Travel & Tourism

Travel warning issued as more than 100,000 people head to Parklife 2025 this weekend

Festivalgoers are urged to 'plan their journeys'.

Emily Sergeant Emily Sergeant - 10th June 2025

Parklife 2025 kicks of a thrilling summer of musical events in Manchester this weekend, but attendees should expect disruption.

Manchester‘s major music festival will once again be taking over Heaton Park this weekend (15 and 16 June), with headliners Charli XCX and 50 Cent, alongside other huge names and festival favourites like Jorja Smith, Bicep, Peggy Gou, Rudimental, Confidence Man, and countless others.

But with all the action, of course, comes the annual travel warning.

That’s right, just as we’ve come to expect every year, Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM) is urging anyone attending Parklife, or anyone travelling around the Heaton Park area, to ‘plan their journeys’ by public transport ahead of time, and allow plenty of time for travel too.

Not only are around 110,000 people expected to make the journey Parklife this weekend, but there’s also events on at Co-op Live and Old Trafford too, so it’s all making for a busy weekend on the transport network.

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TfGM wants festivalgoers to use trams and dedicated shuttle bus services to get to and from Heaton Park as much as possible to avoid disruption, and it’s also advised to pre-purchase travel tickets on the Bee Network app to make the process smoother too.

Anyone planning to get the tram to Heaton Park should travel from Victoria station, according to TfGM, as this will help safely manage the demand for transport and allow trams to run every six minutes.

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Both Heaton Park and Bowker Vale stops are just minutes from the festival gates.

A travel warning has been issued as more than 100,000 people head to Parklife 2025 this weekend / Credit: TfGM / Parklife

Parklife shuttle buses will run from Lever Street in the Northern Quarter from mid-morning to the last bus at 4:30pm – with drop-off being right inside the festival site.

After the event, returning trams will run from Bowker Vale to the city centre until 1:30am, but the Heaton Park stop will close at 9pm. The last services from Bowker Vale to Bury will run at 12:46am on Saturday and 12:44pm on Sunday.

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Return shuttle buses to Manchester city centre will run from inside the park in a temporary bus station, until the site is clear.

Anyone travelling at the weekend, but not to Parklife, can expect roads and public transport be ‘busier than usual’, TfGM admits, especially with the other events at Co-op Live and Old Trafford.

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Extra staff and TravelSafe Support Officers will be ‘out and about’ across the transport network to help passengers throughout the weekend.

Key travel and ticket advice for getting to Parklife, as well as general travel advice for the busy weekend ahead, is available now at on the Bee Network website here.

Featured Image – TfGM

Travel & Tourism

Adventurous cat caught taking a train from Yorkshire to Manchester Airport

Daisy Jackson Daisy Jackson Adventurous cat caught taking a train from Yorkshire to Manchester Airport

Train conductors have reunited an adventurous senior cat with her owners after she was caught taking a train all the way to Manchester Airport.

15-year-old Angel was discovered on board an hour-long TransPennine Express service from West Yorkshire to the airport.

The black-and-white moggy had been strolling along the train making friends with passengers on board, following conductor Will Saunders through the carriages.

It turns out Angel is something of a local legend in Brighouse, and has been caught riding rail replacement buses in the past too, as well as making herself at home in the local pub.

On this occasion, she fancied herself a little holiday and hopped on board the 3.55am service from Brighouse to Manchester Airport.

Will kept a close eye on the gorgeous cat all the way to Manchester Airport, where they settled her into a cardboard box at the station.

Will then took Angel home to Stockport for the night to keep her safe, later discovering a phone number on Angel’s collar.

He and his partner then drove Angel all the way back home to Brighouse.

Will Saunders, conductor at TPE, said: “As a cat lover myself, I couldn’t leave her to fend for herself. She was so calm and confident on the train – it was like she’d done it before!

“I’m just glad we could keep her safe and get her back home. She’s clearly a much-loved cat.”

Andrew McClements, Customer Experience & Transformation Director at TPE, added: “Our teams are used to helping customers reach their destinations, but this was definitely one of our more unusual passengers.

“We’re just glad we could make sure this adventurous feline made it home safely.”

Now back where she belongs, Angel’s tale shows that even the most curious traveller can count on TPE to help them land on their paws.

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Featured image: Transpennine Express

Travel & Tourism

The three-day Switzerland train pass that costs less than a journey from Manchester to London

Daisy Jackson Daisy Jackson The three-day Switzerland train pass that costs less than a journey from Manchester to London

Switzerland has the most famous landscapes in the entire world – and there’s a three-day travel pass you can use to explore that costs less than the train from Manchester to London.

Whether it’s a view of the Matterhorn and the Swiss Alps, cruising past lakes, or zipping around cities Geneva or Zurich, there’s a single ticket that can do it all.

And (slightly depressingly) it costs less than a peak train ticket between Manchester and London, for three days of unlimited travel around an entire country. Sigh.

The Swiss Travel Pass includes rides on the world-famous Glacier Express panoramic train, which weaves through the mountains of the Swiss Alps between Zermatt and St Moritz.

It also gets passengers unlimited travel on other panoramic train journeys like the Bernina Express and Gotthard Panorama Express.

As well as all that train travel, the Swiss Travel Pass includes buses, boats, cable cars and public transport in more than 90 cities.

AND, gets you into 500 different museums.

The three-day Swiss Travel Pass costs less than a journey from Manchester to London. Credit: Unsplash, Victor He
The three-day Swiss Travel Pass costs less than a journey from Manchester to London. Credit: Unsplash, Victor He

While Switzerland is one of the most expensive countries in Europe to visit, you can’t argue with the price of the Swiss Travel Pass – just £243.20 for unlimited journeys over three days.

Again – an on-peak train return to London from Manchester costs £386.00…

If three days isn’t enough, there are also Swiss Travel Passes that run for four, six, eight or even 15 consecutive days.

The Swiss Travel Pass is a rail pass that lets you travel around Switzerland as much as you want by train, bus and boat for a set amount of travel days.

You can use a Swiss Travel Pass if you’re a tourist and permanently reside outside Switzerland and the Principality of Liechtenstein.

You can see more about it and buy yours HERE.

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Featured image: Unsplash, Johannes Hofmann on Unsplash

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