What Is Tomorrowland?

Welcome to Tomorrowland, one of the world’s largest electronic
music festivals! If you’re a music enthusiast looking for an
unforgettable experience, this is the place to be. Every year, thousands
of people from around the world gather here to dance, sing, and enjoy a
weekend of pure joy and celebration.

“Yesterday is history, today is a gift and tomorrow is a mystery.”

First things first, let’s talk about the location. Tomorrowland is held in Boom, Belgium, which is about an hour away from the capital Brussels.
The festival takes place on a massive site that spans over 400 hectares,
with 16 different stages, art installations, food stalls, and other
attractions. The festival site is beautifully decorated with vibrant
colors, fairy lights, and extravagant decorations that create a magical
atmosphere. The amount of money the festival puts into stage design, employee costumes, lights, lasers, fireworks, food, and other things is what makes this festival amazing.

They make sure to create an everlasting and magical experience when it comes to music festivals. It is no wonder why the tickets sell out in 10-30 minutes every year.

How To Buy Tickets

Pre-Registration

Pre-Registration usually opens up during the first two weeks of January. There will be notifications of when it opens on Tomorrowland’s website or their Instagram account.

Official Travel Partner Ticket Sales

https://belgium.tomorrowland.com/en/sales-info/official-travel-partners/

The first 20 people to register in each country will be rewarded with access to purchase tickets early rather than having to wait in the main ticket sale. Try to make friends with people in less popular countries to have a better chance at winning :D. I have never been able to be in the first 20 in the USA.

Main Ticket Sale

Everyone that knows about it will have plenty to say about the stressful experience of Tomorrowland’s lottery ticket system. If you don’t have the website loaded as soon as the sale goes live…say goodbye to your chances of getting tickets through the main sale.

The sale typically starts at 17:00 CET (Central European Time). If you load the website at 17:01? You’re doomed.

There are over a million people (about 2 million+) trying to purchase tickets where only 100,000 are available. Each Tomorrowland account can purchase up to 4 tickets total.

The other 80,000 tickets are reserved for Belgian residents only which requires that you have not only a Belgian address but also a bank account (for those of you thinking about attempting).

Once the sale goes live, you will get placed in a queue. For some reason, they never display your position in the queue. This would honestly save the stressful 30+ minutes of wondering if you’re going to get through to the sale page or not.

The last 4 years I have sat there waiting for 30 minutes only for the screen to update and say, “sorry, all tickets have been sold”.

Gutted feeling. But there are still other ways to get tickets, don’t give up yet!

Drugs

As with the majority of music festivals, there will be lots of drugs going around. Most of them get smuggled into Dreamville camping because the main thing they search for at the entrance are glass bottles. There are too many people and not enough security personnel to search every single compartment of people’s bags. Especially if you have a push cart piled up with bags like my camp mates from Switzerland had…beer pong table, x2 Cabana Tents, cooler, tents, sleeping bags, chairs, luggage, etc…

They simply do not have enough time or personnel to catch all of the drugs hidden in people’s bags.

*Beware* – If you do partake, aside from the risk of fentanyl laced drugs, there is a police presence at main Tomorrowland festival entrance. They also bring out K9 dogs and walk around searching.

So make sure you do what you want at the camp grounds before heading to the main festival entrance. That would be a terrible experience to get caught and kicked out of the festival!

Tomorrowland’s Camera Policy

Read more about it here: https://belgium.tomorrowland.com/en/practical/policies

My personal experience: You will be able to get your camera gear into Dreamville, however, I was stopped on two separate occasions about taking pictures with my camera because they said it was – “too professional”.

First time was when I was asking for help at a info station. He said he was going to radio his supervisor about it and also mentioned that they had a briefing about professional cameras.

Second time, I was taking someone’s photo near the food area inside Dreamville and I was stopped by a Tomorrowland crew individual along with 3 others. Before I knew it, I had 4 people surrounding me as if I was some criminal. She said I can’t be taking pictures with that camera and she was going to talk to her supervisor about it. She asked what type of camera it was, I told her the brand, and then simultaneously – a couple came up to me and asked if they could have their picture taken as well.

