Festival season 2027 is already on sale. Glastonbury returns on 23–27 June 2027 after its fallow year, Download (9–13 June), Isle of Wight (17–20 June), Boardmasters (4–8 August), Boomtown (11–15 August), Reading & Leeds and Creamfields (both 26–29 August) have confirmed dates, and most already have tickets live. The UK festivals you actually want next summer are being decided this autumn, not in May.

This guide breaks down which type of festival suits which kind of festival-goer, what the 2027 calendar looks like so far, and the handful of things worth doing in the next few weeks that will save you money and heartache later. Bookmark it: we'll keep the dates and prices updated as announcements land.

Why should you plan for festival season 2027 now?

Three reasons. First, Glastonbury 2027 registration closes at 5pm on Friday 25 September 2026. Miss it and you're locked out of the October ticket sales completely. Second, early bird tiers are the cheapest a ticket will ever be, and they don't hang around: Isle of Wight's 2027 early birds went on sale on 25 June and have already sold out. Third, deposits and payment plans mean you can lock in a summer's worth of festivals for £20 to £100 a go rather than finding £300-plus in one hit.

Then there's the post-fallow effect. When Glastonbury takes a year off, demand stacks up, and 2027 is expected to be one of the most competitive ticket sales in the festival's history. Everyone who couldn't go in 2026 wants in, and that pressure ripples out to every other big weekender as people hedge their bets.

Which type of festival is right for you in 2027?

The UK has hundreds of festivals (we list more than 3,000 editions in the UKFG festival directory) and most people only ever consider three or four. Be honest about what you want from a weekend before you fall in love with a line-up.

The first-timer

If you've never done a camping festival, don't start with the biggest, muddiest one in the country. A three-day festival with good transport links and a mixed line-up is the sweet spot. Isle of Wight Festival 2027 (17–20 June, Seaclose Park, Newport) is a classic starter: big-name headliners, a compact site, a KidZone, a beach next door and a crowd that runs from teenagers to grandparents. Our writer Fay Crossman has done five in a row and explains why Isle of Wight is worth the hype. Early birds have sold out, so watch for the general sale this autumn; our listing shows a £259–£320 range so far.

Not sure you're ready to camp at all? Start with our best beginner festivals in the UK, then read the first-time festival survival guide before you buy anything.

The Glastonbury pilgrim

You know who you are. Glastonbury 2027 runs 23–27 June at Worthy Farm, Pilton, Somerset. General admission is £408 including booking fee, paid as a £100 deposit at the sale with the £308 balance due between 1 and 7 April 2027. Coach-and-ticket packages go on sale at 6pm on Thursday 1 October, general admission at 9am on Sunday 4 October, both through See Tickets only. Everyone aged 13 or over needs their own registration, and you can book up to six people per transaction.

Get your group's registration numbers and postcodes into a shared document this week. Full details are in our Glastonbury 2027 ticket sale dates and prices report, and if it's your first time, the Glastonbury guide for newbies will stop you making the classic mistakes.

The rock and metal faithful

Download Festival 2027 takes place 9–13 June at Donington Park, Derbyshire, and early bird tickets have been live since 15 June 2026. Listed tiers currently run from £115 for a weekend arena ticket without camping to £345 for three nights' camping and £365 for five, with VIP options above that. It's a five-day commitment with a famously loyal campsite culture, and it lands two weeks before Glastonbury, so if you're doing both, that's two chunks of annual leave in June. Browse more rock festivals if Donington isn't your flavour.

The dance crowd

Creamfields celebrates 30 years on 26–29 August 2027 at Daresbury, Cheshire, and The Prodigy have been announced as the first headliner. Tickets are on sale now across Standard, Bronze, Silver and Gold camping tiers with instalment plans, and the official ticket page lists four-day camping from £250 plus a £25 booking fee. An anniversary year means a bigger booking budget and a faster sell-out, so don't sit on this one until spring.

Prefer something wilder? Boomtown Fair returns to the Matterley Estate near Winchester for Chapter Six: Wild Style on 11–15 August 2027. It's 18+, tickets are on sale now with Thursday entry from £315 and Wednesday entry at £440, instalment plans are available, and after a record 77,000-strong 2026 the cheaper phase-one tier is expected to go within days. See all dance festivals in the directory.

Teens, students and the August bank holiday

Reading Festival 2027 runs 26–29 August at Richfield Avenue, with Leeds twinned at Bramham Park over the same weekend and sharing the same line-up. Tickets are already on sale with a £20 deposit and monthly payment plans. Under-16s must be accompanied by an adult ticket holder, under-13s go free, and both sites now operate Challenge 25 at the gates. Reading 2026 weekend tickets were around £325, so budget for at least that. If your teenager is going for the first time, the day-ticket option is a sensible compromise, and the complete festival packing checklist is worth forwarding to them.

Families

Family festivals have become one of the strongest parts of the UK scene, and they sell on trust as much as line-ups. Camp Bestival Dorset returns to Lulworth Castle on 29 July – 1 August 2027. Tickets are on sale now with a 10% deposit, nothing more to pay until October, then nine interest-free monthly instalments. Adult weekend tickets were £265 in 2026 (£233 for adults bringing kids), with children's tickets banded by age and under-twos free.

Gloworm Festival returns to Thoresby Park in Nottinghamshire on 13–15 August 2027, aimed squarely at families with children aged 0–13. Early bird tickets are on sale with payment plans, and one ticket covers all the entertainment and the fairground rides until 5pm daily. The big consideration for families is the school-holiday window: late July to late August gets booked up fast, and accommodation near the sites goes even faster.

