There’s not much accomodation in Clisson and around as it’s quite a rural area + Nantes is very close.
I guess you could book a cheap hotel in Nantes and get to the festival by train and come back every night with the shuttle system.
Extra costs, I know…
Thanks for that tip re the shuttle system. Can’t find how to book the shuttle system on the Hellfest site. Whereabouts is the information (i.e. what time shuttle buses leave at the end each night?) and booking facility re shuttles? For some reason I presumed shuttle would only be at the beginning of the festival and on the Monday morning, when it’s finished
Unfortunately, you won’t be able to book anything before a few months…
I think the partnership with the cab company in charge of the shuttle system will still be on in 2010 but nothing has ben confirmed so far.
When the deal is confirmed, you will have to either phone or email someone so has to book your trips.
All necessary information will be posted here and on the official site.
Btw, last year’s fares were :
- any trip within Clisson : 2€ per person
- Nantes to Clisson or Clisson to Nantes : 10€ per person per day and 15€ by night.
Shuttles usually had a capacity of 5 to 10 people and they had to be filled up so as to leave. Last trips were on sunday night.
YES YES and f*n YES !!! 
Personally, this is one of my top 3 problems at Hellfest, because this year (and especially the year before) you could see a lot of people just exhausted or heavily sunburned during the day, so some of them didnt even go to see bands play at night.
Another thing is the festival timetable I posted a thread earlier so Ill just copy my questions here:
There are more or less 40 bands playing per festival-day on Hellfest. The first bands start at 10-11 AM and the last bands (headliners) stop playing around 2-3 AM the next day.
My suggestion is to have the hadliners play earlier (for example to start between 11 and 12 PM and have the other bands play until 2-3 AM after them) because the crowd is just too exhausted and a huge part of them are leaving the festivalground before the headliners start.
Last year we had Slayer headlining the last day, and they took the stage at 1 AM. After spending a whole (very, very hot) day watching bands and being in the sun, I was just feeling incredibly tired and, to be honest, I was just waiting for the last song to go pass out in my tent.
This year, I left the grounds after a few Manowar songs (being tired wasn’t the reason - I just don’t like the band big_smile ) and I saw a huuuuge number of people with Manowar shirts leaving the pleace, because they were so exhausted they barely walked.
Have a nice weekend y’all
\m/
Don’t worry it’s already fixed! Big bands will play early, around 22 - 23
Headliners won’t play last on Friday and Saturday but Kiss will headline and close the festival on Sunday, playing around 10/11 pm.
GREAT!!! 
Greets from cold and snowy Bosnia
Some members of the French part of the forum had the opportunity to have a little chit-chat with the whole Hellfest staff a few days ago.
Here’s what was said (don’t expect sensational news though !) :
There are many decisions to be taken regarding many issues (the way the arena is organised, new stuffs, etc.) and the management is currently studying the best options (i.e. ‘practical’ AND ‘affordable’). The staff wants to provide more/better facilities to festival-goers and will only offer services that are affordable and manageable. Money remains the key…
NEXT ANNOUNCEMENTS
Next announcement: mid-January. Final announcement: March.
PASSES
The Xmas Hellbanger (109€) is sold out. New passes (full price - about 129€ - tbc) will be available in January. One-day passes will only be available from March onwards (together with the final announcement). Please note that booking Kiss does not have any impact on the whole bill and the price of the pass. It looks that many people did not know that promotional passes (89€) for 2010 were available at the merchandising stall during the 2009 edition. There should still be a 50%-discount for youngsters under 16 in 2010 but this has to confirmed.
THE BILL
No specific theme is planned. Many bands were from New Orleans last year but this was more an opportunity to book them rather than an artistic will. Iron Maiden will not play in Clisson in 2010 as the band will only tour from August onwards. Iron Maiden’s fee is apparently affordable for Hellfest (Metallica and Rammstein are much too expensive). The Terrorizer Tent (the small one) will be mainly dedicated to hardcore bands like in 2009. Headliners should play at about 11pm on Friday and Saturday (last show will be on Main Stage 2 then) but the last band to play will hit the stage at 1pm. The festival will close earlier (about midnight) on Sunday and Kiss will play last.
CAMPSITE
The whole structure should remain the same with slight improvements here and there. Anything added has its costs and needs more volunteers. For example: providing water (in/out) as well as electricity is already very complex and expensive. There should be more showers though. The management was very satisfied with the work done by Uri Green in terms of collecting/recycling waste.
More news later when everything’s decided.
TOILETS
That was obviously the weakest point of the festival in 2009. The management will keep a very sharp eye on the issue in 2010. The company in charge will remain the same but will have to work its arse off this time. There could be toilets dedicated to ladies only in 2010 (15% of festival-goers are ladies).
