The Bristol Beats Club’s Sziget Festival Review

We were really hoping AI would write this review for us…

It’s better than humans, ennit? Humans are all slow and stuff. Especially after they’ve attended the six-day extravaganza that is Sziget festival and, despite promising ourselves otherwise, filed very little copy while still on site. So, when we returned home from Sziget this year, we were hopeful. We were shattered. But we didn’t need to work, did we? AI had rendered our reviews redundant. We could just plug a magic phrase into an advanced autocomplete and watch the masses flock to our site to read all about what happened at Sziget 2025.

And then we tried getting AI to write the damn thing, maybe while chucking in an unusual detail or two throughout to give off the illusion of authenticity, and quickly became fearful. 

The robots, as it turns out, are currently incapable of correctly identifying even the most basic of details required for a proper review. Read their copy – which you almost certainly already have elsewhere – and rather than get a feel for the festival itself, you’ll be hard pushed to deduce which artists played when. So, to our eternal dismay, once again, the Bristol Beats Club are reporting to you using our own human brains, and we’re gonna tell you all about what really went down at Sziget 2025 – and if it’s worth your time snagging cheap tickets for 2026. 

Deep breath. Furrowed brow.

Why the fuck did we not make notes?

On Thursday, we hit the Hungarian tarmac shattered from the get-go.

Turns out you can fly direct from Bristol to Budapest, y’know. At 6.45 in the morning. Which doesn’t sound particularly early, does it? Not when you book tickets. But once you have, you realise you’ve got to get to the airport at 4.45am. That’s a 4am wake up call… and the Bristol Beats Club go to bed late. So, when we touched down in Budapest on day two of the festival (flights from Bristol, it turns out, aren’t that regular), we were knackered. And it was boiling. And we had to stand in that massive queue that British people have to stand in, next to the empty EU entry lane, with idle border guards gazing across at you and smirking that, yes, Brexit really does mean Brexit.

The real joke, of course, is on the idle guards. As everybody knows, the British love queuing. 

At Budapest airport, you can expect to be greeted by Sziget representatives.

You’ll be trepidatious about heading to Sziget, of course. It is abroad. Which seems like a lot of effort. And, if you’re travelling from Bristol, you’ll be leaving the UK at 6.45am. But fear not!

Those heading to Sziget can expect to be greeted by a smiling volunteer in arrivals. It’s a small airport, too. You can’t miss the reps in their branded tees. And, to be honest, they know a Szitizen when they see one – so you can expect them to approach you.

That’s exactly what happened to the weary Beats Club that day: an angel appeared, and said there was a laid-on coach heading to the festival in 8 minutes for 22 euros per person. We knew we didn’t need to take the offer up – getting public transport to the festival really isn’t that tough, and can save you a bit of dough. But we obliged. Alongside just two other people, we were driven in an air-conditioned coach to a secret and deserted wristband exchange while debating the effects of Brexit.

It is starting to sound like AI wrote this, isn’t it?

There were some major updates to Sziget this year.

New areas. Stages moved. The introduction of cheaper night-time tickets for Szitizens nocturnal.

The good news is, it’s easy enough to acquaint yourself with the festival’s handy app. Maps, set times, notifications detailing what’s going on: it’s all in there making it awfully easy to plan out your day. And for the Bristol Beats Club that day, we did exactly that – choosing first to head to the famous Sziget beach, a place of joy in which Szitizens can splash around and sunbathe to a backtrack of chilled house. It was just what we needed after a flight.

Sadly, when we headed to the beach this year, we were dealt a traumatic blow.

This year, the famous Sziget beach was closed. It’d rained a little too aggressively over in Austria recently, apparently. The Danube – the river that runs alongside Sziget – had engorged. Sziget’s beach was therefore underwater; a hazard to Szitizens, and inaccessible to all.

We had planned to spend our days recovering and chilling out at the beach, but it became immediately clear a new plan would be needed. Anticipating as much, Sziget had responded, shuffling what would have been the beach inland, to higher ground. It was a chill-out zone of sorts, but just a stone’s throw from the thumping EDM of the Yettel colosseum. We were impressed at the festival’s quick thinking and it’s hard to fault them for attempting to avoid death by Danube but, as hopeful Szitizens rocked up with their lilos in hand only to be dealt the devastating news, it was clear a compromise had been made. You could chill at the new beach area. So long as you were happy to chill to an inescapable pulsating bassline. The Bristol Beats Club gave it a go and made our conclusion:

The effects of global warming are worse than any of us could ever have imagined. We should all, right now, buy an electric car.

Thursday’s musical highlights were up there with the best.

The beach might not have been open, but there was still fun to be had that Thursday. We were treated to a banger of a set by Australian surf rockers Ocean Alley, an energetic performance by Canada’s The Beaches, we caught the end of the set of Kiwi alt-pop outfit Balu Brigada, popped in to some UK garage in the form of Killowen on the dropyard stage, there was Noga Erez rocking the Revolut tent, and our night ended with a spellbinding Justice set complete with most likely the greatest light show we’ve ever experienced. 

If the names on that list don’t arouse you, stop reading. You’re in the wrong place and there is no saving you.

If, however, you’re wired correctly, get a ticket for next year. 

You will not be disappointed.

Come Friday, the Bristol Beats Club were feeling a little worse for wear.

Even worse, our arrival on Sziget day two meant finding a decent camping spot on arrival had required effort. Effort that, quite frankly, we weren’t prepared to muster. And that meant, on Friday morning, we clambered from a tent pitched on a 40-degree incline, unrested following a night of battling gravity.

Our festival was in jeopardy. Fortunately, at Sziget, there are facilities on offer to rejuvenate even the most indolent of campers.

As a human, for example, you’ll be familiar with the concept of daily showers. UK festival organisers might deem them an unnecessary luxury… but not Sziget! After a night off depravity, the hot showers on offer – combined with clean toilets that actually flush – are a feast for the soul. We made full use of them early on and, by midday, had regained the ability to smile.

There’s a workout area at Sziget… that people actually use.

As mentioned above, on arrival at Sziget, we kinda just threw our tent down in the first available space we happened upon. Which turned out to be a stroke of good fortune because, on Friday, we realised we’d pitched our tent right next to Sziget’s workout zone. Volleyball. Tai chi. Basketball. Dumbbells, kettlebells, yoga mats – it was all there. And, perhaps even more surprising, it was all in use! Now, if we’re honest, we weren’t feeling like a workout in the midday sun was necessarily an exceptional idea. But we were there to report!

And that was how, twenty minutes later, we were throwing kettlebells overhead to the first YouTube workout we’d found, unable to work out the difference between the ‘swing’ and the ‘snatch’ (hehe). We didn’t want to do it. But we would recommend it. Once the workout was over, we were high-fiving strangers as a sweaty, endorphin-buzzed collective. 

Nota bene: when you do this, bring water and a towel. And, afterwards, head straight back to the showers.

Eating at Sziget, it turns out, can get pretty spenny.

Not UK-festival spenny. But we’re talking £12 a meal. And ‘meal’ is pretty generous. Although the food scene in Budapest itself is decent, at Sziget, by accident or design, there’s a notable absence of vegetables. Worse still, standard coffees are single-shot. Do you want to double up? We were asked when we eventually made it to the front of a slow-moving coffee kart queue, to which the answer was absa-bloody-lutely (we were still perfecting our Hungarian). In return, however, our coffees cost us over £6 each.

But no matter! Because, after previous experiences at continental festivals, this year, we’d brought along our very own chilly-bin. It was a kinda styrofoam box, that we’d bought on ebay and that smelled of fish, and that we’d had the brilliant idea of filling with ice and smoothies and wraps and black-market gin and tonics purchased from the Aldi just outside the festival’s entrance. We’d add a handful of iced coffees in, we figured, and we’d be set. That was the plan, and it was brilliant.

It was, however, scuppered by the fact the nearby Aldi did not sell ice. So we had our fridge. And a basket full of goodies. But no way of keeping anything cool. What did the Beats Club do?

