Guide to attend Tomorrowland, one of the most impressive festivals in the world held for many years in Boom, Belgium.
Dreams are there to come true, and for fans of electronic music in general, attending Tomorrowland is one of them. It is the festival par excellence to attend once you want to start a musical adventure outside your country, unless you reside in Belgium. The architecture of all its settings and the magical feeling it gives off makes it a one of our top recommendations, and that is why, with this guide, we will provide the answers to all your doubts.
Tomorrowland is divided into two weekends, as usual. Exceptionally, it was divided into 3 the previous year due to all the problems derived from the pandemic, announcing that it would not happen again in this edition. The Confirmed dates are July 21 – 23 and 28 – 30. You should also take into account the day before, since if you have your camping ticket you can enjoy the welcome party. This year the theme is called 'adscendo', of which we will have more information in the coming months.
- PRE-REGISTRATION
The moment Tomorrowland begins the path to its next edition, the first thing it enables is pre-registration. It is absolutely necessary to purchase your tickets, since if you do not do so, you will not be able to access the ticket sales platform. Besides, If you are one of the 20 fastest people to pre-register, you will be notified by email, and you will have a link to purchase your tickets before the sale begins. Of those 20, one of them will be Country Ambassador.
- GLOBAL JOURNEY
Global Journey is the name given to the package containing the Full Tomorrowland experience: transport, accommodation and festival. They are the first tickets to go on sale, and if you want to see your dream of going to Tomorrowland come true, it is the most recommended purchase. It is the easiest ticket to buy, since normally people wait for the global sale, but not the cheapest one. The minimum price of a Global Journey is around 700 -800 euro.
Regarding transportation, it can be plane, train and bus, including round trip travel from the city of origin chosen in the purchase. In case of choosing the hotel package, it includes transportation from the hotel itself to the festival and vice versa. They all contain a surprise gift from Tomorrowland, in addition to the daily newspaper. You can find much more information in the global journey simulator that the festival opens a month and a half before the purchase.
- PRE-SALE / SALE
With your pre-registration, you will be able to access both the pre-sale and the global sale. Regarding pre-sale, it is possibly the most difficult time to get tickets, since very few tickets go on sale. The pre-sale is cheaper than the global sale itself, so many people will be trying to get their tickets at this time. Secondly, the number of tickets available in the global sale is much higher. These are our tips to try to access more easily:
- Access the purchase before the start of ticket sales. Tickets sell out in minutes, so if you go in later, you may not find anything available.
- Use a single browser / device under the same network for the purchase. The system detects if there are several connections from the same network and will send you to the last positions in the queue.
- Decide which package or ticket you are going to purchase before purchase. You only have 7 minutes to process your purchase, so if you don't do it in that certain time, you will return to the queue and lose the purchase opportunity.
- You can only purchase 4 tickets per person, regardless of what they are.
- Modify the limits of your card, since it depends on the tickets you want to purchase, they can be a large sum of money.
You can check the ticket prices at the festival's own website, selecting the section Tomorrowland Belgium.
- WAITING LIST
All those purchase orders that could not be completed during the pre-sale and sale, will be reserved for the Waiting List, which can be accessed during certain times of the year. You will receive an email to access it as if it were a new pre-registration. Habitually, it is easier to access the Waiting List, so it is your best opportunity in case you have not previously obtained a ticket.
- ACTIVATE YOUR TICKET
Once you have obtained your ticket for Tomorrowland, you must access your account from their website. In this account, you will be able to review all the details of the purchase and modify your data if necessary. Tickets are by name, but Tomorrowland will open a platform to request a name change for a certain time.
To activate your bracelet, you must look for the code that appears on the back and add it to the web form. The bracelet will be your payment method, so we recommend recharging it now from the Tomorrowland website. You will save unnecessary queues, and it will be one less worry within the festival.
- FLIGHTS
If you travel on your own from Spain, you can fly from the main cities. Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia, Bilbao and even other cities like Malaga or Santander. The closest airport to Boom is Brussels,although you also have Charleroi, located to the south, about an hour from Brussels by bus. The latter is usually cheaper.
Shuttles are available from both airports to go directly to Dreamville from Thursday morning and back on Monday after the event for €20 each way from Brussels National airport and €35 from Charleroi.
Buying the flights in advance, you can find them for approximately €100, depending on the schedules. Personally, we recommend going on Wednesday afternoon and sleeping in Brussels capital. In the afternoon, Around the famous Delirium Bar, ravers from all over the world come together to start the week of madness.
- DREAMVILLE
Dreamville is the camping area of Tomorrowland. If you decide to buy a ticket with camping, it is the place where you will stay. Dreamville has grown over the years to become more than just a rest area. These are some of the different options offered by the campsite itself:
- Dreamville has a Carrefour supermarket, where you can buy all the necessary products to survive on a day-to-day basis. The prices are not excessively expensive, as well as being good quality products, so it is one of the cheapest options to eat at the campsite. You will have to pay by card, since they do not accept cash or pearls.
