Girls dance at Coachella during Charli XCX’s performance. Callie Ahlgrim Insider’s music team attended Coachella this year for the second time. We tested all methods of transportation to and from the festival: car, shuttle, and rideshare.
Despite the hefty up-front price of $154 for a weekend shuttle pass (each), it was the best option by far. Transportation to and from Coachella is perhaps the biggest challenge of attending the music festival. Festivalgoers wait in line at Coachella’s entrance.
Callie AhlgrimCoachella is a popular destination for music lovers, Instagram enthusiasts, and general good-vibe seekers. The three-day event takes place at the Empire Polo Club in the desert of Indio, California. Â Unless you decide to pitch a tent and camp onsite, odds are you’ll be spending the weekend in a local hotel or Airbnb.
Even festivalgoers who live in the Golden State often need to pay for lodging and transportation, given the festival’s fairly remote location. Needless to say, there’s no subway or public transportation in the area, and with all the traffic the festival draws, walking is not a feasible option. Last year, Insider’s music team attended the music festival for the first time.
To save money, we decided to drive ourselves. We drove back and forth to the festival each day. Callie AhlgrimWe soon discovered this was a terrible decision, even though we may have saved some money by only paying for gas.
It was exhausting trying to navigate the traffic in the surrounding area, especially since festival workers and police offers closed certain streets in an attempt to funnel cars in the right direction. Our GPS was not reliable. On our first day attending Coachella, we spent hours driving around — rerouted by unexplained traffic cones, sitting in seemingly endless lines of vehicles — trying to find the correct entrance to the daytime parking lot.
After spending hours trying to park, it was still a 20-minute walk to the festival entrance through the heat and dust. The parking lot at Coachella. Callie AhlgrimThe parking lots are located deceptively far from the festival entrance.
It was a grueling walk in the midday heat, and thanks to the dust, it was even worse at night. Â After leaving the festival, it took ages to find the car again. The dust made the journey even worse.
Most headline performances end past midnight. Callie AhlgrimOn Saturday last year, after seeing Billie Eilish perform, we sat in the parking lot for over an hour while cars slowly squeezed out. It took another 45 minutes to drive back to our Airbnb in Palm Springs and we spent the majority of the trip coughing.
(This year, we made sure to pack face masks. )This year, we tried taking an Uber to the festival. It was worse than driving.
The walk from the rideshare drop-off point was at least 20 minutes long. Callie AhlgrimNot only did it take just as long to get to the festival from our hotel in Palm Springs — believe it or not, Uber drivers are not born with a sixth sense for blockades and traffic flow — but it cost $60 for just one way, not including tip. At that rate, we would’ve spent close to $400 to use a rideshare for the entire weekend, and according to fellow festivalgoers we spoke to, it’s even more expensive and troublesome taking an Uber home at night.
On top of all that, the walk from the rideshare drop-off point is possibly even longer and dustier than the walk from the parking lot — and at least twice as long as the walk from the shuttle drop-off. We didn’t have high hopes for the shuttle when we joined the crowded and chaotic group waiting to ride. The line to board the shuttle at Margaritaville Resort.
Callie AhlgrimThis year, we stayed at the Margaritaville Resort in Palm Springs, so taking the shuttle seemed more feasible. Coachella’s famous shuttle service operates from local hotels, and some do not allow festivalgoers to board unless they’re also hotel guests. A weekend pass for any shuttle line needs to be purchased in advance and shipped to your home.
We paid $154 each — $125 for the pass itself, plus an absurd shipping fee of $29. Despite the hefty up-front price, it’s still ultimately cheaper than relying on Uber or Lyft. Many festivalgoers choose this option, so there were plenty of people waiting to board the bus each day.
On the first day of the festival this year, the shuttle system seemed a bit disorganized; the service begins operating at 12 p. m. , but there are no set arrival or departure times.
You kind of just have to show up and hope for the best, which gets more complicated when there are more people in your group hoping to ride together. However, the shuttle operated smoothly for the rest of the weekend. We found it was the best option by far.
Fans exit the shuttle on day three of Coachella 2023. Callie AhlgrimIt was such a relief to rely on drivers who knew exactly where they were going. The traffic flow around the festival is designed so the shuttles won’t get stuck on their way to and from the correct entrance, and it works.
We didn’t sit in traffic once while taking the shuttle this year. It’s still a 40-or-so-minute drive from Palm Springs, but you don’t need to worry about maneuvering the trip yourself. We always arrived at the festival feeling refreshed and ready to take on the day.
Even though thousands of people take the shuttle home every night, Coachella has a well-oiled system in place (once you find the correct path, at least). The line to board moved quickly and we were on our way home in no time. Best of all, the walk from the shuttle drop-off point is the shortest and the grassiest.
The walk from the shuttle stop versus the walk from the parking lot. Callie AhlgrimWalking from the shuttle drop-off area to the festival entrance only takes about 10 minutes, and the path is almost entirely paved with grass — not dust and sand. It was kinder to our tired feet and our lungs.
Read the original article on Insider.
From: insider
URL: https://www.insider.com/coachella-best-way-to-get-there-shuttle-car-uber-comparison-2023-4
