Don't Forget Your Festival Wristband
Please read the instructions carefully and ensure that your Wristband is correctly fastened as per the instructions so that it can’t be removed without being cut. You can enter the Festival at either Campsite entrance or through the Medina Leisure Centre entrance whether you are camping or not.
Getting to the Festival
If you haven’t booked a ferry and ticket package and you don’t live on the island you’ll need to book your ferry crossing to the ASAP via one of the following operators:
Wightlink -
www.wightlink.co.uk
Tel: 0871 376 1000
Red Funnel -
www.redfunnel.co.uk
Tel: 0844 844 9988
Hovertravel -
www.hovertravel.co.uk
Tel: 01983 811000
Ferries
Wightlink offers a choice of three routes across the Solent, with sailings every half hour at peak times.
Take the foot passenger Fast Cat service from Portsmouth Harbour to Ryde Pier in around 22 minutes or travel by car on our Lymington to Yarmouth route (30 minutes) or Portsmouth to Fishbourne route (approx 40 minutes). The Festival site is signposted from all terminals and every service has connecting shuttle buses to the Festival.
Red Funnel’s 24hr passenger/vehicle ferries operate between Southampton and East Cowes. The Red Jet foot passenger service runs every 30 minutes throughout the day from Southampton to West Cowes in approx 23 minutes. Both services connect to a free bus service from Southampton Central Rail Station and with shuttle buses on the Isle of Wight for foot passengers travelling to the Festival.
Please note: Customers travelling with a vehicle are requested to arrive at least 30 minutes and not more than 60 minutes prior to their booked sailing time.
Hovertravel The foot passenger Hovercraft departs from Southsea sea front and takes you to Ryde seafront in less than 10 minutes. The Hovercraft takes you right up to the beach where you can meet up with the Festival shuttle buses to take you directly to the Festival.
nb. The Hovercraft does not operate later than 8.35pm.
Coach Travel from Southern Vectis
Coaches from 30 towns and cities from £49 - £59 return inclusive coach and ferry travel.
Click here to find out more.
Trains
South West Trains operate services to Portsmouth Harbour, where you will be metres away from the Wightlink FastCat service and to Southampton Central where a free bus will take you the short journey to Red Funnel’s Red Jet and passenger/vehicle service. Virgin Cross-Country services from the Midlands also call at Southampton Central.
Share It
If you are seeking a lift or if you have to drive your car please sign up for FestivalBUDi. If you have spare seats in your car and if you’re driving an average sized petrol car, having four people in it will bring your CO2 emissions per person to less than travelling by train! So it really does make a difference if you fill up all the seats.
Why use FestivalBudi?
- Free to use you simply share the travel costs
- Links drivers and passengers together online
- Part of the largest car sharing scheme in the UK
- Reduces the pollution and congestion on our roads
- Priority Car Parking Permit
Here are 4 easy steps to register and qualify for a priorty parking permit:
- Register your journey and activate your account
- Search for matches and contact those you wish to share with
- Once you have received a reply from your matches and agreed to share, go to 'my contacts' and click YES to confirm you are sharing!
- Click back to your FestivalBudi home page to view and print your parking permit.
Get On Someone's Bike
An even greener way to get to the Festival is by bike and with safe and secure bike racks available there is no excuse not to get on two wheels. Haven’t got your own bike? Well we’ve thought of that too and are again offering a bike hire scheme on site thanks to our partners London Bicycle Tour Company. You can hire a bike by the hour or for the whole weekend making it easy to pop out and replenish supplies when it suits you.
New for this year will be
THE BIG FESTIVAL BIKE RIDE, a guided bike ride that will take about an hour and a half happening on the Saturday and Sunday mornings before the bands start. It will be a great way to see bit more of the island before you go home again and might blow the cobwebs away before another day of Festival fun. The meeting point for this will be the London Bicycle Touring Company hire point and it only costs a £10 plus hire fee. If you bring your own bike you are welcome to join in too and you just have to pay the £10. Check the website for start times and also the screens next to the stage once you are at the Festival.
Local Travel
If you live on the Island or are staying locally please avoid driving to the Festival. Arrange a lift, taxi, or walk if you live nearby. There are frequent buses from all over the Island into Newport bus station - just walk round to Church Litten for the connecting bus to the Festival Campsite.( £5 from anywhere on the Island to the Festival site including the Newport shuttle)
Southern Vectis are operating Festival shuttle buses from all ferry services as well as their normal timetable with additional extra late services. All Festival shuttle buses arrive and depart from our own bus station in the Campsite. If you have a non camping Festival Wristband you can still arrive and depart from here.
From Newport; buses leave Church Litten (opposite Morrisons & M&S) from 7am till 7pm £2 each way.
From Ryde bus station, Cowes pontoon & East Cowes Well Road... buses leave all day long as needed, £5 one way.
From Fishbourne use route 9 at the end of Fishbourne Lane, £5 one way to festival.
From Yarmouth use route 7 to Newport, £5 one way including the Newport shuttle to the site.
At the end of each night, buses run from the Campsite Bus Station only - to destinations all over the Island - and buses will keep on running until 2am. £4 one way.
Keep up to date with the latest bus news by visiting
http://www.islandbuses.info/festival.shtml