11-04-2025
The best family festivals to book this summer
As schools consider banning smartphones, there's somewhere where they're nigh on useless. Scrolling is the last thing on your mind at a music festival, when there are furry-tailed friends to meet, bubbles to chase and dance-offs to win. Which is just as well, as gatherings of lots of people can play havoc with phone reception.
This summer's festival season is nearly upon us and, while we could all probably do with some carefree frolicking, weekend tickets for a family are a solid financial commitment. The cost of running a festival has shot up in recent years and a few long-running favourites have decided to take the year off. Womad, the global music festival that's usually held in Wiltshire, is planning its 2026 edition in a brand new site. The space-themed festival Bluedot, held in a unique location at the Jodrell Bank Observatory, hasn't returned after last year's fallow year. Meanwhile, family stalwart Just So - also in Cheshire – says it's taking a break after 15 years to reimagine itself.
Yet the show will go on for plenty of festival favourites, who will be dusting themselves in eco-friendly glitter and delivering world-class programming that takes families away from screens and inspires them to have fun together.
One of those is Camp Bestival which, after 17 years, is a benchmark for all that's possible for a family to enjoy in one weekend. For 2025, festival founder and DJ Rob da Bank is focusing on health and wellbeing.
'We're introducing our biggest wellness area yet,' he said. 'It's for mums or dads to escape to, but it's also for families. We'll have family shake-outs each morning in the Dreamweaver's Garden, family breathwork sessions, an introduction to meditation for teenagers and teenage yoga. Everything is accessible to children and there'll be lots of drop-in classes.' Victorious Festival, meanwhile, is offering children free fruit all weekend to keep energy levels up.
For the chance to dance, create and de-stress this summer, see what else is planned at the 12 best festivals for families below.
Bearded Theory, Derbyshire
May 21-25
The only UK festival with its own school, at Bearded Theory children can partake in a wide range of broadly academic lessons. Last year this included making paper aeroplanes in science, joke books in English, yoga and drumming. It's a great way of helping little ones make friends and, when school's out, families can head off for a dance with their new buddies. Held in the grounds of Catton Hall, the Earth area is for healing and sustainable crafting, while this year's lineup includes Iggy Pop, Manic Street Preachers and English Teacher.
Shindig, Somerset
May 22-25
