Image taken by L-plate big cheese on Flickr

Notting Hill Carnival is back again this weekend!

The carnival runs every August bank holiday and is mass of colourful costumes and hundreds of Caribbean food stalls and wonderful floats. The carnival pretty much takes over west London for the weekend and is used by most people as a good excuse to get pretty drunk and generally have a good time. You can find out more about the event on the Notting Hill Carnival website.

This year the festival is starting with a steel band competition on the Saturday and a kids day on Sunday which is catered to families and people taking younger children with them. The main parade and parties will start on the bank holiday Monday, which may leave a lot of people feeling pretty hung over on the following day at work!

The carnival generally starts on Great Western Road and winds down Chepstow Road and on to Westbourne Grove and finally Ladbroke Grove. After the floats have left the streets the after parties will start in various locations and clubs.

The area will probably be rammed all weekend and it could be worth checking transport for London if you are planning on heading down there. If you are coming from further afield you can save money on accommodation by going to Voucher Codes, they are offering a discount of £15 off flexible Rate Room Bookings at Travelodge.

I have never been to Notting Hill Carnival even though I have lived in London for quite some time now and am looking forward to this weekends crazy happenings! Luckily we have managed to get tickets to see Major Lazer as part of the Red Bull music academy which I think will be pretty good!

Getting There:

It looks like getting the bus could be the best bet as a lot of roads will be closed and several tube stations won’t be open on Carnival Sunday or Monday. There is a lot of info on the Notting Hill Carnival website which I would recommend taking a look at before heading down to the event, there is also a map below for any cyclists or people living nearby: