scrambling to find our way around).
If you really want a fool-proof plan, Tomorrowland Winter has a full travel package that includes a round-trip ticket (from select cities), as well as transport from the airport to the festival grounds and back. Since we’re flight attendants, we took care of the air travel ourselves.
The Festival:
There are five stages on the mountain, which all require a lift/gondola. Riding down to each stage from the summit is my favorite way to do the festival. Lifts run until 1630, so you’ll want to plan your stages accordingly. Most people tend to party at the stage on the middle of the mountain, but there is also one at the summit that’s worth going to for the views. Each stage has food/drink/nicotine booths/plenty of space to sit as well.
At the base of the mountain is the main festival grounds, which include the Main Stage, as well as four smaller stages and a wide array of experiences (they change year-to-year) to keep your attention spans diversified. A lot of the Tomorrowland sponsors set up shop and you’ll find yourself leaving with free memorabilia from Capitalism Incarnate, whether you like it or not. There is also an official Tomorrowland store, where you can spend more money. Because if you don’t have official merch, did you even really go?
The line-up year-to-year has slight changes, but you can expect to see Europe’s favorites, including Steve Aoki, Netsky, Dmitri Vegas/Like Mike, and Afrojack. The smaller stages provide a less mainstream sound (I love House, but sometimes it’s nice to switch it up) with drum & bass, hardstyle, and techno.
My favorite aspect of Tomorrowland Winter is the crowd sizing and overall control. 22,000 people seems like a lot, until you compare it to the summer festival in Belgium, which sees over 400,000 over the two weekends. There’s so much space to dance and vibe with the People of Tomorrow; it’s a special connection like no other.
To make your life easy, downloading the Tomorrowland Winter app will gain you access to line-up information, a map to the grounds with lift information, stage information, amenities, restaurants, and so much more.
***I highly recommend riding down to the Restaurant La Bergerie du Villard for their chocolat chaud avec Cointreau. The run is winding and long, but worth the work. I mean, look at this view:
Additionally, Tomorrowland offers gear rentals, lockers, and experience add-ons. Depending on what you like to get into, you can purchase these shortly after buying your package. We decided to try a drink experience in 2024, where we were sat at a bar with two mixologists providing us an immersive journey through four different, craft cocktails. Other experiences include fine-dining, paragliding, dog-sledding, an alpine coaster, and yoga.
I hope this serves as informative to anyone thinking of attending. As always, feel free to reach out with any questions or comments. Let’s connect at the next one!
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