Over the past few years, we’ve seen several videos and pictures on social media about the book festival that takes place in Hay-on-Wye, Wales (AKA The Town of Books). Kayla immediately put it on her bucket list, but it seemed more like a distant dream than a near reality. That all changed though when we booked our annual bestie trip to the UK and realized we’d be there during the festival!
In this Hay Festival Guide, we’re sharing everything you need to know about visiting the famous book festival in Hay-on-Wye, Wales. If it’s your first visit to the festival and/or Wales, it can seem like a lot of logistics to sort out in advance. But, we’re here to help make it easier for you, because it is definitely worth the visit!
If you’ve been following us for a while, you know that Kayla is a huge bookworm. Be sure to check out our other literary posts, and follow us on Instagram and Goodreads for even more book recommendations!
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What is Hay Fest?
Hay Fest is one of the top book festivals in the world. It takes place over the course of a couple of weeks, during which, thousands of avid readers flock to the little town of Hay-on-Wye so they can listen to their favorite authors speak, discover new authors, buy bookish merchandise, and spend time in a feel-good atmosphere with likeminded people.
Apart from being a haven for book lovers to mingle, another thing we love about this festival is that it is FREE to attend! Entry to the festival itself does not require any sort of special ticket, but you will need to pay for author events (more on those below!).
The 2024 festival had 5 main stages varying in size. The largest was the Global Stage, where hundreds of people could come to listen to universally well known speakers such as Miriam Margolyes. The smaller stages were more intimate, allowing for around 100 people to sit in on interviews.
No matter the stage size though, the audience had the chance to ask questions at the end which was a nice touch that added to the community feel of the festival.
The stages are all connected by raised, level walkways that are dotted with vendor booths selling bookish delights or bringing awareness to global issues, festival shops, food trucks, and pop-up cafes/restaurants.
Getting To Hay Festival
The closest train station is in Hereford. It’s a small station that’s easy to navigate, and there are typically numerous trains a day to and from London (around 3hrs each way).
We were coming from Edinburgh, which was a longer journey, but we had no issues booking trains to Hereford with a couple of connections. While Hay-on-Wye isn’t far from Cardiff airport, we found better prices flying in and out of London.
The festival sometimes offers bus services from Hereford to the festival. However, we wanted to have a bit more flexibility while we were in the area. We ended up renting a car from the Enterprise in Hereford and had an excellent experience!
We were slightly nervous since we didn’t have any experience driving in the UK prior to our trip. We had a practice run in Northern Ireland though the week before the festival, and in the end there was no need to worry. It’s incredibly easy to drive in Wales, even if you’re not used to driving on the left side of the road!
Parking at Hay Festival
If you choose to self drive, there is ample parking available. We recommend purchasing a parking space in advance through the Hay-on-Wye website. This will guarantee that you have a space to park each day that is within close proximity to the festival.
Author Events
There are 2 methods you can take to planning your trip to Hay Fest: Show up and wing it or meticulously plan out each day based on the schedule as it is announced. We’re sure you can guess which method we chose!
The festival announces the lineup in a couple of waves. The first glimpse of the 2024 lineup happened in late November, there was a brain teaser in February that hinted at more of the lineup, and the full lineup was released the second week of March.
Each speaker event is ticketed, and big names can sell out quickly. So if you see an author announced that you HAVE to see, go ahead and buy your ticket and start planning from there. We were surprised by how affordable the tickets were!
We immediately saw someone we wanted to see in the November wave so were able to start planning our trip around that particular author event. When the rest of the lineup was announced in March, Kayla saw someone else listed that she wanted to see, so we snagged tickets to that event as well!
Keep in mind that seats are on a first come, first served basis. So if you want to be close to the stage for an event, you’ll need to join the queue around 30 minutes early for smaller stages and earlier than that for the global stage.
When the final program is released, you’ll see there are lots of fun ways to fill your time outside of author events. You can do morning yoga or a guided tour of the castle in Hay-on-Wye. You can relax in one of the green spaces and hear a choir perform. You can also take your kids to the children’s area for craft and play time or pop in to hear BBC discussions on various subjects. You certainly won’t be bored though!
Shopping at Hay Festival
We were impressed by the variety of vendor booths there were to shop through and had a fab time shopping. We came home with a new word game called League of the Lexicon and got to chat with the creator about how to play. Kayla’s mom got some beautiful bunting that now hangs in her dining room.
