Download Festival — festival guide

At a glance

Dates

9–13 Jun 2027 (5 days)

Location

Donington Park, East Midlands, United Kingdom

Sound

Rock · Metal · Punk · Alternative

Crowd

around 111,000 people

Tickets

€176 · 1 tier tracked

Nearest airport

East Midlands Airport

Nearest station

East Midlands Parkway

Venue type

Natural site

Best nearby base

Derby · 13 km · about 20 min

On-site camping

Variety of camping options including general, family, and upgraded accommodations.

The story

Download Festival is a large five-day rock and metal festival held at Donington Park in East Midlands, United Kingdom. The festival, established in 2003, features multiple stages and hosts a variety of rock, metal, punk, and alternative artists. It accommodates an estimated 90,000 to 111,000 attendees and offers various camping options, along with ample activities around District X. Attendees are advised to prepare for extensive walking across the festival grounds and should check accessibility and travel information beforehand.

Download Festival is a 5-day rock, metal, punk, alternative festival at Donington Park in East Midlands, United Kingdom. The June 2027 edition runs 9–13 Jun 2027. It draws around 111,000 people.

Expect stages split between Rock, Metal, Punk and Alternative.

With room for about 111,000 people, Download Festival is one of the largest events in our index: expect long entry queues, several main-stage sets running at once and a site you cannot cross in five minutes. Everything happens at Donington Park, in East Midlands. Derby · 13 km · about 20 min is the organiser's practical nearby base for accommodation and transfers to the festival site. Variety of camping options including general, family, and upgraded accommodations.

Download Festival keeps the same calendar slot each year: June 2027 for this edition, opening on a Wednesday and closing on a Sunday. It is a high-summer date, which is peak season for both travel and accommodation across the region. That slot matters for the budget — flights and rooms in East Midlands are priced for the festival weekend, not the week around it, so shifting your arrival by a day often saves more than any ticket tier does.

• Capacity: ≈ 90,000–111,000 attendees
• First held: 2003, 24th edition in 2027
• Multiple stages for music performances
• Campsites open before the main event
• General, family, and upgraded camping options available

Venue, camping & access

Venue type

Natural site

Best nearby base

Derby · 13 km · about 20 min

Camping

Variety of camping options including general, family, and upgraded accommodations.

Getting to the gates

Visitors can reach the venue via official shuttle, public transport, and taxis.

What the trip costs from Paris

Door to door from Paris, a trip to Download Festival works out at roughly €697 per person on the cheapest combination we track — a mid-priced weekend by the standards of our index.

The ticket is only 25% of that: the rest is getting there and sleeping somewhere, which is exactly the part most ticket sites leave out.

Cheapest travel we price is bus · 9h 23m each way, at €66 return.

Planning the trip, step by step

1. 1Book the ticket first: tiers at Download Festival are sold in waves and the cheapest wave is gone long before the line-up is complete.
2. 2Then price the travel from Paris — Cinderella compares train, bus, car and flight for the same dates, and the cheapest option is not always the obvious one.
3. 3Reserve 6 nights rather than 5: the last night of a festival almost always ends after the last train home.
4. 4If you fly into East Midlands Airport, check the transfer time to East Midlands before booking the earliest departure — the airport bus is usually the cheapest leg of the whole trip.
5. 5Follow Download Festival on Cinderella to be emailed when a ticket price drops or a new tier opens.

Full line-up

Ordered as the poster reads it — headliners first, then most booked to least. Each name opens that artist's festival dates.

Past editions

Dates are the event's recurring calendar slot, so treat them as approximate — the organiser keeps the official archive.

• 2026

  9–13 Jun 2026 (approx.)

• 2025

  9–13 Jun 2025 (approx.)

• 2024

  9–13 Jun 2024 (approx.)

Travel tips from Paris

• Fly into East Midlands Airport, the closest airport to the site.
• Rail arrivals come through East Midlands Parkway; shuttles usually run from there.
• The site itself is Donington Park, in East Midlands.
• Visitors can reach the venue via official shuttle, public transport, and taxis.
• Book a bed in Derby early — rooms around a festival sell out before the last ticket tier does.

• bus9h 23m · €66
• air4h 13m · €148
• car7h 41m · €156
• train5h 30m · €169