Festival life. Each Summer sees a pilgrimage of city dwellers flocking to a host of festivals across the world for a week of debauchery with a serious ‘anything goes’ attitude. We love a good festival here at Wonderland, and over the next couple of weeks we will be giving you your definitive guide to the best festivals of the summer. Maybe, however, you’re already worn down by your festy-memories of cramming everything bad for you into the space of five sleepless days and nights. Maybe you want to attend something this year that is more about intimate and chilled vibes? Well, there’s an island for that.

Yes we said island. This summer skip the muddy, overpopulated festival grounds for the sunny, beautiful island of Obonjan. The Croatian island (with its hard to pronounce name) will open an eight week season arts and wellbeing programme this summer. It’s going to be the place to escape, to connect with yourself and enjoy music, culture, and art. Everything you could possibly want in one place.

Now, if there’s one thing that will keep us voluntarily trapped on an island it’s the music and Obonjan promises a lot of it. A regular programme of DJ’s, international bands and musicians will hit the stone amphitheatre delivering a good party for the night and carry you into the sunrise of morning. Acts that are already confirmed include Matthew Herbert, Roy Ayers, Talaboman, DJ Shadow, Poliça, Lindstrøm, and The Invisible satisfying all your techno, electronic, funk’n’soul, and hip-hop needs. All headliners will play at the amphitheatre while elsewhere if you need a break from the bass bumping, the island’s own 25-piece orchestra can be found and heard. Of course the day time atmosphere will be more laid back, so you can soak up the sun by the pool as the one of many DJ’s play.

What else could you want? Well, Obonjan has a lot more to give, trust us. There will be cultural events during the day including talks and workshops on a range of topics to expand and excite your mind, because who doesn’t want to spend the summer becoming a better version of themselves? Then, there’ll be film screenings in the island’s open air cinema – think everything from cult classic to critically acclaimed documentaries. The curated arts programme will showcase artists’ work from Croatia, Europe, and all over the world. The island will evolve into an open gallery with the many permanent and momentary installations, including dream-like underwater sculptures. Each week new art will be on display, interacting with the island’s natural beauty – could you ask for a more perfect backdrop to boost all the installations? Also, because wellbeing is at the core of Obonjan, naturally there is a wellbeing centre with a range of treatments on offer. Hot tubs, juice bar, yoga, sauna and steam room? Sold!

The ethos of Obonjan is simple: enjoy all the island has to offer in equal measure. Quelle pleasure! So, about that mud-ridden week of warm beer…?

Obonjan will be open from July 18th – September 10th 2016.