I'm a Cheltenham Festival veteran but ditched it to watch the action in Benidorm - and it SAVED me a fortune

The early bird ticket prices for Cheltenham 2025 are out.

But even at 358 days’ notice – it’s now too late. And punters like myself might never be back. It’s heartbreaking to admit it. But the allure of attending The Festival in person has gone. Forget flights to Bristol. For us, it was a trip to Benidorm this time. And who could blame us?

At the racecourse these days, it’s £7.50 for a pint of Guinness. At The Winning Post pub, just yards from the beautiful Levante beach, it’s more than half of that. Ultimately, that’s the crux of the matter. Money. And Cheltenham organisers hiking up their prices every 12 months is now costing them big time. Attendance figures for this year were down from 2023, which were lower than 2022. That’s a worrying trend for the UK’s biggest and best meeting. But unless they do something about it – and fast – more and more racegoers will be heading abroad to see it.

That’s what me and a couple of pals did last week. And we’ve already been on Skyscanner pricing it up for next year. My first Cheltenham experience was in 2016 and it was sensational. I thought I'd be going back forever.

A squad of us rented a house in the town and effectively made the nearest boozer our base camp. It was carnage. Memories were made and everywhere you went, the atmosphere was electric. That roar on the first day as the horses lined up for the Supreme was unforgettable. Wow. But you go back the following year expecting it to be the same. And it never is.

The bevvy prices have gone up. The taxi queues are longer. But it’s Cheltenham. So you return, ever faithful. Only for the weather to let you down. One year, we found ourselves huddled around a TV in a course bar, screwing our eyes to try and see who won the