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So You've Decided To Go To Bonnaroo
Intro
Welcome. If you’re reading this, you’re likely a few months, weeks, or possibly days away from one of the best places in the world. 4-5 days of music, camping, and friends. I can think of no better way to set the tone than to remind everyone of the Bonnaroovian Code:
That penultimate one — Prepare Thyself — is why you’re here. A few of us have worked hard to distill everything we know about preparing for the festival into this document, and it’s here to help you. We’ve also provided some cool pictures to keep you motivated. Enjoy!
Deciding to Go
If you’re still making your decision on whether to come, we imagine there are probably a few logistics-related questions you’ll have up front. Specifically: When is it? What’s the lodging situation? What’s the cost? How do I get down there? We’ll cover that here.
If you’ve already decided to go, you can likely skip this section- but it may be useful review regardless.
Timing
The festival is held in mid-June, usually the 2nd or 3rd weekend. For this year, it will be held on Wednesday, June 11th, 2024 through Sunday, June 15th, 2024.
To attend, you’ll likely need to take off work starting the Wednesday before Bonnaroo through the following Monday (note that this includes Monday, to account for traveling back home).
Travel
There are two main ways to get down to Bonnaroo - you can drive down, or you can fly to Nashville and then figure out your way from the Nashville airport to the Bonnaroo farm. We recommend people drive if possible, just because it helps with packing and it’s generally easier to transport people and supplies down. However, this is not possible for everyone- so for those flying, we do try to coordinate amongst drivers and those flying to pick up the latter from the airport. Worst case scenario, if we can’t carpool from the airport, there are shuttles available. If you think you may need a ride, reach out to the Whatsapp.
General Expectations
Bonnaroo is a 4-5 day music and arts festival held on a farm in the middle of Tennessee in mid-June, where the participants camp together and participate in a wide variety of community activities. As such, it’s important to be mentally and physically prepared for what to expect.
Camping
Part of what makes Bonnaroo special is that the vast majority of its attendees camp at the festival- we’re talking easily 95%, likely more. As such, we have everyone in our group camp together by participating in a special type of camping called “Groop Camping”.
We all camp either in tents or in EZ ups (the type of open-walled canopy tents you often see at food or arts and crafts festivals). For the latter, we put old bedsheets and tapestries over the walls and sleep on cots- we’ve found that this provides a more comfortable sleeping experience, but these things are a little harder to transport / more expensive to procure, so it’s not unusual to spend your first year at Bonnaroo in a tent instead.
Sun and Heat
The middle of June in Tennessee can get fairly hot and bright- temperatures peak in the high 80’s to mid 90’s. This will usually happen around 1-3pm, but by 5-6pm it’s usually dwindled to a very mild warmth- literally the ideal weather, you’ll barely feel a thing. Regardless, we encourage everyone to drink water and wear sunscreen, particularly for those middle hours of the day to protect against possible sunburn.
For the heat, we encourage everyone to take breaks as needed- we have a lot of shaded space in our group’s campground, and Bonnaroo itself provides a large number of tents and misters scattered throughout the festival to help provide relief.
We also encourage everyone to have a CamelBak equivalent or some sort of water bottle. We take refill stops very often throughout the day and often share our water fairly liberally when others are thirsty.
Walking
Bonnaroo can involve a lot of walking- it’s easy to hit 15 miles in a day, and that’s being quite conservative (many of us have hit 20 miles in a day). It’s important to bring a good pair of walking shoes (sneakers, hiking boots, etc.). We do *not* recommend wearing flip flops or most types of sandals during the day- the amount of walking required will tire your feet and cause cramps. You should break in your shoes before Roo or you will have blisters.
Cost
With a large trip, many costs can come into play since there are so many variables. All in, the trip can cost anywhere from $700 - $1600, depending on what gear you have already and how much you splurge at the festival.
We’ve bucketed the costs into the following categories, with their associated ranges:
We’ve estimated these as best as possible, but they’re certainly not perfect. Take a closer look at the cost sensitivity analysis we put together in the tables below if you want a better overview of what to expect, and to get an idea of where you’re at.
Bonnaroo Cost Sensitivity Analysis
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