Events here
Ticket advice and buying windows are event-specific — pick the one you are going to.
Go — getting there
- Trains to Cheltenham Spa run direct from Birmingham (40 min) and via one change from London (2h-2h15). The shuttle buses from station and town centre to the course are constant and cheap on Festival days.
- The walk from town is 35-40 minutes and half the crowd does it — up the Evesham Road with a pint stop or two. Walking back after the last race is the reliable move while the bus queues clear.
- Driving: official park-and-ride and course parking exist but must be pre-booked, and the A435 crawls from 9am. Train beats car every day of Festival week.
- From abroad: Birmingham (BHX) is the practical airport — an hour door to door. London works fine with the direct-ish rail run from Paddington.
Stay — where to sleep
Chain hotels in Gloucester
Fifteen minutes away by train or cab and routinely a third of Cheltenham's Festival-week rates. The post-racing party is in Cheltenham, but the sleep is cheaper here.
Cheltenham town B&Bs and Montpellier boutiques
Walk to the course, stumble back from the Promenade afterwards. The town's entire stock books out nearly a year ahead for Gold Cup week — commit early or pay triple.
Ellenborough Park
The country-house option that borders the racecourse itself — you can walk in through the back. The Festival's power-lunch hotel, priced like it.
Make a trip of it
The Promenade and Montpellier bars are the second venue of Festival week — book dinner tables well ahead. If you have a non-racing day, Sudeley Castle, Broadway and the north Cotswolds villages start 20 minutes away.