Arriving by Coach, others arriving by car.

[Koroviev]

Just a few quick questions. A few of us who are going are setting off from different places due to Uni.

Me and a friend are getting the National Express coaches from Manchester, which as far as I can tell, this would be at Gate A on the 'west' side of the site? We're leaving Manchester on the first coach and is scheduled to arrive at about 7am.

My other friends are in Birmingham and are going by car to the festival. They've leaving earlier to try and get to Glasto by like 5am.

Can people arriving by car choose which side to enter the festival, or do they get forced to be directed in whatever direction? I've been researching sites and ideally we would like to be in either Oxylers or Bushy Ground. Can the guys arriving my car deliberately choose/be directed towards the western side of the site? I'd imagine Gate A is just for coach drop offs, but looking at the map there are carparks around Gate D which would be ideal.

If they can choose which side to enter, what signs should they follow?

[THEBOILERMAN]

If they are coming from Birmingham tell them to stick on the M5 until J23 then take the A39 via Street that will get them into the west carparks.

We come down from Glasgow and use this route every year.

[bexj]

Do as boilerman says, then once you're parked up you can either head for Gate A, which is for both car and coach entrance, or Gate D which is used mainly by car people and then meet inside. It won't be easy to meet nr gate A on the outside as, from what i remember, theres two different queues feeding the gate. I would advise meeting up inside.

[incident]

I'd imagine Gate A is just for coach drop offs, but looking at the map there are carparks around Gate D which would be ideal.

Yes, there are Car Parks right next to Gate D but it's unlikely your friends end up in them and they definitely shouldn't plan for a specific car park. As others have said, they can insure that they end up in the West Car Parks by approaching from the West, but beyond that they'll have no choice over which field. They'll get directed into whatever field is being filled at that moment.

So they might end up closest to Gate D, they might end up closest to Gate A, but most likely they'll be a fair hike and a long queue from both Gates. The good news is that it's easy (and signposted) to go to either Gate A or Gate D from the West Car Parks.

I'd suggest that the best option for meeting up is to all head for the Camp Site. Assuming your coach arrives approximately on schedule, the likelihood is that you'll be fairly near the front of the queue from the Coach Station which gives you a jump on people who've arrived by Car. You should be able to get on site well before your friends, so it's probably best to just head to wherever you want to camp and hold some space until they arrive.

[bexj]

Actually thinking about this again, your mates would be better setting off a bit later, aiming to arrive about 8.30, past peak queuing time. Meanwhile, you go in, head to Oxlyers or Bushy and try to get your tent up saving some space for your friends. You'll find it easier doing that in Bushy as it doesn't fill up as fast as oxylers.

[Koroviev]

If they are coming from Birmingham tell them to stick on the M5 until J23 then take the A39 via Street that will get them into the west carparks.

We come down from Glasgow and use this route every year.

Cheers, I've forwarded that on and wrote it down because no doubt one of us will forget in a few weeks time haha.

So that's the only way to get to the west side then? Is there any colour coded car parks or routes to look out for on top of turning off the M5 at J23?

Thanks for all your help basically the main thing we want is not to have the dilemma where we call each other and we've ended up on opposite sides of the festival to each other. Wouldn't even dare try and meet up at the festival gates as from past experience at smaller festivals like Leeds this has been impossible. I don't even want to think what that would be like at Glasto!

[incident]

That's not the only route that would get them to the West Side, but it's by far the easiest, quickest, and most reliable.

If they leave at J23, then it'll be difficult to get it wrong - once they're off the motorway, they just need to follow any sign that says "Glastonbury" - there should be plenty of Festival signs but if not then the ones for Glastonbury Town/Abbey/Tor will do just fine until they reach the Town. By that point the Festival signage will pretty obvious.