South Africa

“If you’re looking for hippies South Africa has got them. Cape Town especially hosts a large hippy community, here we have the famous Green Market Square where hippies sell their creation from clothes to paintings. Every year from late June into early July thousands of people make their way to Grahmstown, a small town in the middle of nowhere, for the Grahmstown festival. Every hippy in the country winds up there sometime time during the 2-week festival. The festival is actually an arts festival where plays of all kinds (from miming to Shakespeare) can be seen, but along with the abundant actors come the hippies, hoping to make a profit off the large crowds of tourists and catch a few laughs at one of the many comedy plays. The entire town consists of two main streets and several theatre houses, what space is not being used for makeshift stages is a hippy market the size of a football field. All those who have been to one of the annual Grahmstown festivals agree on one thing; it gets better every year. As more and more people come and the hordes of hippies become uncountable the atmosphere seems to grow in a unique feeling of appreciation for the newfound peace in this unstable country. As I returned home to Cape Town after the latest festival I realized that I met more humane people from all over South Africa than I had in years of travel. It’s an experience of a lifetime not to be missed.”

Portugal

During the summer this place is the bomb, you have music festivals all over the place from july to september or you can go down to the south part of the country, algarve, where you can find beautiful beachs, mountains and a lot of really cool people from all over europe especially in lagos or in the little island of tafira. Anyway it´s a dam good place to any hippie to came and visit were you can drink a beer for $1 or $2, and you can roll a nice joint without no one saying anything, just don´t do it in front of the cops.

Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain

A magical blend of starlight nights, mountains, and sea. Trust me, lying under the stars will make no other starry sky seem quite as black and as speckled with stars as this vision. White washed houses trail the mountainous paths where the winding roads travel high on cliff edges. The vegetation here is so green.apparently anything grows on this land, after all, it’s known for it’s Spring climate all year round ( Gotta taste the warm rain and smell the moist ground.delight! )

There’s an upcoming mix of African and Spanish culture due to its geographical location. Whether you’re in the North ( the place to be for natural beauty ), down South ( where the parties kick off hard ), or up in the mountains of the Teide ( watch out for those scorpions! ).I guarantee immense energy to align even the most stressed of people. The beaches stretch with volcanic black sand that soak up the sun for the ultimate tan. The clouds linger around the villages on mountain tops.a mist like in heaven.

Don’t forget to catch "Rastro" market in Santa Cruz for good deals on Shaman drums, guitars.etc. Quite a good number of camping sites. A friendly environment where people feel a freedom to talk. It’s great feeling the vibes of some of the travellars who so often come back-packing in search for this peaceful vibration. A must.

Vashon Island, Washington

Vashon Island is in the Puget Sound next to Seattle. No bridges to the island, just a ferry that takes you there. If you want the closeness and convenience of Seattle, but you don’t like the high pace nature of Seattle, then Vashon Island is the place to be. It’s more slow paced, and plenty of hippies live there, both old-timers, and young. The only drawback, is the jets that fly overheard from Sea-Tac International Airport a few miles away.

Prague, Czech Republic

"The capital of Czech republic is also a capital of hippie life-forms here in Czech and also for a quite a lot of them from other countries. Mary Jane is not legal, but there are a lot of small clubs, organizing the festivals, concerts, theatre and a lot of other actions, where the MJ smoke is tolerated. It has a kind of legality as by our law you can smoke it, but can not grow it, trade it etc."

Mesnil Eglise, Belgium

I moved from Brussels to the little town of Mesnil Eglise (yes, Belgium) and see from the 75 habitants half of them are old and new tekno-hippies. From the solar energy professor to artists and bio food producers all invite friends to spend the summer in the woods of the Ardennes. This makes a lot of people smokin’ and roamin’ the 3 streets of the village… The melting pot with the original farmers worked well out during the last 25 years.

Amsterdam, Holland

THE hippy center of Europe. Marijuana sold legally in more than 400 coffeeshops, a long history of tolerance, beautiful old city, great vibes everywhere, and yes the friendly Dutch speak English. Hippie Heaven! Lots of headshops, smartshops, rave venues, hip fashions, museums and concerts. The Vondelpark has been a gathering place for hippies since the 60s.

Please see our Hip Guide to Amsterdam for lots more info, our coffeeshop guide, an event calendar, to book hotels, and much more!