Planning your trip to Cheltenham Festival

By Staff Reporter - 17 October 2018

Sport

For anyone living in South West England, Cheltenham Festival comes as the best horse racing event on the calendar, and many of those who are planning on attending are already preparing for when it gets underway once again at the start of March.

It might seem too early to assess how you’ll get there and making sure that you’ve secured your tickets for The Festival but it’s a regular occurrence to constantly look ahead to the next big racing event.

Horse racing betting websites will tend to offer out their thoughts on Cheltenham Festival as soon as the odds are made available on bookmaker websites, and any attendees also need to plan with the same level of urgency. As there will be a lot of residents of Swindon and the surrounding area who will show an interest in The Festival, we’ve looked into what you need to do to secure your tickets and how you’ll make the journey to Cheltenham Racecourse.

Travel between Swindon and Cheltenham

As National Express serve as the official partner of The Jockey Club, they’re a good option for travelling to the racecourse, with the option to cut costs by booking your Cheltenham Festival tickets alongside your return coach ticket in a bundle. They have an even more in-depth selection of options, allowing you to become part of the premium enclosure, see a behind-the-scenes look at the racecourse, or attend with optional food and drink already provided. In terms of public transport, local busses run every fifteen minutes during the day, and between ten minutes and every hour most nights.

Trains operate from Swindon Station and Cheltenham Spa Station, with the journey itself taking around an hour and forty minutes even at peak times. Driving is slightly easier as it usually takes around fifty minutes by car, making it easy to see why so many residents of Swindon and the surrounding area find it so tempting to attend on such a regular basis. Most of the ride is based on driving north along the A419 and taking a detour through the Cotswolds before reaching Cheltenham Racecourse, which is situated on the other side of Cheltenham Town Centre.

It would be advised to secure your parking before travelling, as there are typically over 250,000 in attendance at Cheltenham Festival. You can do this through going to their website and pre-paying, where you’ll be paying £12 a day rather than the £20 fee that you would have to pay by booking it on the day. There’s also the option of parking where you’re staying if you choose to book one of the many hotels in and around the Cheltenham area if you’d rather take your time and soak up the festival from start to finish.

Cheltenham Festival tickets

If you’re wanting to assure the best available tickets, it’s advised by the organisers of Cheltenham Festival that you buy your tickets from their website before 10:59pm on 30th November. The Festival itself kicks off on Tuesday 12th March, lasting four days, and resulting on Friday 15th March, where the main feature of Cheltenham Day Four is The Magners Cheltenham Gold Cup. Prices for tickets range from £31 for Champion Day, Ladies Day and St Patrick’s Day, with the even more in-demand Gold Cup Day having tickets with a starting price of £51. They’re always on a first come, first served basis, so it’s always best to purchase yours as quickly as possible.

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