The top 10 green festivals to get yourself to this summer

Summer 2016 sees a plethora of festivals take place, and more events than ever are encouraging revellers to liftshare there and back – to help keep the sites green, cut back on traffic queues, and extend your journey into a proper road trip!

So, where to go this summer? Allow us to advise…

Isle of Wight Festival – June 9th-12th
Seaclose Park, Isle of Wight

The IOW Festival offers a free upgrade to priority parking to all those who liftshare there – meaning you’re closer to the campsite and on site quicker! The festival have their own liftsharing scheme for those with both offering and seeking lifts, which you can find at IOW.liftshare.com. To get your priority parking pass, just log on, confirm your share, and print it off. Easy!

You can win tickets to the Isle of Wight Festival with Liftshare if you join and enter by 25th May. For more info see the IOW Liftshare scheme site.

Download Festival – June 10th-12th
Castle Donington, Leicestershire

Download has been on-board with liftsharing for years now, and in 2015 we took our photobooth car to the site to chat to the 80,000+ revellers about sustainable travel. As a festival that nurtures loyalty and sees a lot of returning visitors year after year, all are passionate about keeping the site as green and un-congested as possible. The Download Liftshare page welcomes hundreds of metalheads willing to share – so get involved and make your road trip a full tour!

You can win tickets to Download Festival with Liftshare if you join and enter by 31st May. For more info see the Download Liftshare portal.

Glastonbury – June 22nd-26th
Worthy Farm, Somerset

Glastonbury was the first festival Liftshare ever worked with! We’ve spent many a year at Worthy Farm helping sharers, and we’re still helping people get to and from the site. As a working dairy farm the rest of the year, Glasto’s green credentials are key to keeping the event happening. You can find someone going your way now at the Glastonbury Liftshare page.

NASS Festival – July 8th-10th
Royal Bath and West Showground, Somerset

NASS brings together action sports with live EDM, grime and dubstep performances across a long weekend. You might want to take your BMX, skateboard, or longboard, but if you don’t want to ride it all the way there, liftsharing’s for you. The NASS Liftshare page already has 18 lift offers – so book yours now, or offer our your spare seats if you’re going that way!

Leefest – July 28th-31st
Secret location TBC

You’ve probably seen Leefest on adverts for Android phones – as it started in host Lee’s back garden, and has grown and grown since. This year themed ‘The Neverland’, Leefest will take place in a secret location that’s still tbc. They encourage people to liftshare to the site (when they know where it’ll be, of course), run all their shuttle buses on chip fat, and have banned plastic non-reusable cups from the site. Wherever this location is, we know it’s beautiful… and the festival organisers are working really hard to keep it that way.

Belladrum Tartan Heart Festival – August 4th-6th
Beauly, Inverness

Now in its 13th year, Belladrum works closely with Carbon Clever, a Highlands Council-run initiative that aims to have a carbon-neutral Inverness and low-carbon Highlands by 2025. They even have volunteer ‘Green Police’ patrolling the festival site; so you need to make sure not to drop any litter or do anything to damage the land, as you could be summoned to ‘Carbon Court’! You can book a liftshare to Belladrum: Tartan Heart online.

Boardmasters – August 10th-14th
Watergate Bay and Fistral Beach, Newquay

Sun and surf invade Newquay along with an amazing musical line-up for Boardmasters Festival! As the festival actually takes place on the beach, the event organisers are, of course, as keen as possible to keep everything as nature intended. They work heavily with a variety of environmental charities, including Surfers Against Sewage. You can book or offer a lift down to Cornwall for the festival by clicking here.

Boom Festival – August 11th-18th
Idanha-A-Nova Lake, Portugal

Boom is a really environmentally-conscious festival, and win awards for their continuous great work. Taking place on the shores of a beautiful lake just a few miles from the Spain-Portugal border, it’s a road trip away; but a festival like no other. Boom have a Festival Liftshare page set up, and even encourage biking to the event… but not for the faint-hearted!

Creamfields – August 25th-28th
Daresbury, Cheshire

Small village Daresbury has played host to over 40,000 dance music fans since 2006, and as quite a small festival, sustainability is more prevalent than you might think. No fires are allowed on site, Creamfields encourage liftsharing, and Festival Republic, who run the festival, use low-emission lights throughout. Festival Republic continue to add more and more sustainability initiatives to Creamfields every year.

End of the Road – September 1st-4th
Larmer Tree Gardens, Dorset

Larmer Tree Gardens were the first ever private gardens to be opened to the public in the UK, and remain a natural beauty spot even today, with weddings taking place there year round! Therefore, muddy puddles and tyre tracks in the grass definitely aren’t acceptable, and the festival needs to keep the place looking tip top. You can find real-time liftshare offers on the End Of The Road’s website.

Are you going to a festival that hasn’t made our list? Let us know where in the comments below – and if they don’t have a Liftshare option, tell them about us!