Bitesized guide: Glastonbury Festival

With summer well and truly around the corner, our minds at World Travel Guide have turned to the upcoming festival season. From Britain's finest to Europe's top offerings, we kick off our series of bitesized guides to this summer's festivals with a trip down to Glastonbury.

Britain's favourite festival since 1970, Glastonbury takes place on a hilly dairy farm with rough tracks and uneven walkways. On a huge site that will take over an hour to walk across, the line-up is always guaranteed to be the biggest and best.

When is it? 

Wednesday 24 June to Sunday 28 June 2009.

Where is it?

On a 1,100 acre (0.4 hectare) site at Worthy Farm, on the edge of Pilton village. It's off the A361 between Shepton Mallet and Glastonbury.

Who's playing?

The full line-up won't be announced until a month before the festival, but some acts are already confirmed. These are -

Fleet Foxes
Neil Young
Blur
Lily Allen
Bruce Springsteen
Doves
Franz Ferdinand
The Ting Tings
Echo and The Bunnymen
White Lies
Florence and The Machine
Kasabian
Emiliana Torrini

Essentials

Tickets
Warm and waterproof clothing
Walking shoes/boots
Pairs of dry socks
Sun cream
Wet wipes
A torch
Your mobile's unique IMEI number (found by pressing * #  06 #) - it helps to quote this when reporting a lost phone.

Leave behind

Any glass
Food and cooking equipment - you can eat well and cheaply on site.
Any bank cards/keys that you don't need - they might get lost.
Large amounts of cash
Gazebos
Sound systems

Weather

If it rains, prepare for the mud (you will need wellies). If you're lucky, it will be sunny and dry, but this is England...

Getting there

Bus: Public transport is likely to be cheaper and quicker, as well as greener. National Express will be running dedicated services direct to the Glastonbury site from over 50 destinations in the UK.

Rail: There will be extra trains to Castle Cary station, from where ticket holders can catch the free coach shuttle to the Festival Bus Station. A coach shuttle will also be operating from Bristol Temple Meads railway station for £12.

Car: If you do drive, and have a Satnav, use the following post codes -
For the west carparks (coming from Glastonbury town and the M5): BA6 8NE.
For the east carparks (coming from the A303 or A37): BA4 6TA.

Don't arrive before 8am on the Wednesday.

24 April 2009

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