Everything you need to know traffic and travel wise ahead of Cornwall's boardmasters
It's the first time in three years the festival at Newquay and Watergate Bay has been able to go ahead
Last updated 11th Aug 2021
Cornwall's famous music and surf festival is officially kicking off for the first time in three years.
Boardmasters was cancelled in 2019 due to summer storms and couldn't go ahead in 2020 due to the pandemic.
Now the 2021 festival is getting underway as tens of thousands of people flock to Newquay.
Taking place on the Cornish coast from 11-15 August, Boardmasters 2021 welcomes headline acts Foals, Gorillaz and Jorja Smith plus a whole host of unmissable artists to Watergate Bay.
Plus, there’s world-class surfing on Fistral Beach as the biggest names in surfing compete on UK waters as part of the Boardmasters OPEN.
Traffic around the Boardmasters site:
Festival-goers are being encouraged to travel by train, coach, or car share. Festival shuttle buses will be running every 15 minutes from Newquay Town Centre to the main festival site at Watergate Bay for those travelling to and from Newquay train station.
As with all major events and with a sell-out show on the horizon, traffic will be busy and queues are expected.
It is anticipated that peak arrival times are expected between 10am-2pm on Wednesday 11th August and peak departure times from 8am-12pm on Monday 16th August.
Officials are working to combat disruption by urging all festival goers who plan to drive to the festival to book their car parking in advance, secure their preferred timed arrival slot and avoid waiting in unnecessary queues.
Organisers remind local residents to avoid all non-essential journeys on Wednesday 11th August and Monday 16 August during these peak times.
The Watergate Road closure will be in place each day on Wednesday 11th – Thursday 12 August between 6pm and 3am and Friday 13th - Sunday 15th August between 4pm and 3am.
The road closure is between Blue Car Park and the bottom of the hill at Watergate Bay and will create a safe crossing between our main arena and campsites for festivalgoers.
As a measure to further reduce local traffic during the event we will implement a £20 car park re-entry fee to encourage use of our shuttle bus services.
Down at Fistral Beach a road closure will be in place on Headland Road from Monday 9th – Monday 16th August from 8am – 8pm each day.
Parking at Towan Headland car park will be suspended for the duration of this time.
Parking at Fistral Beach will be suspended completely from Wednesday 11th – Sunday 15th August and will be limited from Saturday 7th August until Monday 16th August.
Boardmasters organisers said: "The return of Boardmasters follows a tough two years for the festival and everyone involved in making the magic happen.
"This week, Boardmasters makes its comeback to its home on the Cornish coast, where it brings in £42 million to the local economy every year.
"Boardmasters is so excited to welcome back attendees (the Boardmasters family), as well as continuing its long-standing charitable work with the Boardmasters Foundation which has seen a further £53,000 donated to local charities in previous years.
"Boardmasters thanks local residents and businesses for their understanding and patience during busier times, and for supporting us in bringing this major event to Newquay".
Having sold out back in March, Boardmasters has a very limited number of resale Day Tickets for Friday and Sunday.
Tixel is operating as the official peer-to-peer resale site for this year’s Boardmasters festival tickets.
Boardmasters festival organisers remind fans not to buy tickets from unofficial sources, including friends and people they meet via social media as these tickets will not be valid and they won’t be able to get into the festival.
The only official source to buy resale tickets from is Tixel.
Local residents can contact Boardmasters via email at boardmasterscommunity@visionninegroup.com or, on live days the site office is contactable via the local residents number 01637 817 444.
You can find all the latest traffic and travel updates here.