The Festival
The Kelburn Garden Party is a unique, independent, magical music and arts festival. It is an annual explosion of colour, creativity, and culture in the grounds and glen around a 13th century painted castle on Scotland’s spectacular West Coast.
Established in 2009, the festival is renowned for featuring a high quality and diverse range of musical styles across 10 stages, that sits alongside a feast of creative happenings and fun attractions embedded around the site. Alongside the music programme, a trip to Kelburn also involve a huge range of interactive art installations, living theatre, pop-up parties, glen walks, waterfall plunge pools, poetry, workshops, cabaret, and downright surreal happenings. Kelburn Garden Party is a family-friendly, surreal, magical cultural safari for the mind, body and soul.
Under the madcap vision and leadership of Festival Director, Dave Boyle, the Garden Party is created each year by the efforts of the organisers, crew, volunteers, performers, and of course, our friendly campers and dancers. Below you can find out what you need to know about a trip to the fairytale land that is the Kelburn Garden Party.
A distinctly magical atmosphere.
The Scotsman
Kelburn is without a doubt the most colourful event in Scotland’s festival calendar.
The Skinny
A jewel in Scotland’s festival crown.
The List
The Venue
The Kelburn Garden Party takes place in the lush and historic grounds surrounding Kelburn Castle, near Largs (30mins from Glasgow, 90mins from Edinburgh). The castle is known around the world as the site of the Graffiti Project, an audacious plan that turned the historic 13th century building into an international icon of street art.
The festival is unique in the way that the entertainment is spread right across the site – making use of the most unlikely nooks and crannies to present music, art, performance and other attractions. The Kelburn Garden Party is truly the antithesis to the tired “main stage plus dance tent” mentality of most festivals; a trip to Kelburn really is a non-stop multimedia adventure for the senses; impossible to describe to the uninitiated.
The Neverending Glen
4 Day Weekend Tickets! (SOLD OUT in 2026)
4-day Weekend Tickets allow ticket holders to come to Kelburn Garden Party on Thursday to kick off their festival earlier than everyone else. The party will kick off from 6pm and you can arrive in the daytime and set up camp before the hoards arrive on the Friday. We’ll have some great live entertainment and DJs for you, and food traders will be open to keep you fed. During the day on the Friday you’ll have exclusive access to some parts of the Neverending Glen so you’ll be able to explore Kelburn’s amazing natural surroundings are we gear up for Friday night’s kick-off.
Food & Drink
At Kelburn Garden Party we like to look after our (and your) tummies. We have a wide and tasty selection of food including old-school fairground tuck, traditional Scottish fare and a wide “world” choice, favouring traders who source their ingredients locally. We’ll be announcing Trading opportunities in the Autumn before the next event. We also ensure that there is a wide range of vegan and vegetarian choices across the site. Drink is equally diverse with a range of respected Scottish breweries (such as Williams Brothers, Thistly Cross and Kelburn Brewery) provide ales, lager and cider on tap. There are cocktail bars, tea tents and proper artisan coffee too.
Kids
It’s no secret that kids and parents alike love Kelburn Garden Party, and we take great pride in the the facilities and activities we provide.
We have various dedicated children’s activity areas, a packed workshop program and various treats all over the site. There are as well two supervised kids play areas and a weekend long programme of family-friendly performances.
We’re also very proud of the famous Secret Forest Project – a living theatre installation hidden in the grounds of Kelburn which is a massive hit with children and sets Kelburn aside from other festivals.
Kids under 5 go free but you still need to register for Under-5’s tickets in advance. 5-12 year olds’ tickets are heavily subsidised.
Tickets
Kelburn Garden Party is an intimate affair, with just 4500 tickets available for the festival. The event has sold-out for the past 4 years, and capacity is not increasing in the future due to the unique nature of the site.
We operate a tiered ticketing system: the sooner you buy, the cheaper they are. Scannable e-Tickets are available on this website through Citizen Ticket. Kids are most welcome at the festival including under 5’s. We offer heavily discounted tickets for children aged 5-12 and youths aged 13-17 get ⅓ discount. A limited number of day tickets are usually available close to event if we have enough capacity. For more information on tickets and to purchase go to the ticket page. All weekend tickets include camping and a £10 returnable eco bond.
For those purchasing early – before Christmas for the following year – you can access group and couples deals. We also offeer an instalment scheme which available until the end of April.
