VW Bus Festival 2023 – three days celebrating the VW Camper Van

The VW Bus Festival 2023 officially started on Friday, 23 June 2023 with the arrival of a colourful Camper Van convoy made up of 75 vehicles, which drove from the plant in Stöcken through Hannover’s astonished city centre to the festival site. Later, the first participants competed against each other on stage with their Camper Vans in the Show & Shine competition. Three themed pavilions gave visitors information about the history and future of the VW Bus – including the European premiere of the ID. Buzz with long wheelbase. In the evening, #BULLILOVEstories – the Film celebrated its world première on the festival stage, where Pat Burgener and then Axel Bosse – both passionate campers – and their bands danced and sang along with 15,000 visitors.

Squats, yoga and sit-ups: The second, very sunny day of the festival started with a fitness programme from the professional surfers Janina Zeitler and Alina Kornelli. Afterwards, however, the focus was once again on the stunning VW buses: The Show & Shine jury evaluated countless Camper Vans in a total of eight categories throughout the day. In the meantime, visitors could attend exciting presentations at the festival stage – ‘Cooking in the van’ with Martin Göschel or ‘Travelling alone’ with Anna Matuschek and Melina Lindenblatt. In the evening, highlight followed highlight: First, Hollywood actor Ewan McGregor presented the new ID. Buzz with long wheelbase, then Zoe Wees, Rea Garvey and Die Fantastischen Vier put on an amazing concert. At the end of the second day of the festival, an incredible show of 300 illuminated drones inspired plenty of ‘oohs’ and ‘ahs’ from the festival visitors. 

The last VW Bus festival day was devoted entirely to families. While the kids had the chance to play at the Hannover 96 football school and at the Camper Van Kid’s Club, Paralympian Martin Braxenthaler gave a take on the stage about travelling with disabilities. Afterwards, young and old rapped and danced together to DIKKA, the rapping rhinoceros, and Luca Hänni. At lunchtime, they had the opportunity to listen to the surfer talk while munching on an original VW currywurst. Niclas Nebelung, Florian Gruber and Vincent Langer gave a talk on their experiences as professional surfers. At 2 pm, it was time to say goodbye. The VW Bus Festival 2023 was officially declared over and 6,000 Camper Vans set off on their journey home content with their wonderful experiences.