Festival season transforms from memorable to absolutely extraordinary when you step into the VIP realm. Nearly every modern festival now offers VIP or special ticket packages as part of its ticketing strategy, yet some truly stand out by delivering experiences that justify their premium price tags. Let’s be real, not all VIP packages are created equal. Some festivals simply slap a higher price on marginally better bathrooms and call it a day, while others craft immersive experiences that make you feel like you’ve entered an entirely different event. Here are four festivals where the VIP treatment isn’t just an upgrade – it’s transformational.
Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival
VIP passes jump to around $1,199, offering access to exclusive areas, cleaner restrooms, and better views of the stages. The iconic California desert festival has perfected the art of VIP amenities over its decades of existence. VIP Areas located at the 12 Peaks area adjacent to the Main Stage and in the Rose Garden offer specialty food & drink vendors, air-conditioned restrooms, shaded seating areas and full no host bars. Yet here’s the thing – opinions remain divided on whether Coachella VIP delivers true value. While the VIP areas provided convenience and comfort, the benefits didn’t justify the cost, and General Admission attendees had equally good views.
The Rose Garden experience elevates things further. A delicious four-course meal by celebrated chefs in the beautiful VIP Rose Garden with access to the VIP Rose Garden for the entire day of your dinner and welcome cocktail included. It’s hard to say for sure, but the real draw seems less about stage proximity and more about creating your own oasis amid the desert chaos.
Glastonbury Festival
Glastonbury hospitality packages operate on an entirely different level – one reserved almost exclusively for industry insiders. The vast majority of Hospitality passes are reserved exclusively for the music industry/media and normally only available to performing artists, music industry VIP’s and media executives. Hospitality Glastonbury tickets allow you to mingle with celebs, media and other VIP’s in the backstage hospitality area and include access to the exclusive hospitality campsite with shower blocks. Pricing reflects this exclusivity – packages can reach eye-watering heights.
The Manor VIP Package based on a minimum booking for 14 persons costs £58,000 or £4,142 per person. Honestly, that’s staggering even by festival standards. Tickets give you access to the festival as a whole plus extra benefits including access to the Hospitality areas which include the Inner Circle & Interstage areas and access to the dedicated hospitality area behind the Woodsie stage. VIP areas are the security-controlled areas that have higher standard exclusive facilities like bars, food stalls, flushing toilets etc away from the general public which means you queue a lot less for drinks. For those who can access these rarefied spaces, the investment translates into an experience light years beyond the muddy fields most attendees navigate.
Tomorrowland Belgium
Tomorrowland ticket price for Full Madness Comfort Pass is €530+, offering what many EDM enthusiasts consider the gold standard of festival VIP treatment. Comfort tickets include access to blocked-off areas that have bars, toilets, and some other cool features like jacuzzis at the MainStage. Tomorrowland hospitality packages provide superior viewing areas and a level of exclusivity and dedicated comfort zones that elevate your festival experience with special benefits such as reserved seating, exceptional catering, and private designated areas.
In 2024, it had a total attendance of 400,000 over two weekends and is one of the world’s largest electronic dance music festivals. The sheer scale makes those comfort zones genuinely valuable. Prices for VIP packages can range from €1000 to €3000, depending on the level of luxury and services provided. The festival’s meticulous attention to production design extends into their VIP offerings, creating spaces that feel less like cordoned-off sections and more like boutique festivals within the massive event. What strikes me most is how Tomorrowland understands that VIP isn’t just about separation – it’s about enhancement.
Electric Daisy Carnival Las Vegas
When you’re a VIP headliner, you enjoy dedicated viewing platforms and private dance areas, exclusive lounge spaces and VIP concierge booths, fast passes to the Ferris wheel and other carnival rides, a custom commemorative show lanyard, air-conditioned bathrooms, VIP photo booths, mobile charging stations and lockers, body paint and beauty bars, kandi bracelet making stations, vegan and gluten-free craft cuisine. EDC Las Vegas has essentially built a parallel festival experience for its VIP guests. 2024 was bigger with a whopping 520,000 estimated to be in attendance and attendees felt the EDC LV 2024 VIP was worth the price paid, getting what they were hoping for most: air-conditioned bathrooms and seats most of the time.
The VIP Elevated Experience takes your festival weekend to the next level with fast entry and elevated viewing decks, gourmet food and drink options and VIP-only activities and entertainment like beauty bars. Beats & Breakfast at Kinetic Field offers complimentary breakfast from 4–5:30am first come, first served, while supplies last. Currently, Electric Daisy Carnival tickets start at $94, with an average price of $480. The desert heat and all-night format make those air-conditioned spaces and viewing decks genuinely transformative rather than merely nice-to-have amenities.
Festival VIP experiences have evolved far beyond simple viewing platform upgrades. The best packages create entirely separate ecosystems within the larger event – spaces where comfort, exclusivity, and unique amenities combine to justify their premium costs. Some attendees are willing to pay more for added comfort, convenience, and unique experiences, and these four festivals deliver on that promise in distinct ways. Whether it’s Coachella’s desert oasis vibes, Glastonbury’s celebrity-studded backstage access, Tomorrowland’s comfort zones amid electronic music euphoria, or EDC’s comprehensive carnival-within-a-carnival approach, each offers something genuinely special. Did the VIP experiences at these festivals surprise you? What would make you consider splurging on premium festival access?
