Boardmasters 2023: Line-up, tickets, weather and more - all you need to know about Newquay festival

Boardmasters Festival is back for 2023

Around 150,000 people are set to head to Cornwall later this month for Boardmasters Festival, and here’s everything you need to know. 

The Newquay-based festival is now the UK's biggest international surf and music festival after growing since it was set up in 1981.

Boardmasters takes place at two festival sites in Newquay. The main arena and camping is situated on a clifftop at Watergate Bay and the surfing competition is held on Fistral Beach, where there is also a beach bar and a shopping village.

Previous headliners include Ed Sheeran, Calvin Harris, and Snoop Dogg. This year Florence and the Machine, Liam Gallagher, and Lorde are filling the top spots.

When is Boardmasters?

Boardmasters 2023 takes place Wednesday 9 - Sunday 13 August. 

The surfing competition takes place on Fistral Beach and Watergate Bay.

How do you get to Boardmasters?

Train - Shuttle buses will be running from Newquay Railway Station every 15 minutes from once the first trains arrive on Wednesday

Coach - Big Green Coach will be getting people to Boardmasters from all over the UK

Car - There’s several car parks on site 

Bus - There’s shuttle buses running between Watergate Bay and Newquay town centre (for Fistral Beach) from 7.30am-4.30am each day 

Plane - If you fly into Cornwall Airport Newquay, you're a stone’s throw from the Watergate Bay site 

Live music takes place at Watergate Bay Credit: Boardmasters Festival
It's all about surfing at Fistral Beach Credit: Boardmasters

Who is performing at Boardmasters?

The festival will see Lorde headline on the Friday before Liam Gallagher closes the main stage on the Saturday and Florence and the Machine headline on the final day of the festival on Sunday.

Other big names on the bill include Ben Howard, Little Simz, Rudimental, Dermot Kennedy, and Four Tet.

Here's the full line-up Credit: Boardmasters Festival

What's the weather forecast for Boardmasters?

For the festival goers, a good deal of dry weather from Wednesday, although quite a bit of low cloud and coastal mist at first.

Some sunshine trying to come through on Friday and into the weekend, but an increased risk of showers by then too. Nothing too hot either with temperatures around 20 Celsius.

For the surfers, not ideal conditions, as although winds pick up from Thursday, they'll mostly be along shore.

Wave heights will probably increase from 2-3 ft up to 6ft or more into the weekend but it doesn't look that clean.

Are tickets still available?

There are limited day tickets available for Boardmasters 2023 on the festival's website.

How much does Boardmasters cost?

Camping and weekend tickets have sold out. But there’s a few three-day no camping tickets left (£185 plus booking fee), and some individual day tickets (£84.50 plus booking fee) available too.