PEACE & LOVE: MATALA BEACH FESTIVAL 2020

If you google hippie festivals in Europe – I have no doubts that one of the first results to pop up will be the amazing Matala Beach Festival.

Matala is a tiny town located on the south coast of the Greek island of Crete, famous for its hippie history – more precisely the caves where hippies used to live in the 60s and 70s – the story that intrigued international media so much that they made this tiny little town to become basically one of the most famous hippie retreats in Europe. I visited Matala a few years ago, and I can confirm it – yes, it’s an awesome hippie-vibe place and this festival might be exactly what you’re looking for if you’re a fan of hippies and their life philosophy…

The festival was founded in 2011 when the Festos Municipality organized a festival on the beach with a goal to celebrate the launch of the Myth of Matala book that featured photos of the hippies who lived in the caves during the 60s and the 70s. 35k people heard about it and rushed to Matala beach… The rest is history.

How to get there: the fastest way to get to Crete Island is by plane – to the biggest city on the island – Heraklion. The alternative way lasts longer, but it’s also more adventurous one: let’s say that you’re departing from Budapest – you should take a train to Belgrade (Serbian capital), then another train to Thessaloniki, then the third train to Athens and finally a 9-hour long ferry ride to Heraklion. Matala is not that far away from the island’s capital, and you can hitchhike to the place easily (or at least it’s what I did 😉 )

FB page (Definitely check out the amazing atmosphere of this event on festival’s official FB page!)

When: Still TBA

Where: Matala, Crete, Greece

Why: It’s a spectacular hippie festival taking place in awesome Matala, and one of the most beautiful European countries – Greece.

Matala: “Today is life, tomorrow never comes!”