Coachella Tickets

What Coachella is and when it happens

Coachella (formally the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival) is a three-day music and arts festival held on two consecutive weekends each April at the Empire Polo Club in Indio, California, about 125 miles east of Los Angeles. Each weekend presents essentially the same lineup, and the festival sells only three-day passes, not single days. Coachella's own site lists the 2027 dates as April 9–11 and April 16–18.

The festival is produced by Goldenvoice, a subsidiary of AEG Presents since 2001. Paul Tollett and Rick Van Santen staged the first edition in October 1999 as a two-day event. The format grew to three days in 2007 and to two weekends in 2012. The core grounds cover about 78 acres of polo fields; with parking and camping the site spans roughly 642 acres, and capacity is listed at 125,000. The same grounds host Stagecoach, Goldenvoice's country music festival, which started in 2007.

Coachella was canceled in 2020 and 2021 because of the COVID-19 pandemic and returned in 2022.

Headliners that shaped the festival

Coachella built its reputation on alternative rock and electronic music and has since become a pop and hip-hop showcase. A sample of headliners by year:

• 1999: Beck, Tool and Rage Against the Machine.
• 2004: Radiohead and The Cure.
• 2009: Paul McCartney, The Killers and The Cure.
• 2012: The Black Keys, Radiohead, and Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg.
• 2017: Radiohead, Lady Gaga and Kendrick Lamar.
• 2018: The Weeknd, Beyoncé and Eminem.
• 2023: Bad Bunny, Blackpink, and Frank Ocean, with Blink-182 added.
• 2025: Lady Gaga, Green Day, Post Malone and Travis Scott.
• 2026: Sabrina Carpenter, Justin Bieber, Karol G and Anyma.

Several sets became part of the festival's lore. Daft Punk's 2006 pyramid-stage show is widely cited as one of the most memorable in Coachella history. The 2012 Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg set featured a projected likeness of Tupac Shakur. In 2018, Beyoncé became the first African American woman to headline the festival.

The lineup is usually announced months before the April dates, and that announcement is the single biggest driver of resale demand.

Pass types: GA, VIP, shuttle bundles and camping

Every Coachella pass covers one full weekend (all three days). Tier names and perks are set by the festival each year; the list below reflects the 2027 pass page.

• General admission (GA) covers entry to the venue all three days, and GA holders may visit the GA camping areas. Most attendees go GA.
• GA with shuttle bundles the weekend pass with a three-day shuttle pass, which suits anyone staying in Palm Springs, Palm Desert or La Quinta.
• VIP adds access to VIP areas, including zones near the main stage, the Rose Garden and the Sahara tent, with specialty food and drink, shaded seating and flushable restrooms. On a hot April afternoon, shade and short restroom lines are what most VIP buyers are paying for.
• Car camping lets you sleep beside your vehicle on site for the weekend. Preferred, front-row, powered and group car camping options trade a higher price for a closer lot, power, upgraded showers or arriving separately from your group.
• Pre-set tent camping options, including Ready-Set tents, La Campana temperature-controlled tents with beds, and Lake Eldorado accommodations, remove the need to haul gear.

Camping is sold separately from the festival pass, and RV camping is not offered. You must be 18 or older to camp, although the festival itself is all ages and children 5 and under enter free, according to the FAQ.

Weekend one vs. weekend two, and how demand behaves

Because the two weekends share a lineup, the choice is mostly about dates, weather and crowd mood. Weekend one carries the novelty: it is the first look at each production, and it draws the heaviest social media coverage. Weekend two tends to feel a little more relaxed, and some fans prefer it because the sets have been run once.

Demand follows a familiar pattern. Advance passes for the next year go on sale long before the lineup is public, and Coachella's site showed 2027 advance passes as no longer available by fall 2026. Resale activity picks up sharply once the lineup is announced, and weekend one usually draws more interest than weekend two. VIP and the closer camping options sell out on their own schedule, separate from GA.

Passes are RFID wristbands (bands with a chip scanned at the gate) shipped by mail, and the festival says shipping takes at least four weeks per weekend. Each wristband must be registered in the Coachella app, and registration can be done only once, so wait to register until the band is in your hand and it is the one you will wear. Every GoodSeats order is backed by a 100% guarantee.

Getting to Indio and arriving at camp

Indio sits in the Coachella Valley east of Palm Springs. The festival's travel page lists three airports: Palm Springs International (the closest), Ontario International and Los Angeles International (LAX).

• Shuttles. Valley Music Travel runs festival shuttles from stops around the valley, plus an LAX shuttle pass with airport pickups Thursday and Friday and a Monday return.
• Rideshare. As of 2026, the rideshare lot sits at Avenue 49 and Monroe Street (Lot 1D) and operates Friday through Sunday, 11 a.m. to 3 a.m. Expect long waits after the headliners finish.
• Day parking runs Friday through Sunday, with preferred parking sold in advance. There is no event parking on Thursday.
• Bus and rail. Greyhound serves an Indio station, and the nearest train and bus stop is in downtown Indio, about 3 miles from the grounds.
• Bikes. Bike entrances sit at several corners of the site, including Avenue 50 and Madison Street.

Camping check-in opens Thursday morning, and the festival recommends arriving several hours early. Plan for heat during the day and a real temperature drop after dark. See the official Coachella getting-here page for current shuttle stops and lot hours.

What to bring and the rules to know

As of the 2026 festival, Coachella's FAQ set these limits. Policies change each year, so check the festival's current rules before you pack.

• Bags: bags must be smaller than 18 by 13 by 8.5 inches, and all bags are searched.
• Water: empty plastic water bottles up to 64 ounces, and empty plastic hydration packs of 2 liters or less, are allowed.
• Not allowed in the venue: glass or metal containers, professional cameras, drones, weapons, chairs (allowed in camping only) and signs or totems, including items on poles or pool noodles.
• Camping rules: no generators, wood or charcoal fires, or open flames. Propane cooking stoves are limited to two burners and 20 pounds of propane per site, used between 7 a.m. and 2 a.m.

Pack sunscreen, a hat, a light layer for the evening and a portable phone charger. A bandana or mask helps when wind kicks up dust on the polo fields. Full details are on the Coachella FAQ.

Sources

• Wikipedia – Coachella
• Coachella – Official site (2027 dates)
• Coachella – Passes
• Coachella – FAQ
• Coachella – Getting Here