Most festivals offer four to six ticket categories, each with different access, comfort, and price. Buy the wrong one and you spend three days in the wrong section, or pay twice what you needed to.
Here is what each type actually includes.
General Admission (GA)
GA is the default. You get access to the main arena, all free stages, and the general crowd area in front of the main stage. No assigned seat. No dedicated bar or viewing platform.
- 🎤 Access: full festival grounds, all stages. No priority entry.
- 📍 Position: you pick your spot. Arrive early for the main stage rail. Late arrivals take whatever is left.
- 💰 Price: £80 to £300 for a UK festival weekend (Glastonbury, Download, Reading). €60 to €200 in France. $80 to $250 in the US.
- 🎒 What's not included: camping (sold separately at most festivals), VIP lounges, premium toilets, dedicated bars.
GA works for most people at most festivals. If you want to be close to the stage, arrive 45 to 90 minutes before the headliner and hold your ground. Late arrivals at Glastonbury or Coachella can be 500 metres back.
- ✅ GA floor gives you access to the pit at smaller venues and standing festivals. It is the closest zone to the stage.
- ✅ At stadium and arena shows, GA floor tickets are sold separately from seated GA. Double-check which one you have.
- ✅ Some festivals sell early-entry GA upgrades (£10 to £30) that let you through before the main doors open. Worth it if you want a front-row spot.
VIP and premium tiers
VIP tickets give you a dedicated viewing area (raised, with a direct sightline to the stage), separate bars with shorter queues, premium toilets, and sometimes a lounge with seating. The definition of VIP varies widely between festivals.
- 🥂 What you typically get: VIP arena access with a designated viewing platform or roped-off area, priority bar service, cleaner facilities, sometimes free or discounted food tokens.
- 💰 Price premium: 1.5x to 4x the GA price. Reading VIP runs £120 above GA. Coachella's top tier passes reach $1,000+.
- 🎟️ Hospitality packages: above standard VIP sit backstage experiences, meet-and-greet tickets, and artist lounge access. These cost £500 to several thousand pounds and are sold by artists or promoters.
- 🏟️ Stadium shows: Golden Circle (the pit immediately in front of the stage) is the VIP equivalent for standing shows. Beyoncé, Taylor Swift, and Ed Sheeran use this format. Typically 50 to 150% above GA floor price.
VIP is worth paying for at festivals where queuing for bars consumes 20 minutes per round or where GA viewing areas are genuinely overcrowded. At smaller festivals with reasonable crowds, it is rarely worth the markup.
- ✅ Read the VIP description carefully. Some festivals charge VIP price for nothing more than a marginally better portable toilet.
- ✅ 'Premium' and 'Gold' tiers at UK arena shows mean a seat in the lower bowl, not floor access. This is different from VIP at outdoor festivals.
- ✅ Check if the VIP viewing area is in front of or beside the stage. Some are side-on, which is worse than GA centre.
Camping passes
Most multi-day outdoor festivals separate the camping pass from the event ticket. You need both to attend. Some festivals include camping in the main ticket price. Check before buying.
- 🏕️ Standard camping: a pitch in a designated field, one area per day of the festival. Shared toilets and showers (when available). No electricity.
- 🛏️ Boutique/glamping: pre-pitched tents, bell tents, or cabin accommodation within or near the festival site. Prices range from £200 to £800 per person for a weekend. Sold separately and sells out months before GA.
- 🚐 Campervan passes: a dedicated pitch for your vehicle. Price ranges from £50 to £200 per weekend. Requires a separate pitch booking and sometimes a vehicle registration.
- 🎯 Positioning matters: camping zones furthest from the main arena get less noise at night but require a 10 to 20 minute walk each way. Premium camping fields (sold at extra cost) put you closer to the action.
- ✅ Boutique camping sells out first. Book it before your event tickets if that is your plan.
- ✅ Check the festival's bag and item policy for camping. Some prohibit glass, large tents, or generators in certain zones.
- ✅ A campervan pass without the event ticket gets you onto the campsite but not into the arena.
Day tickets vs. full weekend
Many festivals sell single-day tickets for each day of the event. Day tickets cost 40 to 60% of the full weekend price. That is rarely a good deal if you want to attend two or more days.
- 📅 When day tickets make sense: one specific headliner you want to see, a local festival within easy travel distance, or a festival with strong one-day lineups (Download Friday, Glastonbury Sunday).
- 📅 When they do not: if you are travelling from more than 2 hours away, the travel and logistics cost makes the day-ticket saving irrelevant.
- 🔒 Availability: day tickets sell after full weekend passes. If the festival is sold out, day tickets may not appear at all, or may sell out within hours of release.
Hellfest, Rock en Seine, and Primavera Sound operate on a true multi-day model where each day has a different lineup with roughly equal headliner weight. At these festivals, day tickets are a legitimate option. At festivals built around a Saturday headliner (most UK festivals), Sunday or Friday day tickets are underpriced because demand is lower.
How to choose
- ✅ Going with a group? Buy the same tier. VIP areas at most festivals require everyone in your group to have VIP access.
- ✅ First festival? Buy GA. Learn the site, see whether VIP extras matter to you before paying the premium at your next one.
- ✅ Headliner priority? If a single act is the reason you are attending, a day ticket plus GA floor arrival 90 minutes early beats VIP side-of-stage at half the cost.
- ✅ Travelling from abroad? GA camping weekend pass is the safest bet. It gives you flexibility on timing and you are not dependent on commuting in for a single show.
- ✅ Health or mobility considerations? Most festivals have accessible viewing areas with level ground, reserved space, and companion tickets. Book through the festival's accessibility team, not the main ticket page.
Already sold out? Read our guide to getting sold-out festival tickets: resale, waitlists and official exchanges.