What you need to know about WOMAD Festival 2026

The world's largest international music festival returns this weekend to a new home after a year off.

World of Music, Arts and Dance Festival (WOMAD) has been running for more than four decades and had been held at Charlton Park, near Malmesbury, Wiltshire, since 2007.

This year the festival - co-founded by musician Peter Gabriel - will take place at Neston Park Estate near Corsham with about 40,000 ticket holders expected to attend.

Here is everything you need to know about the festival.

WOMAD Festival will be held between 23 and 26 July.

Main public camping will open at 12:00 BST on Thursday and 08:00 BST on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

The festival took a year off to allow organisers to relocate to a new site and regenerate after facing challenges post-Covid.

It will be the first time the Neston Park Estate has hosted an event of this type.

Co-founder Peter Gabriel, a solo artist and former member of the band Genesis, said: "While we've been away, all the team have been working away regenerating our beloved festival and poring over your extensive feedback - and finding so many great suggestions."

The music will take place over several stages, hosting more than 100 artists from all over the world.

Annie & the Caldwells - a soul family band from Mississippi - are headlining on Friday. Also performing on Friday is singer Greentea Peng and Korean bluegrass musicians Country Gongbang.

East London-raised multi-instrumentalist Alfa Mist will be headlining on Saturday, as well as The Beatbox Collective - comprised of leading UK beatbox artists Ball-Zee, Bass6, Bellatrix, BFG, Experimental, Hobbit and MC Zani.

Colombian music duo Ácido Pantera will be playing on Sunday, joined by Swedish-Danish ensemble Bitoi and Clara Serra López, who blends electronic, jazz, and Mediterranean sounds.

Day tickets, three-day and four-day tickets are still available to buy on the official Womad website.

Day tickets - which do not include camping - cost around £150. Final tier tickets for Friday, Saturday and Sunday cost £260. Tickets, including entry on the Thursday, cost £285.

Three-day and four-day tickets include camping, access to showers and more than 100 workshops across the festival site.

Neston Park is located to the south of Corsham, with various gates for different types of ticket holders.

Those driving to WOMAD should head to red gate for day and camping visitors, orange gate for accessible camping and day visitors, and yellow gate for live-in vehicles.

Shuttle buses are available from Chippenham train station to the orange gate, and taxis will also offers drop-off at the orange gate.

Organisers have launched a site map using What3Words to allow people to navigate the festival.

BBC Weather forecasts sunshine and highs of 27C for most of the weekend.

On Sunday, highs of 25C are predicted with a chance of some light rain.

The temperatures may be a little cooler than this summer's heatwave but the advice from organisers is to stay hydrated and cover up in the sun. There will be free water refill stations around the site.

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