Geheime Liefde HRFST

On Saturday 3 October we were at Geheime Liefde HRFST, the autumn edition of the festival at Fort bij Vechten. We already knew the spring edition, having been twice. The concept keeps drawing us in: you don’t know beforehand who is playing.

Anticipation

What we expected

We’d been to Geheime Liefde in the spring before, and three things came together. We find the location, Fort bij Vechten, really beautiful. We also like the concept of not knowing beforehand who is playing. And finally, this was our last outdoor party of the season, and we are very much outdoor party people.

Here we go

Arrival & first impression

Shuttle buses run from Utrecht Centraal to the fort. When we arrived at 4 pm, we could walk straight in, with no long queue. Right by the entrance you find the lockers and the token sales. After that you walk across a nicely decorated footbridge onto the actual festival grounds, towards a wonderful party world.

In the thick of it

Finding our groove

At Geheime Liefde HRFST, signs show who plays where and when. Some people love that, because it lets them decide for themselves where they want to be at what moment. We’re more in-the-moment people: wherever the music is good, we stay. This time it took a while to find our groove, mostly because there are so many nice spots and we wanted to look everywhere. In the end we stuck around the main stage, and that’s when we really got into it. They played somewhat harder techno there, which we like. The music on the other stages is varied.

The festival was sold out, and you noticed that more and more as the day went on, especially at the smaller stages, which got very busy. The theme was autumn, and you could clearly see it in the decoration. The weather, however, was almost summery. A gift, but combined with the crowds it sometimes got very warm in the greenhouse. There was a generous area with seating and food stalls, and around the main stage too there were plenty of seats where you could relax for a bit.

The crowd was 35+ on average, with a few younger visitors here and there. We always like that mix. Great atmosphere, approachable people, plenty of dancing and flirting.

Geheime Liefde is definitely a festival where there’s flirting going on, and not just on the side.

The Open-Minded Meter

How free did it feel?

This is a regular festival, but one with flirting and a very low-threshold atmosphere. We were with friends who know nothing about our open-minded lifestyle, so it didn’t go further than dancing and a bit of flirting. But it was precisely the secret cheeky glances and knowing about the hidden world inside the festival that gave it that little extra.

Good to know

Tips if you’re going

• Shuttle buses run from Utrecht Centraal to the fort.
• The lockers and token sales are right by the entrance, after which you walk across the footbridge onto the grounds.
• Around 4 pm we could walk in without a long queue.
• You have to be happy to be surprised by the music, since you don’t know who is playing beforehand. The range is varied, but you do need to like techno and house: you won’t hear Dutch pop hits here.
• The festival was sold out. The smaller stages were very busy, and the greenhouse can get hot with the crowds.
• Come with an open attitude, as our code of conduct also says: you don’t have to do anything, there’s simply room to discover it for yourself.

The Morning After

Our verdict

The best moment: the secret cheeky glances and knowing about the hidden world inside the festival, while our friends had no idea.

Who we’d recommend this to: anyone who wants to be surprised by the music and loves techno and house. Within those styles it’s varied, so there’s something for everyone.

Would we go back: yes, definitely. The location is beautiful with plenty of different spots to discover, and we find the atmosphere really pleasant and very low-threshold.

Geheime Liefde HRFST was a lovely end to the outdoor season for us, and we’ll definitely be back.