Hello and welcome to the wonderful world of Sunday Best presents Bestival!  On this page we aim to give you a short(ish) but very sweet summary of all things Bestival.  For further detailed info, use the index above to guide you around the site... and don't forget to use the yellow scroll bar on the right (on the actual website) to view the full story if its a long'un! 

Bestival is an award winning 3 day boutique music festival set at Robin Hill - a beautiful leafy country park (a veritable Garden of Eden!) near Downend and Newport in the heart of the Isle of Wight. The event is brought to you by Sunday Best in conjunction with partners Get Involved and the innovative promoters behind these companies are Rob da Bank (Radio 1 DJ supremo and Sunday Best captain) and John Hughes (Get Involved honcho and music manager extraordinaire).

The first Bestival, in September 2004, was headlined by Basement Jaxx, Fatboy Slim, Zero 7, The Bees, Mylo and Lee 'Scratch' Perry and was a ground-breaking success. 

Bestival 2005 meanwhile saw Royksopp, The Magic Numbers, Super Furry Animals, 2manydjs, The Go! Team and Soulwax take to the stage (amongst many others!).  It also set the Guinness World Record for the Biggest Fancy Dress Party (10,000 people dressed as Cowboys & Indians!) and was voted (by the festival-going public) the Best (Medium-sized) Festival and the Most Innovative Festival at the 2005 UK Festival Awards.  Many thanks to those who voted for us!

Press quotes from Bestival 2005:

"Bestival felt like the dream hybrid of an epic night out and the most wonderfully nuts party…Is there a better way to end the summer? No Sirree!" TIME OUT

"A beautiful, strange, friendly village and a wicked atmosphere" SUNDAY TIMES

"The perfect end-of-the-festie-season blow out" NME

"Magical" DJ

"Small but perfectly formed" GUARDIAN

"Possibly the coolest festival on the planet" IDJ

"A last hurrah to the outdoor season….impressive" THE INDEPENDENT

"Smiles and good vibes abound at this sexy festival" THE FLY

Bestival 2006 is set to take place over the weekend of Friday 8th - Sunday 10th September (mark it off in your diary now!).  Check the Artists page for info on the bands & DJs booked so far and head over to the Tickets section of the site to buy that all important magical ticket before they all go!

It is important to know, however, that while music is very important to us, Bestival is about so much more than just that. Rob's wife Josie da Bank is in charge of the whole look and feel of Bestival and she goes to great lengths to make the festival site look amazing.  Her Bollywood Cocktail Bar provides the centre-piece to this but she doesn't stop there - all around the site the attention to detail will astound you.

Most people who come to Bestival camp.  Camping is included in all weekend tickets (day ticket holders cannot camp by the way) and it really is the best way to experience the festival.  We do recognize though that some people want a bit more comfort than that… so we introduced a Boutique Campsite!  Here you can hire a Bohemian Bivouac, Tipi, Yurt, Beach Hut, BusBed or PodPad… and then kick back in the comforts these afford. You can also bring you own Campervan to Bestival - CLICK HERE for the info!  For those that want to stay in a B&B or hotel, we recommend you head over to www.islandbreaks.co.uk to find yourself accommodation (look for places in or near Newport, Ryde or Cowes).

Travel – the Isle Of Wight is much nearer than most people think!  For example, door to door from central London can be as little as 2 hours (inc the ferry crossing).  Wightlink and Red Funnel operate frequent ferry services from Portsmouth and Southampton respectively and both companies also sell Bestival tickets.  CLICK HERE for further info on travel, including information about train services to and from Portsmouth/Southampton, Shuttle Bus services from the ferry ports to the festival site and general car travel info.

Children – Bestival is very kid-friendly.  In fact, they'll love it!  CLICK HERE for more info.

OTHER USEFUL LINKS:

The best way to get a feel for Bestival is probably by checking out our photo gallery or reading other people's comments about last year's festival...

Photo Gallery - CLICK HERE

2005 Bestival-goers Comments - CLICK HERE

2005 Site Map pdf - CLICK HERE (this is last year's, as drawn by Josie da Bank - we'll post a 2006 site map up here soon...)

We'll add more links and info here as & when we think of it... or you suggest it!

lots of love

x The Bestival Team