Festivals

State of Play

Over a third have had sex at a festival

Just how many people have had sex at a festival?

Festival Finder

Ever since Woodstock in the ‘60s, festivals have had a reputation for being massive love-ins – with people hooking up all over the place. Several days of close proximity to thousands of people is sure to get the pheromones working.

The results of our State of Play survey show if there’s three of you going to your next festival and your two friends strike out, then it’s your lucky day. But if you want to be that one-in-three, you need to consider a few other factors to improve your chances of a romp at a festival.



Those chances skyrocket if you go to a festival with a romantic partner rather than if you attend as a singleton. Makes sense – it cuts out the need to chat up strangers and you’re likely to have your own tent together. Want to boost those odds even further? People with kids are also more likely to have sex at a festival. This might come as a surprise at first, but punters are seizing the opportunity during a weekend break away from the kids.

Don’t lose heart if you end up at a festival unattached though; the rate of people who have had sex with someone new is rising. Arguably thanks to increased popularity of dating apps, trysts between strangers are ever-prevalent, with 7% of people starting meaningful relationships at festivals.

Scoping out a festival hook up should not be confined to the bar either. Check out the shower queue where you are more likely meet people who are up-for-it than those who have been relying on wet wipes and deodorant alone. That said, there’s still over a third of people who have had sex at a festival who also admit to not showering as well. Filthy.

Don’t have a tent to take your new amour back to? You might want to follow in the footsteps of the 11% of non-campers who have had sex at a festival. Ticketmaster does not have the data telling us where these hook ups took place, so you’ll have to use your imagination on that front.

If, after all this, you decide you don’t want to try your chances, you’re in good company; well over half of our respondents have never hooked up at a festival. It seems for most people, that a festival is all about the music.


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Header photo by Sarah Koury/Reading Festival