Festival guide & trip planner · Clisson 2026
Hellfest 2026: Your Trip Planner to Clisson
18 to 21 June 2026, Val de Moine, Clisson. 183 artists across six stages, Iron Maiden running their 50-year anniversary tour, Bring Me The Horizon opening, Limp Bizkit and The Offspring closing the weekend. The festival is sold out — the trip is not. This is the complete guide to getting to Clisson, where to sleep, how the cashless works, and how to keep the crew aligned on budget and schedule across four very long days. If you're still picking your tools, see our comparison of group travel apps.
9 min read
Alex Martin
Travel Editor, WePlanify
Alex has organized 50+ group trips across 30 countries and writes about collaborative travel planning, group dynamics, and the tools that make group travel easier.
Published · Updated
Festival facts
Dates
18–21 Jun
2026
Site
Val de Moine
Clisson, FR
Stages
6
183 artists
Capacity
~60k
per day
A four-day pilgrimage to a wine-growing town of 7,000 people that turns into the loudest place in Europe. The headliners cover the full spectrum the festival is built on: a metalcore generation opener with Bring Me The Horizon, a heritage night with Iron Maiden on the road for their 50 Years tour, a nu-metal Saturday with Limp Bizkit, and a punk-rock Sunday closer with The Offspring. Underneath, 179 other bands across six stages, 85 of them at Hellfest for the first time. The festival is sold out — but the operation around it is what most fans will actually remember: the TGV from Montparnasse, the apartment shared with six mates in Nantes, the cashless wristband that runs out at midnight on the Saturday, the TER back to Clisson at 11am on Sunday before the Mainstage 1 closer.
WePlanify is the free shared command center for fans heading to Clisson — TGV, apartment, cashless float, four-day schedule and budget in one place, in English or French.
The 2026 Lineup
Four headline nights, six stages, 183 artists. The clashes you'll need to negotiate inside the group before you even buy the TGV ticket.
Thursday — Bring Me The Horizon
The opener is the modern-metal anchor of the weekend. BMTH on the Mainstage signals where the festival is going generationally — broader than the old underground core, still loud enough to satisfy it. Expect a high-production show and a much younger crowd up front than the rest of the weekend.
Friday — Iron Maiden 'Run For Your Lives'
Maiden's 50-year anniversary tour stops at Clisson. The setlist on this run leans heavily on the first decade catalogue, which is exactly what most of the crowd has been waiting for since the announcement. Plan to be in the photo pit zone early — Friday is the night Mainstage 1 will be hardest to leave once you're in.
Saturday — Limp Bizkit
The nu-metal comeback that nobody saw landing in 2026. Limp Bizkit on the Mainstage on a Saturday night is a nostalgia bomb for one half of the crowd and a curiosity show for the other. Either way, the singalongs travel further into the camping zones than the actual amps.
Sunday — The Offspring
Closing the weekend on Mainstage 1, The Offspring brings the punk-rock catalog that ages stupidly well in a tired Sunday-night crowd. The slot is also the most painful clash window of the festival — A Perfect Circle, Behemoth and others fight for the same hour.
Underneath the headliners
183 artists across 6 stages, 85 at Hellfest for the first time. Names to keep on your radar: A Perfect Circle, Breaking Benjamin, Volbeat, Behemoth, Cult of Luna, Amenra, Igorrr, Kadavar, Ultra Vomit. Share the full schedule inside the group early — clashes are constant and the call to skip the headliner for the Altar slot is the most divisive in any festival weekend.
Tickets & Official Resale
Sold out everywhere — and the only path forward is one verified resale platform. Everything else is a counterfeit risk.
Channel 1
Official resale
tickets.hellfest.fr is the only legitimate channel. Listings appear when other fans cancel — sometimes daily, sometimes only the week of. Check several times a day and have payment ready, listings disappear in minutes.
Channel 2
Daily passes (sold out)
Single-day passes also sold out for 2026. They reappear sporadically on the official resale alongside the 4-day passes. If only one of you needs a single day, it's actually easier to find than a full pass.
What to avoid
Unofficial resale
Telegram groups, Facebook marketplace, Vinted, Leboncoin: counterfeit tickets are widely reported and won't pass the gate scan. The wristband is nominative — you can't legally transfer outside the official channel.
Getting to Clisson
TGV to Nantes, TER to Clisson — the rail route is faster and cheaper than driving for almost every European starting point. The €5 'Live' ticket inside the region is the best deal in the entire trip.
From Paris
Paris → Nantes → Clisson
- → TGV INOUI or Ouigo from Paris-Montparnasse
- → 2h00 to 2h26 to Nantes
- → From ~€16 (Ouigo, booked early) to €40-90 last-minute
- → TER Nantes–Clisson: hourly, 16-30 min, €5 with the 'Live' ticket
- → Clisson station to site: 20 min walk or short paid shuttle
From Lille, Brussels, by car or by plane
Other routes
- → Lille → Nantes direct TGV in ~4h, from ~€37
- → Brussels → Nantes one direct TGV/day, ~4h47, from ~€20
- → Car: free East/West parkings with free shuttles to the site
- → Airport: Nantes-Atlantique (NTE), festival shuttle available from the airport
- → Driving from Paris: ~4h30 without traffic, more on Wednesday and Sunday
Where to Sleep
Three honest options. Camping is the experience; Nantes apartments are the budget play; premium Easy Camp is gone for 2026.
Option 1
Classic camping
Included in the 4-day pass. Basic, loud, communal — the actual heart of the Hellfest experience. Bring earplugs if you ever want to sleep before 4am. Pack a tent that survives wind, not just sun.
Option 2
Nantes apartment
30 km away, 30-45 min by TER or car. A 3-4 bedroom apartment split between 4-6 friends typically beats hotel rooms by 30-50%. Trade-off: you lose the camping vibe but gain showers, a real bed and a way to recover.
