Traveling to and from Glastonbury - Best Method

[tokyodub]

Hey all!

First Glastonbury this year and trying to work out best entrance and exit strategy for London travel.

Having explored the different option it seems train to Castle Cary for arrival should be fine but taking the train back is particularly painful. So am currently exploring taking a minicab with a group of mates back to London.

Had a few questions:

Apparently train to Glastonbury can still be slightly painful even on arrival on Wednesday. If I'm arriving in the afternoon (around 3pm), will I still be affected?

Anyone taken a minicab back from Glastonbury, apparently will need to take a shuttle from festival to Bath and West Showground to get picked up. Was thinking of being picked up around Monday on 2AM. All good with this approach?

Thanks in advance for any help!

[gfa]

7 minutes ago, tokyodub said:

Hey all!

First Glastonbury this year and trying to work out best entrance and exit strategy for London travel.

Having explored the different option it seems train to Castle Cary for arrival should be fine but taking the train back is particularly painful. So am currently exploring taking a minicab with a group of mates back to London.

Had a few questions:

Apparently train to Glastonbury can still be slightly painful even on arrival on Wednesday. If I'm arriving in the afternoon (around 3pm), will I still be affected?

Anyone taken a minicab back from Glastonbury, apparently will need to take a shuttle from festival to Bath and West Showground to get picked up. Was thinking of being picked up around Monday on 2AM. All good with this approach?

Thanks in advance for any help!

Just take the train home, a taxi is going to cost a fortune and will be a pain to find at 2am etc

[tokyodub]

1 minute ago, gfa said:

Just take the train home, a taxi is going to cost a fortune and will be a pain to find at 2am etc

Its only going to cost £30 per person more to get taxi back, which to me seems worth it having read some peoples stories. Can't be dealing with hours of waiting on a hangover.

[MEGATRONICMEATWAGON]

15 minutes ago, tokyodub said:

Hey all!

First Glastonbury this year and trying to work out best entrance and exit strategy for London travel.

Having explored the different option it seems train to Castle Cary for arrival should be fine but taking the train back is particularly painful. So am currently exploring taking a minicab with a group of mates back to London.

Had a few questions:

Apparently train to Glastonbury can still be slightly painful even on arrival on Wednesday. If I'm arriving in the afternoon (around 3pm), will I still be affected?

Anyone taken a minicab back from Glastonbury, apparently will need to take a shuttle from festival to Bath and West Showground to get picked up. Was thinking of being picked up around Monday on 2AM. All good with this approach?

Thanks in advance for any help!

If you're set on a taxi home and the cost is worth it to you in exchange for just getting home earlier with less stress, I'd check taxi/minibus comparison websites. You put in your pick up location, your drop off, times, and then all the minibus companies will contact you with a quote. It's how we did our Stag Do trip from Colchester to Manchester, and it worked out cheaper than the train per person as we were a group of 10. 

I also got a taxi from the festival straight to Bristol Airport once at about 8am in the morning. The roads directly outside the fest were all blocked/restricted, but we arranged to be picked up in one of the country roads just outside the blocked area. It cost a bit more than the coach, but we were whisked off in a lovely VW estate car, dropped off right outside where we wanted to go, and we didn't need to faff about with queueing for coaches, just a 10 minute walk to the meeting place.

I'd recommend it. Paying a few bob extra for comfort at the end of a hard weekend than the slog of getting on coaches etc.

Edited April 24, 2023 by MEGATRONICMEATWAGON

[tokyodub]

1 minute ago, MEGATRONICMEATWAGON said:

If you're set on a taxi home and the cost is worth it to you in exchange for just getting home earlier with less stress, I'd check taxi/minibus comparison websites. You put in your pick up location, your drop off, times, and then all the minibus companies will contact you with a quote. It's how we did our Stag Do trip from Colchester to Manchester, and it worked out cheaper than the train per person as we were a group of 10. 

I also got a taxi from the festival straight to Bristol Airport once at about 8am in the morning. The roads were all blocked, but we arranged to be picked up in one of the country roads just outside the blocked area. It cost a bit more than the coach, but we were whisked off in a lovely VW estate car, dropped off right outside where we wanted to go, and we didn't need to faff about with queueing for coaches, just a 10 minute walk to the meeting place.

Thanks for the advice!

Slightly worried about working out which roads will be outside of the blocked area, as not local to the area and its my first festival so haven't really got a clue. Is there a map of what's usually in the blocked area or does it change year to year?

