Download Festival 2025: Latest traffic and travel updates including East Midlands Airport alert
‘Remember there may be road closures, roadworks or congestion that won’t be picked up by SatNav so please follow event signage as you near the festival.’
Download Festival, one of the UK’s most popular rock events, is gearing up for its annual return to the East Midlands.
Music fans are expected to flock to Donington Park from June 13 till June 15, 2025.
Download will welcome approximately 75,000 music fans from around 12pm on Friday June 13, when the campsites open gates for one of the UK’s top rock festivals.
Download Festival 2025 headliners are Green Day, Sleep Token and Korn.
Local residents in Castle Donington and the surrounding areas should be prepared for busier traffic in the run-up to Download - as visitors travel into Castle Donington, on the actual festival days, and the day after, when visitors prepare to return home.
Donington Park is located next to East Midlands Airport, four miles west of junction 23a of the M1 and five miles from junction 24.
The M1, A42, A453, A50 and A38 are expected to see significant increases in traffic, particularly when everyone arrives on the Wednesday and Thursday and again when they leave on either Sunday night or Monday morning.
Festival organisers say they are working closely with North West Leicestershire County Council, Highway Agencies, Local Police and an independent traffic management company to cohesively work on the traffic management plan of the festival.
They go on to add: ‘We are committed to ensuring the overall positive experience is continued for everyone involved.’
Peak travel times for Download Festival 2025
Download Festival organisers say: ‘Remember there may be road closures, roadworks or congestion that won’t be picked up by SatNav so please follow event signage as you near the festival.’
People can expect increased traffic flow on peak times between 8.30am till 4pm on the following days.
Wednesday June 11
Thursday June 12
Friday June 13
Monday June 16
During the event there will be various changes to the local road network.
This includes road and footpath closures, signage adaptations and speed limit reductions.
These changes have not been made public, but will be communicated in advance.
Travel advice for visitors travelling to Download Festival 2025
Government agency National Highways recommends travellers factor in travel time when planning their journey to Download Festival.
Here is the full guidance from National Highways.
It is extremely important that ticket holders follow the event signage and travel information that is available on the Download Festival website rather than rely on satnavs, and not assume the route or entry point they have used in previous years will be the same.
Ticket holders are being advised to follow event signage rather than rely on satnavs, and not assume the route or entry point they have used in previous years will be the same.
Additional parking fields, introduced at last year’s event, will be back in place with an increased number of access gates and people will be able to scan a QR code on their parking passes for live updates on car park availability and capacity.
In addition, the pickup and drop off points will not be in the same areas as the camping entrances to reduce congestion.
National Highways will be dispatching extra equipment and resources including additional traffic officer patrols and is working with the event organisers to keep the roads moving as smoothly as possible. There will also be standby recovery in place .
National Highways will use electronic message boards on nearby motorways to advise people of any delays.
East Midlands Airport issues Download Festival 2025 travel alert
East Midlands Airport (EMA) says people need to be aware of higher than usual traffic levels around the airport.
Therefore if travelling to EMA, make sure you allow plenty of time.
Download Festival is within a flight restricted zone, therefore anyone caught flying a drone without permission will be prosecuted.
Festival organisers say there will be a live travel updates page with key information including road closures, traffic, weather, car park capacity and more.
The latest travel information from National Highways can be found here.
Location: Donington Park, Castle Donington, Derby, Derbyshire DE74 2RP
For more information about Download Festival click here. downloadfestival.co.uk