Mission Bayfest runs Friday 16 – Sunday 18 October 2026 at Mariner's Point Park, right on the water in Mission Beach. It's a three-day festival — the 2026 lineup is headlined by Rebelution, Kolohe Kai and The Offspring, with Steel Pulse, The Movement, Common Kings, SOJA and The Interrupters also on a long bill. Doors open at 3:00 PM on Friday and at noon on Saturday and Sunday.
Mariner's Point sits at the south end of Mission Bay, a few minutes from Belmont Park and the Mission Beach boardwalk. It's a beautiful spot for a festival. Getting to it in a car for three consecutive days is the annoying part.
The three-day parking maths
A one-day festival is a parking problem you solve once. A three-day festival in a beach neighbourhood is the same problem three times — and by Saturday afternoon the street parking around Mission Bay and Mission Beach is thoroughly picked over.
The festival's own answer is a free lot at Hospitality Point, across the water from the venue, with a free shuttle to the gate. It works. It's also a drive, a park and a shuttle queue at both ends of the night, three nights running.
If you're staying locally, the calculation changes completely. Most Mission Beach and Pacific Beach accommodation is within a couple of miles of Mariner's Point — an easy cart ride to the edge of the festival, and no parking search at either end of the night.
Why a cart works for this one specifically
Three things line up:
- It's a short, flat, slow-speed run — up to a point. Mission Boulevard and the streets through Mission Beach and Pacific Beach are posted at 35 mph or under, which is exactly where a street-legal Low-Speed Vehicle is permitted to drive. West Mission Bay Drive is not. It's posted 45 mph, and it is the only road into Mariner's Point — so you cannot legally drive a cart to the gate. Ride down to the south end of Mission Beach, park it there, and walk the last few minutes. An LSV may cross a faster road at an intersection; it may not drive along one.
- It's three days, not one. A single rental covers the whole weekend, and our multi-day rate drops after the first day.
- Six seats. Festival groups are rarely two people. One cart replaces two cars — and two parking spaces — for the entire weekend.
A cart also solves the end-of-night problem. You're not waiting on a rideshare in a crowd of several thousand people all trying to leave at once.
Practical notes
- Don't drink and drive a cart. A street-legal cart is a motor vehicle and DUI law applies to it exactly as it applies to a car. If the festival plan involves drinking, plan the ride home accordingly — that's not boilerplate, it's the actual law.
- Lights after dark. Our carts have headlights and are road-legal at night, but sets run into the evening — drive it back to where you're staying, don't leave it parked near the venue overnight.
- Book the whole weekend. Renting Friday-to-Sunday is cheaper per day than three separate days, and with a two-cart fleet the weekend will go early.
Booking for Bayfest weekend
Rates are from $160 the first day and $140 each additional day, plus tax, with a refundable $200 deposit. Delivery and pickup is a flat $40 in Mission Beach, Pacific Beach and Mission Bay, and free to Campland a few miles up the bay — or you can unlock the cart yourself with a code.
Check availability for October 16–18 →
Dates, venue and lineup per San Diego Tourism Authority and Live Nation; door times and parking per the organisers' festival information page. Lineups and set times change — confirm with the organisers before you travel.