- There are several barbecues scattered around the campsite, so if you want to organize a small barbecue before entering the festival, this is the right place.
- The place to go if you need help with anything related to the campsite is the information point. You can also purchase the festival power banks and exchange them as many times as you want once the battery has run out. As a recommendation, they also sell water once the festival is over.
- If you want to avoid long queues at the festival, you have an official festival merchandising store inside the campsite, where you can buy as many products as you want from the Tomorrowland brand.
- Enjoy The Gathering, the welcome party in Tomorrowland. Artists from the festival's own roster usually perform. There are usually 2 surprise artists who are revealed at the time of the performance. Only people who are staying at the campsite can access.
- Wear warm clothes, although the days are hot, the nights are not. There is quite a lot of humidity, and in several of the last editions it has even rained.
- PEARLS
Tomorrowland does not work with physical money. As we mentioned earlier, you must exchange your money for pearls, which will be added to your bracelet. During its last edition, the pearl was equivalent to €1,66, so this next year will be about the same.
To pay, all you have to do is bring your bracelet chip closer to the reader, and it will automatically be deducted from your balance. In the same way, once the festival is over, if you have added your pearls from the web, they will be automatically discounted. In the case of doing it within the festival, you must fill out a form, charging you 2 pearls for the expenses of this management.
- VOUCHERS
If you want to enjoy the Tomorrowland experience even more, you have Vouchers at your disposal, which will make you enjoy some complementary activities within the festival. Highlight the Brasa restaurant within the festival or the breakfasts at the campsite. Here you can also buy the shuttle, tickets for camping or lockers within the festival. They are not available until months before the start of the festival, so you will have to wait once you purchase your ticket.
- FESTIVAL
To access the festival, you must first pass through security controls, either from the Dreamville or from the non-camping entrance. The doors are open from 12:00 to 01:00, except on the last day, when they close at 0:00. You must take into account that there is a limit of entry time, in which the festival itself will decide if you can enter or not.
Once inside, a few meters away you have the festival information point, where you can request both the map with the schedules, and answer any questions you may have.
- TIPS
- Memorize the map as many times as possible and create your own custom schedules before the festival. Although the distance between the ends of the festival is 20 minutes, it is possible that the exit from one stage to another in the 'prime' hours of the festival is hindered by the traffic of people.
- Go in first thing in the morning on the first day and tour all of their locations. Enjoy the mainstage for the first time and take the classic photo on the hill. Take advantage of the moments with less influx of people to enjoy a walk through one of the largest venues in the world.
- Hydrate, temperatures are usually high (although it usually rains) and a heat stroke could end a festival day. Such is the heat, that in some edition the festival offered a 2×1 in water.
- Get on the Ferris wheel and enjoy the views it offers of the entire Tomorrowland compound.
- CURIOSITIES
- Given the amount of technology that Tomorrowland houses throughout its venue, be it lighting, displays or fireworks, the Belgian festival opted for the construction of an underground tunnel where would all this wiring be housed? The bunker is 30 meters long and has restricted access to exclusive personnel.
- The venue has 16 stages, and many of them are renewed every 3 years. Some like The Rose Garden, Freedom Stage or The Rave cave are already a classic within the festival.
- Tomorrowland contains a large set throughout its grounds, from the festival to the many campsites. Any damage that can be made to the elements of the set will result in a sanction of expulsion immediate of the festival.
- Tomorrowland, as every year, has many hectares for the assembly of this event, for this the festival annually rents land to 20 local farmers.
- Another of the most amazing secrets of this festival is the restaurant that is hidden inside the main stage. Located in the left wing of the stage, this restaurant has a capacity of 12 people, making it only a restaurant for special guests. It can be worth between €15.000 and €25.000, with a curious fact, profits are donated to charity. The menus are cooked by chefs with Michelin stars.
- A detail that we found on the mainstage was that of a popcorn stand, This stall was located on the right side of the stage next to the tunnel that runs through the stage.
- For more hygiene, the bathrooms have deodorants at the entrance. Lay down as many times as you want!
- One of the biggest unknowns raised year after year is that of what theme they will present for the following editions. Tomorrowland used to leave clues on the mainstage of how the theme of its next edition will be.
- It catches our eye on our way to Tomorrowland, the incredible reception by the residents of Boom to the festival and his assistants. The first thing we can appreciate are all the balconies full of festival flags.
In short, the festival par excellence to live a unique and unrepeatable musical experience in Europe. Thematically, there is no other like it. Minimum, you must attend once in your life. Explore all its themed settings and discover each of the different genres that are in them. As its theme says: «live today, love tomorrow, unite forever. "
