Venue
near Castle Donington, North West Leicestershire, England, United Kingdom
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Download Festival guide
Five loud days at Donington Park.
In short
Download suits rock and metal fans comfortable with camping and mud on the race circuit in Leicestershire. It usually runs Wednesday to Sunday in the second week of June. Early Bird tickets for 2027 went on sale in June 2026 before any bands were named, so expect to commit before you know the bill.
Download is Britain's big annual gathering for rock and metal, a five-day camping festival on the Donington Park race circuit in Leicestershire. It picks up where Monsters of Rock left off, and its crowd of black band T-shirts treats the week as an institution: loud, often muddy, friendly, and shaped to an unusual degree by its own fans.
The name was a provocation when it launched, and the festival has kept some of that attitude. Stages carry the names of rock figures, among them the Jim Marshall Main Stage and the Lemmy Stage, a salute to the Motorhead frontman, and the bill runs from punk and hard rock to properly heavy metal.
Because most people camp, Download feels less like a run of gigs than a small town that appears for a week every June and then packs itself away.
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Key Facts & Stats:
Ends: Sunday, 13 June 2027
Where: North West Leicestershire, United Kingdom
Venue: Donington Park
Held: Every year
Type of event: Live Events, Musical Events
Currency: Pound sterling (GBP, £)
Time zone: Greenwich Mean Time, UTC+0 (UTC+1 in summer)
Language: English
Map
Getting around
Hotels near the venue fill up around the event dates.
Packing for mud, sun and loud music
An East Midlands June can deliver blazing sun and a downpour in the same afternoon, and the campsites churn to mud fast. Pack for both.
- Weather
- wellies and a waterproof, plus sun cream and warm layers for cold nights.
- Ears
- earplugs earn their place twice, once for the bands and once for the planes landing next door.
- Camp kit
- tent, sleeping bag, roll mat or inflatable mattress, camping pillow, toilet roll and a reusable water bottle.
- Health
- a small first aid kit and any medicines you need, with travel or medical insurance if you are coming from abroad.
Black band T-shirts are the unofficial uniform. Nobody will mind if you turn up in something else.
Which photo ID is accepted at the gates
Bring original photo ID and keep it on you, together with your ticket or wristband, for the whole festival. Accepted forms are:
- a passport
- a full or provisional driving licence
- a proof-of-age card bearing the PASS hologram
- a Ministry of Defence identity card
- a national identity card issued by an EU member state
Photocopies are refused. In a crowd this size, keep that ID and your phone and money in a zipped pocket, and agree a meeting point with friends before the first band you plan to see.
What happens on the day
- Wednesday
Campsites open
Arriving on the first day gives you time to pitch on decent ground, find your friends and learn the walk to the arena before the crowds arrive in full.
- Thursday
The site fills
The campsites reach capacity and the music starts to build.
- Friday to Sunday
The main arena weekend
The big sets fall over the weekend. In 2026 the 23rd edition put Linkin Park, Guns N' Roses and Limp Bizkit at the top of the bill.
- Autumn and winter before
The line-up lands in batches
Bands are announced in waves, with stage splits and set times last of all. Plan days around particular bands only once the splits are out.
Buying early bird tickets before the line-up is announced
Download asks you to commit early. The first Early Bird tickets for 2027 were released on 15 June 2026 with no band announced, and the organisers have since thanked fans for making it the fastest-selling edition yet. By October, Late Birds were the ones on offer. If you want a weekend camping ticket, which tends to disappear first, do not wait for the line-up.
Work out the type you need. The usual choice is between arena-only entry, a weekend camping ticket and a premium camping upgrade, and in some years day tickets follow later. Prices, payment plans and what each ticket includes change every year, so read the details on the official site and buy only there or from the agents it lists.
Then decide how you will sleep. Most of the crowd camps for the whole run, and the official site map helps you choose a campsite before you arrive. With an arena-only ticket, a room in Derby, Nottingham or Leicester works well, since all three have buses to the site. Book it as soon as your ticket is confirmed.
Monsters of Rock and Download's history at Donington
Donington has hosted heavy music for decades. Monsters of Rock played the circuit from 1980 to 1996, and the organisers still call the park the spiritual home of rock. In 2003 promoters Stuart Galbraith and Andy Copping revived the idea under a new name. Download was a deliberately cheeky choice at a time when the record industry saw downloading as a threat to its business.
The first tickets carried codes that let fans download tracks by bands on the bill. That idea was dropped, and an online forum took its place. It still shapes the festival. Organisers hold forum meetings where regulars give their views face to face, and a sounding board of fans and critics feeds into decisions about the site and the bill.
