How Much Does It Cost To Attend The Cheltenham Festival?

Feb 13th, 2026 9:01 AM EST

The Cost Of Attending The Cheltenham Festival Imaqe

Every year, millions of people hear that famous Cheltenham roar at the start of the Cheltenham Festival. Only a few thousand get to hear it for themselves in person, but is it worth the outlay - particularly if you can't back a winner or two?

Bookies.com has done the research for you so you know whether you can justify cheering home Willie Mullins' countless winners or not. We have searched the internet far and wide to provide exact pricing on tickets, food and train travel from multiple locations, while we also have average hotel prices for you to consider.

With the prices of the £15 meal deal and a couple of pints included, here are the price ranges you can expect when travelling from numerous places. We'll go into more detail of the overall cost further down.

Cost Of Attending Cheltenham Festival Table

How Much Do Tickets Cost?

A lot has been made about the price of going to Cheltenham, but there’s a sure-fire way to get a little extra value - get your tickets early! Get your mates to confirm, book the days off work and lock in your tickets.

Tickets for Days 1 to 3 of the Festival can be picked up for as little as £54 by purchasing in advance, with the cheapest tickets on the day being £70. As you would expect, the marquee day of the Festival - Gold Cup Day on the Friday - is a little pricier. Advance tickets start at £72, rising to £89 if you decide to pop along on the day.

The real eye-watering numbers come with the higher-end tickets. Splashing out for Club Enclosure tickets now will set you back £103.50 for any of the first three days of the Festival and rise as high as £149 for Friday tickets bought on the day. You’d want to have a few bankers up your sleeve if you’re splashing out for these.

Cheltenham have taken steps to increase crowds, though, offering a 10% discount for groups of six or more and a 20% discount for anyone who buys a ticket for Day 1-3 and wants to go back for another day up to and including Thursday. Children aged 5+ will get tickets half price, while bringing an under four-year-old won’t cost you a penny - at least not for the ticket. As for food, drink and getting there, well, that’s a different story.

Getting in to the Festival can be done on the (relatively) cheap, for all that you might be stood shoulder-to-shoulder with a rowdy racing fan decked out in tweed, cheering on the 33/1 handicap good thing his mate told him about. A more serene experience is available in the Tattersalls and Club Enclosures, but they’ll set you back a few quid.

How Expensive Is Food And Drink?

Cheltenham organisers have made a song and dance about reducing the price of a pint of Guinness in recent years. A further 30p reduction this year along with the price of beer and cider will make a difference for those who are spending a few days at the festival, and makes working out the amount of change people need easier for those behind the bar.

£7.50 a pint isn’t too bad when you compare it to the price of a pint in decent pubs in most cities across the UK but is more than all Premier League football clubs charge supporters for a pint. However, Irish racing fans used to the prices in Temple Bar will probably see it as a bargain!

£10 on a 12/1 winner gets you enough for 16 pints, which should be enough to see you and three mates through most of the day.

You wouldn’t call the food at Cheltenham cheap, but a £10 meal deal for a sandwich, traybake, crisps and a soft/hot drink certainly costs less than we were expecting. Those wanting something warmer can get a £15 meal deal which includes a main, side and a soft/hot drink. With options including gourmet sausages, hog roast, loaded fries, Mexican street food and Irish street food, there's plenty on offer to distract you from the losers you have backed.

Can You Get Cheap Pints Outside The Festival?

For those people who want to take in the atmosphere of such a huge horse racing festival but don't fancy the prices of the tickets or indeed the black stuff, you could watch the races at a number of pubs in Cheltenham instead.

You'd get all of the great atmosphere without having to deal with the crowds, and you'd be spending much less on your Guinness! We've found prices for Guinness or other stouts to be two quid or even more cheaper, so there could be some legs to this - or you'll know where to go after the day of racing! We have created a map to show you where each of these fine establishments are in relation to Prestbury Park.

🏇 Cheltenham Festival Pub Guide

Best pubs for watching the races - Tuesday 10 to Friday 13 March 2026

Can You Get To Cheltenham On The Cheap?

The good news for many Cheltenham Festival punters is that it’s only a train ride away. The bad news is that it can take multiple changes, and if you’re not fully prepared ahead of time, it can cost an absolute fortune.

Booking a train in advance is always cheaper than simply rocking up to the ticket office on the day, but the difference isn’t always massive. London travellers, for example, can get a direct train from Paddington to Cheltenham Spa that costs around £55-70. A ticket on the day for the two-hour trip will only run you £75, though.

Those travelling from the north, unsurprisingly, have a more expensive trip that takes longer. Leeds-based racing enthusiasts are facing a trip of around two-and-a-half hours that’ll set them back around £100 with an advance ticket - a cost that jumps up to £135 on the day.

Liverpool attendees perhaps have it worst, though. It’s one of the few major cities that doesn’t have a direct route to Cheltenham so a change in Birmingham or Crewe is on the agenda for Scousers, as is a significant dip into the bank account. Booking a train in advance is around £95, whilst it’s an eyewatering £140 to do so on the day.

Hotel Prices For The Cheltenham Festival

We all know that hotels will hike their prices for the biggest events, and it appears the Cheltenham Festival is no different. At Bookies.com, we took a look at prices on a couple hotel aggregator sites to see just how big the difference is. While you and a friend might be able to bunk in a small hotel room 15-20 miles away from Prestbury Park for around £60 a night, if you want something anywhere near a short taxi or even staggering distance away, you could be looking at upwards of £800 between two.

If you and a big group wanted to make your way to watch the Willie Mullins show, there are entire homes available between 10 and 15 miles from Cheltenham. They look lovely, but they would want to be for upwards of £2,800 between eight people for just one night!

Two weeks prior to the Festival, you could get the same high-end hotels for around £400, and those holiday homes for eight people are a positive bargain at £1,375.

If we've convinced you take head along to Cheltenham, ensure you take the time to find our top Cheltenham Festival free bets from the best horse racing betting sites around to make the most of your trip.

About the Author

Mark Fordham

More About Mark

Mark spent over a decade as a sports reporter and editor with Goal.com and Bleacher Report. He is now a Content Editor at Bookies.com covering all manner of sports from the Premier League and cricket to the NBA and NFL, and is our resident EPL tipster. Mark also has years of experience working with all things online casino, and knows a good one from a bad one.