Opening Times
Kelburn Garden Party: the campsite opens at 4pm on Thursday exclusively for 4 Day Weekend ticket holders and then 2pm on Friday for 3 day weekend ticket holders. Wristband exchange closes at 9pm on Friday and Saturday and 8pm on Sunday. No wristband means no admission.
The festival entertainment starts at 7pm on Friday and runs through until 3am on the Monday morning. Music runs until 3am on Friday night, and 4am on Saturday night. The campsite closes at 1pm on the Monday.
Travel
The festival site is very easy to reach. For the Kelburn Garden Party we recommend that you catch The Kelburn Bus from Edinburgh or Glasgow all the way onto site. Trains to Largs from Glasgow run regularly, and from Largs Train Station, you can catch the Kelburn Shuttle Bus for £5 or it’s a very short and inexpensive taxi ride. For those coming from further afield, cheap flights to Glasgow Prestwick are available from Ryanair. You can get to Largs by train or bus from the airport (around 1 hour journey). Check the travel page for more info.
Travel advice for Kelburn Jazz Weekend will be updated in due course.
Cars & Camping
To encourage car-sharing and use of public transport we charge a fee for parking. Camping in tents at KGP is included in the weekend ticket price – the campsite is situated only a few minutes walk from the festival, and commands spectacular views to the Firth of Clyde and beyond.
For all campers, we levy a returnable £10 “environmental bond” which helps maintain respect for the land on which we party. We have a dedicated family / quiet campsite, camper van pitches for both families and late night revellers – with limited power link-ups available now too. Hot showers and luxury loos are available at extra cost.
Due to the nature of Kelburn’s site, our campsites get very full. To make the best use of the space we request that campers do not put up gazebo’s and bring/pitch appropriate sized tents for your needs.
Please note that the Kelburn Garden Party car parks shut at 10pm, no vehicle movement is permitted in the Car Parks or Live-In Fields between 10pm and 10am. Full parking T&C’s here
Electric Vehicles will be parked separately, please ensure that you have adequate charge to leave the site on your departure day. Powered Live in pitches are not provided for charging of EV vehicle batteries.
Live-In Vehicles/Plots
If you are coming to Kelburn Garden Party in a live-in vehicle (a Camper van, Trailer Tent, Car top Tent-Box or Caravan) then you must buy a Live-In Vehicle plot ticket. The plots are 4m wide(w) x 6m depth (d) and you must fit your set up completely inside your plot (including any awnings, guy ropes etc.)
If you need more space then you must buy more than one plot:
- 2 plots = 8m (w) x 6m (d)
- 3 plots = 12m (w)x 6m (d)
- 4 plots = 16m (w) x 6m (d), and so on.
If you are coming in a caravan then you must either fit car and caravan in your plot space(s) or buy a plot ticket for the caravan plus a parking ticket for the car and move your car into the car park once the caravan is positioned.
Plots are given out in the order that people arrive, so if you wish to be beside friends who also have a live-in plot then you must arrive together. We do not permit people to hold onto spaces for other people as this quickly becomes unmanageable.
Live-In tickets have been separated into 4 day and 3 day tickets, this is to help us monitor likely traffic flows; however the tickets are the same price. Thursday admission to the Live In Fields will only be granted to those with 4-Day Admission Tickets (4 day Weekend, or 3 Day Weekend with a Thursday Upgrade). You cannot come on Thursday if you have a 3 Day (Fri-Sun) weekend Ticket.
Tents in the live In Fields are strictly controlled, 1 small 1-2 person tent is permitted as secondary accommodation to the ticketed live-in vehicle. This tent must fit completely within your plot/plots that you have purchased. Larger tents, and multiple tent encampments are not permitted in the Live-In Fields. If you arrive with a live in vehicle ticket, but no live in vehicle, you will be asked to park in the car park and camp in the campsite, no refund will be given.
Please get in touch if you plan to arrive in a very large or heavy live in vehicle (converted Bus/library van/Horse Box Lorry etc).
Electric Vehicles will be parked separately, please ensure that you have adequate charge to leave the site on your departure day. Powered pitches are not provided for charging of EV vehicle batteries.
Dogs and Other Pets
We regret that during our events we cannot allow dogs or any other pets on site. If you have a registered, trained Service Dog, please contact us to make arrangements. Please see the FAQ page for more info.
