The annual music festival in the California desert draws thousands of people to see some of the world's biggest acts. Tickets are expensive – but the Coachella experience can be priceless.
In the US's vast landscape of music festivals, Coachella is in a league of its own.
Held in the Southern California desert, it draws an annual attendance of nearly 650,000 across two weekends in April, making it the largest music festival in the country. This year, the three-day event begins on 12 April and hundreds of thousands of people are expected to attend.
Many of them are repeat attendees who describe a meticulously well-organised and picturesque adult playground in the Coachella Valley, brought to life by an eclectic roster of artists, who often go the extra mile for the premier event. (Think surprise guest performances, reunions, new music debuts and even a hologram of the late rap legend Tupac Shakur.)
Many people are willing to lay out a lot of money for the experience and party in the VIP section, but it's possible to get by on a budget, too.
Harry Levin, 31: $1,920 (£1,520)
Compared to the past 11 times he's attended, Harry Levin is finding this year's festival logistics more complicated. The former Los Angeles resident used to be able to drive to the Coachella Valley, but this time he's flying in from his new home in Denver, Colorado.
The freelance writer was more into electronic dance music (EDM) festivals before attending his first Coachella in 2013, when he couldn't pass up the chance to see Southern California's own Red Hot Chilli Peppers headline the event. “If you had seen me and my friends, you'd think we're the weird guys everyone's avoiding because they're having too much fun. But to be honest, that's how I feel about music inside all the time,” he says. “Coachella was the first place I felt like I could truly express that.”
Levin, who likens the event to a “religious experience” for music lovers, no longer camps out at the festival, as he did his first five years. This year he's flying into LA, where he'll spend the Wednesday before the festival gates open at his father's house, then drive about 125 miles (201km) south-east to the venue the next morning. That leaves two nights at a hotel, if he drives back to his dad's at the end of the festival on Sunday night.
Levin says the flight will cost about $200 (£158), the hotel will be about $440 (£348), and he'll need to rent a car for about $250 (£198). He's also budgeting about $120 (£95) worth of petrol and $350 (£277) for food and drinks, and has already purchased his $560 (£445) general admission weekend pass.
As for the culture, Levin encourages the uninitiated not to be discouraged by constant complaints that the event has catered too much to social media influencers over the real music lovers. “Don't let the haters affect your experience,” he says. “If you're just going to hang out and listen to tunes, you will have the best time.”
Michael Luis, 32: $1,200 to $1,760 (£950 to £1,394)
For 32-year-old Michael Luis, what makes Coachella special are the once-in-a-lifetime moments in music history. His first experience in 2012 didn't disappoint, giving the then 20-year-old the opportunity to see two of his favourite bands – At the Drive-in and Refused – reunite on stage, along with resurrection of Tupac in hologram form. “I quickly realized it was more than just a music festival – it's more of a cultural event,” he says.
That year the Canadian communications professional from British Columbia says the whole experience cost him less than $1,200 (£950). That's because he and three friends split the 22-hour drive south in a single vehicle, and intentionally arrived early to snag a campsite close to the front gates. That enabled them to avoid spending on concessions, returning to the campsite for food and drinks throughout the weekend. “If you're smart with it, and you spend your money on the right things, you can do it quite affordably – especially if you're a California local or even live within a 12-hour drive.”
For his sixth time visiting this year, however, Luis says he and three friends are spending about $400 (£317) each on flights, splitting a rental car for about $250 (£198) a piece and bringing camping gear from home. Combined with a $560 ticket to the festival, a $150 (£119) parking pass and $100 (£79) per day for food and alcohol, he expects the whole experience to run him about $1,760. He argues it's an incredible value. “Seeing just the headliners at an arena show will cost you $300 to $400 each,” he says.
Luis adds that Coachella has an unfortunate reputation for being a playground for the privileged, and emphasises the event can suit a range of budgets. “People have a misconception that it's this party in the desert for California's wealthy elite,” he says. “When you go to the campgrounds, it's a lot of students, working class people, eating peanut butter sandwiches, just wanting to see the bands they like with their friends.”
Elena Suarez, 44: $2,700 to $3,250 (£2,135 to £2,575)
For Elena Suarez, the cost of renting a house and getting a VIP pass is worth every penny. To the Los Angeles-based line producer, the event is about more than just music, and she wants to be comfortable and well rested while she and her friends soak it all in. She says Coachella is her favourite event on the calendar – she looks forward to it more than Christmas – and compares it to “adult Disneyland” or a late-spring break. Now, Suarez is just as excited for her 12th Coachella weekend as she was for her first in 2011.
Before dropping $1,200 on a VIP pass, however, Suarez warns that the more expensive ticket won't get you a much better vantage point at headlining performances, as it does at other events. It will, however, save hours of waiting in lines; provide access to cleaner and less busy restrooms; and admission to Suarez's favourite corner of the sprawling venue, the Rose Garden. “It feels like you're in a Parisian park, it's just so beautiful,” she says.
Suarez says she typically rents a home along with about 15 friends, where they spend their days before and after the festival barbecuing poolside, taking a dip in the hot tub and listening to the artists they'll see at the venue. The home they rent each year, which is about a mile and a half from the festival, costs about $1,400 (£1,109) per person with two to a room.
Suarez says that in 2022, she spent about $3,250, which included $150 for a preferred parking spot and another $150 per person to split a minivan rental, plus groceries, accessories and other miscellaneous costs. That year, she also bought her ticket late and had to settle for the more expensive Tier 2 pricing, which ran her $1,400. But last year, those costs went down to about $2,700 when the group ditched the van and secured their VIP passes at the Tier 1 rate of about $1,200 with fees.
“If you rent a house and you don't have to rent a car, for VIP I'd say expect to spend $2,500 to $3,500,” she says.
Hernán Montfort, 35: $2,000 to $2,500 (£1,584 to £1,980)
For Hernán Montfort, Coachella is synonymous with good vibes. Since 2019, Mexico-based Montfort has taken an annual break from his day job in strategy at the Monterrey Institute of Technology to reunite with college friends – now dispersed around the globe – at the festival just north of the border. “I like the positive vibe, and also as an engineer I really enjoy when something is really well organised – when the logistics go better than you expect,” he says, describing the event like a well-oiled machine.
Montfort jokes that each year he and his friend group, which has grown from five to 11 members over the years, swear that it will be their last – but inevitably purchase early-bird tickets as soon as they go on sale.
Each time they return, he says costs run between $2,000 and $2,500, which includes the roughly $200 flight from Monterrey, Mexico; five nights in a hotel, at a cost of about $600 to $700 (£475 to £555) per person; about $100 to $150 on a rental van; festival passes; and other costs such as food, gas, clothing and accessories. “You could spend around the same at an all-inclusive in the Caribbean, but I believe a festival and a trip like this is a super way to spend your money, to have a good time, and to make memories,” he says.
