After two years, the Szitizens invaded the Danube island, getting the festival’s first day sold-out.
The gates opened at 6 a.m. on August 10, when people from every continent set up their tents and started the party. With the visit of Ed Sheeran in 2019, new attendance records were set of 565,000.
Over 60 different stages, the first day’s main events were the performances of Milchy Chance, Rüfüs Du Sol, Nina Kraviz, and Dua Lipa.
The Sziget is not only about music: the Circus du Sziget entertains visitors of all ages all day.
Hundreds of stands around the island offer guests every kind of activity; do you feel spontaneous and get a tattoo? Do you feel like it’s a good time like any to get your moles checked? Would you like to fly hang on a tower crane? The island of freedom has it all.
The location is Obuda Island, one up from Margaret Island north of Budapest. The main entry point will be on the island side of the K-Bridge, the walkway across from the mainland.
On 76 hectares, 8,000 people worked hard to build the Sziget!
SUSTAINABILITY: GREEN SZIGET FIGHT AGAINST PLASTIC WASTE
Visitors who “buy a tree” with their tickets can contribute to creating a CO2 offset forest.
With the support of Coca-cola, they are also starting a larger collection program than ever, so they can collect even more discarded PET bottles than before. They continue to use re: glass, and degradable tableware and focus on recovering the generated waste.
Environmental protection includes the fact that an area of the island, a part of the forest adjacent to the district, will be closed to the public due to the protected flora present therein, in line with the reclassification of the park as a nature reserve by the capital and of the WWF.
MAKING THE ISLAND GREENER HAS ALWAYS BEEN AN IMPORTANT OBJECTIVE OF THE FESTIVAL.
We all need to do our part to contribute to the transition to limiting global warming. Therefore, Sziget provides recommendations on how to make the festival more environmentally friendly.
The organizers encourage visitors to commit to cleaning their tents at the campsite. Those who register their promise will be shown on the Main Stage projector and will be able to win an Island T-shirt or a 2023 season ticket. 80% of the festival’s emissions come from visitor flights. Traveling by train or bus is the least carbon-intensive way to reach the festival. If there was no choice but to fly, let’s plant a tree!
Fighting Plastic Waste!
Plastic waste is becoming less of a problem at the Sziget festival, thanks to reusable cups, Sziget’s straw-free policy, biodegradable containers, and an ever-increasing number of bottle refill points. The organizers encourage everyone to bring their own bottle of water. It is also possible for visitors to exchange their aluminum and plastic waste for various gifts.
There will be a zero-waste shop, for the first time at the festival courtesy of Lemérem, with a commercial for waste compost.
The Sziget Festival had a great start… and was only the prelude to Budapest’s funniest week!
