Since we started Wackenbus.com in 2008, we have gained a lot of experience and learned a lot. In the early years, most of the Wackenbuses took us home at 09:00 in the morning and we were stuck in traffic jams for hours, often even before we reached Hamburg.

At some point, we decided that it was in the interest of everyone on board that the Wackenbuses should drive back before the heavy traffic from the festival starts heading south. Therefore, Wackenbus has the following two return times:

Return journey from 03:30 – Wackenbuses to southern Germany and Switzerland

  • All Wackenbuses with a final destination in southern Germany (from about south of Frankfurt/Main), Austria or Switzerland traditionally depart at 03:30.
  • Why 03:30? Isn’t that when I want to sleep?
    • The Wacken Open Air 2025 always ends on Saturday night at 03:00 after the last band has played. Since, in our experience, most of our passengers want to enjoy the festival to the full, we offer that all coaches returning at 03:30 am come to the festival bus station on Saturday morning or at noon for so-called pre-loading. You can then take your tent and all your luggage to the bus and only keep everything you need for the day, for example, and then you can enjoy the festival Saturday until the end and simply go to your bus at 03:00, which will be waiting for you at the festival bus station ready for departure.
  • When does the bus arrive on Saturday for pre-loading?
    • We will inform you about the times in the info PDF that we will send you on the weekend before departure. Your tour guides will also inform you of the pre-loading time on the coach shortly before arrival. As a rule, the coach will be waiting for you in a time window of at least one hour, and due to the regulations regarding the driving times of the coach driver, which serve the safety of us all, there are rules and laws as to how many breaks the coach driver must take before a longer journey (11 hours before he is allowed to drive again for 9 hours). As the bus driver has to take the bus from his accommodation to the festival bus station and back again, it is unfortunately not possible for the bus to arrive in the afternoon for pre-loading. And besides, you usually want to watch bands in the afternoon!

Return journey from 07:00 – All Wackenbuses Germany West and Center

  • All Wacken busses that have as their final destination a city approximately from Frankfurt/Main and further north will return at 07:00 in the morning. We also do this to avoid the traffic jam after the festival. At the time of the Wacken Open Air 2025 sunrise is around 06:00, which is a bit early to set up camp, but it’s better than being stuck in a traffic jam for too long, isn’t it?