Festivals, market day and getting to Hay without a station

Hay fills up twice a year for its festivals and runs at its own pace the rest of the time. Here is how the calendar works, and how to get here when it does, given the town has no station.

The festivals

Hay Festival 2027 runs Thursday 27 May to Sunday 6 June, which the organiser calls its 40th anniversary. The thing first-timers get wrong is the location: the festival tents are not in the town centre but on Dairy Meadows off the Brecon Road (HR3 5PJ), which the festival's own FAQ puts at about ten minutes' walk from the middle of Hay. Members get priority booking before general release. The 2026 edition ran 21 to 31 May.

HowTheLightGetsIn Hay 2027, the philosophy and music festival run by the Institute of Art and Ideas, is on 28 to 31 May 2027, overlapping the start of Hay Festival. Its site is just off Newport Street (HR3 5BZ) by the river, about five minutes' walk from the Globe at Hay, its year-round home. Early-bird tickets were on sale in October 2026.

Hay Festival Winter Weekend is Thursday 26 to Sunday 29 November 2026: author conversations, music, comedy and festive events at Hay Castle and around town, opened by the Christmas lights switch-on in the Market Square. In 2025 the castle closed nearly all of its rooms to ordinary visitors that weekend, so check the Trust's site before planning a castle visit.

And every week of the year there is the Thursday market, 9am to 2.30pm, over 40 traders by the town's count in Memorial Square, the Cheese Market and Butter Market halls and around the Clock Tower, with a smaller Saturday market from 10am to 4pm in the Cheese Market hall.

Getting here by train and bus

The railhead is Hereford (HFD), about 29km east, on the Transport for Wales line between Cardiff and Manchester; Cardiff Central to Hereford takes about an hour and five minutes. The good news is that the bus to Hay leaves from a stop at Hereford station itself.

• Monday to Saturday: the Sargeants Brothers X44 leaves Hereford station at 09:22, 11:22, 13:22, 15:22, 17:22 and 18:53 and reaches Hay Castle on Oxford Road in about an hour. Back from Hay Castle at 07:37, 09:37, 11:37, 13:37, 15:37 and 17:47. It carries on west to Brecon. The operator says onboard tickets are not available on this route at present, so buy before you travel. No service on bank holidays, Christmas Day, Boxing Day or New Year's Day.
• Sundays and bank holiday Mondays: Yeomans Travel's 39A runs from Hereford station at 10:15, 13:15 and 16:15, via Madley, Peterchurch and Dorstone, and back from Hay Castle at 11:25, 14:55 and 17:25.

Those are the timetables the operators published for 2026; check the day's times on their sites before you set out.

Driving and parking

The main car park is on Oxford Road, opposite the castle, run by Powys County Council. On the council's tariff from 1 August 2025 it is £1.50 up to an hour, £2.50 for one to two hours, £3.50 for two to four hours and £5 for over four hours, free overnight, and you can pay with the PayByPhone app. There is a smaller short-stay car park in the Market Square. The Hay Castle Trust says the Oxford Road car park has free electric vehicle charging points. On Thursdays the centre is busy with the market, so arrive early.

If something goes wrong

Hay Medical Centre on Forest Road runs a walk-in Minor Injury Service from 8am to 6.30pm on weekdays, for registered and non-registered patients. At weekends the nearest Minor Injury Unit is at Brecon War Memorial Hospital, 8am to 8pm every day. The nearest A&E is the County Hospital in Hereford, over the border, open 24 hours. For anything that is not an emergency, ring NHS 111 Wales.