With a backdrop of old coal mining machinery and several beaches, its no wonder Melt! Festival in Germany is one of the most popular festivals in Europe. For me personally, the lineup at this festival was the best I had seen all summer. With headliners like Kylie Minogue, Flume, and Alt-J, the festival catered to electronic diversity. Between the many beaches that touch the lake at the festival, the lineup, the awesome backdrop and flawless organization, I would highly recommend this festival to anyone.

The festival, which is held in Ferropolis, Germany, is located about 2 hours outside of Berlin. Named for its extreme hot temperatures during the day, Melt! is an incredibly well-organized festival that caters to approximately 20,000 attendees yearly. The festival has several different camping options, including the ability to rent camping supplies just for the weekend.

Underneath coal mine machinery at Melt!

How To Get There

Getting to Ferropolis was not difficult. Berlin has a central train station which is easily accessible from any part of the city. From there, you can take a train straight to Gräfenhainichen and the festival organizes complimentary transportation directly to the festival grounds. The festival also partners with a company that can take you directly to the festival from the airport. Likewise, Bla Bla car can be used, or the train that the festival sets up from Cologne, Germany that serves also as a hotel. The festival is highly efficient in ensuring attendees from neighboring countries can make it into the festival smoothly.

Where to Stay

Melt! offered the most variety and places to stay at the festival. Places to stay included:

• GA Camping: GA camping was located closest to the festival grounds and was about a 10 minute walk to the festival entrance. The camping area was complete with a little over 10 food vendors (which included a crepe shop, a burger stand, pizza, a coffee shop, etc.) and about 3 stages set up in the camp area for daytime dancing sessions. The GA camping area had showers available for 3 euros and nice bathrooms with outlets available for 50 cents. Even with gazebos, this part of Germany got incredibly hot in the mornings. Luckily, there are a bunch of trees separating the lake from the camping area, and tons of concert goers moved hammocks and sleeping bags into the forest area to cool off and sleep in the shade.
  

  Forest camping to avoid the heat

• Train – Incredibly unique to this festival, Melt! utilizes a special train service called MiXery Melt! Train. It has multiple stops, starting in Cologne, Germany and ending at the Festival. The train is a party train complete with bar, DJ, and rooms to sleep in for the weekend. The train also offers a food service for breakfast and lunches. Although I did not stay in the train for this festival, I heard it was a cool experience. Feel free to check it out here.
• Hostel and Hotels – Depending on how much money you would like to spend, the festival worked with third party company to arrange several options for lodging that were off the festival grounds. Shuttles were provided by the festival to and from the different hotel options for quick and easy transit.
• VIP camping (Camping Plus)– VIP camping was located on grounds about 5 minutes further from the festival entrance but was catered to be a more quiet area so campers could get some rest at nights. The VIP area had about 3 vendors in its area as well, but had free showers and toilets available to those wearing a VIP band.

Capacity

Capacity for this festival is 20,000. The festival definitely had an overall large vibe to it. Certain stages felt like they got crowded fairly quickly, depending on the artist. All of the stages were outside (not in a tent) with the exception of the Intro Tent. The Desperados Melt! Skeltor stage is also located directly on the beach, so festival goers can pack a bathing suit and groove to some good tunes in the water.

Enjoying the lake before the music

Crowd

What I liked most about this festival was the diverse crowd. The lineup was incredible, so it brought people in from all over Europe. As I have mentioned after attending Hurricane, the Germans are an absolute blast. They love to party, have fun, and be wild. The same rang true at this festival. There were tons of good outfits, costumes, and glitter. All signs of a good time. Everyone danced, was friendly, and were respectful of one another. I met people from all over Europe at this festival, but most were from Germany, the UK or the Netherlands.

Food

The biggest downfall to this festival was the food. While there were diverse options (sandwiches, pizza, burgers, crepes, asian, seafood) there seemed to be only two of every vendor at the festival. In the camping area there were about 7 vendors selling their food, and in the festival grounds, the exact same vendors could be found selling the exact same food. For the four days I was at the festival, my breakfast, lunches, dinners and snacks didn’t seem to vary because I was eating the same mix of food over and over.

Cafe Haus

Things to Do

The festival offered a plethora of great activities to do other than checking out the tunes…

• Rave Aerobics – This is exactly what you think it is. And its awesome.
  

  Participating in Rave Aerobics Friday afternoon

• Sleepless Stage – 24/7 nonstop music at this stage, located just outside of the festival entrance. This stage is quite interesting because not only can you come here at any time of day to dance, but you don’t even need a wristband to be there. In fact, there are some people who come to Melt!, camp for free and groove at the Sleepless Stage for the weekend. Awesome concept if you ask me, because the festival is still able to make money from these attendees when they purchase cocktails and water. Also, I think it’s a great way to encourage people to go to the festival at some point so they can see the actual grounds.
• Face/body painting – Several sponsors of the festival (including a sunglass company and Pimms Cider) offered free face/body painting, glitter and flash tats to liven up your festival look.
• Lounging with the cigarette vendors – Marlboro had a pretty big presence at the festival by having an entire lounge area set up in the GA camping area, complete with couches a stage and a DJ.
  

  Marlboro hangout area

• Swimming in the lake – A great daytime activity before the music begins
• Sleeping in the forest – Sometimes necessary when your tent is just too hot!
• The Naked Heart (a nude run)
• Playground/jungle gym area located inside of the festival
  

  Art at Melt!

What Makes the Festival Different

• The beach – Being on a lake and having multiple beaches made the festival feel almost like a little vacation spot.
  

  Beach at the Desperados Stage

• The backdrop (coal mining machinery) – The machinery was unlike anything you could imagine. It was absolutely gigantic, and well decorated at night with blue and purple lights. Oh, and disco balls.
  

  Playing in puddles under some machinery

• The lineup – As I mentioned before, this lineup was my absolute favorite over the summer. Between Odesza, Flume, Cashmere Cat and Santigold, I was in electronic heaven.
  

  Odesza at Melt!

  

  Tove Lo at Melt!

• Organization – I could not speak more positively about the organization of this festival. It was well run, all acts were on time, and the festival made it incredibly easy to get to, no matter which direction in the world you were coming from.
• Sleepless stage (free for everyone) – The Sleepless Stage, which was located just outside of the festival and just outside of the camping area was free for everyone… ticket-holder and non ticket-holders alike. This stage was open 24 hours, was near the beach, and always had a crowd. What I liked about this, was that you were still able to have a good weekend despite paying for a full weekend ticket. There was also a bar at this stage, so the festival was still able to profit off of its Sleepless Stage attendees and encourage those attendees to buy a full weekend pass for the next year.
• 5 Euro Garbage deposit – In order to be eco-concious, this festival required each person to put a 5 euro deposit down for a garbage bag. The requirement was to fill the bag full of trash before receiving the 5 euros back at the end of the weekend. I love how this encouraged festival attendees to protect the land and pick up after themselves.
• Chip system for food and drinks – Similar to several festivals in Europe, Melt! adopted the cashless chip system for both food and beverages. This made for quick, hassle-free lines day or night.

Overall rating: 9/10

Overall, Melt! was one fun festival with a great vibe. The beach and coal mining machinery made for a unique backdrop, and the lineup was unbeatable (in my opinion, anyway). Out of all the festivals I attended in Europe, this festival was in my top 2. I highly encourage everyone to make the trip and check out this well organized and beautiful festival. I plan to be back in 2016!

Let me know if you have questions and thanks for reading!

XO Steph

P.S. Interested in reading an interview I had at Melt! with Odesza’s tour manager, Bryan? Check out our full discussion on festivals here.