Day Trippers
Craving live music but strapped for annual leave? Want the thrill of a crowd but simply cannot face slumming it in a tent? We understand that a whole weekend affair is sometimes just too much to bear, but that shouldn’t hold anyone back. There has never been a wider span and richer variety of Day Festivals available than there is today, meaning no one needs to miss out. From major international stars, to the quirkiest local talent there are events spanning every taste country wide, and our experts have cherry picked their favourites for you.
British Summer Time
27th June to 12th July - Hyde Park, London
Since inception in 2013, BST Hyde Park has quickly become one of the country’s most high profile and respected day festivals. Taking place in one of London’s iconic Royal Parks with a long history of attracting the world’s biggest stars. The 2026 line-up continues the tradition of heavy hitters, featuring the likes of country legend Garth Brooks, pop-rock icons Maroon 5, and the return of homegrown heroes Mumford & Sons.
What sets BST apart is its headline grabbing curation with each day offering a star studded line-up tailored to an array of different genres, making it ideal for music fans that want a premium experience without the worry of pitching up a tent in the mud.
Between sets, the site also offers a family friendly atmosphere with high end street food and themed bars that elevate it above the standard festival fare. For those looking to witness music history against the backdrop of a classic London sunset, BST Hyde Park remains a key centrepiece of the summer music calendar.
Line-up Highlights: Pitbull, Duran Duran, Garth Brooks, Maroon 5, Mumford & Sons, Lewis Capaldi, Kesha, Scissor Sisters
Tickets: From festival website
Price: From £79.95 + booking fee
Love Saves The Day
23rd to 24th May - Ashton Court, Bristol
Advertised as the ‘Biggest Party in Somerset (this year)’, Love Saves The Day returns for a fifth edition at Ashton Court. Run by Team Love, the crew behind Silver Hayes, this event sees them channel their energy into a line-up ready to kick the doors open to festival season in style.
The late May Bank holiday slot holds the promise of the year’s first proper sun, and the lure of this line-up soundtracking those first crisp cold cans with your pals shouldn’t be missed. Both days should sate all your electronic needs with a deep run through of electronic music from D&B, jungle, house, garage, and house with hip-hop for good measure there is something for everyone.
If you’re chasing the first proper hit of festival season and that feeling of a crowd dancing together, you won’t find many better options than Love Saves the Day this bank holiday weekend. Rain or shine, but let’s be honest we’re all praying for sun.
Line-up Highlights: Eve, Special Request, Hamdi, Rossi, Sub Focus, Confidence Man (DJs), Rizzle Kicks
Tickets: Available from SEETickets
Price: Weekend: £147, Day Tickets from £76
All Points East
21st to 30th August - Victoria Park, London
Returning to Victoria Park in Tower Hamlets, All Points East proves that you don’t need to leave London to feel like you’ve escaped it. This two-weekend event has built a reputation over the past eight editions for mixing genuinely exciting undercards with varied headline acts that speak to a plethora of tastes.
Each day with its own unique character, this year’s headliners alone are a statement of intent. Jorja Smith and Tems open the first run, followed by Lorde and finally a Deftones topped Outbreak London Festival on Sunday. The second weekend centres around Tyler, The Creator, playing two nights, with Twenty One Pilots finishing things up on the Bank Holiday. The booking team deserves enormous credit; the depth across every day is remarkable.
In the week between, ‘In The Neighbourhood’ runs a free programme of activities aimed at locals and families, with film screenings, street food, live music and community activities. It’s this use of the site that makes the festival unique in London; perfect to pop down on a warm summer’s evening.
There is genuinely something for everyone at All Points East and, for Londoners, the ability to sleep in your own bed is an underrated pleasure. For those visiting from further afield, the city itself becomes your campsite, and there are far worse places to be than East London in late August.