Rather dubiously, we bought a shit-ton of frozen peas. And they worked! So, before we’d even hit up any of the music on Friday, we’d showered and we’d shaved and we’d worked out and we’d showered again, and we had a fridge fuelled by frozen-pea. The sun was out. The crowds were all in great spirits. And we headed off to enjoy yet another belter of a day.

In complete contrast to our native equivalents, this place is really bloody well run.

In the build up to Sziget, one of the Beats Club had declared their excitement for Michael Kiwanuka’s slot on the Friday, and the other of us had seconded the  motion. Tempting fete, we clearly were, because days before his appearance he’d had to withdraw due to illness. Now, we all know what would happen should the brand behind the fiesta be Festival Republic: a trademark concoction of chaos and confusion before, rather than a critically acclaimed soul singer and producer, revellers would instead be treated to the spandex-clad 90’s has-been Mr. Motivator.

At Sziget though? He was subbed out immediately for wizened indie-pop-rockers The Kooks, who used all their experience and really rather extensive back catalogue to get the Friday party started, laying the groundwork for a wicked set by Blossoms, before an unexpectedly interactive set from Caribou. All told, Friday’s music was stand-out.

And for the whole day, we managed to avoid the Yettel colosseum.

At Sziget, if you’re reticent, there’s no need to camp.

We actually quite like camping at Sziget. There’s a real buzz around the place at all times and, save for air-con and an oven, campers can shower, they can blow-dry their hair, they can charge phones, they can buy blow-up mattresses, so the downsides of camping at Sziget are minimal (be sure to bring earplugs, natch). Still, more than a few Szitzens choose to stay in nearby airbnbs. That gives you a chance to check out the delights of Budapest itself so, on Saturday, we packed small bags (leaving our tent and fridge behind) and headed off to our airbnb.

A tip: get yourself to a thermal spa.

There are tons of spas around Budapest. And after a few days at the festival, things begin to get dusty. Visiting one of the many, inexpensive and nearby spas offers Szitizens an ideal chance to recharge their batteries, whether or not you’re in a Budapestian airbnb. After we’d checked into our airbnb (easily accessible by public transport; tickets procured through the Budapest Go app), we hit up the closest spa to the festival we could find and spent a few hours basking in the sun, dunking in the outdoor pool and oscillating between the steam room and sauna, wondering which one of us must’ve been Mother Teresa in a previous life. These places are so great it almost makes you question returning to Sziget itself. Being good reporters, though, we had duties. 

It is a tough life, Beats Clubbers, but we do it for you.

It’s a decent idea to plan an easy day at Sziget.

Sziget is no two-day blowout, Beats Clubbers. It is a full-on six nights of mayhem. We’d therefore recommend, particularly given our old age and historical record of indulgence, you plan one night at Sziget to take it easy. For us, that was Saturday, where we switched from questionable cans of local Dreher to lovely 330ml samples of pale ales and IPAs over at Sziget’s built-in craft beer, before wandering over to catch a pulsating Anyma set and the blissful Ry X performance under the cover of the Revolut.

It would have been blissful, at least. But from where we were standing, some kind of DnB-laced hip-hop began to bleed into the Ry X set. The two stages were, frankly, far too close together, ruining the atmospheric performance somewhat, and it wasn’t long before we wandered off – to a stroke of good fortune.

What we lost at Ry X we gained during a spellbinding aerial ballet: six-or-so gymnasts dangling from a crane contorting into positions impossible, all ending with the pyrotechnics normally reserved for festival headliners. 

One thing you should note about Sziget is it’s not all about the music, as this – a real festival highlight – proved. To us, that makes Sziget worth attending even in the absence of a stellar line up.

We awoke on the Sunday refreshed and raring. 

A decent sleep in our air-conditioned airbnb, plus a home-cooked meal complete with four different vegetables, and a double espresso at one of the many nearby espresso bars, had the Beats Club in good spirits for the Sunday. And by this point, we’d really found our feet: we had our fridge filled with frozen peas still keeping drinks chilled over in the festival; we’d discovered the local, reasonably priced craft beer bar; we’d had a spa day and we knew where everything was. All that was left to do was revel among the crowds – which is exactly what we did.

