In the room
The experience
Barbarella's is an open-air discotheque in the pines on the coast at Pirovac in Dalmatia, a short drive from The Garden at Tisno, the former military holiday camp that became Croatia's festival site. The club had fallen into disrepair when Nick Colgan, the founder of the original Garden Festival, restored it, and it became what it still is: the room where the festival goes after the festival. Dekmantel Selectors calls it "the moon-lit club where sets stretch till sunrise", and that is a fair description of the job.
The floor is open to the sky and faces the water; the sound is a Funktion-One rig that has very little to bounce off, so it carries clean and warm and dies into the sea. Capacity is about 2,500. It opens on festival nights from midnight to six and runs as its own ticket: a single night or an Unlimited pass, separate from the festival wristband, over-18s only and cashless at the bars.
The festivals that use it are the ones that have made Tisno a word among DJs: Love International (8 to 14 July 2026; 7 to 13 July 2027), Dekmantel Selectors (19 to 23 August 2027, its eleventh edition), Defected Croatia, Soundwave and SuncéBeat have all run their nights here, with boat parties on the bay by day and Barbarella's after dark.
Insider tip
Walk in knowing
Buy the club ticket when you buy the festival one: it is sold separately, as a single night or an Unlimited pass, and the nights move here once the festival stages close.
Why it fits
Why it is in the atlas
Pines, sea, an open floor and a sound system with nothing in its way. The after-hours room that made a stretch of Croatian coast a destination.
Plan the trip
When to go, hours, getting there
Best time to go
Festival weeks only, July to early September. Love International in the second week of July; Dekmantel Selectors in the third week of August. Outside those weeks it is closed.
Hours
Summer season only, late June to late August. Doors typically 22:00 to 06:00 during festival weeks. Daytime beach club operations for guests of the Garden Resort.
Getting there
On a small seafront peninsula at Pirovac (22213), a short drive from The Garden at Tisno. During festival weeks, taxis linked to The Garden run to and from the club, and some festivals add a shuttle. Split and Zadar airports are both within reach, and the Tisno festivals have offered transfers from each.
FAQ
Questions people ask
Where is Barbarella's?
On a small seafront peninsula at Pirovac on the Dalmatian coast, a short drive from The Garden at Tisno.
Which festivals use Barbarella's?
Love International, Dekmantel Selectors, Defected Croatia, Soundwave and SuncéBeat have all used it as their after-hours club.
How big is it and what is the sound?
About 2,500 people, open air, on a Funktion-One system.
When is it open?
From midnight to 6am on festival nights; it does not open outside the festival season.
