Venue
81-800 Avenue 51, Indio, CA 92201, United States
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Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival guide
Two weekends, one Coachella lineup.
In short
Music fans can choose between two weekends at the Empire Polo Club in Indio, starting with 9 to 11 April 2027 and repeating the following weekend to 18 April. Seven stages cover headliners, electronic acts and emerging bands, with giant art installations across the grounds. Plan for desert heat and long days on foot.
Coachella is the desert festival that sets the tone for the American summer: three days of music on the lawns of a polo club in the Coachella Valley, staged twice over consecutive weekends with the same lineup, and surrounded by giant artworks that loom over the crowd and turn up in photos for months afterwards.
The bill is spread across seven stages, so the range is wide. Headliners take the main Coachella Stage, the hangar-like Sahara tent is built for electronic acts, and small rooms such as Yuma and Sonora give space to emerging DJs, punk and Latin bands. Coaxing long-split bands back together has become a habit too, from the Pixies to Guns N' Roses.
The art carries almost as much weight as the music. Huge sculptures, many of them interactive and some of them moving, are built on the grounds each spring. The festival is also treated as a trendsetter for fashion, and for many in the crowd the outfit is planned as carefully as the schedule.
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Key Facts & Stats:
Ends: Sunday, 18 April 2027
Where: Indio, United States
Venue: Empire Polo Club
Held: Every year
Type of event: Musical Events, Arts Festivals
Currency: US dollar (USD, $)
Time zone: Pacific Time (UTC-8, UTC-7 in summer)
Language: English (Spanish widely spoken)
Map
Getting around
Hotels near the venue fill up around the event dates.
Bag size limits and banned items
Medium backpacks and bags are allowed only if they fit inside a box of 18 x 13 x 8.5 inches when fully packed. Leave coolers, chairs, outside food and drink, glass or metal bottles, aerosols, professional cameras and umbrellas at home. A parasol is fine, and so are sealed gum or mints, handheld fans and non-aerosol sunscreen.
Security refuses banned items at the entrance and will not hand them back later, whatever you are told in the queue. Pack the night before with the list in front of you.
Water refills, sun and a warm layer for night
Free, twice-filtered water refill stations are spread across the venue and the campgrounds, so carry something to fill. Clear, empty plastic bottles up to 64oz are allowed, as are non-metal refillable bottles and hydration packs. Bottled water is also on sale. Drink before you feel thirsty, reapply sunscreen through the afternoon and use the tents as shade between sets.
The desert flips once the sun drops. Tie a light jacket or long-sleeved shirt round your waist for the walk out after midnight.
Wristband registration and age rules
Your pass is a single wristband worn all weekend. Register it once in the Coachella app before you reach the site; the registration cannot be changed afterwards. Wear only one wristband at a time, or the scanners will not read it.
The festival is open to all ages, and children aged 5 and under get in free with general admission. Campers, however, must be 18 or older.
Campground rules on cooking and sleeping
- Car campers may sleep in or around their vehicle inside the assigned spot, never in a fire lane. A tent is optional.
- Cooking is allowed in Car Camping and some other areas with propane appliances only, and not at Lake Eldorado spots.
- Only acoustic instruments are allowed, and a noise curfew applies.
- RVs and motorhomes cannot park or camp on site.
- Bicycles can be ridden around the campground but not inside the venue.
Costumes that cause offence
Festival fashion is half the fun, but some looks have drawn sustained criticism. Native American style headdresses and body paint worn by people outside those cultures have been called out as cultural appropriation for years, and they attract more attention than most wearers want. Glitter, wide hats and loose desert layers make just as much of an impression without the argument, and they cope far better with the afternoon heat.
What happens on the day
- Afternoon
Gates and the long walk in
Arrive several hours before the acts you care about. Parking, security and the wristband scan take longer than the first sets.
- Early afternoon
Shade time
This is the hottest part of the day on an unshaded lawn. Move between the tents, Sahara, Mojave, Gobi and Sonora among them.
- Sunset
The big stages take over
Attention swings to the Coachella Stage and the Outdoor Theatre beside it as the light goes and the desert starts to cool.
- About 1 a.m. (midnight Sunday)
Music stops
Friday and Saturday run to roughly 1 a.m., Sunday to around midnight.
- After the last set
Getting out
Shuttles stop their outbound runs an hour after the music ends, the rideshare lot shuts at 3 a.m., and cars left in day parking are towed after 2 a.m.
Choosing a weekend and where to stay
Coachella is staged twice, on consecutive weekends, with the same bill both times. That makes the first decision a practical one. Weekend two is the cheaper of the pair at every pass tier, while weekend one gives you the sets before anyone has posted them. Advance passes for the following April went on sale on 1 May, months before a single act was named, and each later tier costs more than the one before. Buying early means betting on a lineup you have not seen.
How the festival began at the polo grounds
The polo grounds proved themselves before the festival existed. In November 1993 Pearl Jam, then boycotting Ticketmaster, played there to almost 25,000 people, and Paul Tollett of Goldenvoice took note. He and Rick Van Santen launched the first Coachella in October 1999, a bill topped by Beck, Rage Against the Machine and Tool. It had been announced just two months ahead, the heat passed 100 °F, and Goldenvoice lost $850,000.