This place has its own unique, community-minded atmosphere.

It’s worth noting here that, at Sziget, there’s a real sense of community going on. Budapest itself is a real melting pot of cultures and nationalities, and Sziget is no different, but all of those from life’s subsections all have one thing in common: everyone around is into musical merriment. There are smiles in every corner. Stretch out a hand and be prepared for a high-five. The atmosphere extends onto all of Szigets many stages, where performers extol the virtues of community, gratitude and – poignantly in 2025 – peace. 

On Sunday, we caught an impressive set in the ilk of Billie Eilish from Isabel LaRosa, thankful as they were for, on that very same day, four of their tracks achieving platinum status. It was then over to the Revolut, where French electro-pop outfit Zaho de Sagazan really blew the Bristol Beats Club away, a rousing cover of Bowie’s Modern Love etching itself into the upper echelons of Sziget’s many highlights. 

Fat Dog’s performance was as chaotic as expected – with Szitizens uniting as human shields to ensure a wheelchair-using onlooker was not harmed by the nearby moshpit. Would the guy like any help in finding a less raucous spot? No fucking way, was his response – he was loving his vantage point.

It was hard not to be swept away by the overwhelming atmosphere of joy.

Sunday’s mainstage headliner Post Malone gave a predictably well received performance, and despite our reservations around Post’s overtly commercial tendencies, even we’ll admit it was hard not to be swept away by the overwhelming atmosphere of joy.

And then, a dilemma. We needed to vacate our airbnb at 10am the next day, ahead of our flight departing on Monday night. We also wanted to catch Armin van Buuren’s set over at the Bolt night stage, which ended at 3am. That meant getting back ‘home’ at, by the time we’d packed up what remained of our belongings and jumped on the hour-long public transport route back into Budapest’s city-centre, 5am. We resigned ourselves to a pizza, shrugging. We’d had enough fun, we decided.

And it was over that pizza that we bumped into a crew attending from the Netherlands. What were we thinking?! They chastised. We must see the Armin van Buuren set. Leaving early would prove criminal! You can sleep when you’re dead!

We duly obliged, raving to hardcore trance well into the wee hours, and getting back home euphoric as the sun rose.

Why not Glastonbury? Why come here?

We had vague plans to head back to Sziget on Monday, but we simply couldn’t face the feeling of leaving the arena in the late afternoon, as the masses flooded in, with our tails between our legs, knowing how much fun we were missing. Next year, we resolved, we’d get better flights – from London. We would not be in the same position. Despite a reshuffle of stages that had thrown up teething problems, the allure of Island of Freedom was always going to be too great to avoid.

Which brings us to a conversation we’d had with a couple of local Hungarians a few days before. Perplexed, they were as to why someone from the UK would travel to Hungary for Sziget. Was Sziget big in the UK? Why would Brits not go to a local festival? Glastonbury?

It was a fair line of questioning, and we had a few answers – showers, cleanliness, sunshine, organisation and atmosphere. Mostly though, it was a case of je ne sais quoi. Sziget wasn’t particularly big in the UK, but it was definitely getting bigger. Because, while we couldn’t place precisely what was so special about Sziget, special is exactly what the Hungary festival was. 

It was worth travelling for. It was, in our eyes, a must-attend experience. For the Bristol Beats Club, the musical line up might’ve been hit and miss. But Sziget grants you much more than you might see on a poster. 

Expect to play Nokia’s snake in smoke with your feet at 3am with strangers. Expect to open a portaloo and be met with an art installation. Expect to attend staged debates on the morality of males opening doors for females. Or performers dressed as giraffes roaming the streets.

Expect to meet new people, expect to make great memories and, above all, expect to have too much fun. Sziget is a festival you’ll be thinking about long after it ends. 

Trust in the Beats Club, Beats Clubber. This thing is great.

Pre-registration for Sziget 2026 is now open, offering priority access to the best-priced Full Festival Pass. Availability is limited and exclusive to those who pre-register at www.szigetfestival.com.