Festival and Travel Planner 2025

Mambosero said:
Which 4 events?
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Probably, Live2Mambo, Back2Mambo, Rovinj (more like holiday and so many options, but not always crazy about the music), and Berlin Marathon or Mambo City. No others come to mind. If I hit those 4 events, I will probably see 90% of the Euro On2 crowd. I would go back to Japan as well.

Places I haven't been but I'd like to explore include South Africa, Romania, Korea, Morocco, Australia, Austria, Russia, Istanbul and Portugal.
 
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RandomBeat said:
Seems to be becoming more common but a backward step in my opinion. As new people join the group they can't see any earlier messages and so the same questions get asked repeatedly. At least with FB groups you could just scroll back or have all the replies under your own post rather than interspersed with a dozen other messages.
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Same, it makes it more closed and cliquey too, usually you have to know someone to give you the link to add to the group Vs being able to look it up and find all the info on a website/Facebook page. A few places will have a QR code to join, but half the time you have no idea there's a WhatsApp unless someone tells you!
 
RandomBeat said:
One less choice of festivals going forward, El Sol Spring is ending after this years event.
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I am considering going, the hotel isn't sold out. I guess the demand is relatively low. They made a mistake having a bachata festival and also a salsa bachata festival, it must have spread the demand too much.
 
Al Israel said:
I am considering going, the hotel isn't sold out. I guess the demand is relatively low. They made a mistake having a bachata festival and also a salsa bachata festival, it must have spread the demand too much.
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Me and a friend are considering too, but due to the hotel rooms still being available we are afraid not many people will attend. I hope that with the announcement that this is the last El Sol Spring some more people will join for the last time.
 
salsaholica said:
but due to the hotel rooms still being available we are afraid not many people will attend.
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Unless they've had a refurb since 2019, it maybe due to the Sound Garden Hotel having those stupid glass walls for the bathroom so anyone in the room can see you sitting on the toilet. The Novotel is opposite it & where I'll be staying for the Fall Edition purely for this reason.
 
RandomBeat said:
Unless they've had a refurb since 2019, it maybe due to the Sound Garden Hotel having those stupid glass walls for the bathroom so anyone in the room can see you sitting on the toilet.
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This "feature" is pretty widespread in some hotels, I remember it from hotels I stayed at. Sometimes I would like to look into some designer's brains.
 
RandomBeat said:
Unless they've had a refurb since 2019, it maybe due to the Sound Garden Hotel having those stupid glass walls for the bathroom so anyone in the room can see you sitting on the toilet. The Novotel is opposite it & where I'll be staying for the Fall Edition purely for this reason.
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It was the first hotel I stayed in at the first El Sol I attended. I don’t particularly recall or remember this feature. The room was small compared to hotel rooms in Europe is what I remember. I was the only one in the room so may be it didn’t register. My friend who I was traveling with had his own room. The hotel looked new and they had good options for the food downstairs from what I recall.

Other hotels that have the glass feature will have a button that makes glass non-transparent or curtain/blinders that roll down.
 
El Sol organizers have a new event in Tisno, Croatia this year in September. Looks pretty small, with not many names on the schedule. I maybe tempted, it would be nice to spend less money on a Croatia trip and see somewhere else other than Rovinj.
 
logic said:
El Sol organizers have a new event in Tisno, Croatia this year in September. Looks pretty small, with not many names on the schedule. I maybe tempted, it would be nice to spend less money on a Croatia trip and see somewhere else other than Rovinj.
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I'd wait till year two, first time festivals are risky, even with a long-time organizer.
 
logic said:
El Sol organizers have a new event in Tisno, Croatia this year in September. Looks pretty small, with not many names on the schedule. I maybe tempted, it would be nice to spend less money on a Croatia trip and see somewhere else other than Rovinj.
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Have you considered salsa grand instead? It’s in Zagreb.
 
A short review of "Euro Dance Festival" in Rust, Germany (near the french-german border). In summary: interesting and recommendable if you live not far away, but dance-level is not high.

Organized from a big ballroom school it's unique selling-point is having all kinds of dances under one roof: ballroom, salsa, bachata, WCS, tango, rock'n'roll etc. Location is Europa-Park which is a kind of Disneyland with a Las Vegas vibe, so quite special but nice atmosphere. It is a whole week from tuesday to sunday. Some instructors are well-known, for salsa this year Samuel Funflow, Luis Vazquez, Farid Ferchach. But I didn't take any workshops as always. Linear on1 widely prevails. DJs were Dmitri and Julian the Duke - expect some mainstream salsa music. One evening Son Con Ron gave a live concert.

The name "Euro" is misleading though: participiants are mostly from Germany or nearby Switzerland. Even the MC is talking in german, and two thirds of the workshops are in german. Only the international instructors (as some named above) teach in english.

I like the crossover-vibe of the different halls, but dance-level is not high - I guess in most dances as far as I can judge. It may differ from day to day: friday night always was the best night for me the last years. You may grab a dance with a celeb easier than at big festivals. You will have some partners who normally dance something else and just want to try out another dance - you notice as a lead when their movement is good but they don't understand your figures. I had a wonderful bachata with a girl who obviously had no clue but very good body movement and following (opposed to what is much more common: they know the figures but have bad movements). Afterwards it's interesting to ask what they normally dance.

Mind that it is workshop focused, the social dancing each evening is short: starts after shows at 10 p.m. but only until 1 a.m., and many people leave around 12 p.m (only WCS allowed until 3 a.m., don't ask me why).
 
There is a new mambo marathon 01.-03. august in Stuttgart, Germany. All the known DJs (Dmitri, Rumbero, Anael, Tuli, Sergio) so supposedly good music, but it's a first timer. I will be there as it's not far for me. Stuttgart can be warm in august, let's hope the weather will not be too sultry.
 
Anyone have thoughts on some of the new first edition events this year?

Some examples:

- Vivaz by agozar events in Sofia, Bulgaria (July)
- Salsa grand in Zagreb (November)
- stuttgart marathon (August)
- riviera Latin fest (July)
 
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