Line-up Highlights: Lorde, Tyler The Creator, Deftones, Twenty One Pilots, Jorja Smith, Tems, PinkPantheress, Zara Larsson, Djo, Turnstile, Wunderhorse
Tickets: From festival website
Price: From £64.95 + Booking Fee
GALA
22nd, 23rd, and 24th May - Peckham Rye, London
Celebrating its tenth anniversary last year, GALA shows no signs of slowing down. Fiercely independent, GALA shines in a diluted pool of dancey London day festivals. Spread across three days, trying to pick just one to attend is a difficult task in and of itself, such is the strength of the line-up.
Its focus is simple: celebrating dance music. Think crystal clear soundsystems showing off the diverse sonic palette that permeates London: past, present and future. Think beautiful staging — that isn’t just copy-pasted throughout the multiple soulless fields peppering the summer festival calendar — but designed to draw you in and enhance your experience (and not to advertise a mega corporation).
Showcasing Floating Points’ Sunflower System last year, this is both a place that DJs trust to try out new ideas, continually evolving and capable of surprise. For a lot of people, GALA weekend marks the start of summer — don’t miss out.
Line-up Highlights: Giggs, DjRUM, Ikonika (Friday); Peach & Prosumer, Verraco, Call Super (Saturday); Talaboman, Todd Terje (Sunday)
Tickets: Available form RA
Price: from £50 per day
Field Day
23rd May - Brockwell Park, London
You wouldn’t know it from the bright, Gen Z-coded branding, but Field Day has somehow found itself in the position of being the grandfather of London day festivals. Dating back to the heady days of 2007, the event started life in Victoria Park and was a barometer of all things cool - with an eclectic and eccentric line-up to match.
After a decade of genre bending in East London, things started to evolve - both in terms of the location (moving to Brockwell Park, Meridian Water, the original Drumheads in Tottenham, and back to Victoria Park, before returning to Brockwell last year) and its musical offerings. Nowadays, Field Day is a purely electronic affair - but the quality of acts and diversity of dance floor styles remains top notch. This year’s edition will see the critically acclaimed Floating Points live show and the international superstar DJ Honey Dijon grace the main stage. There’s also a whole host of tempting offerings across four other stages to suit every type of dance floor dweller.
Throw in a truly beautiful site with views overlooking London, an impressive range of top-quality food stalls, and (hopefully) the usual craft beer tent hosting numerous amazing local breweries, and it’s easy to see why Field Day remains so popular after almost two decades.
Line-up Highlights: Floating Points (live), Honey Dijon, Andy C, Joy Orbison, MJ Cole (live), Horse Meat Disco, Nimono, KI/KI, Gabriels (DJ set)
Tickets: Available from Kaboodle
Price: from £71
Psych Fests
4th to 6th September - Brighton, Manchester, and Edinburgh
Manchester Psych Fest has been going since 2014 and has firmly established itself as the one of the best multi-venue festivals in the country. Since those early days it has now launched two sister events in Brighton and Edinburgh. All happening across the same early September weekend enabling them to share bands which embrace a very broad definition of Psych, including all sorts of left-field music from woozy 60s styled pop to the most avant-garde of noise.
Things kick-off on the south coast on Friday, and with no shortage of venues, Brighton’s compact centre means a short walk is guaranteed when trying to catch as much of the excellent line-up as possible. Saturday is the main event, the original Psych Fest. This year’s headliners are the excellent The Beta Band and exclusive to the Manchester leg. After so many years the complicated logistics of running a sprawling event have become a well oiled machine, with art exhibitions, record shops and even yoga classes popping up at the festival’s Circle Square hub. Further north for Sunday’s finale in Edinburgh where the Fringe has just finished, leaving Summerhall kitted out to host a heady mix of performers and punters as the complex becomes the heart of the festival, whereas Queen’s hall hosts the headliners.
Whichever edition of Psych Fest you attend, it will always provide interesting and exciting line-ups for fans of anything a little bit different. All closely contained within their respective city centres they allow you to party long into the night with official after parties in various clubs.
Line-up Highlights: The Beta Band, Stereolab, Ty Segall, Angine de Poitrine, Model/Actriz, Anna Von Hausswolff
Tickets: Manchester Tickets / Brighton Tickets / Edinburgh Tickets
Price: £40-65
Cross The Tracks
24th May - Brockwell Park, London
Cross The Tracks returns to Brockwell park for a fantastic edition of jazz, funk and hip-hop. Featuring both icons of the genre and upcoming stars, the festival’s beautifully curated line-up comes to life over five stages.
