Things to do
Cheltenham Racecourse
Prestbury Park, home of jump racing's Cheltenham Festival and the Gold Cup, with meetings from October to April and a race-day bus from the station.
Car-free
The Festival in March is the great occasion, but the November Meeting and New Year's Day are easier, cheaper and still full of atmosphere. Under-18s go free with an adult except at the Festival. Take the race-day bus from the station.
- Good: Under-18s free with an adult, except at the Festival
- Good: Bus from Cheltenham Spa station on race days
- Good: Free parking at most meetings
- Worth knowing: Parking passes needed on November Saturday and at the Festival
- Worth knowing: No dogs except guide dogs on race days
- Worth knowing: Cashless, except for the on-course bookmakers
About
Cheltenham Racecourse at Prestbury Park, on the edge of Cheltenham, is run by the Jockey Club. It has an Old Course, a New Course and a cross-country steeplechase course. The Jockey Club’s history says racing moved to Prestbury Park in 1831 and steeplechasing came to the present course in 1898. It is the home of jump racing's Festival and the Gold Cup.
Meetings
The November Meeting runs from 13 to 15 November 2026 and the Christmas Meeting on 11 and 12 December, with tickets for both from £13.50. There is racing on New Year's Day and Festival Trials Day on 30 January 2027, both from £13.50, and the Festival, with the Gold Cup on its final day, runs from 16 to 19 March 2027, from £42. The April Meeting follows on 14 and 15 April 2027. Under-18s go free with a paying adult at every meeting except the Festival, but their tickets must be booked with the adult’s, and an adult can bring up to three. The course also hosts a fireworks night, talks, Christmas parties and the Wychwood music festival, held there from 29 to 31 May in 2026.
On the day
The course is cashless except for the bookmakers. Dogs other than guide dogs are not allowed on race days, and outside food and drink is allowed only in the Best Mate Enclosure, and never at the Festival.
Getting there
Stagecoach West runs a race-day shuttle from the Cheltenham Spa station car park and from Clarence Street in the town centre (£10 return or £6.50 single at the November Meeting in 2026, paid by cash or contactless on boarding), and the Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway's station is inside the racecourse complex, with race trains for pre-booked passengers at the November Meeting. Parking is free at every meeting except the November Saturday and the Festival. Above the course, Cleeve Common has the highest ground in the Cotswolds and the Cleeve Common and Cleeve Cloud walk.
Opening hours and season
Reception
| Monday | 09:00 to 17:00 |
|---|---|
| Tuesday | 09:00 to 17:00 |
| Wednesday | 09:00 to 17:00 |
| Thursday | 09:00 to 17:00 |
| Friday | 09:00 to 17:00 |
| Saturday | Closed |
| Sunday | Closed |
Office hours, not race days; closed on bank holidays.
Race days and events only. Gates open about two hours before the first race: 10am to 11am at the November Meeting 2026. Each fixture's page has its times. Bars close 30 minutes after the last race.
Facilities
- Car parksFree except November Saturday and the Festival
- Accessible viewingBest Mate platform, lowered rails on the Centaur balcony
The details
- Parking
- Free public parking at all meetings except the November Meeting Saturday and the Festival, which need a pass bought in advance. Follow the Public or Green signs.
- Without a car
- Stagecoach West's race-day shuttle from Cheltenham Spa station and Clarence Street, and its D. At the Festival up to 70 buses. GWSR's Cheltenham Race Course station is inside the complex.
Photos
The course below Cleeve Hill 
Racing at Cheltenham 
The view from the stands 
The parade before a race
Location
Places to stay nearby
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The Rising Sun Hotel
Hotel · Cleeve Hill
A Greene King Inns hotel, pub and restaurant with 23 bedrooms near the top of Cleeve Hill, with views over five counties from its beer garden.
Dog-friendly · Walker-friendly
Verified Nov 2026
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Cleeve Hill Hotel
B&B · Winchcombe
A 12-room bed and breakfast hotel on Cleeve Hill, about three miles south-west of Winchcombe, with views over the Severn Vale and a door onto Cleeve Common and the Cotswold Way.
Walker-friendly · Dog-friendly
Verified Oct 2026
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Sudeley Castle Cottages
Self-catering · Winchcombe
Nineteen holiday cottages on the Sudeley Castle estate at Winchcombe, sleeping three to fourteen, some dog-friendly, with free castle entry in season.
Dog-friendly
Verified Nov 2026
Nearby walks, places and things to do
- The Rising Sun Hotel 3.5 km away
- Cleeve Hill Hotel 3.7 km away
- The Wheatsheaf, Leckhampton 4.9 km away
- The Fox, Dowdeswell 5.8 km away
Sights nearby
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Cleeve Hill camp
Sight · Hill fort or barrow · The Cotswold Edge
Cleeve Hill camp is a small Iron Age hillfort of about 500 BC on the cliff top at Cleeve Cloud, above Cheltenham, with two rings of rampart up to 2.5m high and the scarp as its western wall. Cut by quarries and a golf course, it is a scheduled monument on Cleeve Common.
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Cleeve Common
Sight · Common or park · The Cotswold Edge
Gloucestershire’s largest common: more than 400 hectares of open limestone grassland on the Cotswold Edge above Cheltenham, with the highest point of the Cotswolds at 330m, an Iron Age hillfort, a Bronze Age cross dyke and views to the Malverns and the Black Mountains.
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Tithe barn, Postlip
Sight · Historic building · Winchcombe
The tithe barn at Postlip is an eight-bay stone barn, probably of the fifteenth century, below Cleeve Common near Winchcombe, with raised crucks inside, said to have dried the town's tobacco in the 1600s and home every July to the Cotswold Beer Festival.
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St James' Chapel, Postlip
Sight · Church · Winchcombe
St James' Chapel is a small Norman chapel of about 1140 beside Postlip Hall below Cleeve Common, with a chevron-carved doorway, used as a farm building for centuries and restored for Catholic worship in 1891. Grade I; seen from the Cotswold Way.