At the start of 2024, Kosovo joined Europe’s visa-free Schengen zone, allowing Kosovars to travel freely around the European Union without a visa. It’s a big change, full of opportunities. Lale Arikoglu writes a refreshing piece for Condé Nast Traveler about Kosovo’s club culture and electronic music scene, and the energy and sense of possibility felt on dance floors across Pristina, 25 years after the war.
Like everyone I meet in Pristina, Gjakova, 36, has his own memories of the war. “Can you imagine being 10 years old?” he says, tearing apart a piece of pita with his hands. “For a long time after, I’d hear fireworks and I would fear them because of the noises they reminded me of.” To be planning a 140,000-person music festival in the heart of Pristina, then, one where the boom of the bass is a heartbeat not an alarm bell, is a tangible example of how far a country can come in 25 years—and a vision of its future.