Mainline, the festival’s main stage, features a headline performance from the UK’s biggest female rapper Little Simz alongside R&B singer Joy Crookes, funk legends WAR, and DJs Fabio & Grooverider accompanied by an orchestra. The other stages play host to a variety of rap, afrobeats and jazz ensembles. The programming is extremely tasteful and blends genres from over half a century of funk.
Though the music is of course central to the festival, a select range of craft beer and food traders bring flavour of South London, alongside a market of independent creatives and traders. Workshops and talks will also take place, so there’s a whole lot to do in Cross The Tracks’s jam-packed line-up. The vibe in Brockwell Park during festival season is impeccable, and a great day out in the sun is to be expected.
Line-up Highlights: Little Simz, Joy Crookes, Knucks, WAR, KOKOROKO, Fabio & Grooverider, Obongjayar
Tickets: Buy 2026 Tickets
Price: From £70.95
Outbreak
26th, 27th, and 28th June 2026 - Bowlers Exhibition Centre, Manchester
The UK’s premier hardcore and punk weekender returns to Manchester, drawing the faithful from across Europe and beyond for three days of unrelenting heaviness and DIY ethos. A cornerstone of the UK’s heavy music calendar, Outbreak has grown from intimate roots into one of Europe’s leading hardcore festivals without ever losing its spirit.
Held at Manchester’s Bowlers Exhibition Centre and boasting an international roster of hardcore, punk, emo, metal (and even some shoegaze for good measure), the festival is an unapologetic love letter to the scene that built it. Expect a no frills, community focused atmosphere, and don’t get confused if you can’t find the barrier: stage diving and crowd surfing aren’t just tolerated, they’re encouraged.
Line-up Highlights: Alexisonfire, Basement, Suicidal Tendencies, Hatebreed, Converge, Touche Amore, The Front Bottoms, Tiger’s Jaw, La Dispute
Tickets: Available here.
Price: Day tickets £67.20-£100.80, Sat & Sun tickets £179.20, 3 day weekend tickets £224.00
Dialled In
30th May - Dalston, London
This May, Dialled In celebrates its fifth birthday with a Dalston takeover celebrating ‘experimentation, discovery, and underground energy.’ The south Asian collective, headed by Ahadadream has come leaps and bounds since its inception, hosting shows, events and festivals across the globe and recently announcing a record label, debuting with the song Bass Dhol. Against the backdrop of iconic venues across Dalston, expect everything from theatre to club, with acts such as Anish Kumar, Bomboy and Lifafa ones to watch.
For those tempted to go - we’d advise embracing the ‘Glasto spirit’ and focus on a day of discovery - explore the incredible venues on offer, see an act from a genre you have little knowledge of, and soak in the rich culture that will be celebrated on the day.
Line-up Highlights: Ahadadream, Anish Kumar, Bamboy, Lifafa
Tickets: Available from RA
Price: from £28.80 (2nd release)
Jazz Café
2nd August - Burgess Park, London
After a sellout 2025 show, Jazz Cafe Festival returns for its third iteration on 2nd August. Perhaps filling the void left by Lovebox festival (which is coincidently back this year, albeit in a reduced capacity) - with acts such as Ari Lennox, Smino and Boldy James on the bill. However, what sets this event apart is the Jazz Cafe curation beyond the bigger names, much like at the historic venue of which it shares its name.
Expect soulful artists who celebrate global sounds alongside emerging boundary-pushing UK talent. Effort also goes into the stage design; the greenhouse inspired ‘plant room’ would not feel out of place in Glastonbury’s Silver Hayes. With the range of acts on offer from R&B, funk, hip-hop and electronica, expect a highly curated day filled with attentive crowds who are all there for the music and artistry on display.
