Thinking about joining the Cheltenham Gold Cup Festival 2025? There are lots of things to consider when organising your Gold Cup. 

Booking your tickets:

When do tickets become available?

The Gold Cup Festival tickets become available for the next year shortly after the event has finished. They are therefore currently available to book for the year ahead (2025).

The Gold Cup Festival schedule

You may decide to book the entire week but if you’d prefer to attend a day, the breakdown of each day is below. Each day has 7 races so each day will be jam-packed with activity, however, the Gold Cup Day is the most popular as the event’s namesake race takes place on that day.

Day one – Champion Day (11th March):

The first day of the festival is known as Champion Day and the day kickstarts the event. Just because it’s the first day, does not mean it’s a quiet one and records have been broken on the first day in previous years, so it’s not one to be missed.

Day two – Festival Wednesday (12th March):

Festival Wednesday is sometimes known as Ladies’ Day. Fashion is a large part of the week, but this day, in particular, is a chance for women attendees to shine. Women are encouraged to go all-out with their outfits, which usually means donning a large, flamboyant hat.

Day three – St Patrick’s Thursday (13th March):

Racing is a popular pastime for the Irish community and many attendees of the Gold Cup Festival are Irish visitors. Day three of the festival celebrates the Irish community and St Patrick’s Day.

Day four – Gold Cup Day (14th March):

The final day of the festival tends to be the most popular as it is the finale of the event. The Gold Cup race which the festival is named after takes place on this day. It is a great day to wrap up the festival week.

Types of tickets:

Once you’ve decided how many days to book, and which of the days you’d like to attend, you need to decide which type of ticket. 

There are three ticket levels that vary in price. As they increase in price, they include increased benefits such as access to additional parts of the racecourse and hospitality options.

Best Mate

This ticket is the most affordable way to participate in the races. The tickets give you a good on-the-ground view of the races; they also give you access to a couple of bars and mobile catering. However, it doesn’t provide access to the shopping area or parade ring/ pre-parade ring.

Tattersalls

This ticket type is a good middle-ground between Club and Best Mate tickets and it includes access to steps with higher viewing options. You also have access to the covered grandstand and tented village.

Club

This ticket is the most expensive option of the three types but resultantly has the most access of the three types. You have additional ways to watch the races, including from inside the racecourse which can be nice on a rainy day. With the Club ticket, you also have access to any place that can be accessed with the Best Mate or Tattersalls tickets.

How to book parking:

When booking your tickets, you have the option to add parking to your basket. It is currently priced at £20 per car, per day. There are limited parking facilities other than at the racecourse during race week due to road closures for the event, so if you want to park close by, parking at the Racecourse is our recommendation.

You will be given an allocated car park to park in which are named by colour e.g. the “Green” car park. 

Arriving by car is not the only option for getting to the festival. Read our Travelling to the Races article for more information.