Sea You Festival

History

What's now Sea You Festival began life in 2002 as the Sea of Love Festival, a single-day party at the Tunisee, a former gravel-quarry lake just outside Freiburg im Breisgau, close to the German-French-Swiss border. Organizer Bela Gurath and his company Endless Event drew around 2,500 people to that first edition, built around the same idea that's carried the event ever since: a lake to swim in during the day, stages to dance at once the sun drops. It grew steadily under Endless Event through the 2000s, expanding to two days in 2010 as attendance hit 15,000, then to three days in 2011 as the crowd nearly doubled again to 25,000, by which point ownership had passed to KOKO and DTK Entertainment.

That growth stalled out just as fast as it had arrived. The festival skipped 2013 entirely during an organizational transition, and when it came back in 2014, it did so under new management, Cosmopop, operating as Sea You Freiburg GmbH, and a new name: Sea You Festival. The relaunch pulled the event back to a smaller footprint before it built up again, eventually reaching a reported peak of around 27,000 attendees by 2017. Headliners across the festival's two eras have included early bookings of Sven Vath, DJ Rush, and Monika Kruse, followed later by Moby, Tiesto, Carl Cox, Paul Kalkbrenner, and Nina Kraviz.

Today the festival runs as a three-day weekend at the Tunisee each July, spread across six stages, with water sports and other activities around the lake filling the daytime hours between sets. It's picked up recognition beyond its own crowd too, including Heaven Award wins as Europe's best festival in both 2024 and 2025. For a scene where most lake-and-techno festivals eventually pick one identity or the other, Sea You has stayed committed to both halves of its split personality: the Tunisee's shoreline by day, and a genuinely substantial house and techno lineup once the stages light up.

FAQ

Why is the festival held at a lake?

The Tunisee's combination of a swimmable quarry lake and open shoreline space has been the concept behind the event since its first edition in 2002, when it launched as the Sea of Love Festival before being relaunched as Sea You in 2014.

Is Sea You Festival the same event as the Sea of Love Festival?

It's the same festival under new ownership and a new name. It ran as the Sea of Love Festival from 2002 to 2012, skipped 2013 during a change in organizers, and returned in 2014 as Sea You Festival under Cosmopop.

How big is Sea You Festival?

Attendance has grown unevenly across two distinct eras, from roughly 2,500 at the first edition in 2002 to a reported peak near 27,000 in 2017. It now runs across six stages over a three-day weekend.