Coachella Planning

Yeesss, it’s THAT time of the year 😀

THE festival of festivals is happening!

I went for the first time in 2012 – and I totally loved it.

And this year I’m finally coming baaack. Yeeahh.

 

There’s a lot to plan beforehand!

Coachella Checklist:

1. Coachella tickets
2. Accommodation
3. Transport from L.A to Coachella
4. Flights
5. Accomodation in L.A.
6. Outfits

 

1) Coachella Tickets

Since 2012 I had wanted to come back to Coachella, but I was 100% sure I wanted to go in 2017 only when Beyoncé announced that she’ll be headlining this year. Since this was in January, all the tickets (which are beginning to sell in September) were already sold out. So: where to look for tickets?

There is Craigslist and StubHub with people wanting to resell their tickets. On Craigslist in Los Angeles, tickets were offered way more expensive than the original price. Prices in 2017 are 399 US-$ for General Admission and 899 US-$ for VIP Passes.

Then I got a flight to Seattle from standby – and – guess what!? Everyone there was selling their Coachella passes for face value. Bingo!

 

2) Accomodation

Accomodation options close to Coachella festival area:
A) on-site camping

B) on-site glamping at Lake Eldorado

C) Other campsites and RV resorts

D) Hotels and motels

E) AirBnB

 

A) On-site car or tent camping

looks like this

And with the temperatures in Indio it doesn’t look too comfortable doing this, as there is no shade and from 8am your tent or van will heat up like crazy. It’s one of the cheapest options though (113 US-$), and typical “festival-style” (before Coachella, camping at festivals was pretty normal, and running around in dirty clothes around the festival was, too).

 

B) On-site Glamping at Lake Eldorado

is quite expensive – I wonder if it’s a real “Glamping” experience though!?

Prices:

Tee Pee+ General Admission for 2 – 2,398 US-$ (which makes it 1.600 US-$ for the tee-pee)

Tee Pee + VIP for 2 – 3,400 US-$

Tent+ General Admission for 4 – 3,196 US-$

Tent + VIP For 4 – 5,200 US-$

 

C) Other campsites and RV resorts

In 2012 we were so lucky to stumple upon RV Resort Shadow Hills while looking for a place to park our campervan. It is not that far from the festival site, has showers, electricity, even a pool, DJs – and the best thing: a shuttle bus to the festival site leaves from right here.

So that’s what we’re going to do again in 2017: Rent a campervan and then park it there to sleep – so we have electricity and washrooms available.

For a list of all RV and campsites close to the festival area, check Coachella’s official website.

 

D) Hotels and motels

When we looked for affordable hotel or motel rooms 1 month before Coachella, everything with a good price was already sold out or too far away from the festival site.

 

E) AirBnB

Not sure about AirBnb as I haven’t found anything available anymore close to the festival area.

 

3) Transport

As we opted for a campervan, we have transportation and accomodation in one.

You could also rent a car to get from L.A. to Indio. Or purchase a shuttle pass from Coachella website. It takes you from LAX airport to the festival site or other stops in the valley and costs 70 US-$ one way.

 

4) Flights

When you don’t live in LA or even in the U.S., of course that’s a cost-intensive item on your list.

I’m going to fly standby, so I pay the same amount if I book 1 month in advance or 1 week. I just have to hope that there will be a seat available for me.

For comparing flight prices and finding the cheapest one you can use sites like Skyscanner or Swoodoo.

 

5) Accommodation in L.A.

We’ve decided to stay in L.A. for 1 night before driving to Coachella and 3 nights afterwards.

What are we going to chose?

• Air Bnb
• Couchsurfing
• Hotels
• Motels
• Hostels

AirBnB was really expensive, on Couchsurfing nobody even replied my requests, so we booked a basic hotel close to the airport for the night before and the night after Coachella. We used Hotwire to book it which seemed like the cheapest option. It lets you choose the hotel category and area, and shows you which hotel exactly you’ll be staying at only after booking.

On our first night we stayed at Tradewind Airport Hotel in Inglewood. It’s right underneath the airplane’s approach path and because the windows don’t close properly, it’s quite loud. But we wanted to stay close to the airport as we had to pick up our campervan from there.
After Coachella we stayed at Royal Century Hotel  in Inglewood, which is right next to Tradewind Airport Hotel, but the windows close and so it was much quieter.

 

As my friend travelled on, I stayed in L.A. 2 more nights on my own and opted for a hostel in Venice Beach, as it is not too far away from the airport and I wanted to explore Abbot Kinney Boulevard and Venice Beach anyway, so it was a convenient location for me.

I paid 120 US-$ for 2 nights in a 6 bed mixed dorm with ensuite bathroom at Samesun Hostel. Los Angeles prices are high!
It’s a nice hostel though, clean, right at the beach, with small lockers inside the rooms for your more valuable luggage (bring a padlock! They also sell them) and I met very nice people there through hostel-organized evening activities.

6) Outfits

Nowadays a very important part of Coachella (for most)!

But I think, I even worried too much about this part, haha. I think I’d need a 10-day festival with all the clothes and accessories I have now.

Always good: a combination of White and jeans, hippie, boho, festival style…

 

 

 

 

 

I bought clothes from second-hand online shop platform Mädchenflohmarkt for the first-time, because I had special outfits in my mind and couldn’t find anything like I wanted in all the shops and countries I searched for festival looks.

Also great for your festival outfits and accessories:

H&m

Revolve

Zara

Primark

Forever 21

 

 

Is all of this getting really expensive!?
Yes, it is!

In 2012 it was absolutely worth it! Let’s see what 2017 brings 🙂

 

 

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Remark: I wrote most of this post before going to Coachella and was planning on publishing it before. However, as I added some information on accomodation as we booked them very short-notice, this post is being published post-Coachella.