There was no festival in 2000. When it came back in April 2001 it lasted one day, a shift made partly to escape the heat, and camping arrived in 2003. Radiohead's 2004 booking brought the first sellout, with 110,000 people through the gates. Daft Punk's pyramid set in 2006 is still cited as one of the great nights in its history. A third day was added in 2007, the same year Stagecoach began, and the country event helped secure a long lease on land the owner had once planned to redevelop.
The second weekend came in 2012, the year a projected Tupac appeared on stage. In 2018, the year Beyoncé headlined, the festival became the most livestreamed event anywhere up to then. Two pandemic years were lost before the crowds came back in 2022.
Getting there
Flying in
Palm Springs International (PSP) is the closest airport, about 20 miles west of the festival. Many people fly into Los Angeles instead and drive about 125 miles east on Interstate 10. Check US entry rules for your passport before you book.
Without a car
Greyhound and Amtrak Thruway buses stop in Indio, about 3 miles from the venue at 81-800 Avenue 51. SunLine's SunBus routes cover the rest of the valley.
Festival shuttle
The official shuttle, booked through Valley Music Travel as an add-on or bundled with a GA pass, runs from stops around the valley.
Rideshare and taxis
Both use the Friends and Family lot, Lot 2A, for drop-off and pick-up.
Driving
There is no event parking on the Thursday unless you hold a car-camping or camping-companion pass, and the same passes are needed to leave a car overnight.
Where to stay during the festival
Sleeping on site is the cheapest plan. Car-camping and tent passes are sold with festival passes, and the campground has its own south-side entrance, showers, a general store and coffee stalls.
Hotel guests spread out across the valley, from Indio itself to Palm Springs, 23 miles west. Book as soon as your pass is confirmed, and decide between a shuttle pass and a hire car at the same time, because where you sleep fixes how you get in.
Weather and what to pack
April in the Coachella Valley is already desert-hot. Indio averages a daytime high of about 30°C (85.8°F) in April and a low near 17°C (63°F), with almost no rain: under 2 mm for the month (1991-2020 normals). The record for April is 110°F.
Expect a fierce early afternoon, wind that can lift dust across the polo field, and a sharp drop in temperature after dark.
Worth packing
- A wide-brimmed hat, sunglasses and high-factor sunscreen
- A refillable water bottle
- A bandana or dust mask for windy afternoons
- A warm layer for after sunset
- Comfortable closed shoes for long walks across the grounds
- A portable phone charger
Car hire in Indio
Airport transfer to Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival
Met at arrivals at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) and driven door to door to Empire Polo Club.
- Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) → Empire Polo Club
- 236 km · 2 hr 55 min
Restaurants and food in United States
Places to eat in United States before or after the celebrations.
Joe's Stone Crab
11 Washington Avenue, Miami Beach, FL 33139, United States
Cuisine:SeafoodAmerican
- Dine-in
- Takeaway
- Bar
Alinea
1723 North Halsted Street, Chicago, IL 60614, United States
Cuisine:ModernistAmerican
- Dine-in
- Counter seating
Franklin Barbecue
900 East 11th Street, Austin, TX 78702, United States
Cuisine:Texas barbecueAmerican
- Dine-in
- Takeaway
Commander's Palace
1403 Washington Avenue, New Orleans, LA 70130, United States
Cuisine:CreoleNew Orleans
- Dine-in
Katz's Delicatessen
205 East Houston Street, New York, NY 10002, United States
Cuisine:Jewish deliAmerican
- Dine-in
- Takeaway
- Counter seating
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Need help?
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Timing & weather
No acts had been named when passes went on sale. The festival usually makes its big lineup announcement between October and December, a few months before the April weekends.
Camping has been part of the festival since 2003 and grew quickly. By 2010 more than 17,000 people were sleeping in the campground beside the venue.
Prices & payment
At launch, first-tier general admission was reported at $599 for weekend one and $549 for weekend two, fees included. The GA and three-day shuttle bundle started at $729 and $679, and VIP at $1,299 and $1,249. Later tiers cost more.
Yes. The official payment plan takes $49 at checkout and splits the rest into equal payments. For the 2027 festival those payments run through January 2027.
The official site has advertised camping from as little as $40 per night. Camping passes are sold separately from festival passes.
General
VIP holders get enclosed areas next to the main stages, shaded seating, air-conditioned restrooms, dedicated entry and exit lanes, preferred parking and their own food and drink options, which counts for a lot on a hot afternoon.
The festival lists its capacity at 125,000 people. In 2025 an estimated 245,000 attended across the two weekends combined, so each weekend runs close to full.
The festival grounds cover 78 acres. Add the parking areas and campgrounds and the whole footprint grows to about 642 acres, which explains the long walks between your car, your tent and the stages.
Paul Clemente has been the festival's art director since 2009. The design studio Poetic Kinetics has built several of the huge moving pieces, including Escape Velocity in 2014 and Overview Effect in 2019. Artists get access to the grounds about 10 days before opening.
For now, yes. In 2013 Goldenvoice agreed a deal with the City of Indio that keeps both Coachella and Stagecoach there through 2030.
No. It is named after the Coachella Valley, the stretch of the Colorado Desert around Indio, Palm Springs and the neighbouring towns where the polo grounds sit.
Not technically. It was widely described as a hologram, but the effect used a Pepper's ghost system, an old stage illusion that projects an image onto an angled surface.