I smirked and looked at the Tomorrowland employee…she gave in and said yea go ahead. She asked what I was doing with the photos; I told her it was for personal use and I am just sending these photos to people after the festival; she wanted to know if I had a large social media following or the like…to which I replied that I don’t. Eventually, the supervisor said it was fine and I could continue.

Mind you, I had a Fuji GFX 100s II that I was shooting with. 100 megapixel medium format sensor (maybe not true MF like Hasselblad, but close). Lol. So definitely in the top end of camera gear.

As for the main festival entrance, I was immediately denied entrance when they opened my bag and saw the camera. They, again, said it was “too professional”. So I turned back around and walked all the way back to Dreamville…30 minute walk at least…and put it back in my locker.

But it’s not over yet, Tomorrowland.

A few hours later, I decided to try again and disconnected my lens on the camera body to make the overall package smaller. Then took the camera body and stashed it in my fanny pack. The lens was placed in my sling bag which also had a DJI Osmo Pocket 3.

Right before I arrived to the main entrance, I swung the fanny pack around so that it was facing behind me. I also made sure to choose a different entry point this time with a different security person.

They had me open my sling bag, took a look…asked me what that Pocket 3 was and I showed them. All the meanwhile, they were distracted and never asked me to open my fanny pack.

I made it through! With my “professional” camera gear successfully smuggled through the main entrance, I walked straight to the lockers to store it there. From that point on, I always kept an eye out for other Tomorrowland crew and tried to only take pictures within the crowd so they don’t stop me for a third time.

So…things have changed since the last time I was there in 2014. They were much more strict about camera gear in 2024 for some reason. I saw other non-Tomorrowland crew people with full frame Sony Alpha cameras…it’s not like I was the only one with “professional” gear.

Make of that what you will. It is possible to get camera gear in and take great photos but don’t be surprised if you also get stopped like I did. Not going to lie, I was worried. Started to wonder if they were going to kick me out of the festival, haha.

Recommended Sim Cards For Internet

Personally, I prefer to use an eSim card rather than a regular sim that you insert in your phone. For those that don’t know, make sure that the phone you’re going to use is unlocked. Different sim cards won’t work on phones that are still carrier locked.

The eSim that I used gave me service the entire time at Tomorrowland with no shortages. It is such a luxury to have internet while at the festival. Whether you use it communicate with your lost friends or to navigate the festival grounds by using the Tomorrowland app (download here — iOS, Android)…it is so helpful.

• NomadThis is the one that I used and recommend. If you want SMS or voice calling, make sure to double check the package you have selected before purchasing. Some deals are data only.

Where To Sell Your Tickets If You Can’t Go Anymore

Did your plans change and you or a friend can no longer attend the festival? There are a few options available to resell your tickets.

*Note* – It is technically not allowed to resell your tickets outside of the main Tomorrowland website. Read more about this here: https://belgium.tomorrowland.com/en/sales-info/official-ticket-channels/

Official quote from their website: “Be warned that, in accordance with Tomorrowland’s General Terms and Conditions of Purchase, it is not allowed to resell your ticket, unless through the official Exchange Desk.”

I have personally sold a ticket to someone in a Facebook group whom ended up becoming a friend of mine in Belgium. I just recently stayed with them again this year, 2024, 10 years later after we first went to Tomorrowland.

As long as you’re not selling your ticket for profit, I wouldn’t worry about getting in trouble for it.

With that said, here are some ways you can sell your ticket:

• Official Tomorrowland Exchange DeskThis opens up usually sometime in May so people often try to sell their tickets through other options before then. When it is open, you login to your account at my.tomorrowland.com and there will be an option to access the exchange desk to sell your ticket.
• Facebook GroupsSearch Facebook groups for “Tomorrowland + current year + tickets” or without the word ‘tickets’ and you will find plenty of Facebook groups to join. *Word of caution* – Many people get scammed on Facebook so be careful. If it seems too good to be true, that’s because it is. I personally recommend either Global Journey, Official Travel Partners, the Official Exchange Desk, or Viagogo instead of this option unless you know what to look for when dealing with potential scammers.
• There are certain signs such as poor grammar/punctuation, profile pictures that don’t match the listed gender or name of profile, offering a price higher than your asking price, etc.
• Viagogo.comI have personally both purchased from and sold one ticket on this platform in the past with no problems. When you create a for sale listing, they will ask you to upload a PDF copy of your ticket which will be sent to the buyer when the ticket is sold. Buyer’s will then have to take that PDF copy and go to Tomorrowland’s will call booth at the festival to pick up their bracelets. You don’t need to worry about shipping the bracelet/treasure chest to the buyer.
• Also, even though Tomorrowland states that you should not sell or buy from unauthorized third parties…people have been doing so with Viagogo for over a decade now. I guess it’s more of a gray area. You can buy a ticket from this platform and Tomorrowland will give you your bracelet at the will call booth on festival grounds even though it’s from Viagogo…make of that what you will. Money talks, I guess.

