Plan your travel for Brighton Pride now!
Brighton Pride 2026: Saturday 1st – Sunday 2nd August
As Oleta Adams once said, “You can reach me by railway, you can reach me by trailway, You can reach me on an airplane, I don’t care how you get here, just – get here if you can”
With the Pride Festival on Saturday 1st August 2026 closing at 10.30pm and the possibility of large crowds staying for the headline artists, we advise you to plan your journey in advance, especially if you are leaving the city on Saturday night.
By Train
We’re really pleased to once again be working in close partnership with GTR – the operator of Southern, Thameslink and Gatwick Express train services to and from Brighton – on the arrangements for Pride.
With huge numbers of people expected to travel to and from to the city to be part of the weekend’s events, many months of detailed planning takes place to get everything ready.
GTR will once again be running more trains, and extra carriages will be added to services, to help you get to and from the city safely.
To help your journeys go smoothly, here are some useful bits of information that you should bear in mind:
- Allow plenty of time to get to and from events in the city over the Pride weekend as trains will be very busy and you may not be able to board your chosen service.
- Please use Brighton station to get to or from all the Pride events. Preston Park and London Road stations will be closed from 17:00 on Friday 31 July, right through the rest of Pride weekend.
- Make sure you have your train ticket in advance to speed things up, including for your return home. And remember, Oyster cards and Contactless payments are not accepted for journeys to and from Brighton, so you’ll need to purchase rail tickets before you travel. To avoid booking fees, we suggest buying directly from Gatwick Express, Southern or Thameslink.
For your return journey home also remember that:
- Because of the large crowds who will be leaving the city after Pride, you should give yourself at least an hour to get to Brighton station from any of the Pride festival sites.
- Pride, GTR and other partners such as Brighton & Hove City Council and the Police, work together to extend Brighton station’s rainbow queuing system outside, to direct everyone leaving the city into the right queue for your train and destination, before you get to the station entrance. This helps keep everyone safe.
- There’ll be plenty of signs and lots of staff on hand to help you find your way.
- For safety reasons, please don’t take any glass bottles into the station or on to trains.
- Finally, don’t forget, there’s a limited very late-night service on the East and West Coastway lines, so make sure you know the times of your last trains and give yourself plenty of time, remembering there will be queues to get into the station.
Keep checking the Southern or Thameslink websites for the latest information and to buy your train tickets in advance.
Any on-the-day disruptions are also communicated via the Southern and Thameslink X/Twitter feeds.
Plan your train journeys at National Rail.
TRAVELING TO BRIGHTON BY BUS
Find up to date bus info here.
If you’re travelling from West Sussex, you can reach Brighton on routes 270, 271, 272, or 273. If you’re coming from other parts of East Sussex, such as Lewes or Eastbourne, you can take the Regency routes 28 or 29, or the Coaster routes 12, 12X, and 13X.
Service 600 will also offer fast, frequent connections between Preston Park, Old Steine, and the vibrant pubs, clubs, and bars of Kemp Town on Saturday afternoon and evening.
CAMPSITE BUS
Bus Shuttle service: Pride Campsite – Pride on the Park – City Centre
Service 600 will transport festival-goers staying at Waterhall Campsite to and from Old Steine throughout Pride weekend, from Friday all the way through to Monday morning.
Timetable will be available to all guests in advance of the event.
Easy Pay: Contactless, Cash or App
Pay quickly and easily with contactless by tapping on and off, use cash, or buy tickets in advance via the Brighton & Hove Buses app.
How to Use Contactless:
- Tap On: When you board, tap your contactless card or device (including Apple Pay or Google Pay) on the reader at the front of the bus.
- Accepted Cards: We accept American Express, Visa and Mastercard, including prepaid cards.
Buses will be running, but some services may be affected by diversions and road closures. For the latest service updates, please visit buses.co.uk for Brighton & Hove Buses and metrobus.co.uk for Metrobus.
BY CAR
Please be aware that there will be significant road closures for part of the day of Pride. There is NO parking at Preston Park and its surroundings on the day. Parking is restricted on a large section of Madeira Drive. Parking in the centre of Brighton can be both limited and expensive, so we suggest you use public transport where you can.
BY PLANE
Nearest international airport is Gatwick Airport, with frequent trains services to Brighton taking Approximately 20 minutes.
PARKING & TRAVEL ADVICE
Brighton & Hove City Council usually have a web page with advice for travelling and parking over the Pride weekend, including road closures. Link to follow when available.
Taxi
There are a number of licensed taxi firms operating in Brighton & Hove. If you are coming to the park and wish to get a taxi home on Saturday there will be a designated Pride taxi pick up on Stanford Avenue. Please check the road closures in the area if you are arranging a drop off/ collection.
You can plan journeys by all sorts of mode of transport, including foot!
But get here however you can…