Festival & event · Somerset, England

Glastonbury

Less a festival than a temporary city of 200,000 with its own healing fields, secret sets and micro-nations.

Best forGroups of friends · Nightlife · Solo travellers
In October15°C · 17 rainy days
Ideal stayFive nights, Wednesday to Monday
Approx. flying time~10h 55m from Los Angeles

Takes place in Glastonbury, Somerset, England — nearest airport Bristol (BRS), about 26km away.

CurrencyGBPPound sterling
LanguageEnglish
Local time16:13same time as the UK
PlugsType GUK plugs fit
Drive on theLeftSame as the UK
Dialling code+44

The festival

Worthy Farm near Pilton in Somerset takes around 200,000 people for five days in late June, which makes it briefly one of the larger settlements in the country. There are roughly a hundred stages and areas, and the Pyramid is only the most visible of them. The site covers about 900 acres of hillside, so getting between two things takes half an hour on foot.

Tickets require registration with a photograph months in advance and sell out in minutes during the autumn on-sale, so booking as a syndicate is the practical approach. Most people camp, since nearby accommodation is scarce and priced accordingly. The festival takes a fallow year roughly every five, and the weather does whatever it likes regardless of what the forecast promised.

Ideal stay: Five nights, Wednesday to Monday
The vibe: Muddy, sprawling, gloriously overwhelming

From our guides

The Pyramid Stage is only the front door — the real initiation is the south-east corner after midnight, a hallucinatory sprawl of installations and sound systems. Tickets require pre-registration and a legendary October scramble, so recruit a syndicate. Pack wellies whatever the forecast, and give yourself a full day to find the good stuff.

Featured in Ten festival trips worth building a holiday around

Make a trip of it

The south-east corner

Shangri-La, Block9 and the Unfair Ground open late and run through the night, with installations and sound systems on a scale nothing else matches.
The Park

A hillside stage area with the best view over the whole site, a stone circle nearby and a reliable habit of hosting secret sets.
The Pyramid Stage

The main stage, and home to the Sunday afternoon legends slot, which pulls the largest crowd of the weekend by a wide margin.
Green Fields and healing area

The festival's older, quieter half: crafts, workshops, hedgerow food and a wood-fired sauna looking out over the tents.
West Holts

The stage for funk, jazz, Afrobeat and dance acts, sitting beside the best concentration of food stalls on the site.
Sunrise at the stone circle

The traditional end to a long night, on the hill above the Park, where the crowd watches the light come up over the fields.

Getting there

Fly to
Bristol (BRS)

Nearest airport to Glastonbury, about 26km away as the crow flies.
Then
To Glastonbury

About 45 minutes to an hour by car from Bristol airport (BRS) south on the A37 and A39. Coaches run from Bristol and London direct to the festival site during the event, which is the sane way to arrive.
On the ground
Getting around

The festival is at Worthy Farm near Pilton, a few miles east of Glastonbury town, and traffic into the car parks can take hours on the Wednesday. Once inside it is all on foot, and the site is genuinely enormous, so allow half an hour to cross it.

Public transport: Decent for the festival itself thanks to the official coach services and shuttle buses from Castle Cary station. Outside festival week, buses to Glastonbury town from Bristol and Bath are slow but workable.

Flights

Los Angeles Glastonbury, Somerset, England

Flying from

Fly from anywhere — search 4,000+ airports worldwide.

Roughly 10h 55m in the air from Los Angeles (LAX), estimated from the distance — check for a direct route. Pick a month to see every available flight with live prices.

Check dates and prices

Pick your departure date, then your return.

Search flights

Flight times are estimates; prices open on Google Flights.

When to go

Daytime highs run from about 8°C in January to 21°C in August. Wettest in October, with rain on about 17 days.

The year at a glance — pick a month for detail

October15° · rain 17 daysCool and often wet.

Monthly figures averaged from daily records for 2020–2024 at this location (ERA5 reanalysis).

Where to base yourself

Overwhelmingly your own tent on Worthy Farm, with campervan fields, pre-pitched bell tents and boutique camping outfits just outside. Local hotel beds are scarce and priced accordingly.

Best base overall
Pennard Hill Ground

Camping on site is the festival. The eastern fields sit above the noise with a view over the whole temporary city, though it is a long climb back at four in the morning.
Find stays in Pennard Hill Ground
Best with children
Cockmill Meadow

The family camping field, quieter, stewarded and close to the Kidz Field, with the late-night traffic kept out. You need to arrange family camping in advance.
Find stays in Cockmill Meadow
Quietest
Shepton Mallet

The nearest town with actual beds, ten minutes away in theory and a great deal longer in festival traffic. Sleeping off site means missing the small hours, which suits some people.
Find stays in Shepton Mallet
Best value
Glastonbury and Street

Rooms, guesthouses and campsites in the two towns west of the site, with shuttle buses from both. Cheaper than Shepton Mallet, and further from the gates.
Find stays in Glastonbury and Street

Worth knowing before you book: You must register with a photograph before tickets go on sale in the autumn, and coach-and-ticket packages usually last a little longer than ticket-only.

Search everything else in Glastonbury by budget. These are indicative budget bands in GBP per night for two people, not live quotes or guarantees of hotel type. Check your dates, guests, taxes and final price on Booking.com.

Or see everything in Glastonbury

Good to know

Book ahead: Registration with a photo closes weeks before tickets go on sale, and the sale itself lasts minutes. Organise the group first.
Pack this: Wellingtons regardless of the forecast, a torch, sun cream and more water capacity than you think. The site is mud or dust, rarely between.
Timing: Arrive on the Wednesday when gates open to get a decent camping spot. Music on the main stages starts on the Friday.
Cash or card: Card payment works across the site and there are cash machines, though they queue and charge. Contactless moves bar queues fastest.
Getting there: Castle Cary station runs a shuttle bus to the site, and official coaches leave from cities across Britain with the ticket bundled in.