Option 3
Nantes hotels
Average around €130-180/night on festival weekend, 20-60% above normal rates. Book early near a tram line to the station — the morning TER to Clisson fills up fast and you don't want a 6am taxi battle.
Cashless & On-Site Practicalities
The site is 100% cashless via the festival wristband. Plan the float in advance — the on-site top-up queues will eat your Iron Maiden time.
How the wristband works
First activation costs €1.50. Top up online at cashless.hellfest.fr or via the Hellfest app — no fee on subsequent top-ups. Cash is accepted only at on-site cashless banks, never at bars or food stands. Unspent balance is refundable through the official portal within the post-festival window.
What slows everyone down
Phone charging stations cap at 30 minutes and the queues are constant — bring a 20,000mAh power bank per group, charged twice. ATMs are scarce (Hell City Square and Clisson supermarket only) and slow. Mobile network saturates with 60k+ attendees: agree on a meeting point per stage in advance because group chats will not deliver in real time.
Planning the Trip with the Crew
The four-day festival rhythm makes group coordination harder than a weekend city break. People arrive on different days, leave at different times, and some lose their phone by Saturday. The crew aligns when the schedule, the budget and the meeting points live in one shared place. Run a quick group poll early to lock who is camping vs hotel-ing, who lands when, and who is taking the rental car. The poll is the smallest piece of work that prevents 80% of the festival arguments.
The four-day shared itinerary is where the band clashes live. Pin the must-sees (Iron Maiden Friday night, Limp Bizkit Saturday) and let the group fork on the others — nobody should feel guilty for ducking out of the headliner to catch Cult of Luna at the Altar. The same itinerary doubles as the meeting-point map: stage entrance, food stall, camping pole.
Budget Tips
Resale tickets are bought individually and stay individual — keep them out of the shared pool entirely. The shared pool is for TGV, accommodation, rental car, restaurants in Nantes before and after, and the on-site cashless float. Set up a shared budget tracker with one category per cost type, and add an explicit 'cashless float' line so the beer rounds and merch don't disappear into a generic 'misc' column.
TGV prices have already moved. Paris–Nantes Ouigo at €16 in winter now sits around €40-70 on the Wed/Thu departures and €60-90 on the Sun/Mon returns. Two saves to know: very early morning departures (06:30-07:30) are still the cheapest slot, and booking the full crew on the same train shaves both cost and stress at arrival in Nantes.
On-site cashless is the silent budget killer. Beer rounds, food, merch — a typical Hellfest weekend ends around €150-200 per person on the wristband even on a moderate run. Top up €50 less than you think you need on day one: an extra reload mid-festival takes 10 minutes, but a €200 surprise refund six weeks later is just lost money during the weekend.
Frequently Asked Questions
When and where is Hellfest 2026?+
Thursday 18 to Sunday 21 June 2026 at the Val de Moine in Clisson, a small wine-growing town in Loire-Atlantique, about 30 km southeast of Nantes. The site covers 21 hectares and runs 6 stages with 183 artists over the four days. Longest daylight of the year — the sun sets close to 22:00 local time, perfect for the late-night main-stage closers.
Is Hellfest 2026 sold out and how do I still get a ticket?+
Yes. Both the 4-day passes and the single-day passes are sold out, and the premium Easy Camp accommodation is also gone. The only legitimate way to find a ticket now is the official resale platform on tickets.hellfest.fr — listings appear when other fans cancel, sometimes daily, sometimes only days before the festival. Avoid Telegram groups, Facebook marketplace and Vinted: counterfeit tickets are widely reported and won't pass the gate scan.
How do I get to Clisson from Paris, Lille or Brussels?+
The fastest route is TGV INOUI or Ouigo from Paris-Montparnasse to Nantes — 2h00 to 2h26, fares from around €16 on Ouigo if booked early, €40-90 closer to the date. From Lille, count on a direct TGV in about 4h. From Brussels, one direct TGV per day, around 4h47. From Nantes you then take a regional TER to Clisson — every hour, 16-30 minutes — and during the festival a special 'Live' ticket caps any Pays de la Loire TER trip to/from Clisson at €5.
Where should I stay around the festival?+
Three options. Camping classique is included in the 4-day pass — basic but the heart of the Hellfest experience. Premium Easy Camp (tipis, chalets, tiny rooms) is sold out for 2026. Off-site, Nantes hotels (30 km away) average around €130-180/night during festival weekend, up 20-60% from normal rates, and you'll need to factor in transport time both ways. A serviced apartment split with the crew often comes out best on price.
How does the Hellfest cashless system work?+
The site is 100% cashless and the only payment method is your festival wristband. Top it up online at cashless.hellfest.fr (no fee on top-ups after the first) or at on-site banks. The first activation costs €1.50. There are very few ATMs on-site — Hell City Square and the Clisson supermarket — and queues are long, so top up before you arrive. Unspent balance is refundable after the festival within the announced window.
What's the weather like in Clisson in mid-June?+
Warm days around 22-24°C, cool nights around 12-13°C, with roughly 11 rainy days across the month so a light rain jacket is non-negotiable. The site is open with little shade — bring sunscreen, a refillable water bottle and a hat. The longest days of the year mean ~16 hours of daylight, perfect for the festival rhythm but rough on phone batteries.
How do you organise a Hellfest trip with a group of friends?+
Resale tickets are individual — keep them out of the shared pool. The shared pool is for the TGV, hotel or apartment, on-site cashless top-ups, group meals in Nantes before or after, and the rental car or shuttle. Set categories from day one (transport, accommodation, food, cashless float) so the math doesn't collapse on the way home. WePlanify keeps each category clean and lets the group front expenses by rotation.