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Slane · County Meath · 26 & 27 June 2027
Where to stay for Slane Castle
Fontaines D.C. with Hayley Williams, Damien Dempsey and Madra Salach, both nights. Two nights at eighty thousand a night, on a hillside above the Boyne, in a village of 1,445 people. The Saturday sold out before general sale opened.
Get Slane village if you possibly can. You walk home, inside the road closure, in minutes. Nothing else on this page comes close, and it will go first.
Otherwise take Navan. It is the only basecamp with an official coach — a booked seat on a published return, rather than a hope.
Dublin works and has the deepest stock. Drogheda has the rooms and no confirmed way back.
Before you book anything: the last coach leaves as the encore ends
Marathon Coaches, the official operator, runs returns to Dublin on demand between 21:00 and 23:30, and to Navan between 22:00 and 23:30. Last year's Slane show finished at about 23:30.
If the 2027 curfew matches, the last bus home is pulling out while the band is still playing. That is not a scheduling quirk you can work around on the night — it is a decision you make when you book, and it is the reason staying close is worth paying for.
The day, hour by hour
Road · soft closure
Time10:30
2026 precedent. Residents could pass Garda checkpoints with documentation until the full closure.
Road · full closure
Time12:30
You need to be inside the cordon, or parked, hours before the music starts.
Gates
Time15:00
Music from about 15:30. Last entry 21:30 — there is no arriving late.
Finish
Time~23:30
Which is also when the last Dublin coach leaves. That collision is the whole problem.
2027 stage times are not published. The gates-at-15:00, last-entry-21:30, finish-around-23:30 pattern below is the 2026 Luke Combs precedent and is labelled as such throughout.
There is no camping, and that is the whole opportunity
Camping is explicitly banned on the concert site, and there is no official or bundled camping of any kind. For a festival that would be a footnote. For Slane it is the defining fact: a hundred and sixty thousand people across one weekend, and not one of them can sleep where they watched.
The entire nearby camping supply is three small operators. Slane Farm Camping sits 300 metres from the concert grounds and was already selling a Friday-and-Saturday ticket at €66.08 for 2027 when this was written, with Sunday sold separately. Slane Farm Hostel does camping from €12 a head and dorms from €25, and says plainly that prices vary at concert times. Rock Farm is across the river — twenty minutes there, forty minutes back through the village — and had not opened 2027 sales, with no under-12s, no pets, no caravans, and motorhomes on site by 8pm Friday.
That is it. Everything else is a bed somewhere else and a way of getting to it.
Places to stay around Slane and the Boyne Valley
Live pricesThe six basecamps, compared
Ranked by the quality of the route home, not the quality of the room. That is the right order for this event and it is not the order you would guess.
| Base | Verdict | To the site | How you get back | Est. per night | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Slane village | You walk | Minutes on foot A village of 1,445 with two real pubs and a café. | Inside the closure — no transport needed | €120–400 | See stays |
| Navan | Best structured option | ~30 min by coach A proper county town with several hotels and a long tail of B&Bs. | Marathon coach from Navan Park & Ride, €20–30, returns on demand 22:00–23:30 | €110–260 | See stays |
| Dublin city | Deepest stock | ~1 hr by coach Everything, at Dublin prices, on a June weekend. | Marathon from Northwall Quay, €40–60, returns on demand 21:00–23:30 | €180–450 | See stays |
| Drogheda | Stock, no route | ~15 km The biggest accommodation stock of any option, on the M1 and the Belfast line. | No official coach. Route 190 exists; its last departure is unverified. | €120–280 | See stays |
| Kells · Trim · Boyne Valley | Car and queue | 20–40 km Country hotels, and the best of Meath to see in daylight. | Irish Concert Travel serves Kells and Navan; elsewhere you drive | €110–300 | See stays |
| Camping near the site | Closest beds going | 300 m to 40 min Three small operators, and that is the entire supply. | On foot | €12–70 | See stays |
Links are set to Friday 25 to Monday 28 June — the full weekend, because both nights are selling and the road closure makes a same-day arrival unwise.
Base by base, with the trade-offs
Slane village — You walk
Suits: Anyone who can get it. Nothing else on this list comes close.
There is almost nothing here — one hotel, a few guesthouses, a hostel and campsites. It goes first and it carries the biggest premium. If you get Slane, the rest of this page stops mattering to you.
Navan — Best structured option
Suits: Anyone who wants a booked seat home rather than a hope.
The official coach is the point — it is a reserved seat on a published return, which is more than Drogheda or the wider valley can offer. Allow 1.5 hours or more on event day for a 30-minute run.
Dublin city — Deepest stock
Suits: People flying in, and anyone who wants the trip to be about more than one field.
