Glamping, the marriage of glamour and camping, has become a fixture at UK festivals over the past decade. What started as a niche option for those who refused to sleep on the ground has grown into a substantial part of the festival accommodation market. If the thought of pitching your own tent, sleeping on a thin mat, and queuing for portaloos fills you with dread, glamping might be the answer that lets you enjoy the music without enduring the mud.
What counts as glamping?
The term covers a wide range of options, from a pre-pitched tent with camp beds to a fully furnished cabin with a real bed, carpet, and lighting. The common thread is that someone else has set everything up before you arrive. You walk in, put your bag down, and you are ready. No wrestling with tent poles in the wind, no realising you forgot the mallet for the pegs, no sleeping on cold ground.
The most common glamping options at UK festivals include bell tents, yurts, tipis, safari tents, geodesic domes, shepherd's huts, and converted shipping containers or wooden pods. Each offers a different level of comfort and a different price point.
Bell tents
Bell tents are the entry point for festival glamping. A canvas bell tent with a central pole, typically four to five metres in diameter, furnished with camp beds or airbeds, bedding, and sometimes a small rug or lighting. They are spacious enough for two to four people and significantly more weather-resistant than a standard tent.
Prices for a bell tent at a major UK festival typically range from £200 to £500 for the weekend, depending on the size, the festival, and the level of furnishing. At the lower end, you get the tent with camp beds and bedding. At the higher end, you might get proper mattresses, fairy lights, a mirror, and a lockable entrance.
Yurts and tipis
Yurts are circular structures with a rigid frame, offering more internal space and better insulation than bell tents. Festival yurts are typically furnished with beds, bedding, a small table, and sometimes a heater or wood-burning stove. They feel more like a room than a tent, and the solid walls block sound more effectively than canvas alone.
Tipis are cone-shaped structures that have been used for camping for centuries. At festivals, they are typically dressed up with rugs, cushions, and low beds. They are atmospheric and photogenic, though the sloped walls mean less usable space than a yurt of similar footprint.
Both options typically cost £400 to £800 for a weekend at a major festival, making them a mid-range glamping choice. They sleep two to six people depending on size, so the per-person cost is more reasonable when shared.
Safari tents and luxury options
At the top end, safari tents and luxury structures offer the closest thing to a hotel room you will find at a festival. These are large canvas or semi-permanent structures with proper beds, furniture, carpeted floors, electric lighting, charging points, and sometimes private shower facilities. Some festivals offer truly high-end packages with champagne on arrival, daily housekeeping, and private bar areas.
Expect to pay £800 to £2,000 or more for a luxury glamping weekend. At Glastonbury, the top-tier glamping packages sell for several thousand pounds. At smaller festivals, the ceiling is lower but still a significant spend. Whether this is worth it depends entirely on your budget and how much comfort matters to you.
Pods, huts, and hard structures
Some festivals offer accommodation in wooden pods, shepherd's huts, or converted containers. These provide solid walls, a locking door, and proper weather protection. They are particularly popular with attendees who have had bad experiences with wet canvas in the past.
Pods are compact and basic, usually with a bed and not much else. Shepherd's huts are more characterful, often with a small desk, lighting, and sometimes a porch area. Converted containers vary widely in quality but can be surprisingly comfortable when well fitted out.
What is usually included
Most glamping packages at UK festivals include the structure itself, beds or sleeping surfaces, bedding (duvet and pillows), and access to dedicated glamping toilets and showers that are cleaner and less busy than the general festival facilities. Some packages include a welcome pack with essentials like earplugs, a torch, and a festival map.
What is usually not included is your festival ticket. Glamping is accommodation only, and the event ticket must be purchased separately. A few festivals bundle the two together, but most sell them independently. Check carefully when booking so you do not assume the ticket is included when it is not.
Is glamping worth the money?
This depends on what you value. If you are happy camping in a standard tent and the rough edges are part of the experience for you, glamping is an unnecessary expense. A decent tent, sleeping bag, and mat can be bought for under £100 total, and they will serve you for years of festivals.
But if poor sleep ruins your enjoyment, if you dread the logistics of setting up camp, or if you are attending a festival with someone who would not go otherwise, glamping changes the equation. Sleeping properly in a real bed, having somewhere dry and secure to store your things, and using clean private facilities makes the entire weekend more enjoyable for some people. The question is whether that improvement is worth hundreds of pounds to you.
For groups, glamping becomes more cost-effective. A bell tent sleeping four at £400 for the weekend is £100 per person, which is comparable to a budget hotel for three nights. A yurt for six at £600 is £100 per head. When split among a group, the per-person cost starts to look reasonable relative to the comfort and convenience.
Booking tips
Glamping options sell out fast, often faster than the festival tickets themselves. If you know you want glamping, book it the moment it goes on sale. The best structures at the most popular festivals can sell out within hours.
Read the details carefully. Not all glamping is equal. Check what is included, how far the glamping area is from the main stages, whether there is a separate entrance, and what the cancellation policy is. Some providers are flexible; others are non-refundable from the moment of booking.
If festival glamping is outside your budget, our guide to cheap accommodation near venues has alternatives. And for getting to the festival itself, check our travel planning guide to make sure you arrive on time and with your sanity intact.
