The Super Weekender 2026: NEC Parking and Getting There

The Super Weekender takes over Halls 9 and 10 of the NEC Birmingham on Saturday 14 and Sunday 15 November 2026. Doors open at 08:30 and the event closes at 19:00 on both days. For Super Weekender NEC 2026 parking, book online before midnight on the day before you arrive. The NEC takes £5 off its standard rate for anyone who does.

Timing is the harder part. The dance convention shares the campus with the Classic Motor Show, the Mind Body Spirit Festival and a Saturday night concert. This guide explains NEC parking, the right entrance for Halls 9 and 10, drop-off points, trains, weekend roadworks and how to get a group of dancers there on time.

The Super Weekender 2026 at a glance

The NEC describes the convention as a weekend of competitions, workshops, performances and auditions that attracts more than 15,000 dancers, spectators and industry professionals. According to the organiser’s Main Stage pack, the event runs across two connected halls with a Main Stage, a competition stage, an exhibition area and workshop studios.

Ticket prices and session times

Dance Pulse’s guide to the event, which quotes the organiser’s ticket shop, lists these prices before booking fees:

• Entry ticket for ages 13 and over: £27.50 for one day or £50 for the weekend
• Child aged 5 to 12: £20 for one day or £35 for the weekend
• Under-5s: free
• Workshop classes: £8 each, added to an event ticket

The same guide gives Main Stage hours of 09:00 to 19:00 and workshop classes from 10:00 until 18:30. It also lists Disneyland Paris auditions for over-18s from 17:30 to 22:00 on both evenings, held in studios outside the main halls. Confirm prices and times in the organiser’s shop before you book travel around them.

NEC parking for The Super Weekender

Every visitor pays to park at the NEC unless an event says otherwise, and The Super Weekender’s NEC page links straight to paid pre-booking. The car parks use automatic number plate recognition (ANPR), so cameras log your registration as you enter.

Pre-book before midnight

The NEC’s parking page gives a simple rule. Book before midnight on the day before you arrive and you save £5 on the standard rate. That means booking by the end of Friday 13 November for Saturday, and by the end of Saturday for Sunday.

On the NEC’s booking site, choose November 2026 and then the event listed as “SUPERWEEKENDER 2026”. The price appears once you select your date. Other organisers using the NEC in 2026 have quoted £13.95 pre-booked and £18.95 on the day, but the venue says products and prices vary by event. Treat the figure on the booking page as the one that counts.

Paying on the day

Missed the deadline? You can still park. The NEC asks on-the-day visitors to pay before they leave, using the machines and signs inside the venue. The site is cashless, so bring a card or a phone with a payment app.

Pre-booked standard parking lets you park from 06:00 until 02:00. Overstay charges apply after that unless you have booked overnight parking, which the booking site only offers when you select consecutive days.

Which car park will you use?

Pre-booking standard parking does not reserve a particular car park. Instead, electronic signs on the approach roads list each event and direct you to its allocated car park. Follow those signs rather than your sat nav once you reach the campus.

The NEC says a free shuttle bus links the car parks with the Atrium entrances, which serve Halls 6 to 20. Express parking, where offered, guarantees a space close to the halls for a higher price. Its day period runs from 08:00 to 18:00, an hour before The Super Weekender closes, so check the terms before choosing it.

Minibuses and coaches for dance schools

Dance schools travelling together have two further options. The NEC sells minibus parking for vehicles with 10 to 25 seats and coach parking for larger vehicles. Both appear on the booking site only when the venue offers them for a given event.

Sharing lifts also cuts the bill. Parking is charged per vehicle, so four families in two cars pay half as much as four cars would.

Halls 9 and 10: which entrance to use

The NEC has two public concourses. The Piazza leads to Halls 1 to 5 and sits closest to the railway station. Halls 6 to 20, including Halls 9 and 10, open off the Atrium on the other side of the building.

NEC site plans show Atrium Entrance 1 and Atrium Entrance 3 either side of Halls 9 to 12. If you take the shuttle from your car park, ask the driver for the Atrium entrances. Anyone entering through the Piazza should follow the signs for “Halls 6–12, Atrium” and cross the Skywalk, the internal walkway between the two concourses.

