The Vans Warped Tour is a simply iconic event for fans of pop-punk/emo/punk-rock/hardcore/alternative music. The initial intense multi-city run from 1995 to 2018 certainly left a mark on many, me included (I attended many in Montreal, and the “final” year in Boston). I was very excited when it returned with a 3-date run in 2025 for the 30th anniversary… so much so that I attended 2 of the 3 (1 in General Admission and 1 in VIP), including just a few days ago.
Now Warped is back again for 2026! And 2 locations have been added, in Canada and Mexico!
The exclusive presale for savvy travelers who have an American Express card is now live (it’s one of many card benefits; one we actually don’t often cover since it’s not as nice as free airport lounge access, free checked bags, etc.). However, it is tempting to buy tickets at the last minute…
We love helping you travel for less with flight deals, travel rewards, and travel content here at Flytrippers, and traveling for unique experiences like festivals is one of our favorite kinds of trips (I’ve traveled for many events, including the similar When We Were Young Festival for the past 4 years).
Here’s our complete guide to the Vans Warped Tour 2026.
What is the Vans Warped Tour 2026?
The Vans Warped Tour is now basically a series of music festivals for the pop-punk/emo/punk-rock/hardcore/alternative community. It is pretty similar to the traveling tours of the past, even though it’s not an actual “tour” anymore. It’s not meant to be a nostalgia fest, though; newer artists are prominently featured, too.
Here’s an overview of the Vans Warped Tour 2026:
- A series of music festivals
- 5 separate events (list in next section)
- With non-music activities as a complement
- All 5 festivals are 2-day events
- Sat-Sun in the US and in Mexico
- Fri-Sat in Canada (for some reason)
- Different lineups every day
- From about 12PM to 11PM both days
- 70+ different artists over both days
- Multiple stages spread out on the site
- Different lineups for every location
- Although there’s quite a bit of overlap
- There are 2 ticket options
- General admission (GA)
- VIP (details below)
- The event uses a tiered pricing model
- Prices rise as they sell out
- There are approximately 80,000 tickets per day
- Official tickets are quite affordable at the start
- For non-subsidized festival standards in 2026
- 149 USD in the US
- 208 CAD in Canada
- TBD in Mexico (not on sale yet)
- Resale tickets can be more affordable later
- There’s also obviously a risk that it’s more expensive
- I just paid 96 USD total for a resale ticket for Orlando 2025
I’ll start with the most important information about the event.
I’ll also soon share a post about what it’s actually like to attend the Vans Warped Tour from both of my experiences in 2025; you can get it first by joining the 100,000+ savvy travelers who receive our free newsletter with all our travel deals, tips, and more.
When and where is the Vans Warped Tour 2026?
The Vans Warped Tour is no longer touring from coast to coast on an intense run of 40+ dates like in the glory days, but you do have 5 locations and dates to choose from in 2026.
If you need/want to travel to one of them, below I have sections with great tips about traveling to the festival and tips on which one to choose.
Here are the 5 Vans Warped Tour events in 2026:
- Washington, DC (June 13-14)
- Long Beach, CA (July 25-26)
- Montréal, QC (August 21-22)
- México City, MX (September 12-13)
- Orlando, FL (November 14-15)
Washington, DC (June 13-14)
Venue: RFK Stadium Campus, a few Metro stops from the city center
Long Beach, CA (July 25-26)
Venue: Shoreline Waterfront, very far from Downtown LA
Montréal, QC (August 21-22)
Venue: Parc Jean-Drapeau, 1 Metro stop from Downtown
México City, MX (September 12-13)
Venue: Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez, a few metro stops from the city center
Orlando, FL (November 14-15)
Venue: Camping World Stadium Campus, in a terrible area in the middle of nowhere
Is it worth going to the Vans Warped Tour 2026?
It’s definitely worth going if you like this type of music. I unreservedly recommend attending. I had an incredible time both times in 2025. I’m definitely going back in 2026.
I enjoyed it so much in Washington that I went back in Orlando even if I certainly wasn’t planning to attend 2 of the 3 in 2025 (it helped that I had to fly there anyway to complete my JetBlue flight challenge to get 350,000 points).
Sure, it’s not the exact same thing as back in the day (what is, am I right?), but it’s still a phenomenal weekend filled with amazing music and an amazing community of like-minded people.
It’s a tiring 2 days if you move from one stage to another nonstop for 12 hours for both days, like I did both times… but it’s so much fun.
How to buy tickets for the Vans Warped Tour 2026?
You can buy tickets to the Vans Warped Tour 2026 on the official website or on resale websites like StubHub and Vivid Seats (those are the 2 I use very regularly myself).
The official website is certainly simpler.
