If you’re looking for a smaller-scale budget nomad festival in Switzerland, why not check out Nomad Fest? Read my full review of the first-ever Nomad Fest here.
Earlier this year, I had the opportunity to return to Switzerland and experience Coliving Frilingue’s first Nomad Fest. Based in Saint Bernard, Nomad Fest is a week-long festival where around 80 digital nomads network, travel and switch off. It’s also Switzerland’s first-ever nomad festival!
I actually attended Coliving Frilingue’s Winter Workation in January, so it was lovely to return. This meant I could compare my experiences of visiting Switzerland in both the winter and the summer.
Spoiler alert: it’s so hard to decide what season I prefer!
The Lowdown On Nomad Fest
Nomad Fest took place between the 20th and 27th of August in Liddes, Switzerland – a stunning village nestled in the Swiss Alps. The week-long festival consisted of keynote speakers, workshops, sessions and other fun activities. Everything took place within the main co-working space, Relais de Dranse, which doubled up as accommodation for the week for myself and many others.
This was an interesting and fun concept that added a more personal touch to my experience. It wasn’t a matter of sitting in a stuffy room listening to speakers all day and travelling to and from the venue. Having everything in one place made it a lot easier to form relationships and network with those around us.
The festival was developed by Pelé and Stefan, who also run co-working experiences in Switzerland. You can read my review of January’s ski workation here!
Nomad Fest also featured a huge focus on nature and being outdoors. This makes it different from other nomad festivals which can take place in huge conference rooms with a lot of presentations about technology and the like. Nomad Fest was much more laidback, offering plenty of opportunities to enjoy the surrounding nature.
An all-inclusive ticket to the festival costs between 400 – 800 EUR, depending on whether you select a shared or private room. Each ticket includes entry to the festival, week-long accommodation, food and drink, a Saint Bernard Pass and entry to activities taking place within the hostel (yoga, meditation etc). For Switzerland, this is incredibly cheap when you keep in mind the cost of accommodation!
The Activities at Nomad Fest
The conferences at Nomad Fest ranged from building company culture in remote teams to building strong relationships with attachment theory. Though there were only one or two presentations relevant to me as a content creator, it was great fun learning all about other topics.
Nomad Fest also had unconference sessions. These were more casual sessions led by one person between smaller groups. I loved these – each attendee had the opportunity to pitch their session in just 60 seconds at the start of the week and we had the chance to attend as many as we liked. The problem was choosing between the clashes! I loved that these sessions and workshops were a lot more informal and allowed us to ask more questions and take part. I attended a great session all about authentic relating, and my friend Dani led a fantastic session on helpful SEO hacks.
We also had the choice of many activities and day trips. My favourite day was a visit to Champex-Lac – I will never forget this summer day spent swimming in the lake, surrounded by the gorgeous postcard-perfect mountains! We also visited Durnand Gorge and Treetop Canopy (basically Go Ape!).
Lots of people suggested and ran their own activities and sessions too, such as guided meditation, yoga and stargazing. By the way, the night sky is stunning in Switzerland..!
Read more: Travel Diary: My Ski Workation in Liddes, Switzerland
My Review of Nomad Fest Switzerland
I had mixed feelings regarding Nomad Fest Switzerland. There were so many great things about this experience. The location is totally unique and if you enjoy the outdoors (or just need to switch off!), it’s the perfect setting. I loved that there were so many beautiful hikes to do nearby and the views were stunning at all times.
The problem with being a festival aimed at digital nomads, however, is that people still wanted to/had to work at points, and this wasn’t always possible. The WiFi was often patchy and there were not enough charging ports for everyone.
Despite having a wonderful stay earlier in the year, I felt the rooms/accommodation were a bit lacklustre this time. In January, we stayed in a spacious and comfortable room with clean bathrooms and even a desk to work at. This year, we were given a basement room to stay in, sharing with five volunteers at the festival. The small room had barely any charging ports/places to plug in our phones at night and no lockers. The room also had a tiny window which meant there was little to no ventilation. It was far too small for eight people to share.
When we arrived, a couple of the girls were coming down with a cold. This quickly spread between the eight of us staying in the room. I spent the best part of two days sick in bed, unable to take part in activities or conference sessions. This put a total dampener on my trip. The sickness quickly spread throughout the whole festival too. I felt this could have been handled a lot better – especially when symptoms were so similar to those of Covid. No one took the time to announce anything or put any safety precautions in place.
Two of the bunk beds also had no safety railings. This was quite worrying for those of us sleeping on the top bunks.
That being said, it’s important to remember it is a hostel. Given the price of the rooms, you can only expect very basic amenities. If you’re happy to slum it for the sake of saving money in Switzerland, then it’s a total bargain.
My thoughts mainly arise from the fact that I got so sick during my stay and comparing my accommodation to my experiences earlier in the year. I understand that people get sick and sometimes it can’t be helped. But I think that if we had been in a more spacious room with better precautions, we could have avoided it. I was also really disappointed at how little the issue was addressed. When you have a festival with 70 people attending, many of which sharing the same space, it would be thoughtful to take action or at least inform people when Covid-like symptoms are going around.
Sickness and accommodation aside, I absolutely loved the rest of the festival. Though the lack of WiFi was frustrating, it was also a chance to switch off and enjoy nature more. And the surrounding nature is one of the best points of Nomad Fest. I loved the concept of unconference sessions and the variety of workshops held. The location and the food were also a huge benefit.
My honest opinion would be that Nomad Fest is definitely worth attending for the price and benefits I mentioned above. However, I would strongly suggest paying a little extra for your own personal room.
I also understand that it’s the organisers’ first festival and the first of its kind in Switzerland. So of course there are going to be teething problems. I hope they resolve the issues for Nomad Fest 2024, because I would love to give it another go! I am incredibly grateful to the team for inviting me and really did have a great time otherwise. A lot of hard work goes into planning these festivals so I hope this feedback is invaluable in planning another successful one next year.
Disclosure: I was kindly invited on press trip by Coliving Frilingue. All my opinions are entirely honest and based on my own experiences.
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