[MEGATRONICMEATWAGON]

3 minutes ago, tokyodub said:

Thanks for the advice!

Slightly worried about working out which roads will be outside of the blocked area, as not local to the area and its my first festival so haven't really got a clue. Is there a map of what's usually in the blocked area or does it change year to year?

The A road will be restricted so your taxi won't be able to enter or wait there. But north of the Crown Pilton, you should be alright. 

It's a bit weird leaving through PGA not on a coach, but just walk out. We did it in 2017, had no problems. Only problem was the signal for contacting our taxi driver because the network was so busy.

Edited April 24, 2023 by MEGATRONICMEATWAGON

[Crazyfool01]

Shuttle to bath and west that’s where the pickup and drop off point is . 

[phillyfaddle]

Get the shuttle to Bath & West and get picked up from there. You have no idea how huge the site is until you get there. Honestly. You don’t want to be wandering around B roads for miles in the dark carrying all your stuff. 

[Beerqueen]

Any particular reason you want to be picked up at 2 am?  I know some people do it but it sounds hellish to me - you'd have to pack your stuff up on Sunday morning and be clock watching in the early hours to get to your cab - especially as someone else said, the site is huge so you'd have to start making your way across site pretty early.  I just think that impacts on your enjoyment of your last day.  I personally would prefer going back Monday at a more sensible time - 1030ish is good without having to rush in the morning.  

Queues for National Express coaches are pretty civilised really.  And I don't think you can beat going onsite by coach - no faffing at stations with shuttle buses, just driving straight to Gate A from your departure point

But each to their own I guess.

 

[TheDayman]

1 hour ago, tokyodub said:

Its only going to cost £30 per person more to get taxi back, which to me seems worth it having read some peoples stories. Can't be dealing with hours of waiting on a hangover.

How many are you splitting the taxi with? Don't underestimate how much space your stuff is going to take up too.

[incident]

National Express should be in this conversation. It's usually a better option than the train, and that's certainly true for London.

[kalifire]

I agree with those suggesting going to the Bath & West drop off area. That’s what the festival office would recommend as well. 

The trickiest bit would be making sure you’re there by the time you need to be. I tried this method last year and it worked very smoothly for us but we left earlier and cut short the last bit of the headliners to do it. We were in a short queue for the shuttle but as we left, we looked back to see hundreds joining so timing will be an issue. 

[Barneym]

6 hours ago, incident said:

National Express should be in this conversation. It's usually a better option than the train, and that's certainly true for London.

I agree with this we get the coach every year at 3am, back in London before 7 Uber home just before real rush hour, you are booked on a set coach and whilst not that organised I’ve always been on and going within 30 mins of booking. Pack up Sunday morning leave stiff in drop off by gate A and you can happily drink until 1am with no hassle which is enforce me after 5 days and little sleep. They are not cheap but I’m guessing cheaper than a cab and you will have to go there to get the bus to the taxi anyway 

[lukethekid]

Best method for me is driving yourself. 
Carting all of your gear in in one trip is a truly awful experience and although by the end of the festival you’ll be laughing about it, you’ll certainly be questioning your decision during those snakey bastard queues. 

[Beerqueen]

I've driven once and was in a car park which I think was the furthest possible from a gate - Pink 195 I think!  Took an hour to walk to the gate.  So there was no "nipping back to the car".  And driving home knackered was not much fun either.  Tried the train one year but changing three times with all the kit and the loooong wait both for a shuttle and at the station was no fun.

Nope, it's coach every time now.  I know what I need to take to get it all in one go - absolute dream.

[lukethekid]

2 minutes ago, Beerqueen said:

I've driven once and was in a car park which I think was the furthest possible from a gate - Pink 195 I think!  Took an hour to walk to the gate.  So there was no "nipping back to the car".  And driving home knackered was not much fun either.  Tried the train one year but changing three times with all the kit and the loooong wait both for a shuttle and at the station was no fun.

Nope, it's coach every time now.  I know what I need to take to get it all in one go - absolute dream.

At least you could have been out of the car park pretty sharpish 

[gooner1990]

1 hour ago, Beerqueen said:

I've driven once and was in a car park which I think was the furthest possible from a gate - Pink 195 I think!  Took an hour to walk to the gate.  So there was no "nipping back to the car".  And driving home knackered was not much fun either.  Tried the train one year but changing three times with all the kit and the loooong wait both for a shuttle and at the station was no fun.

Nope, it's coach every time now.  I know what I need to take to get it all in one go - absolute dream.