Right now, there’s an Amex Presale for the Montreal festival. You need to pay with an Amex card; thankfully, if you’re a savvy traveler, you always certainly have at least one! If you sadly don’t, you need to wait until Wednesday.
For the Vans Warped Tour 2025, last-minute resale tickets in both Washington and Orlando were going for way less than face value (might have been the case in Long Beach too, but I didn’t look at those since I never considered going).
I paid the 149 USD face value for Washington as soon as the presale started. It was a “new” event and I wasn’t sure prices would go down, and I didn’t want to risk it. Especially since it’s so cheap, at least compared to When We Were Young’s face value price of 425 USD for a single day!
I ended up selling them since I got VIP passes to cover the event. I sold them for a bit less than I paid. Seeing that, for Orlando, I checked resale prices regularly and waited for the day before the event, and bought a resale ticket for 96 USD total on StubHub.
That’s also been my experience for all 4 years of the When We Were Young festival, for my 22 USD tickets to Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour (I’m not a Swiftie at all, but $20 is $20), for almost all my many concerts I attend every year, and for almost all my sporting events I’ve ever attended.
That said, there’s obviously a risk. Tickets could also triple in price. It’s very hard to predict this. Especially in cities like Montreal and Mexico City, where the Vans Warped Tour has not stopped in many years.
(The last one in Montreal was in 2014 and there was only 1 ever in México City, in 2017.. and that was in fact 1 hour away from the city, too!)
In Montreal, official tickets have already moved to a higher tier on the very first day of the presale (yesterday). But the same thing happened in Washington… so it really depends on your risk tolerance.
As for the risk of buying a resale ticket itself, if you buy through StubHub or Vivid Seats, the risk is very minimal. StubHub even has a “Fan Protect Guarantee” that will provide you with a ticket if yours doesn’t work for some reason. I’ve never had an issue in dozens of instances of buying resale tickets, but of course, the risk is not zero (unlike with official tickets).
Is it worth getting VIP at the Vans Warped Tour 2026?
As with most things in life, whether getting a VIP ticket is worth it will depend on each person’s preferences. I very much enjoyed the VIP experience in Washington in 2025; of course, it’s better than GA. Whether it’s better enough to justify the price difference is up to you.
VIP sections are somewhat to the side of the stages. So if you want to be in the center at the very front, you actually don’t need a VIP ticket. If you want to join the moshpit or crowdsurf, that’s not happening in VIP.
However, the front of the VIP section is way less crowded than the GA section, obviously. It’s certainly much easier to get close to the main stages (and the 2nd set of major stages) in VIP. That’s what I loved.
It’s probably the fact that I’m a male, but I never really understand why people say “VIP is worth it for the toilets.” The wait for GA toilets was non-existent for us, and never seemed that bad for female toilets either. And sure, VIP toilets are a bit cleaner, but paying hundreds of dollars for that, when it lasts 30 seconds 3-4 times in a day, seems extreme to me (it really wasn’t that bad in GA).
Others say that VIP is worth it for the food/drink line-ups. That I completely disagree with. I’ve never waited long for food in the GA section. Some say the VIP line at the festival site entrance is nice, but there was little to no wait for GA attendees on the 4 days (and I always arrived when doors opened or shortly after).
So the main benefit of VIP is truly getting closer to the action more easily. Oh, and you get free candy all day, but I don’t think that’s worth hundreds of dollars!
As I said, I got VIP in Washington for free and am very grateful. It was amazing.
My press passes even gave me a sort of backstage access, and I ran into Simple Plan’s singer there and got to say hi. It was great to see one of Canada’s most successful acts once again.
But I don’t think I’d pay the price difference, because I’m cheap and want to keep my money for traveling or investing, and because I had a very good time with my GA ticket in Orlando (I prefer going to 2 festivals in GA than just 1 in VIP).
I even got close to the main stages in the GA section many times surprisingly easily, despite the very dense crowds.
How to travel to attend the Vans Warped Tour 2026?
Traveling for festivals (or events in general) does have slightly different logistics than a normal trip. If you’ve never traveled for a festival or event, make sure you follow these pro tips to make the most of your experience.
