How to Get to Bonnaroo

As is the case with many summertime music festivals, getting to Bonnaroo involves a road trip for many people – but that’s certainly not the only way to get to Bonnaroo. Because the festival isn’t in the middle of a major city, however, your plans for how to get there need to be worked out ahead of time. Just getting off the plane at the Nashville airport and trying to organize transport when you get there probably isn’t going to work.

The Bonnaroo Festival is on a huge plot of land in Manchester, Tennessee – it’s a city of more than 8,000 people, and it’s fairly close to a few larger cities in Tennessee, so there are a few options when it comes to getting to Bonnaroo. You’ll find information about your main transportation options below.

>> Bonnaroo runs from June 7-12, 2012

Flying to Bonnaroo

Unless you live within a relatively short distance of central Tennessee, chances are good you’ll be flying at least part of the way. Again, because Manchester isn’t a city with an airport, you’ll have to figure out a way to get from the airport to the festival – but if you’re coming from cross-country that’s the least of your problems.

There are two airports almost equidistant from Manchester. The Nashville airport (BNA) is under an hour’s drive from Bonnaroo, whereas the Chattanooga airport (CHA) is just over an hour away by car. A third option is to fly into Knoxville (TYS), which is about three hours away – but if the cheapest flights are into Knoxville then that extra time in the car is probably totally acceptable.

The festival has a regular airport shuttle that runs from the Nashville airport to the festival site, which you have to reserve and pay for in advance of your arrival at the airport. If you’d prefer to have more mobility on your own, you can also rent a car at the airport. And if you’re flying into Chattanooga or Knoxville, you’ll need to rent a car because there aren’t festival shuttles from either of those airports.

>> Read more about the airports to use for Bonnaroo Festival

Driving to Bonnaroo

The Bonnaroo Festival site is on a 700-acre farm in Manchester, Tennessee – so even if you fly into a nearby airport (as outlined above) or take a bus to the nearest city (as outlined below), you’re still going to have to get to the festival on wheels of some kind. From Nashville’s airport you can take the festival’s shuttle directly to the site, but otherwise you’ll need to rent a car at the airport or drive the whole way.

Thankfully, the Bonnaroo site has helpful directions for getting to Bonnaroo – including particular directions depending on where you’re coming from. Their goal is to make sure no one entrance gets too overwhelmed, so check to see which set of driving directions is best from your starting point.

The other thing to keep in mind is that parking out at the festival is going to be at a premium, so carpooling is always a good idea.

>> See information about driving directions on the Bonnaroo site

Taking the Bus to Bonnaroo

Traveling by bus around the US isn’t the fastest way to get around, but it’s usually incredibly cheap – and if you have more time this summer than money, it may be your best option for getting to Bonnaroo. And the best news of all is that there’s a Greyhound bus station right in Manchester, Tennessee, the city where the festival itself is held.

Manchester’s Greyhound station is only one mile from the Bonnaroo Festival site, so if it feels particularly good to get out and move around after being cooped up in a bus for awhile, you might even want to walk to the festival. Chances are good, however, that if you get started on your walk you’ll run into a few other people who are driving to the festival and may not end up having to walk the whole way anyway.

>> Get information about the Manchester Greyhound station

photo by chris friese