In between the big essays and projects of the last month of the semester is a great time to start to decide what music festival will be best for you and your friends this year. Tickets are selling out fast and what better way to pass the next couple weeks quickly then by day dreaming about summer weather, giant crowds, tents, half naked partiers and totems?

     So where to start? Well, planning a trip to a music festival for the first time is definitely a daunting feat but look at all the options and figure out what festival is going to have the best location, entertainment, price, headliners, undercard and vibes for you and your squad.

     When it comes to location, it is all about how far you are willing to drive. Firefly Music Festival in Dover, DE is three and a half hours away, Bonnaroo Music Festival is 12 hours, and Lollapalooza is nine. A road trip makes most music festivals worth the trip no matter the distance. Driving with your closest friends only to party for four days and come back home with a ton of good memories is enough reason for many people to go across the country. If that isn’t an option for you, many festivals are close enough that you won’t break the bank, but far enough that that feeling of adventure isn’t lost.

     While music is obviously the reason to go to a music festival, some fests are a lot more than a variety of bands getting together. SXSW in Austin, Texas for example, is one part music festival, technology convention, food festival and film festival. Even music festivals with 100 artists in their lineup still bring in delicious food trucks, artists erecting art pieces and interesting vendors.

     There is a crazy amount of music festivals to choose from. Most of the big commercial successes have a wide variety of music like indie, folk, classic rock and hip-hop.  But that doesn’t mean that you can’t go to a country festival or one of the many EDM festivals like Ultra and electric forest. When you decide what genre of music festival you want to go to, then ask yourself which festivals have the best headliners and which have the best undercard.

     Separating the headliners from the undercard may be a weird choice when making decisions for the music festival you’re going to but your favorite artists could be at the bottom of the Lineup and that festival may be your dream festival without even seeing the headlining acts. On the other hand, those headliners can carry an entire festival if they are good enough. Finding a festival with a mixture of amazing headliners and under-card performers will ensure that there isn’t a moment without great music.

     The mood of a festival is also incredibly important. Indie fests like Firefly and Coachella have very similar lineups but are completely night and day with totally different kinds of people going. Festivals like Bonnaroo are revered for their location and people who go to “the farm” (Bonnaroo) come back as different people, according to die hard Bonnaroo goers.  Lollapalooza however is smack dab in the middle of Chicago, Illinois and doesn’t offer the same sort of comradery.

     All in all, it is totally up to the festival goer as to where they decide the best music, vibes and fun are but this year’s lineups are great across the country and at least one should appeal to everyone. Decide where you are going, either purchase a camp site from the festival or book your hotel, and make it to a festival this year.