Coachella seems to be every influencer and celebrity’s favourite festival.
It is an event like any other – from the outrageous outfits to the £20 drinks and line up of the best artists in the world. It really does have it all!
But, it is very different from the festivals we have here in the UK where you will no doubt find people covered in mud, disgusting portaloos, mosh pits, and using baby wipes to keep yourself clean.
So how do us Brits handle Coachella? Judging by some of the videos that have been taken at the festival in 2025, the crowds are a lot less wild than we have here in the UK.
Clips show festival-goers looking “bored” as artists perform, which has been branded “embarrassing” by some. People have even gone as far as commenting that “no one can beat a UK crowd”.
So a British woman went Stateside to see what Coachella would actually be like – and here are her brutally honest thoughts.
Brooke, who is a Lady Gaga superfan, really wanted to see her at the festival. She attended the event with her friend for three days for the very first time – something she never thought she would be able to do.
The Gaga fan has since opened up about how much she spent on the occasion. She told TikTok viewers: “So for the ticket, we bought a hotel package. So we’re staying in a hotel. There’s four of us sharing a room so we got two queen beds which is quite good. So if you are happy to share a room with people it can work out a lot cheaper.”
Confirming the details, she added: “So our package includes four nights in a hotel, the shuttle pass to get from here to Coachella because we’re about a 30 minute drive from the actual campsite and the festival ticket for three days. So we paid each in pounds, I think it was like £1,100 – and that was one of the cheaper packages.”
Even though this price sounds very high to many of us, Brooke said it wasn’t as steep as she was expecting. She added: “I’ve always just thought of Coachella as one of those things that is so expensive that I’d never be able to afford going but when you consider what the package gets you, I think it’s a good deal. It is really doable.”
If you are willing to camp, the festival it will work out cheaper for you too. But Brooke warned: “It’s still a big expense, it’s obviously not just something that you can do casually, but it’s not as unaffordable as you might think.”
She noted that their £1,100 fee did not include the cost of their flight or any food.
Booking.com states the average flight price for a round-trip to Palm Springs International Airport would cost you £1,086. Meanwhile, Virgin Atlantic flights to LAX are priced at £418 for a one way ticket this week. A round-trip brings your flights to between £800 and £1,000 typically.
Brooke also made a lot of her own outfits for the event, which also helped to save money. But the wild expenses weren’t the only problem she had with the festival.
Brooke issued a warning about the traffic when you arrive on Coachella weekend. It took them a whopping four hours to get from LAX to Palm Springs after they hired a car.
“Ordinarily if you’re driving from LAX to Palm Springs it would probably take you about two hours,” she said.
It was evident that plenty of people had similar problems with the roads too. Some queued in their cars for half the day, with angry motorists even honking their horns and shouting at each other.
Another Brit, Kate Elizabeth also shared the reality of Coachella after visiting for the first time. “This is a very different experience to British festivals,” Kate said on her TikTok page @kateelisabethh.
She said alcohol can only be consumed in certain areas. Kate said: “You are only allowed to drink alcohol in designated spaces, like you couldn’t bring it out into the crowd. At British festivals people throw bottles of piss at each other – very different.”
Speaking about the weather, Kate added: “As it’s in Palm springs it is boiling during the day but so cold at night. This is why so many people have Coachella merch because they have to buy a hoodie.”
She also warned it is pretty dusty. “It was in your nostrils, in your eyes, in your mouth,” she added.
These conditions don’t put off the rich and famous, though. Kate said “every influencer and there mum is there” – and you “can’t escape it”. Thankfully though, she seemed to enjoy doing a bit of celebrity spotting.
She added: “Overall I had a great weekend, I loved every single second but it’s just so different to a British festival.”
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