Jane's Midlife Journey

Poole Harbour Festival is an annual 3 day family festival which takes place in Poole each summer, attracting an audience of over 30,000 over the weekend. 60 live music acts are on offer including well known artists, tribute acts and local bands. There is also plenty of children’s entertainment.

How to get to Poole Harbour Festival

The festival takes place in Baiter Park a mile west of the centre of Poole, 5 miles east of Bournemouth.

By Bus

Most buses to Poole stop (including the m1 and m2 from Bournemouth) stop at the Bus Station, which is around a 17 minute walk away. (If you Google it, the distance is slightly less, but in reality, the entrance is at the opposite end of the park, so you must walk the length of the park to reach the entrance, then double back again.)

Shuttle Bus

The festival lays on a Shuttle Bus service to Bournemouth and Poole. Buses run roughly every 30 minutes to/from Poole and every 90 minutes to/from Bournemouth. These costs £5 a day.

Train

Poole is on the London to Weymouth train line. The station is around a 23 minute walk from Baiter Park.

Parking

There are two car parks in Baiter Park. Obviously, these fill up very quickly. There is some roadside parking, although the roads around the site can only be used for pick ups and drop offs. Good luck finding a slot! If you’re driving, it’s probably best to park in one of the town centre car parks and walk.

Note: If you’re planning to travel by taxi, pre booking a pick up is highly recommended.

Camping

Camping is provided by the festival organisers, however it’s not particularly nearby. The campsite is actually in Lytchett Matravers around 8 miles away. There is a free hourly shuttle bus between the festival and camp site.

Opening Times

The festival takes place over a weekend, with the 2026 details as follows.

• Friday 31st July (5 pm – 11 pm)
• Saturday 1st August (12 pm – 11 pm)
• Sunday 2nd August (12 – 8 pm)

The 2027 dates are Friday 30th July to Sunday 1st August.

Price

In 2026, prices started from £72 for an early bird weekend pass. 2027 ticket prices are TBA.

Music

There are four music stages spread across the site.

1. Headline acts perform on the Main Stage. In 2026, these included the Kaiser Chiefs, the Fratellis, Groove Armada and Scouting for Girls.
2. The Big Top Stage is predominantly tribute acts.
3. Stage 3 is the place for DJs and dance music.
4. Last but not least, the Smugglers Inn, where some of the top local bands are in action.

With one exception (Heather Small, who arrived 15 minutes late, finished 19 minutes early and disappeared midway through her 26 minute appearance to deal with a wardrobe malfunction, before storming off stage announcing she was off to burn her outfit) the event ran very smoothly and all the acts were excellent.

Entertainment

In addition to music, there are plenty of fairground rides to keep thrill seekers entertained.

Food and Drink

You are not permitted to bring food or drink on site. You are allowed to bring a refillable bottle. My advice – bring something thermal, as they ran out of ice fairly early on this year.

Food

A wide range of street food in available, both sweet and savoury. On Saturday, we opted for the Dorset Pizza Kitchen and some pizza loaded fries. Possibly the best chips I’ve ever had. On Sunday, it was heaving and by the time we were hungry, the food queues were massive. So we picked up something on the way home…

Drink

There are several bars spread across the site. These were very well staffed. Even with big queues, we were served promptly throughout most of the weekend. As mentioned above, the only issue was running out of ice.

Water tanks are provided in several places. For most of the weekend, water was readily available, if a bit warm. On Sunday evening, there were queues even for water.

Toilets

There were a lot of toilets. Again, even when queues formed, we didn’t have to wait long. Cubicles were well stocked, not running out of toilet paper until well into the night. And regularly cleaned.

You can opt to purchase a VIP toilet pass for slightly better toilet facilities and presumably shorter queues.

Poole Harbour Festival for Children

Children are very well catered for. There are two marquees offering children’s entertainment. One with a range of children’s entertainers and the other with a storyteller. There is also an animal show, a craft tent, a pirate show, walkabout performers, bouncy castles and child friendly fairground rides.

• Updated: August 2026

I hope you found this information useful. For more inspiration on things to do in and around Bournemouth, check out my 101 Things to do in Bournemouth here.

For more inspiration on things to do in and around Bournemouth with young children, check out my 101 Things to do in Bournemouth with Babies and Toddlers here.