Guides
Guides
The parts that are the same whichever event you are going to. Everything specific to one event lives on its own page.
When camping is the plan, not the compromise
At some festivals a tent is the cheapest bed; at two of them it is the only one that works. Where camping wins, and what it costs you in sleep.
1 Nov 2026
The events that cost nothing to get into
Seven of these events have no gate at all. What is genuinely free, what the free version misses, and why the bed is the only thing to book early.
1 Nov 2026
Your first golf or tennis major
The best-value days at a major come before the tournament starts, and a grounds pass usually beats a show-court seat. How the week is shaped.
1 Nov 2026
Why Venice, Rio and New Orleans share a day
Carnival is not a date, it is a calculation — and it fixes three of the world’s biggest parties to the same fortnight every year.
31 Oct 2026
The night after is the one people get wrong
Everybody books the nights before an event and nobody books the night after. Why the way out is harder than the way in.
31 Oct 2026
Travelling to a marathon you are actually running
The expo is compulsory, the start and finish are rarely in the same place, and the night after matters more than the night before.
31 Oct 2026
Your first motorsport weekend, explained
What actually happens on a race weekend, which day is worth the money, and why general admission often beats a grandstand seat.
31 Oct 2026
How event dates are set
Some 2027 dates were fixed years ago, some are calculated from Easter, and some depend on cherry trees. Which is which, and when you can book.
30 Oct 2026
What hotels really cost during a big event
What a ×2 or ×3 hotel multiplier means, which events have the worst of it, and the three ways the premium can be paid — in money, in distance or in dates.
30 Oct 2026
What to do when every hotel is already gone
The second town is almost always the answer, and a better one than a worse room in the first. How to pick it, and what to check before you book.
30 Oct 2026
The cheap day is usually the good day
Nearly every event has a window where the same thing happens for a third less money and half the crowd. Here is where it sits, event by event.
30 Oct 2026
How far ahead to book hotels for a big event
Twelve months, six months, two months — what has already gone at each point, and the three questions that decide which of those applies to your event.
29 Oct 2026