The eastern part of Germany has many great festivals to offer. They have a unique atmosphere where there seem to be no rules and everybody is friendly and laidback. One of the best German festivals is Nation of Gondwana. This article is a review of the 2022 edition with many photos, tips for future visitors and more.

The Nation of Gondwana

The Nation of Gondwana (or NOG) is one of the older German festivals. The first edition was organised in 1995 with about 1500 visitors. This year, in 2022, almost 10.000 visitors partied during the weekend of 22-24 July. Nation of Gondwana is organised at a lake close to a place called Grünefeld, which is only about 50 minutes drive from Berlin.

Another impression of Nation 2022
Another impression of Nation 2022

Four different floors

You can party on four different floors. The Nation of Gondwana is focusing on electronic music and you can hear a lot of solid techno here. Each floor has a different focus though:

  • Wiese: This is the largest floor. The most famous DJs play here and the main focus is on techno.
  • Birke: The music is a bit slower than on the Wiese and talented female DJs get a chance to play here.
  • See: Our favourite floor. You can dance with your feed in the water which is awesome at the end of July.
  • Spelunke: A smaller floor with all sorts of entertainment. This year you could sing karaoke here for example.
Nation of Gondwana at night
Nation of Gondwana at night

Techno festival with an awesome line-up

If you like electronic music and the techno-clubs in Berlin, you sure as hell are going to like the line-up of the Nation. The organisation always manages to invite large names. Most of them are German DJs. Nation of Gondwana 2022 hosted DJs like Monika Kruse, DJ Koze, Dritte Raum and Lady Starlight. Sven Dohse is usually doing the closing set which is a big highlight of the Nation every year.

Partying in the dark on Nation of Gondwana
Partying in the dark on Nation of Gondwana

Review of Nation of Gondwana 2022

We have been visiting loads of German festival and have to say we were very impressed by Nation. The organisation is very tight, the people are super friendly and the music is a blast. Below we have listed a few of the reasons why we feel you should consider Nation of Gondwana.

#1: Great location close to Berlin

The location near Grünefeld is great. The area is surrounded by trees, directly connected to a lake and very easy to reach from Berlin. You can get there by car in less than an hour but also the train takes you to the festival easily.

#2: Impressive illuminations and laser shows

When we saw the stages during the day we felt they were not as impressive as the ones from Feel Festival. There is no theme and also not a lot of decoration. But then it became darker and darker and we understood why the Nation is one of the most popular festivals in Germany: The light shows and lasers are incredibly cool. There are illuminations on the lake and in the forest. The photo below might give you an impression.

One of the Illuminations on the lake
One of the Illuminations on the lake

#3: Very easy arrival – Car next to the tent

The arrival on a festival can be annoying. It’s hot, you have a big backpack on your back and at larger festivals like Melt or Fusion you need to wait quite a while. Our arrival at NOG 2022 was very easy. The staff/volunteers were very helpful and the fact that you can park your car next to your tent is great. It saves you so much time of walking back and forth. Nation is larger than Mit Dir Festival but the arrival is similarly convenient.

#4: Bring your own drinks to the stage

One of the big arguments in favour of festivals in the east of Germany is that there are almost no rules. You are allowed to bring your own drinks to the floor. No restrictions. This means you can save quite a bit of money on drinks if you want to. We just brought a few drinks to the stage and started buying cold drinks afterwards.

Having a good time on the festival Nation of Gondwana
Me and my friends having a good time on the festival Nation of Gondwana

What can be improved

Nation of Gondwana 2022 was a great success but not everything was perfect. It was the first time the Nation invited 10.000 people to the festival. Previous years it was around 7.000 – 8.000. Some of the things which can be improved are related to this increase in visitors:

  • Not enough food-stands: You had to wait very long to get food. The lines were very long.
  • Not enough bars: It took so much time to get a drink from the bar that we sometimes decided to go back and forth to our tent.
  • More places with shadow: Especially on the main stage (Wiese) it was very warm on Sunday and it was hard to find some shadow. Creating a few more spots with shadow would be awesome.
The hot Sunday afternoon on the Wiese of Nation
The hot Sunday afternoon on the Wiese of Nation

Tips for Nation of Gondwana 2023

If you are planning to visit the next edition of Nation of Gondwana, you can keep the following tips in mind:

  • Buy a car-ticket: This allows you to park the car next to your tent and this will save you loads of time and walking back and forth carrying stuff. The car-tickets are sold out quickly so buy them fast.
  • Take sunglasses + Head/Cap: Not only for the sun but also for the dust. It is very dusty at the area and the dust lands in your eyes if you do not wear sunglasses.
  • Don’t miss the closing: Make sure you take the Monday off and enjoy the closing set of Sven Dohse. You are going to love it.

Looking for a special festival: Every year in April Snowbombing is organised in Mayrofen in the snow.

Summary

All in all Nation of Gondwana 2022 was a very successful festival and we would definitely recommend visiting. It’s a bit pricy with 168€ for 2 days of festival but all in all we still feel it’s worth the money. If you want more information about the festival, you can check out their website.

Location: 9/10
Music: 8/10
Price: 7/10
Atmosphere: 9/10


Author

My Name is Job and originally from the Netherlands. In 2012, a girl I met in Australia motivated me to move to Berlin. I love to share the best places, activities and events in Berlin with you on my blog.

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