Travel by bus to the 2026 Isle of Wight Festival

Getting to the Isle of Wight Festival 2026 is easy and convenient on our island bus services.

Between Thursday 18th and Monday 22nd June, we’re running regular shuttle bus services across the island, getting you direct to the Festival site and home safely day, night or in the early hours.

Running from all major ports and towns across the Island and connecting with our network buses from smaller villages – our Festival shuttle bus service is a quick and easy way to get to the event.

TICKETS AVAILABLE TO PURCHASE IN THE SOUTHERN VECTIS APP

From the Ferry Ports

We are running regular buses to and from most ferry ports direct into the festival bus station:

Yarmouth; for Wightlink from Lymington  TIMETABLE 

Use our regular shuttle buses on Thursday/Friday/Monday or use route 7 into Newport bus station and the shuttle bus from there direct into the Festival.

West Cowes; for high-speed Red Jet from Southampton TIMETABLE 

Regular shuttle buses meet most arrivals and departures, from Terminus Road (a 2 minute walk from ferry).

East Cowes; for vehicle ferry Red Funnel from Southampton TIMETABLE 

Regular shuttle buses meet most arrivals and departures, from Castle Street (a 2-minute walk from the ferry terminal).

Ryde Esplanade; for Wightlink from Portsmouth and Hovertravel from Southsea TIMETABLE

Regular shuttle buses operate up to every 10 minutes offering connections to most arrivals and departures, from Ryde Transport Interchange.

Directional signage will guide you from all ferries to the buses, so once you arrive on the island follow the arrows directing you to the shuttle buses.

Please Note: Child tickets are not available in the APP they are only available as paper tickets through the driver.

Weekender Tickets

If you are planning on having multiple journeys across the Festival Weekend this ticket is the best value. The Weekender ticket can be used on any special Festival Bus from ports or around the island, and on all the normal service buses (excluding Needles Breezer, Island Coaster and Shanklin Shuttle).

From Newport  

A shuttle bus service will operate between Church Litten (near Morrisons) in Newport direct into the Festival bus station.

Buses will operate at regular intervals from early until late Thursday to Sunday.

TIMETABLE

From Around the Island

Through tickets can be purchased on any Southern Vectis service to the festival bus station, changing to the shuttle buses in Newport or Ryde if required.  Our popular ‘Weekender’ ticket is also valid on any Southern Vectis service and offers unlimited travel night or day for the duration of the Festival.

As well as our regular network of service buses, we also supplement this with some special services that operate direct to/from Festival.

From Ryde, Binstead and Wootton TIMETABLE 

From  9am until 7pm on the Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday of Festival, the normal route 9 between Ryde and Newport will operate solely via Staplers, and not via Fairlee or the Festival site.

Festival goers will be able to use the special 9F service that will operate throughout the time that the normal route 9 is not operating via Fairlee. The 9F will operate from John Street, Ryde and call at all stops and direct into Festival bus station. The 9F will operate every 15 minutes from 0900 until 1900 on Thu / Fri / Sat / Sun

Special fares will be in place on the 9F with a single into Festival and the return being valid on our special buses back to Ryde from Festival.  Weekenders will be valid, as will normal Freedom and Rover tickets, so regular customers can travel on this route as part of their existing ticket as they would on a normal route 9.  Concessionary bus passes are NOT valid.

Regular customers using stops along the Fairlee section of route that the regular route 9 is not serving should be advised as follows:

• For stops along Lushington Hill between Racecourse roundabout and Wootton Cedars, customer should use route 4 to Wootton Cedars and connect there for the route 9 via Staplers.
• Customers between Racecourse roundabout and Seaclose/Fairlee should use route 5.

To get back to Wootton, Binstead and Ryde, please see the Ryde ferry port TIMETABLE - these buses will drop you off en route

From Sandown & Lake, and Shanklin, Godshill and Rookley direct to the Festival TIMETABLE 

Once again there will be buses from Sandown and Shanklin direct to the festival site. Buses will operate Friday to Sunday between 1130 and 1530 and avoid the need to transfer via Newport or Ryde to get the festival.

Buses from Sandown & Lake will operate every hour between 1140 and 1640

Buses from Shanklin, Godshill & Rookley will operate every 30 minutes between 1140 and 1610

Evening and Night Buses TIMETABLE 

Each evening, we will operate some scheduled services back from the festival bus station to the following locations, stopping at the stops listed below:

• Sandown/Shanklin; stopping at Arreton, Fighting Cocks, Apse Heath, Lake Morrisons, Landguard Holidays, Shanklin Bus Station, Lake Shops, Sandown Heights, Broadway, Avenue Road, High Street.
• Wroxall/Ventnor; stopping at Rookley, Godshill, Wroxall, Upper Ventnor, Ventnor town centre / Trinity Church.
• St Helens/Bembridge/Brading; stopping at Nettlestone, Seaview, St Helens, Bembridge, Whitecliff Bay, Yarbridge Cross, Brading Bull Ring.
• Yarmouth / West Wight; Stopping at Forest Road, Shalfleet, Yarmouth, Colwell, Totland, Freshwater, Afton Road, Newbridge (by request) and Calbourne (Sun Inn).

Night Buses are also available to the following destinations as part of the main shuttle services towards the Ferry Ports:

• West Cowes; stopping at Northwood, Four Cross, Roundhouse, Carvel Lane, Victoria Road, Cemetery Gates and Park & Ride.
• East Cowes; stopping at Whippingham, Osborne House, York Avenue, Waitrose, Adelaide Grove and Victoria Grove.
• Ryde; stopping at Wootton, Fishbourne Lane, Binstead, Parish Church, Union Street and Ryde Transport Interchange.

Tickets and Fares

All festival buses will be cashless in 2026

We will once again be offering discounts off our most popular tickets when buying through the Southern Vectis mobile app, if bought in advance. Festival bus tickets will be available to buy in advance in the app.

Single and return tickets are available, but our ‘Weekender’ ticket offers unlimited travel on any shuttle bus or Southern Vectis network service from Thursday 18th to Monday 22nd June 2026

All tickets can be purchased from your bus driver on any shuttle bus or Southern Vectis network service. Remember though, they’re cheaper in advance on our app.

Contactless payments are accepted onboard all of our buses for tickets up to £100.

Get your tickets in advance – all tickets are available to buy in advance via the Southern Vectis mobile app.

Please remember that once purchased, do not activate the ticket until a maximum of 60-minutes before you travel.

Concessionary passes, Freedom tickets and Rover tickets will not be accepted on the special Festival port shuttles, Newport shuttle, special night buses or the Sandown/Shanklin direct services.  Rover/Freedom tickets are valid on the 9F though.

Single tickets available to purchase on-bus ONLY, with return and Weekender available on-bus, app or from travel shops.

Please Note: Child tickets are not available in the APP they are only available as paper tickets through the driver. Children must be travelling with a responsible adult.

Freedom, Rover and concessionary passes are NOT valid on the port shuttles.