The brand travelled too. In 2006 Download was mirrored in the Republic of Ireland for the first time, and that summer went down as the warmest the festival had known. The layout at Donington changed in 2008 and again in 2009 before the event settled back onto the circuit in 2010. The brand belongs to Live Nation; since 2024 Far and Beyond Events has run the festival day to day.
Getting there
Flying in
East Midlands Airport is next door: the western end of its runway is about 365 metres from the circuit, which is why jets skim over the stages all weekend.
By rail
Nottingham, Derby and East Midlands Parkway are the closest stations. In recent years festival shuttles ran from East Midlands Parkway (about 20 minutes) and Derby station (about 30) to the Transport Hub.
Local buses
Skylink and my15 buses link the site with Nottingham, Derby, Leicester and Loughborough. The usual Donington Park stop is not served during the festival; timetables and fares come out closer to the date.
Driving
Practical with a boot full of camping gear, but plan for the long carry from car park to campsite.
Where to stay during the festival
The next edition runs from 9 June to 13 June 2027. Book your room as soon as your dates are fixed, since rooms close to the festival are the first to go.
Weather and what to pack
June in the East Midlands is mild. Average highs are around 19°C and lows around 10°C, with about 65 mm of rain spread over the month (1991-2020 normals for the nearest Met Office stations).
Donington's mud is famous for a reason: a wet week can turn the campsites and arena into a bog, and nights under canvas can drop into single figures.
Worth packing
- Wellies or waterproof boots
- A proper waterproof jacket, not just a poncho
- A warm sleeping bag for cold nights
- Sunscreen for a dry day
- A power bank and ear plugs
Car hire in North West Leicestershire
Airport transfer to Download Festival
Met at arrivals at Manchester Airport (MAN) and driven door to door to Donington Park.
- Manchester Airport (MAN) → Donington Park
- 127 km · 2 hours
Restaurants and food in United Kingdom
Places to eat in United Kingdom before or after the celebrations.
Magpie Café
14 Pier Road, Whitby YO21 3PU, United Kingdom
Cuisine:SeafoodFish and chips
- Dine-in
- Takeaway
Ubiquitous Chip
12 Ashton Lane, Glasgow G12 8SJ, United Kingdom
Cuisine:ScottishModern British
- Dine-in
- Bar
The Kitchin
78 Commercial Quay, Leith, Edinburgh EH6 6LX, United Kingdom
Cuisine:Modern ScottishSeasonal
- Dine-in
Dishoom Covent Garden
12 Upper St Martin's Lane, London WC2H 9FB, United Kingdom
Cuisine:IndianBombay café
- Dine-in
- Bar
- Outdoor seating
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Need help?
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
General
No. Alcohol stays out of the arena. You may take in food and soft drinks for your own use, as long as the drinks are in unopened, sealed plastic or paper containers of 500ml or less.
Portable chargers can be hired on site, so a flat battery is no disaster. Bringing your own power bank saves money. The official Download app is worth installing before you leave home, as it doubles as a guide to the site and the set times.
The eco campsite. Campers there agree to recycle their rubbish and take every piece of their kit home with them, so nothing is left behind on the field when the festival ends. Pick it if you are happy to clear up properly on the last morning.
The organisers counted more than 95,000 fans at the 2026 edition. Most of them camp for the whole run, so the campsites are every bit as busy as the arena.
Unofficially, yes. A pop-up chapel on site hosts ceremonies for couples who want to tie the knot to a soundtrack of distant riffs. The vows carry no legal weight.
The festival's mascot: a red, angry-looking dog that has served as the festival's emblem for years. Spot it once and you will notice it everywhere, from the official artwork to the T-shirts in the crowd.
COVID-19 forced the cancellation of the 2020 festival. In its place came Download TV, a three-day online event of archive sets, recent performances and unseen interviews. In 2021 a smaller pilot festival ran at Donington to test the return of large crowds.
Yes. The brand has run in Paris, at Parramatta Park in Sydney and at Flemington Racecourse in Melbourne. The first spin-off was in the Republic of Ireland in 2006. Donington is where it all began.
Glastonbury returns to Somerset from 23 to 27 June 2027 after its fallow year, two weeks after Download ends. On the continent, Germany's Rock am Ring draws a similar crowd if you fancy a second rock weekend abroad.
Prices & payment
Yes, there are cash machines on site. Bring some cash with you, because not every stall takes cards and it is frustrating to wait in line only to find that out at the front.
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