In 2023, I attended Glastonbury festival for the first time at the ripe age of 32! Of the group attending, only one of us had attended Glastonbury Festival, but the rest of us hadn’t, and even with her advice, there were still many tips I picked up that I now hope to pass on to you.
Getting Tickets for Glastonbury Festival
For 2023, Glastonbury general admission tickets went on sale on Sunday 6 November 2022. A pre-registration was required that closed on 31st October 2022, and the tickets are sold exclusively at glastonbury.seetickets.com.
You can buy 6 tickets at once, and it’s recommended to team up with friends or others you know are attending, the more of you there are, the greater chance you have of getting them. Have everyone’s names and registration numbers ready to enter!
We paid a £50 deposit per ticket upon buying the tickets paid upfront, and shortly after everyone received their confirmation link individually. Between the 1st and 7th April 2023 we were each able to pay the remainder of the fee individually, this was priced as follows in addition to the £50 deposit already paid:
- Adult Ticket £290.00
- 1 x Car Park (Per Vehicle) £55.00
- Refund Protection £7.95
- Transaction Fee £9.75
- Total £362.70
We received a despatch email from See Tickets on 31st May 2023, and the tickets finally arrived via Royal Mail on 7th June 2023, two weeks before the festival opened.
What to Pack for Glastonbury Festival
I’m not much of a camper so I didn’t want to invest in lots of new items just for the sake of the festival, so as soon as we knew we were going to Glastonbury, I began searching for items on Facebook Marketplace and charity shops. Fortunately, one of our groups had a tent large enough to accommodate us and I already had a sleeping bag so it didn’t require much investment.
You can take your own food and drink into the festival, and there are 24/7 manned lockups to store items or valuables around the festival for when you’re out and about to avoid coming all the way back to your tent.
There is also a co-op shop, market stalls selling all manner of clothing and accessories as well as camping stores across the festival site.
I’ve pulled together my complete packing list here.
What to Wear at Glastonbury Festival
Pretty much anything goes, I even witnessed a woman strolling around topless so wear whatever you’re comfortable in or push the boundaries! Just bear in mind that you will be walking on average around 20k steps a day, there’s limited shade or protection from the elements and you’ll want to be in and out of the toilets pretty sharpish so clothes that are easy to get up and down are recommended.
Be sure to bring a jacket for the evening as it can get quite cold when the sun goes down and a poncho or waterproof. Even during the hottest Glastonbury on record, the evenings in the tent were very cold so bring warm pajamas or layers, but by the time the morning came around it was extremely hot in the tent.
Consider doing fancy dress!
When to Arrive at Glastonbury Festival
While the full music line-up begins on Friday, you can arrive on Wednesday as we did and enjoy a number of activities happening around the festival until it officially begins on Friday. The benefit of arriving early on the first day is being able to set up camp at your desired spot. There are also plenty of activities detailed in this article available to do all week.
We arrived at the car park at around 11 am and were directed to the Pink West 57 location, by 3 pm we had unloaded the car and set up the tent. We were not searched upon entry.
Getting to Glastonbury Festival
There is no train station in Glastonbury, with the closest station being Castle Cary, but there is a free shuttle bus for ticket holders running between Castle Cary Station and the Festival Bus Station throughout the Festival.
Meet at Bridgwater Services
If several of you are driving from different parts of the UK, consider meeting at Bridgwater Services. It’s then 26 miles to the festival site, estimated around 50-60 minutes. Not only can you take a quick toilet break and pick up some refreshments, but you can then travel in convoy to the festival and be sure to be parked close to one another. This is a good time to stick on your car parking sticker if you haven’t already!
Where to Camp at Glastonbury Festival
It’s a long old walk to and from the car park so you may want to consider doing multiple trips rather than trying to do it all in one go! We parked in Pink West 57, entered Pedestrian Gate D, and camped in Bushy Ground. We chose this location to camp as it was close enough to toilets, easily reached from the gate but not too far into the chaos of Glastonbury.
Bear in mind that with music on until 6 am Friday to Sunday, there’s unlikely to be any “quiet” places to camp. It’s a good idea to decide in advance where you want to camp by using the map and finding the closest gate to enter. The official app has a live map that can help track your location, but it helps to find some markers to help locate your tent, such as tent flags.
Pretty much all of the campsites had food and drink options nearby, toilets, a water point, a valuable store, and 24/7 stewards.
If you’re doing multiple trips to the car, you will need both your wristband and your ticket to re-enter. On exiting, you will be given a pass out and on re-entering you’ll need these three things.
Toilets and Showers
The advice was that the toilets can get pretty nasty throughout the day, and most people just don’t bother with showers either being too busy too much faff or too far away. We opted for a collapsible bowl that we could fill with water and wash with soap and a flannel.
A lot of people, friends included, bought a water bag that they filled from the nearby tap and used as a makeshift shower each morning. Since the weather was beautifully hot and the ground dry, this worked really well.
