With just days before Glastonbury’s weekend arrives, here is a list of tips to guarantee you are ‘maxxing’ out on all the festival has to offer, including ways to land the perfect viewing spot
With 2025’s Glastonbury festival in full swing, the official website have released top tips for watching performers to guarantee the best experience for your money’s worth.
It goes without saying that you should make sure you’re keeping cool and hydrated throughout the festival, especially during the UK heatwave that predicts a peak of 26 degrees in Glastonbury this weekend. The official site also confirms the usual teaming crowds returning to the infamous fields, meaning a swarm of people passing through the main walking routes.
Once health and safety risks are successfully checked off your lists, here’s six tips that will have you ‘festival-maxxing’ (maximising the festival experience) the entire weekend.
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Monitor the festival app and website
Glastonbury’s website has stated that they plan to post the list of acts every morning, both on the website and the app. The festival have warned attendees that the schedule will be especially busy this year, therefore making an informed and unanimous decision with your group at the beginning of your day will make navigating the crowds miles easier. And ‘Type A’s’ will love the itinerary!
Create a backup plan
Every stage – indoor, outside and tented venues – will have a limited capacity due to safety procedures. This means there will be a likely chance of stages for headliners and favoured acts becoming full.
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If this happens, exits and entrances to the stage may be barred temporarily so it’s worthwhile to have a backup plan just in case. Make a list of your ‘backup’ acts performing at similar times to your itinerary so you can make a hopeful beeline to the next stage.
Be an early bird
For those must-see performances you’ve set your hearts on, make sure to set off with enough time to tackle crowds. Some festival goers camp in front of stages for hours in advance. For optimum festival-maxxing, you want to have a clear and central view of the front stage so you cannot miss a thing.
Research alternative routes
The common practice of using main stages or sound desks to meet your friends will leave you staring for a needle in the festival-costumed haystack. These areas can get very crowded and overwhelming for those of us who naturally get separated from our group or stimulated by larger crowds.
Glastonbury is a colourful setting so be creative with your meeting points so there is little room for mistakes – it will save you tonnes of time, and potentially grant you a great spot for your next act. Choose vibrant and specific flags, unique trees or poles as your designated landmark to gather as a group.
And whilst you’re at it, keep an eye out for alternative exit routes, particularly around main stage and headliner performances as these walking paths are often painfully slow-moving. More often than not, the longer route back to your tent can actually be much faster than the shorter one.
Avoid further crowds
At arguably Britain’s largest festival, popular performance crowds are sometimes unavoidable, no matter the route. In these cases, opt for a debrief with your friends, taking time to check in and share your highlights then and there. Living in the moment for 10 extra minutes is a brilliant way of avoiding the swarms trudging slowly through the fields.
Passing through exit points can sometimes take time, but a post-performance pic with the lights of a stage and the moving crowds as a backdrop MAKES a killer Instagram post.
Explore all the grounds have to offer
The festival is your oyster, and the outdoor space has tones to offer beyond the main stages. The Glastonbury page encourages campers to scout out “the eclectic otherness and unexpected wonders” which include “convivial campfires, fringe tents and bonkers bars”. Make the most of all the unique extras Glastonbury has to offer.
For more tips on watching performances, check out the Glastonbury website.
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