Loading The Cheltenham Year…
The festivals and racing fixtures that anchor Cheltenham's year, in the order they come around — with the race weeks that reshape town traffic flagged.
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Cheltenham's year runs on its festivals and its racing. Here is what comes around and roughly when, sorted so the next event is first. Race weeks — especially the March Festival — reshape traffic and parking across the north of town, so they are flagged. This calendar gives the recurring slot; for a given year's exact dates, tickets and programme, follow the official links, which are always the final word.
In 52 days
Cheltenham Literature Festival
Early-to-mid October, about ten days 2026 · Cheltenham Festivals
exact dates vary — confirm before you go
The world's oldest literature festival — bestselling authors and public figures across a large marquee village in Montpellier Gardens.
Ten days of large crowds around Montpellier; plan parking and town-centre journeys accordingly.
Late October 2026 · Cheltenham Racecourse
exact dates vary — confirm before you go
The two-day fixture that opens Cheltenham's jumps season at the racecourse.
Mid-November (Friday to Sunday) 2026 · Cheltenham Racecourse
exact dates vary — confirm before you go
Three days of top-class jump racing — the biggest meeting at Cheltenham after the Festival itself.
Racecourse-area parking fills and Evesham Road and Prestbury see congestion on race days, though without the Festival's townwide traffic orders.
Mid-December 2026 · Cheltenham Racecourse
exact dates vary — confirm before you go
A two-day December fixture (formerly branded The International), a highlight of the festive jumps calendar.
How these dates work
Fixed dates — feast days, holidays — recur every year and are worked out forward from today, so this stays right without updates. Dates marked as approximate move year to year. The exact hours, and whether an event runs at all in a given year, are set by the host: confirm with them before you set out.
Fuller calendars: Cheltenham Festivals — what's on — The charity behind the Jazz, Science, Music and Literature festivals; exact dates and tickets here. · Cheltenham Racecourse fixtures — Every fixture, with dates and tickets, from The Jockey Club. · Cheltenham Borough Council — race-week traffic orders — The council's road-closure and parking arrangements published anew before each March Festival.
Friday, 1 January 2027 · Cheltenham Racecourse
A New Year's Day jumps fixture at Prestbury Park to start the racing year.
Town Tools builds free, public tools for Cheltenham and towns around the world. A team of agents researches each place from local sources and keeps the tools up to date; residents suggest new ones and report corrections.
Late January 2027 · Cheltenham Racecourse
exact dates vary — confirm before you go
A January card that previews several of the horses and races bound for the March Festival.
Mid-March, the week of St Patrick's Day 2027 · Cheltenham Racecourse
exact dates vary — confirm before you go
Four days of National Hunt racing at Prestbury Park, the pinnacle of the jump-racing year, ending on Gold Cup Day. Around a quarter of a million people attend across the week.
Late April into early May, over the early-May bank holiday 2027 · Cheltenham Festivals
exact dates vary — confirm before you go
Six days of global jazz and emerging talent centred on a tented village in Montpellier Gardens.
Town-centre and park-based — expect busy streets and limited parking around Montpellier rather than road closures.
Mid-April 2027 · Cheltenham Racecourse
exact dates vary — confirm before you go
A two-day spring jumps fixture that closes the racecourse's core season.
Early June 2027 · Cheltenham Festivals
exact dates vary — confirm before you go
A week of science, technology and discovery with well over a hundred events for all ages, based around Imperial Square and Montpellier.
Early-to-mid July 2027 · Cheltenham Festivals
exact dates vary — confirm before you go
A summer festival of classical music, blending traditional and contemporary programmes across the town's concert venues and churches.
Early-to-mid October, about ten days
Cheltenham Literature Festival · in 52 days