We camped near compost toilets, using sawdust helps to eliminate the odour but they could smell during the day. The toilets near our campsite would get busy around 9am when most people were waking up, but it wasn’t too long to wait.
The toilets around the site were smellier and somewhat open to the elements, they would get busy between acts so it’s best to time it right!
Food and Drink
You are free to bring in your own food and drink to the festival, but if you do choose to eat out there are a considerable amount of options. The majority of vegan options were found around the Greenpeace fields, but there was every imaginable type of food available from sweet treats like brownies and pancakes, to filled Yorkshire puddings, pad thai, and burgers.
Bring some non-perishable snacks like breakfast bars and crisps to keep in your tent for the mornings or when you feel a little peckish. It’s recommended to bring a large water bag or bottle that you can refill using the onsite taps to keep drinking water in your tent.
You can see the cost of food in my spending breakdown further down this article.
Phone Charging
If you’re going to invest in anything, be sure to invest in a good portable charger. The Anker brands were recommended as the best. I took two, one anker and one I already owned.
The signal isn’t great at the festival, so you will only be using it for photos, videos, and the app if you wish to use it. With a shoddy iPhone battery, I kept my phone on low battery mode and airplane mode the majority of the time. By Saturday I had only used one of the power banks, but there were places to charge the phone on-site should you need it.
Things To Do at Glastonbury Festival
Besides the many stages and musical acts available, there’s a whole host of activities to try. The Greenpeace fields host every imaginable craft workshop from bushcraft and woodwork, to textiles and stone carving. Elsewhere you can participate in yoga workshops and sound baths, Latino dance classes and even HiiT workshops. Don’t miss a visit to the cabaret and circus areas, or even a trip to the cinema.
Check out my Glastonbury Festival Bucket List
Spending Money
I’ve logged everything I spent during my time at Glastonbury Festival, my total came to £205.50 across the six days, but since you can bring your own food and drink into the festival, it can be as expensive as you prefer. It should give some indication as to the food prices, I chose not to drink alcohol during my time at Glastonbury so I’m unable to provide accurate drink prices.
Merchandise:
There were the costs of available Glastonbury merchandise in 2023.
- Hoodies £40
- Sweatshirt £35
- Tshirt £20
- Tote bag £10
- Tea towel £12
Day one:
- £7.50 Nike Socks
- £20 Merchandise TShirt
- £4.50 Paleta
- £14 Wok Box
- £2.50 Diet Coke
Day two:
- £4.50 coffee
- £5Pphoto booth (for two strips)
- £1 postcard
- £20 ring making
- £11 fries and Sprite
- £3.50 Ice latte
- £9 Burger
Day three:
- £6.50 bacon bap and 2 hash browns
- £2.50 Ice lolly
- £4.50 Slushie
- £11.50 Burrito
- £6 Crepe
Day four:
- £1 Hibiscus ice tea
- £1 Diet Coke
- £9 Souvlaki
- £7 Halloumi fries
- £4.50 Mr Whippy
- £14 Pizza
Day five:
- £5.50 1L Orange Juice and Canned Chocolate Milkshake
- £1.50 Co-Op (diet coke and snickers)
- £2 postcard posting
- £13 Loaded Fries
- £13.50 Loaded Yorkshire Pudding
Useful Tips
Upsize your tent
Typical tent-to-people ratios go out of the window at festivals since you also need to account for all the belongings, it’s recommended to get a larger size so for four of us sharing we used a six-person tent. A two-person tent should be sufficient for a single person.
Buy Second Hand
There’s no sense in spending loads of money on camping items you’re never going to use again, or that are potentially going to get really muddy, so be sure to scour Facebook marketplace and charity shops for some second-hand items. I was able to pick up a camping bed for £10, two camping chairs for £10, a pillow for £2, and a brand new unused trolley for £3.
If you do need to buy a tent, Decathlon’s Festival Tent Pledge allows any customer who buys a Quechua 2 Man Tent to return it in-store after the festival to receive the cost of the tent in the form of a gift card.
Download the Official App
The official app logs the full lineup that allows you to favourite the acts you want to see and then notifies you around 15 minutes before they’re due to start. The live map pinpoints your location which is beneficial to finding your way around the sit and back to your tent.
Join a Facebook Group
Glasto Gals is a female-only group, Secret Glasto announces secret sets throughout the festival, Glastonbury Festival Fans is another useful group – they’re useful to join if you have any burning questions or want to get acquainted with like-minded people.
Luggage Tags
Attach luggage tags so if you lose something on the way it can be easily returned to you.
Phone Screen
Change your phone screen to a message that details a number or numbers to call if it’s lost and found. Just type it in the notes app, screenshot, and upload.
Emergency Contacts
iPhone users can take advantage of shared notes, by asking everyone to add their emergency contact should there be a situation in which they need to use it. And be sure to share the contacts of the people you’re going with, with your emergency contacts too.
