It happens nearly every time. You’re giggling while grooving on the dance floor when you catch a glimpse of a pair of dreamy eyes sauntering over to say "hello." Could it be a new best friend or a festival fling? Perhaps it’s something more. Whether you’re at Coachella going Casanova or the Lord Byron of Bonnaroo , every festival-goer knows it’s not the big, sweaty crowds or the long walks in the dust that make the magic happen. It’s the intimate experiences that supercharge our lives with flashes of romance. It’s these moments that put the gravity into falling for somebody.

The starry-eyed folks at Northern Nights Music Festival know it too, because along with a scintillating lineup and an ethereally lush landscape in Mendocino that at first glance looks something like a tree-huggers wet dream, there are intimate experiences and gorgeous settings everywhere to get the best day with bae. Going alone? No worries, these spots at Northern Nights are guaranteed to unleash open hearts and freewheeling experiences galore.

The River Stage: Best Place for a Refreshing Moment of Bliss

Deep and clear enough to swim, the South Fork Eel River is home to the appropriately named River Stage and the main artery of pleasure and fun at the festival. Nearly everyone goes at least a few times during the event to dance, dance, dance, rinse and repeat. If cutting a rug with that special someone while they’re in swimwear doesn’t get things flowing, then the riverside bar and a relaxing float will assuredly rescue your verve like a hula-hooping Wendy Peffercorn on a hot summer day.

The Grove: Best Place for a Comfy Campsite

For any forest nymphs or woodland creatures the Grove is the closest thing to home you’ll find at the festival. If the shade of these majestic redwoods isn’t enough to convince a visitor they’ve found FernGully, then rolling around in the mossy grass or dancing barefoot from one ancient tree to the next definitely will. As the hands-down best place in the festival to pitch a tent, the Grove offers a cushy lawn and cool temperatures for an easy start to the morning. Comfort can be a challenge at camping festivals, but the Grove is incredible because it’s a natural shelter, so you can pack light and still have a fairy tale of a time – the way camping ought to be.

Silent Disco by HUSHconcerts: Best Place to Have a First Dance

If you’d rather dance than cuddle, HUSHconcerts' Silent Disco has you covered. With headphones funneling beats into your brains you can dance together until dawn, but part of the charm of having speakers strapped to your ears is that you can select a different DJ on an alternative channel, so it’s actually two stages running simultaneously out of one dance party. Things get real cozy when you take the headphones off and find talking doesn’t require a retreat from all those sumptuous subwoofers. It’s a refreshing experience – one where you can actually do a little dance one moment and then connect in a heart-to-heart convo in the next. With a HUSHconcerts-hosted Silent Disco happening each night at the festival you can bet more than a few magic moments will set the stage for something special.

Stellar Sets on the Mainstage: Best Place to Go to Know That It’s Real

Photo by: Babak Haghighi

If cuddling in the crowd is how you take your tea, then bring your best dancing shoes to the main stage this year, because this lineup is fire. Along with some of the foremost banger-makers, starry-eyed couples and agapé-seeking singles get to look forward to swerving and gyrating to the stylings of acts like Jai Wolf, Dirtwire and Random Rab, to name a few. In other words, this isn’t just going to be an epic dance party, it's going to bring a lot of people together through the power of damn good music.

Light Shows in the Trees: Best Place for a First Kiss

One of the most intimate experiences you’ll have at Northern Nights is also somehow one of the most special to share. Each night, pastel hues are cast through the trees from different directions, creating an iridescent glow throughout the campgrounds to complement the shining stars in the night sky. There’s something about witnessing deconstructed rainbows shooting through the forest that serves as reminder that the magic of creation is alive in nature. Also, in it, we experience richer moments, so whether you’re looking to head away with the honey for the weekend or you’re only hoping to momentarily be swept off your feet, these lit-up trees offer a prime place for the perfect first kiss.