The only option with a guaranteed, bookable, published return. But the last coach leaves at 23:30 against a show that finished at 23:30 last year — so budget to miss the encore or budget to wait.
Drogheda — Stock, no route
Suits: Only readers who have a hotel shuttle confirmed in writing.
Everything about Drogheda is good except the one thing that matters. Hotels here have packaged for Slane before, so ask — but do not book on the assumption that a scheduled bus will be running at midnight, because nobody has published that it will.
Kells · Trim · Boyne Valley — Car and queue
Suits: Groups with a car and patience, or anyone making a weekend of the Boyne Valley.
Real stock, no organised return. Which means the two-hour car park queue is your evening, and then a drive on unlit rural roads after it.
Camping near the site — Closest beds going
Suits: Anyone who would rather walk 300 metres than queue two hours.
Slane Farm Camping is 300 m from the concert grounds and was already selling a Friday-and-Saturday ticket at €66.08 for 2027. Slane Farm Hostel does camping from €12 per person, dorms from €25. Rock Farm is across the river — 20 minutes there, 40 minutes back through the village — with no under-12s, no pets and motorhomes on site by 8pm Friday.
Places to stay
Real properties across Slane, Navan, Drogheda and the wider Boyne Valley. Distances are approximate road distances to the castle, not walking routes.
| Property | Base | Type | To Slane | Night desk | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Conyngham Arms Hotel | Slane village | Hotel | In the village | 24 hours | Check prices |
| Boyne House Slane | Slane village | Guesthouse | In the village | Ask first | Check prices |
| Slane Farm Hostel | Slane village | Hostel, self-catering and camping | Adjoins the castle land | Ask first | Check prices |
| Rock Farm Slane | Slane village | Glamping and motorhomes | 20 min there, 40 min back | Ask first | Check prices |
| Newgrange Hotel | Navan | Hotel | ~15 km | 24 hours | Check prices |
| Ardboyne Hotel | Navan | Hotel | ~15 km | 24 hours | Check prices |
| Bellinter House | Navan | Country house hotel | ~20 km | Ask first | Check prices |
| Killyon Guest House | Navan | Guesthouse | ~15 km | Ask first | Check prices |
| Ma Dwyer's Guest Accommodation | Navan | Guesthouse | ~15 km | Ask first | Check prices |
| Athlumney Manor B&B | Navan | B&B | ~15 km | Ask first | Check prices |
| Boyne Valley Hotel and Country Club | Drogheda | Hotel | ~15 km | 24 hours | Check prices |
| The D Hotel Drogheda | Drogheda | Hotel | ~15 km | 24 hours | Check prices |
| Scholars Townhouse Hotel | Drogheda | Townhouse hotel | ~15 km | Ask first | Check prices |
| Westcourt Hotel Drogheda | Drogheda | Hotel | ~15 km | 24 hours | Check prices |
| Killowen House Drogheda | Drogheda | Guesthouse | ~15 km | Ask first | Check prices |
| Headfort Arms Hotel | Kells | Hotel | ~30 km | 24 hours | Check prices |
| Castle Arch Hotel Trim | Trim | Hotel | ~35 km | 24 hours | Check prices |
| Dunboyne Castle Hotel and Spa | Boyne Valley | Country house hotel | ~40 km | 24 hours | Check prices |
Every way out, ranked
1. Marathon Coaches — the official service Reliable
Already selling for both 2027 nights. Dublin from Northwall Quay at €40 on sale, €60 regular, dropping at the transport hub on the N2 south of the village, about an hour but allow two and a half on the day. Navan from the Park & Ride at €20–30, about thirty minutes, allow an hour and a half.
The catch: Returns run on demand between 21:00 and 23:30 from Dublin and 22:00 and 23:30 from Navan. Last year's show finished at 23:30. Read that twice.
2. Your own car, pre-registered Usually fine
Parking is free but must be registered in advance — for 2027 the Irish Examiner reports a deadline of 1 May 2027 via the venue website. You are allocated a car park by departure direction rather than choosing one.
The catch: Five car parks, each a 20–30 minute walk from the site, and the promoter's own guidance is a minimum two-hour wait to get out, with coaches given priority on exit. Add three hours to your travel time in each direction and you have the real picture.
3. Scheduled buses Usually fine
Collins Coaches route 980 runs Abbey Street in Dublin direct to Chapel Street in Slane in 55 minutes, then a 23-minute walk. Route 190 is the Drogheda–Slane–Navan artery and the only scheduled link to either town.
The catch: Nobody publishes what time the last 190 leaves Slane on a Saturday or Sunday night, and we could not establish it. Do not build a night around a bus whose last departure you have not personally confirmed on the TFI journey planner.