Tomorrowland Meet At Delerium Cafe In Brussels

Every year people meet at Delerium Cafe downtown Brussels the night before The Gathering party, Wednesday night. This pub has over 2000 beers available! Some of the best beer I’ve had.

This is where I met a group of people from Switzerland that offered to give me a ride to the festival. Most people wear their Tomorrowland bracelet to represent but I’ve found that it’s also a great way to meet other people to camp with if you have the same bracelet.

This is how much beer my camp-mates bought for camping…two stacks plus additional vodka and rum. I also had my own Cold Beer Pickup voucher. We definitely did not run out of alcohol the entire festival!

Morning After

Look out for Dreamville newspapers being handed out every morning as soon as the festival starts on Friday. Definitely a worthy souvenir to keep.

Lockers

Aside from using small locks to keep your tent locked, (which I highly recommend for peace of mind), there are lockers at both Dreamville and the main festival grounds. The lockers in Dreamville are accessible 24/7 while the ones at the festival grounds are only accessible during opening hours 12:00pm-12:00am.

Don’t be like me and lose track of time when your locker at Tomorrowland is closing in 25 minutes. It’s at least 20-35 minute walk from Dreamville to Tomorrowland. I had to jog the entire way with a belly full of vodka, redbull, and beer.

Not my favorite memory of this festival. But I was able to convince entrance security to let me in to access my locker when the time was about 12:05-12:10 am. I don’t know what happens to your belongings if you leave them in a locker and it expires…but I didn’t want to find out the hard way.

Pro Tip: Take a picture of your locker info card that has the pin number on it. Just in case you lose your card…you can still access your locker.

Recycling Trash Bags For Tokens

There are Tomorrowland employees that walk around handing out recycling bags for your campsite. They have a program where each bag of recyclable material you bring them, they give you one token that can be redeemed for merch or even a secret disco party.

The recycle drop off and secret disco party is located next to the gym/yoga/crossfit studio.

Dreamville Tokens

Pro Tip: Look for Tomorrowland crew pulling a cart full of recycling bags then ask them if you can take a couple. Easy way to collect your tokens! 😀

This is what I did. I actually asked if I could pay them for the bags. They looked at each other, then looked at me and said, “you can take them if you want. We didn’t see anything.”

I took 3 bags full of trash off their cart while my camp mates are staring at me, wondering wtf I’m doing. Lol. But now the hard part…I had to carry those bags all the way to the drop off which was at least 20 minutes away.

3 Tokens got me a Tomorrowland themed pull-string bag (which is beautiful and nice quality by the way). They also let me into the secret disco party even though that technically costs 1 token.

• 1 Token – Secret Disco Party
• 3 Tokens – Tomorrowland Pull-String Bag
• 6 Tokens – Official Tomorrowland Flag
• 7 Tokens – 20-Year Anniversary Gold Tomorrowland Flag
• 8 Tokens – Loop Ear Plugs

Where To Find A Supermarket (Grocery Store)

This will be the most cost effective option of food and drinks at Tomorrowland. All of the food that I tried at the festival was delicious and top tier but it’s also expensive and adds up. The drinks are also expensive.

There is a market nearby Dreamville that you can walk to and buy some food or drinks. Remember that no glass bottles are allowed into the camp grounds so make sure to buy a 2 liter bottle of soda or water and then just empty it outside or mix it with alcohol.

I personally bought a bottle of rum, 2 liter bottle of coca-cola, and then emptied half of it outside and poured the rum in. Easy way to get rid of the glass bottle.

Carrefour Market Reet

Molenstraat 83, 2840 Rumst, Belgium