Line-up Highlights: Ari Lennox, Smino, Nightmares On Wax, Greentea Peng
Tickets: Available from RA
Price: £49.50+
Dot to Dot
23th and 24th May - Bristol and Nottingham
Dot to Dot festival offers a unique way to explore the city, with almost every cool bar, cafe, club and venue turning into a stage for the day. It has also proved a wonderful way to brag about seeing an act ‘before they got big’; with past performers including Dua Lipa, Mahalia and even a young Ed Sheeran.
With tickets available from as low as £35, it’s a perfect sunny (fingers crossed) bank holiday weekend activity in two of the country’s best cities, with the added bonus of getting to support up-and-coming local talent from across a variety of genres.
Line-up Highlights: Mandy, Indiana, Fcukers, Ratboys, Eliza McLamb
Tickets: Available from Alt Tickets
Price: £35+
LIDO
12th to 14th June - Victoria Park, London
LIDO Festival was launched last year to help offer festival slots to artists who may not garner the larger capacity of its bigger brother All Points East, but are no less deserving of headline shows. Last year’s highlights included everyone from DJ hotshot Jamie xx, to trip-hop icons Massive Attack, though the star of the weekend was undoubtedly a monumental day curated by pop superstar Charli XCX. This year’s offerings, while only three headliners down from the five last year, continue this winning formula.
Friday’s headliner, CMAT, is arguably one of the most exciting artists in Europe right now, and it’s no surprise she’s sold out shows almost anywhere she’s gone. Packed with infectious tunes and a bubbling charisma, her live performances are a spectacle that you won’t want to miss. Maribou State, topping Saturday, have amassed a strong following thanks to their moody and atmospheric electronic music. They’re backed by a line-up full of stellar electronic producers and creators, as well a certain Milkshake bringing R&B icon. Closing out this year’s edition are indie darlings Bombay Bicycle Club, who will be celebrating their 20th anniversary by playing their first two albums in full across the day. Sunday’s undercard continues the strong names that both Friday and Saturday offer, including indietronica group Metronomy booked as a European-exclusive.
Line-up Highlights: CMAT, Maribou State, Theo Parish, Kelis, Bombay Bicycle Club, Metronomy
Tickets: Available through festival website
Price: Starts at £69.05 for General Admission, with Early Entry and VIP tickets also available
RALLY
29th August - Southwark Park, London
RALLY is a collaboration between London dance stalwarts GALA and everpresent promoters Bird on the Wire, housed in Southwark Park. If you know much about either of those two names, you can probably guess what RALLY is all about: unmatched sound and staging fused with cutting-edge music.
Into its fourth edition this year, RALLY has quickly found its feet. Being sandwiched between the titans of Green Man and End of the Road means the acts they pull in are consistently interesting: up-and-comers, indie darlings - though the electronic focus is definitely greater at RALLY than at either of those, reminiscent of the great heights of Field Day in the 2010s (but smaller).
A unique, music-focused, independent festival that can ease the pressure on your GM/EotR clashfinder, and you can be in bed by midnight? Sign me up.
Line-up Highlights: Blood Orange, james K, Parris, Optimo (Espacio)
Tickets: Available from RA
Price: from £65
Crystal Palace Park
26th June to 4th July - Crystal Palace Park, London
South London’s Crystal Palace Park plays host to a bumper collection of day festivals this summer. Over the past few summers, under the watchful gaze of the iconic Crystal Palace aerial, the park has hosted some of the very biggest artists to take to the UK stage each year, including Deftones, Skepta and A$AP Rocky. This year is no different with line-ups specifically aimed at fans of Indie, Irish Rap, Heavy, and of course Pop.
Alongside sister day festivals in Finsbury and Gunnersbury parks, a five-event series will take place with strong line-ups and impeccable energy from both performers and the audience. A single large stage means no clashes and no compromises. You’ll catch every single song you came to see and maybe discover something new!
Line-up Highlights: Two Door Cinema Club, Kneecap, The Offspring, Snow Patrol, Alanis Morissette, Rag ‘N’ Bone Man
Tickets: Available through Ticketmaster via Festival Republic website
Price: From £61.60