4. Private coach from your own town Usually fine
Irish Concert Travel runs Slane services from Sligo, Galway, Athlone, Cavan, Mullingar, Kells, Navan and others, departing 30 minutes after the concert ends. Official 2027 services also run from Belfast, Cork, Dublin and Limerick.
The catch: The drop-off is 2km from the castle, a 30–40 minute walk each way. 2027 Slane services were not yet listed when this was written.
5. The train Not a plan
There is no station at Slane. The nearest is Drogheda, 15km away on the Dublin–Belfast line.
The catch: Every candidate last departure from Drogheda we found fell before about 22:40 — before the show ends — and there is no confirmed connection from Slane to Drogheda at that hour anyway. Rail gets you to the region on the Saturday morning. It does not get you home.
6. Taxi Useless
No dedicated taxi arrangement is published either way.
The catch: A village of 1,445 inside a full road closure with Garda checkpoints, 80,000 people leaving at once, and car parks that take two hours to clear. This is judgement rather than reporting, but treat a taxi at 23:30 as a lottery ticket.
Things that will catch you out
The last coach leaves as the encore ends
Marathon's final Dublin departure is 23:30. The 2026 show finished at about 23:30. If 2027 keeps the same curfew, the coach you booked is pulling out while the band is still on. Decide in advance whether you are leaving three songs early or waiting — and know that waiting means waiting with tens of thousands of others.
Two hours to get out of the car park
That is the promoter's own guidance, not a worst case, and it comes after a 20–30 minute walk back to the car. The official advice is to allow at least three additional hours of travel time in each direction. Coaches are released before cars.
Register for parking by 1 May 2027
Parking is free but must be registered in advance through the venue website, and the Irish Examiner reports a 1 May 2027 deadline — far earlier than 2026's five-days-before window. Miss it and you do not have a car park. Illegally parked cars are towed and clamped.
The road shuts at half twelve
In 2026 there was a soft closure from 10:30 and a full closure from 12:30, with Garda checkpoints, for gates that opened at 15:00. Arriving in the afternoon is not a plan. And no vehicles are routed via the Kells Road.
No re-entry, and screenshots do not work
Once you are in, you are in — leaving ends your night. Download your ticket to your phone in advance rather than screenshotting it, because the barcodes are live and update. Under-16s must be accompanied throughout by a parent or guardian over 25, and anyone unaccompanied is refused entry with no refund.
Umbrellas out, soft bottles in
Banned: camping, collapsible chairs, umbrellas, glass, cans, alcohol, flags larger than A3, e-scooters, disposable vapes, professional cameras, flares. Hard plastic, metal and glass reusables are refused — but soft collapsible water bottles are allowed. Given the site is a steep grass hill above a river and you cannot put up an umbrella, a hooded waterproof is the only answer.
There is no official camping, and the nearby supply is three operators
Camping is explicitly banned on the concert site. Slane Farm Camping at 300 metres was already selling a 2027 Friday-and-Saturday ticket at €66.08 when this was written; Slane Farm Hostel does camping from €12 per person and dorms from €25; Rock Farm had not opened 2027 sales. That is the entire close-in supply for 160,000 people.
The site is a steep hill, and it is not kind
Sloping grass and gravel throughout, genuinely difficult for anyone with mobility issues, and no place for anything with a heel. Accessible parking on the Red route is 620 metres from the site on a gravelled path — the shortest accessible route. The Green approach from the Dublin side runs through woodland and is the least suitable.
The village has about 350 pub seats for 80,000 people
Boyle's of Slane holds 150 to 200 including the beer garden. The Village Inn stocks to the headliner. Silly Sid's switches to food trucks for the weekend. If the plan is a pint in the village first, that is a 10am plan, not a 1pm one — and the road shuts at 12:30 regardless.
Stay out of the Boyne
The official notice puts it in capitals: under no circumstances enter the River Boyne, dangerous undercurrents at all times. The site runs down to the water and it is warm in late June. People try.
What the weather actually does
Late June in Meath is Ireland's best shot at warmth and its worst shot at certainty. June 2026 was exceptional — Phoenix Park had its warmest June in 127 years, Dunsany in Meath broke its all-time record for highest minimum temperature at 19.3°C — and yet Met Éireann still recorded every rainfall total above the long-term average. Warm and bright is likely. Dry is not guaranteed, and 2026 is not a promise.
It matters because the site is a steep grass-and-gravel hill above a river, umbrellas are banned, and the walk back to the car is twenty to thirty minutes before you join a two-hour queue. Boots and a hooded waterproof, not heels and an umbrella.
Checked and last updated 4 September 2026. Transport times and prices change — we re-verify before each edition.