CAR PARKS
No real changes are planned. All vehicles will stay out of the campsite : too risky and that’s not legally OK in France. No specific areas dedicated to campers as it’s quite a hassle to set up (more volunteers, finding another spot etc.).
ANIMATIONS
The management wonders if the new stuffs from 2009 (Electric Circus, Ball Of Steel, etc.) was considered a good or bad by the festival goers. Do they have to remain? Change? Setting up some kind of a travelling animation? Why not Air Guitar contests in the Metal Corner? Etc.
Once again, the staff is just starting to think about it so we’ll have to wait to get more hints.
FOOD
Many people complained that there were not enough seats/benches as well as shade. The staff is thinking about dedicating a specific spot (where the Electric Circus was) with a big tent where people could sit and in the shade. Tt’s just a thought – no decision has been made, OK?
DRINKS
People complained about 25cl-cups and wanted 50cl ones… That will not happen. 25cl ones will remain. Having two types of cups would be too expensive and French people are used to their 25cl cups (some will refuse to pay 4€ for a pint but will pay 2 half-pints at 2€ each without any problem…Frenchies are silly, aren’t they?). There will be a wine bar in 2010 too. The (minor) partnership with Coco-Cola is over and new ones are being studied.
EXTREME MARKET
The Extreme Market should be bigger than in 2009.
THE ARENA
Same than for the campsite: it should stay roughly the same but with some improvements so as to regulate the flow. Once again, the staff is working on it. [the four stages should remain at the same spots but the both main stages will be bigger and will switch spots]
DRINK TOKENS
There were huge queues in 2009 whereas there were more desks than in 2008. The reason is that festival-goers tended to get more tokens in one go in 2009 (like 500€). The question of selling tokens on Thursday or even online will be studied. Obviously you won’t be able to use ’09 tokens in 2010.
LOCKERS
The issue will be studied too. Once against, this will be put into place only if not too expensive and if there are enough volunteers to run it.
FESTIVAL-GOERS WITH A HANDICAP
The staff wants better facilities for them. A dedicated spot will be set up inside the campsite. More news later on that issue too.
Well, that’s it I guess. As you can see, the staff is working hard for you.
Is regular tap water available at Hellfest? I went to Summer Breeze last year and they only had fizzy water available, which I think is completely ridiculous. That stuff is disgusting and does nothing to quench my thirst while sitting out in the heat all day.
I attended Hellfest in 07 & 08 and I plan to attend the 2010 edition as well. A big problem then was the lack of showers, especially in 2007 when the weather was the worst possible. I saw that the organisers are trying to improve the shower situation, but bearing the weather factor in mind, will there be any warm water showers (for a fee)? They are VERY popular at Wacken & Metalcamp.
@Anthony3 : tap water is available indeed.
@Ella : shaowers were available for the very first time in 2009 and were unfortunately not warm 24/24. There should be more of them in 2010 as these were popular.
I have one other point to make. Last year, there were seating areas inside the arena which were basically plastic garden tables and chairs and were, unfortunately, destroyed by festival goers. Is there a better way of dealing with this?
This issue was mentionned too during our meeting (by myself btw).
Some festivals (Rock Werchter for example) have big wooden benches and tables stuck together which cannot be moved and that would solve the problem. But apparently you cannot find them in France + renting these is unfortunately very/too expensive (the staff already checked that out).
Having benches and tables in a tent will prevent people from moving them away.
Thanks for the update, Wombat
A mall; right next door…there you can get some cash. Though it’s pretty distant. Gotta withdraw quite a few bills at once.
Another thing I wanted to mention…The organizers may wanna post news about the third announcement earlier than expected, if possible. I mean, look around, just a little : people start to sell their 3 days pass to go to the sonisphere or Wacken instead. Which is quite evident : look at those festivals bills. Better announce something great, and quickly.
Line up so far is great. Kiss are not at Sonisphere or Wacken.
hey all,
got another question about the camping. Can we bring our own food/drinks ? Like i heard they didnt let you bring bottles of water…and that’s bad (can get quite hot). Just to know if we have to buy all the food in the camp (or in markets around clisson), but i guess i can sometimes be easier if you could get your own stuff (you can´t find good spanish chorizo in clisson )
You can bring our own drinks and food inside the campsite : no restriction whatsoever (that means as many crates you can carry ;)).
At the beginning of the campsite, there are empty trolleys at the disposal of us to bring our food, drink, … to our tents.
Could the next bandanouncement be a great one, beacause the wacken line-up so far is awesome!! Hellfest is much a nicer festival than Wacken, but the wacken line-up is really something 
I mean: WASP, Alice Cooper, Evile, Edguy, Slayer, Canniball Corpse, Motley crue, iron maiden and grave digger.
Goodluck to hellfets orginazation!! And greetings from the netherlands!!;D