Surf, sun and a proper holiday

Boardmasters 2027 takes place 4–8 August in Newquay, Cornwall, splitting music at Watergate Bay and surfing at Fistral Beach. Tickets are on sale now: adult general or family camping from £259, three-day non-camping from £233, VIP camping from £379, child tickets from £45, and payment plans on everything. If you're travelling from the other end of the country this is as much a week's holiday as a festival, so extend your stay and sort transport early; our Boardmasters 2027 travel guide covers trains, coaches, driving and where to stay. Cornish accommodation in August is not forgiving.

The no-tent crowd

If your camping days are behind you but your festival days aren't, you have two routes. One is the city or park festival where you sleep in a real bed. TRNSMT on Glasgow Green is the template: three days, four stages, no camping, 16+ and a weekend pass that cost £229.50 in 2026. Lytham Festival runs 30 June – 4 July 2027 on Lytham Green in Lancashire: five nights, one headliner a night, no camping, and five-day passes are on sale now.

The other route is boutique or glamping-friendly camping. Pre-pitched tents, bell tents and VIP camping open at the same time as early birds and usually sell out first, so if comfort is non-negotiable, the autumn sale is when you buy it. Filter by London, Scotland or any other region to find what's on your doorstep.

Folk, roots and the slow burners

Not every festival is a 4am rave. Celtic Connections 2027 runs 14–31 January across venues in Glasgow, making it the first major festival of the year and a sensible warm-up. Cambridge Folk Festival 2027 returns to Cherry Hinton Hall on 31 July – 1 August, with early bird tickets due this month; two-day tickets were £133 in 2026. The wider folk festival circuit is where you'll find the friendliest campsites and the most loyal returning crowds. These rarely sell out in a day, but the good accommodation does.

What should you do now to plan for festival 2027?

  1. Register for Glastonbury before 5pm on 25 September. It's free, it takes five minutes, and existing registrations should be checked for old postcodes. No registration, no ticket.
  2. Pick your one non-negotiable festival and buy it at early bird price or on a deposit. Everything else is a bonus. Our tickets page shows what's on sale right now.
  3. Book annual leave in pencil. June 2027 is stacked: Download (9–13), Isle of Wight (17–20), Glastonbury (23–27), then Lytham (30 June – 4 July). August has Boardmasters, Boomtown, Camp Bestival, Gloworm, Reading & Leeds and Creamfields inside five weeks. Use the festival calendar to spot clashes.
  4. Set a budget per festival, not per summer. Big weekenders are now £233 to £440 for the ticket alone, before travel, food, drink and camping upgrades. Payment plans and deposits spread the cost but don't reduce it.
  5. Get your group organised. Shared spreadsheet, registration numbers, who's buying what, who's driving. Groups that decide in February are the groups that end up in the resale queue.
  6. Sign up to official mailing lists and set alerts for on-sale dates. Most line-ups won't land until the new year, but for the big ones the tickets will be long gone by then. The UKFG Dispatch newsletter sends early-bird alerts weekly.
  7. Sort accommodation early if you're not camping. Hotels, campsites and rentals near Newquay, Lulworth, Lytham and Pilton book up within days of a ticket sale. And read our festival weather and safety guide before you commit to a tent in June.

When do UK festival 2027 tickets go on sale?

Here's what's confirmed so far. This list will grow considerably over autumn and winter, and dozens more festivals will announce dates in the coming weeks.

  • Celtic Connections 2027: 14–31 January, Glasgow. Multi-venue, no camping.
  • Download 2027: 9–13 June, Donington Park. Early bird on sale now, from £115 arena-only or £345 with camping.
  • Isle of Wight Festival 2027: 17–20 June, Seaclose Park. Early birds sold out; general sale expected this autumn. Listed range £259–£320.
  • Glastonbury 2027: 23–27 June, Worthy Farm. Registration closes 25 Sept 2026. Coach packages 6pm, 1 Oct. General admission 9am, 4 Oct. £408, £100 deposit.
  • Lytham Festival 2027: 30 June – 4 July, Lytham Green, Lancashire. Non-camping. Five-day passes on sale now.
  • Camp Bestival Dorset 2027: 29 July – 1 August, Lulworth Castle. On sale now with 10% deposit and interest-free instalments.
  • Cambridge Folk Festival 2027: 31 July – 1 August, Cherry Hinton Hall. Early birds due September 2026.
  • Boardmasters 2027: 4–8 August, Newquay. On sale now, adults from £233 non-camping or £259 camping.
  • Boomtown 2027: 11–15 August, Matterley Estate, Hampshire. 18+. On sale now, Thursday entry from £315.
  • Gloworm Festival 2027: 13–15 August, Thoresby Park, Nottinghamshire. Early bird on sale now with payment plans.
  • Reading & Leeds 2027: 26–29 August, Richfield Avenue and Bramham Park. On sale now, £20 deposit.
  • Creamfields 2027: 26–29 August, Daresbury. 30th anniversary. The Prodigy confirmed. On sale now, four-day camping from £250 plus fee.

The bottom line

You don't need to plan your entire summer in September. You do need to make two or three decisions: register for Glastonbury if there's any chance you'll try, buy the one festival you'd be gutted to miss while it's cheap, and rough out your leave. Do that and you'll spend the winter watching line-up announcements with a ticket in hand rather than a refresh button under your thumb.

We'll be tracking every 2027 announcement, on-sale date and line-up drop as it lands in festival news. Compare dates, genres, camping and family options in the full festival directory, find what's near you on the festival map, and while you're at it, vote in the 2026 UKFG Awards for the festival that won your summer. Which one is top of your 2027 list? Tell us on socials.