Here are the logistics of traveling for the Vans Warped Tour 2026:
- Consider all event locations/dates if you’re not close to one
- To choose the cheapest one (if you want to save money)
- The total cost (flights, hotels, transportation) varies a lot
- The event itself is pretty similar (apart from the lineup)
- Book accommodations right away if you’re even slightly considering going
- Choose a fully refundable option, so it’s completely risk-free
- It locks in a price that might very well be the lowest you’ll ever find
- Waiting last minute is NOT a good idea during a festival
- Keep rechecking accommodation prices regularly
- Recheck your own choice’s price (it might go down)
- Check for other options that might show up or now be cheaper
- Prices tend to go up during events, but there are exceptions
- Get a new welcome bonus to get free hotels
- Plan ahead to find cheaper flights if you need some
- Look at prices now and regularly to know what’s a good price
- Get a new welcome bonus to get free flights
- Learn and try all 31 best tips to find cheaper flights
- Choose a flight that arrives a bit early
- To not miss the event in case of flight delays
- Or book a fully-refundable backup flight if you prefer
- Plan your transportation to/from the event site
- Public transportation is always the cheapest option
- Uber/taxis are the worst for this due to surge pricing
- Rental cars and parking fees can vary a lot
- Extend your trip to explore the city if you can (even for only 1 day)
- There’s so much to do and see in these 5 destinations
- 1 day to visit is infinitely better than 0 days
What is the Vans Warped Tour 2026 lineup?
The Vans Warped Tour 2026 lineup has not been announced yet. The date for the lineup reveal has not been announced either. Sign up for our free newsletter to get this updated guide as soon as it’s revealed, in addition to plenty of great travel content.
In 2025, the lineup was revealed one artist per day from late January to late February. The concept is to make sure all bands get exposure, rather than everyone focusing on the headliners. In fact, Vans Warped Tour was never about the headliners, but rather the wide breadth of amazing artists. Some of my favorites weren’t even on the biggest stages.
Even the event posters defocus the headliners by being in alphabetical order rather than like the typical festival lineup visuals.
To give you an idea of the lineups, here are the ones for all 3 Vans Warped Tour events in 2025.
Washington:
Long Beach:
Orlando:
When will set times for the Vans Warped Tour 2026 be announced?
The set times for the Vans Warped Tour 2026 will be announced when the doors open on the day of, and not a minute sooner! And us Vans Warped Tour veterans would not have it any other way.
This won’t surprise anyone who’s attended before. The tradition is that set times are only revealed on-site, on a giant inflatable installation. It’s even a key part of the Warped Tour lore.
For those interested in the reason behind this, back in the days of the full tour, the set times would change from one day to the next based on how great the bands performed.
That’s no longer true, but I for one am glad they are keeping the inflatable for nostalgia’s sake. Yes, some people hate not knowing which time (or even which day) an artist is playing in advance, but that’s the essence of the Vans Warped Tour!
Now, it’s worth mentioning that you’ll sometimes be able to know which day a specific artist will be playing. For example, mgk was performing in Orlando in 2025 (Nov. 15-16) and he was announced as the Grey Cup halftime show artist (Nov. 16). So it was pretty obvious that he was performing on Nov. 15 at Warped Tour.
Some bands will explicitly list 1 of the 2 days in their tour plan, and others will say “See you Sunday” on social media. But for the most part, you really don’t know until the 1st morning even if the organizers and bands know.
Which Vans Warped Tour 2026 event should I attend?
If you don’t live close to one of them, the best one to attend will depend on your preferences in terms of lineup, but also in terms of the cost. If you do live close to one, that’s logically the best choice unless the lineups are really more tempting elsewhere.
Your total cost will vary because the 3 main parts of any travel budget differ across all 5 cities.
Flights
Depending on where you live, flights to Orlando will probably be the cheapest since it’s a leisure destination (not business). But it obviously depends; plane ticket prices vary a ton.
Use Skyscanner to compare all airlines and all booking sites. Read our 31 tips to find cheaper flights.
Accommodation
Depending on what type of accommodation you are looking for (very related to the 3rd part), some cities are better on those dates. México City is obviously the least expensive… but the flights are more expensive. It all depends on each person and their preferences!
Use Trivago to compare all accommodations and all booking sites. Read our 6 tips to find cheaper accommodation.
Transportation
I loved that the Washington event was directly accessible by Metro. I hated that Orlando was in the middle of nowhere in a city that’s quite honestly a terrible, endless sprawl of suburbs.
The Montreal event will be accessible by metro, as will México Cty. Long Beach is also accessible by metro (yes, LA has transit; shocking), but it’s so far from Downtown LA that I didn’t even consider going there.
If you prefer a rental car and parking, then the price completely changes, too.
What is it like to attend the Vans Warped Tour?
Don’t miss part 2 of this guide with a detailed review of the 2025 Vans Warped Tour experience in both Washington and Orlando very soon.
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Summary
With this guide to the Vans Warped Tour 2026, you are now ready to make the most of your experience at one of the most iconic music events ever. With 5 locations and dates to choose from in 2026, I highly recommend attending if you love pop-punk/emo/punk-rock/hardcore/alternative music. Don’t miss Part 2 soon.
What would you like to know about the Vans Warped Tour 2026? Tell us in the comments below.
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Featured image: Vans Warped Tour (photo credit: Andrew D’Amours/Flytrippers)