From the festival gift shop, we got Christmas ornaments, bookmarks, notebooks, and pencils emblazoned with the Hay Fest logo. Kayla’s favorite place to browse around though was the festival book shop!
The bookshop was surprisingly enormous and expertly organized. There was a wonderful array of genres, nationalities, and authors represented in the shop. Kayla’s little one loved the books in the children’s section while Kayla was drawn to the tables which featured festival favorites and signed copies.
The bookshop is also the place where you can go after author events to get books signed! Immediately following the author talks, the authors head to the bookstore for their book signings. There are usually a few going on at one time, but event staff are great at keeping the queues organized and orderly. You do not have to attend an author talk to get your book signed, but if your schedule allows it, we highly recommend going to as many as possible!
Below are pictures from where Kayla got to meet one of her favorite authors, Chigozie Obioma. Not only did she get to chat with him, he personalized her book and posed for photos! His book, The Fishermen, made our list of 9 Audiobooks For Your Next Road Trip.
Eating at Hay Festival
This is another area where Hay Fest knocks it out of the park with variety. There were so many options, it was hard to decide what to choose! But that’s a good problem to have at a festival in our opinion!
The most popular place to eat is in the food hall area. This space is lined with food trucks along the perimeter and the middle has ample seating to enjoy your meal. We particularly enjoyed the burgers from The Beefy Boys and the curry from Taste Tibet.
There was also a table service restaurant serving up wood fired pizzas, which was perfect when we first arrived to the festival after a long day of travel and were starving. Throughout the festival, there were also a few booths sprinkled throughout selling tasty snacks.
Our favorite though was definitely Shepherd’s Ice Cream, which has a storefront in Hay-on-Wye and is known as the original sheep’s milk ice cream. Every year, the ice cream shop is invited to create a specialty flavor in honor of one of the festival authors. We were super excited to try the 2024 flavor which was coffee flavored with chocolate ripples in honor of Miriam Margolyes. It was absolutely delicious and the perfect way to cool off!
Did you know that Miriam Margolyes played Professor Sprout in the Harry Potter films? If you’re interested in visiting the places that inspired the books, check out our post on Visiting Harry Potter Sites in Edinburgh.
Relaxing at Hay Festival
The words “festival” and “relax” probably seem like oxymorons. But, not at a book festival! One of the things we loved most about Hay Festival was how the spaces between the event tents were setup so that you could sit back and relax.
Under the shadows of trees and colorful flags, you can lay down in rainbow striped hammocks or recline in a comfy sling chair. These spaces are excellent places to hang out between author events or just to stop and rest your legs. They have some spaced out so introverts can enjoy their alone time or grouped together for those wishing to socialize.
These spaces are also where fun pop-up events take place throughout the day. We really enjoyed stopping to listen to a local choir give cheery performances of several songs. One day, they even had a person who you could sit and talk with and they gave book recommendations based on your conversation!
Explore More of Wales with These Guided Tours From Our Trusted Partner
Visiting the town of Hay-on-Wye
You have to be sure to make room in your schedule to visit the town of Hay-on-Wye. This town is like something out of a fairytale with its artisan shops and multitude of bookstores.
Hay-on-Wye is considered the world’s first book town, and during Hay Festival, the town is even more magical than usual. We were there over the weekend and got to enjoy multiple markets and food trucks in front of the castle.
In addition to the festivities, the town is brimming with unique shops that we spent hours exploring! The bookshops aren’t like “normal” bookshops. The majority of them specialize in a certain genre. For example, Murder and Mayhem specializes in books that focus crime and mystery books while Gay on Wye features literature that resonates with LGBTQ+ experiences.
In addition to the bookstores, there are tons of other bespoke shops as well. Below are our favorite stores we visited in Hay. We bought something at almost every one!
- Flaming Lady of Hay Art House
- Oil and Oak
- Satori & Otherworldz
- The Old Electric Shop & The Electric Cafe
- Gay on Wye
- Murder and Mayhem
- Hay Cinema Bookshop
- The Literature Laboratory
If you’ve been to Hay Festival or any other book festivals around the world, let us know in the comments below!
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The Hay Book Festival sounds exactly what I would love. It is now on my bucket list – and it has made its way to the top!! Hopefully, next year . . . . .