Monterey Jazz Festival (MJF69)

The ticket tiers, and what each one actually gets you

There are three single-day tiers, and the gap between them is not just seat quality. Arena tickets are $110 on Friday and $215 on Saturday or Sunday, and they buy a reserved seat for the Jimmy Lyons Stage in the Arena plus access to everything on the four Grounds stages that day. Arena Lawn is $75 Friday and $135 Saturday or Sunday. Grounds tickets are $65 Friday and $90 Saturday or Sunday.

The distinction that catches people: a Grounds ticket does not get you into the Arena. The headline acts on the Jimmy Lyons Stage — the Hancock and Carter duo, the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra — are Arena shows. If those are why you are coming, Grounds is the wrong ticket at any price. If you are happy to graze five other stages all day, it is much the better value.

Three-day packages exist alongside the single-day tiers. Premier Club add-on access is sold out for 2026. Prices here are the organisers' own published figures for single-day tickets; check montereyjazz.org before buying, because tiers sell out at different rates.

Who is playing in 2026

The 2026 bill is led by Herbie Hancock and Ron Carter in what the festival bills as their first-ever duo performance — two musicians whose partnership goes back to Miles Davis's second great quintet, playing as a pair for the first time.

Also announced: the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis and special guest Cécile McLorin Salvant, Meshell Ndegeocello, the Charles Lloyd Quartet, and the Ravi Coltrane Quartet.

Six stages carry it: the Jimmy Lyons Stage in the Arena, and on the Grounds the West End Stage, Pacific Jazz Café, Tim Jackson Garden Stage, Courtyard Stage and the Monterey Room.

Parking is the problem to solve first

Fairgrounds parking is sold out for 2026. Monterey Peninsula College parking is expected to be available to buy, with a shuttle. The organisers' own advice if you do not hold parking is to use Uber or Lyft rather than to drive and hope.

Limited ADA parking is on Fairground Road, first-come first-served. ADA seating is arranged through ticketing or on 831-308-4653, and hearing devices are free at Patron Services against a deposit of valid ID.

Rules that will cost you at the gate

No outside food, coolers, glass bottles or beverages in containers. No lawn, beach or folding chairs — a real constraint at a festival where people expect to sit on grass all afternoon. No detachable-lens cameras, flash equipment or recording devices. No pets, and no strollers inside the arenas.

Re-entry works on a wristband: your ticket admits you once, and the wristband is what lets you back in. Lose the wristband and you buy another ticket. Worth knowing before you take it off.

Children are handled differently by area. In the Arena everyone needs a ticket, infants included. On the Grounds, under-2s are free and ages 2 to 12 need a youth ticket.

What has not been published

Gate and box-office times. The festival's own FAQ still says these "will be announced in early spring 2026" — a sentence that has outlived the spring it refers to, and is the reason this page carries no opening time. Shuttle schedules are in the same position.

Set times and the stage-by-stage running order. Knowing who is on the bill is not the same as knowing when, and for a six-stage festival that is the difference between planning a day and wandering one.