Glastonbury 2015: 15 tips to ensure stress-free festival fun - from staying open-minded to the importance of bin bags

Festivals can be some of the best and worst weekends of your life

Follow our Glastonbury survival tips and you can be this happy too (Getty Images)

Glastonbury may be one of the most iconic music festivals in the world but if you'd rather be in hippie heaven than moaning in the mud, it's worth considering a few practicalities before you go.

Then there's all the other stuff to bear in mind, such as the people you set up camp next to, the bands you really, really want to see and the sad truth that getting so drunk you black out may land you in an ambulance rather than at the (hopefully but quite possibly not sunny) Pyramid Stage.

Without wanting ruin your fun here, lack of preparation for the quagmire that can be Worthy Farm quickly renders hindsight a wonderful thing. But fear not, for we've collated some top tips for surviving what could be one of the best weekends of your life:

1. Take hiking boots as well as wellies

Bringing both pairs of footwear is strongly recommended if you can - wellies are vital in the pouring rain as they protect your feet from getting all wet and muddy, but hiking boots are great when the mud turns sticky and your wellies start to sink. Trust us on this one.

2. Hide valuables in random places in your tent

Without wanting to give all our bright ideas away to opportunistic thieves, we're talking inside pillow cases and socks, at the bottom of sleeping bags, wrapped in jumpers and in well-concealed tent pockets. Just don't leave them lying out in plain sight or neatly packed in an easy to grab and run rucksack.

3. Invest in a personal phone charger and skip the queues

The charging bull is sure to prove popular this year but queues for phone juice always take ages. You don't want to miss a favourite band just because you're out of battery so pick up a travel charger before you set off.

4. Bring a headlight

It's easy to forget that it gets so dark you can't see anything but the whole day and night rotation thing doesn't stop just for Glastonbury. Bring a small torch to carry with you and a headlight if you have one to free up your hands when rummaging around the tent for PJs and your toothbrush (providing you actually get round to cleaning your teeth).

5. Pitch your tent uphill

Rain flows from high ground to low ground - a point really worth remembering.

(Getty Images)

6. Sealable sandwich bags are a gift from the gods

Pop your phone in one of these and save it from the often merciless elements. Good for food items too of course, and just anything you particularly want to protect.

7. Make a DIY tent burglar alarm from beer cans

This is as simple as it sounds. String a load of beer cans onto a string and clip it onto the zipper of your tent entrance. If a robber tries to break in they will get a nasty surprise and it'll frankly be quite amusing for everyone else involved.

8. Remember suncream and avoid being *that* burnt person

Just...put on the suncream.

9. Bin bags and wet wipes are your new best friends

You are guaranteed to appreciate bin bags so much more at a festival as they really are useful for anything - tear a hole in one and use it as a make-do mac in sudden rain, throw it over your stuff if tent flooding looks probable and keep things tidy by throwing any litter straight into one. As for wet wipes, there's no quicker way to freshen up.

10. Remember bare legs dry much faster than jeans

You might not enjoy having wet legs in a downpour but you'll be glad you ditched the heavy denim when you dry off in no-time and your mates are left struggling with soaking jeans. Heed our advice though - playing in the wet mud may seem like a great idea at the time but you will hate yourself once it starts drying and you can't shower.

11. Identify some landmarks after setting up camp

You may be one of the very first people to arrive on site but soon enough your crazy coloured tent won't be standing out quite as much as you thought it would. Find out what area you are in so you can ask for directions and try to locate some landmarks - a unique flag or memorable tree will do.

(Leon Neal/AFP/Getty)

12. Keep your mind as open as open can be

You're going to encounter all sorts of people at Glastonbury - disapproving looks and quick judgements will not be appreciated. The same goes for bands. By all means see the acts whose songs you know all the words too, but trying out some gigs you might not have gone to otherwise often ends in discovering a new favourite.

13. Layer dress to prepare for all weather eventualities

Being both too cold and too hot will really put a dampener on your festival experience. The key is to bring enough clothes to cover all possibilities, even if you do briefly regret it while trekking through the campsite like a packhorse.

14. Leave things you care about at home

Nobody's going to notice your expensive jewellery and designer handbags here. It's simply not worth losing valuables in the quest to look cool. Wellies, shorts and t-shirts are the order of the day on Worthy Farm.

(Getty Images)

15. Be prepared to make new friends when you lose your own

You may come across the odd nightmare you really don't want to 'bond' with but Glastonbury generally attracts a load of like-minded, awesome people. So when you lose the pals you came with and have no phone signal, why not get chatting to the group dancing next to you or hanging out around the best food truck? It's how some lifelong friendships begin.