What is Roskilde Festival?
Roskilde Festival is the great music festival of northern Europe. For eight days at the turn of June and July, the fields on the edge of Roskilde, a cathedral town half an hour west of Copenhagen, become a temporary city of more than 130,000 people, with tents stretching to the horizon, art installations, activist camps, and music on stage after stage.
It began in 1971, when two high school students and a promoter organized a small music festival on the town's showground. Two years later, the Roskilde Foundation took it over, and it has been run as a non-profit ever since, with the surplus going to humanitarian, cultural and youth projects. Since 2014 participants have helped choose which causes receive the money. Much of the work on site is done by volunteers.
The festival's symbol is the Orange Stage, its main stage, first used in 1978 and recognizable by its orange canopy. In 2000, a crowd crush during a Pearl Jam concert there killed nine people, a tragedy that changed safety practices at festivals around the world. Today Roskilde is known as much for its ideals of community, sustainability and activism as for its music.
Its line-ups mix the biggest names of the year with a deliberate spread of genres and countries: rock and pop, hip-hop, electronic music, metal, and artists from Africa, Latin America and Asia who are rarely booked at other big European festivals. More than 170 concerts were planned for 2026.
What to expect
The festival has two halves: a first stretch of camping, smaller stages and parties, and the main music days on the festival grounds.
Saturday to Tuesday
The First Days
The campsite opens on the first Saturday, and the camping area becomes a city of its own, with smaller stages showing new and local acts, workshops, art, a lake to swim in and endless parties among the tents.
Wednesday to Saturday
The Final Days
The main festival grounds open, with headliners on the Orange Stage and big names and discoveries on half a dozen other stages, from early afternoon until late into the night.
Saturday
The naked run
One of the festival's quirkier traditions: on the Saturday, volunteers race naked around a course, with the winners getting tickets for the next year. It's been held since 1999.
Cooling off at the lake by the Roskilde Festival campsite
Photo by Stig Nygaard / flickr · CC BY 2.0
Planning your trip
Getting there
Copenhagen's airport has flights from across Europe and beyond, and trains run from the airport and from Copenhagen Central Station to Roskilde in under half an hour. During the festival, special trains run to a station next to the festival grounds, and shuttle buses run from Roskilde town.
Where to stay
Most people camp, as camping is included in the ticket and the campsite is the heart of the festival. Pre-pitched tents and more comfortable camping options are available at extra cost. Hotels in Roskilde and Copenhagen are an alternative for those who prefer a bed.
What it costs
A full-festival ticket, which includes camping, costs a few hundred euros, and day tickets for the final days are sold too. Denmark is expensive, but food and drink on site are priced for a young crowd, and you can bring your own food to the campsite. Getting to Denmark is the other main cost.
Go like you know
- Collect your cans and cups for the deposit refund; it's how many festival-goers pay for their beer.
- Join one of the camp communities, or create your own.
- Visit Roskilde's Viking Ship Museum and cathedral before or after the festival; both are short walks from the station.
- Budapest's Sziget Festival is the other great week-long festival of European summer, in August.
- For a smaller midsummer celebration in Scandinavia, see Midsummer in Sweden, just across the water.
Frequently asked questions
When is Roskilde Festival?
For eight days at the turn of June and July, usually from the last Saturday of June. In 2026 it ran from June 27 to July 4. The 2027 dates are expected to follow the same pattern; the organizers announce them soon after each festival ends.
Do I need to camp?
No, but most people do, as camping is included in the full ticket and the campsite is where much of the festival's life happens. Day tickets for the final days don't include camping, and visitors can stay in Roskilde or Copenhagen and come in by train.
Where does the money go?
Roskilde is run by a non-profit foundation, and its surplus is donated to humanitarian, cultural and youth causes. Since 2014, festival-goers have had a say in which organizations receive the money, and many of the people working on site are volunteers.