2013 we were in a car park what is now I think Purple 2 (if you look at the 2022 map!) it was so far away may have well been in Shepton Mallet.

Me and a couple of mates went to the car (I think) Friday AM to get some more beer out of one of the cars and the whole ordeal took 2-3 hours! 😄 

[Fish Bulb]

Taxi to Bath & West then the shuttle bus in, then a shuttle bus back to Bath & West and a taxi back is our tried and tested. Best of both worlds as no-one has to drive, park and then queue for miles, but you also get to get picked up at a time that suits you from your house and dropped back.

Limitations on what you can bring but no more so than the coach. Have done it twice in a row now and can't see us changing. We come from Brum so you don't need many in the taxi to make it comparable cost-wise with the coach.

Last year we even had people who hadn't come with us want to jump in on the coach back despite already having coach tickets so we called the company and upgraded to a minibus on the Sunday.

[Supernova.]

Does anyone know how often the shuttle bus from the coach drop off to worthy view runs? And how long it takes to get there?

[tokyodub]

50 minutes ago, Fish Bulb said:

Taxi to Bath & West then the shuttle bus in, then a shuttle bus back to Bath & West and a taxi back is our tried and tested. Best of both worlds as no-one has to drive, park and then queue for miles, but you also get to get picked up at a time that suits you from your house and dropped back.

Limitations on what you can bring but no more so than the coach. Have done it twice in a row now and can't see us changing. We come from Brum so you don't need many in the taxi to make it comparable cost-wise with the coach.

Last year we even had people who hadn't come with us want to jump in on the coach back despite already having coach tickets so we called the company and upgraded to a minibus on the Sunday.

Thanks for the advice - Do you think I would be able to bring one of those collapsable trolleys on the shuttle bus from Bath and West? Its this one if it helps - https://www.decathlon.co.uk/p/all-terrain-transport-cart/_/R-p-329960

[tokyodub]

3 hours ago, Barneym said:

I agree with this we get the coach every year at 3am, back in London before 7 Uber home just before real rush hour, you are booked on a set coach and whilst not that organised I’ve always been on and going within 30 mins of booking. Pack up Sunday morning leave stiff in drop off by gate A and you can happily drink until 1am with no hassle which is enforce me after 5 days and little sleep. They are not cheap but I’m guessing cheaper than a cab and you will have to go there to get the bus to the taxi anyway 

Sadly all the early morning coaches are booked up but defo one to thinka bout in the future 

[CaledonianGonzo]

34 minutes ago, Supernova. said:

Does anyone know how often the shuttle bus from the coach drop off to worthy view runs? And how long it takes to get there?

From memory it's not great. Goes maybe every half hour and apparently takes - although I've never used it myself - up to 90 minutes.

[coma girl]

36 minutes ago, tokyodub said:

Thanks for the advice - Do you think I would be able to bring one of those collapsable trolleys on the shuttle bus from Bath and West? Its this one if it helps - https://www.decathlon.co.uk/p/all-terrain-transport-cart/_/R-p-329960

Not sure if that trolley will survive Glastonbury tbh!

[incident]

2 minutes ago, coma girl said:

Not sure if that trolley will survive Glastonbury tbh!

It won't even get out of Darble.

[p.pete]

14 hours ago, tokyodub said:

Hey all!

First Glastonbury this year and trying to work out best entrance and exit strategy for London travel.

Having explored the different option it seems train to Castle Cary for arrival should be fine but taking the train back is particularly painful. So am currently exploring taking a minicab with a group of mates back to London.

Had a few questions:

Apparently train to Glastonbury can still be slightly painful even on arrival on Wednesday. If I'm arriving in the afternoon (around 3pm), will I still be affected?

Anyone taken a minicab back from Glastonbury, apparently will need to take a shuttle from festival to Bath and West Showground to get picked up. Was thinking of being picked up around Monday on 2AM. All good with this approach?

Thanks in advance for any help!

Not sure it'd save you much effort, maybe a small amount of money, but there is a train from Reading to Paddington that leaves Reading at 04:35 (£12, I checked Swindon and Bath but they don't have a train that early).  Taxi might be a lot cheaper to just Reading instead of all the way to London, but looks like a slow train (5:30 arrival at Paddington) and presumably you'll still have a headache of getting across London to wherever the taxi would have brought you to directly. 

Personally if it was only adding £30 extra per person, and you can get to your taxi on time, sounds like you've actually found a pretty decent option.