That walk adds time, especially with kit bags and younger dancers. Allow for it if your group has a fixed performance or competition slot.

What time to arrive at the NEC

An 08:30 opening is early for an NEC show, and it works in your favour on both days.

Three other events share the campus

The Classic Motor Show is the big one. Its organisers reported almost 73,000 visitors across the 2025 weekend, and its doors open at 09:00. Dancers who reach the campus before 08:30 arrive ahead of that traffic. Leave it until 09:00 and you join it.

Give yourself a margin before your slot

Main Stage performers receive their exact times around two weeks before the event. The organiser’s pack tells schools to keep their whole performance window free and to allow time to get backstage and change. Changing areas open only 15 minutes before each performance.

For that reason, plan your arrival around the slot, not the opening time. Build in the queue at the campus entrance, the walk or shuttle from the car park and the entry check. A group that arrives an hour early loses nothing; a group that arrives ten minutes late may miss its place.

Leaving on Saturday evening

Saturday has the busiest finish. The Classic Motor Show closes at 18:00, the same time that doors open for Shinedown at bp pulse LIVE. For about an hour, one crowd leaves the campus while another arrives.

The Super Weekender ends at 19:00, just after that overlap. Leaving before 17:30 or staying until the final performance both avoid the worst of it. Dancers attending the evening auditions will leave later still, which matters for the roadworks described below. Sunday is calmer, because the other shows close at 17:00 and no concert is listed. Our guide to the NEC on 13–15 November sets out the weekend’s other events in more detail.

Driving to the NEC: roadworks to know about

The organiser describes the NEC as close to junction 6 of the M42. The venue’s postcode is B40 1NT, and the NEC confirms it lies outside Birmingham’s Clean Air Zone, so no daily charge applies.

Bickenhill Bridge

The NEC’s travel alert states that the northern side of M42 junction 6, at Bickenhill Bridge, is closed. Delays are possible, and the venue asks visitors to allow extra time. Diversion signs take priority over sat nav routes around the junction.

Overnight M42 closures

National Highways listings published on 11 November show several overnight closures across the weekend. Daytime travel is not affected, although late departures could be.

Roadworks change at short notice, so check National Highways before you set off. Families travelling down on Friday night should note the first two closures. Anyone staying for the evening auditions, or for dinner at Resorts World, should plan for a signed diversion from 21:00.

Drop-off and pick-up points

Being dropped at the door suits dancers who arrive in costume with hair and make-up done, which is what the organiser’s pack asks of performers. The NEC is a private site, though, and it controls where vehicles stop.

According to the NEC, taxis and private hire vehicles drop off and collect at two places: the Piazza drop-off and pick-up area, and the Atrium entrance. For Halls 9 and 10, the Atrium entrance is the closer of the two. The venue’s official private hire partner has its own marked points near the main entrances.

Visitors with accessibility needs can get nearer. The NEC says gate staff will let a car or private hire vehicle through to the closest drop-off point when they are told the passenger has accessibility needs.

A pre-booked car turns the day into two fixed journeys. Your driver drops the group at the Atrium entrance and returns at the time you agree, so nobody queues at a pay machine or waits for a shuttle. NET’s event chauffeur service covers days like this, with the price agreed before you travel.

Getting to The Super Weekender by train

Birmingham International station sits on the NEC campus. The venue describes the walk to the halls as about five minutes along a covered link, although that brings you into the Piazza. Add the Skywalk crossing to reach Halls 9 and 10.

Avanti West Coast, London Northwestern Railway, West Midlands Railway and CrossCountry all call at Birmingham International. London Northwestern Railway’s planned works page, checked on 11 November, shows no weekend changes on the Birmingham to Coventry line for 14–15 November. Engineering plans can change, so confirm on National Rail before you travel.

Two practical points deserve attention. Sunday services often start later than Saturday ones, so check that your first train arrives before your slot. In addition, trains leaving after 18:00 on Saturday will carry Classic Motor Show visitors, and carriages may be full.

Arriving by air or staying overnight

Some dance schools travel from Scotland, Northern Ireland and beyond. Birmingham Airport adjoins the NEC, and the free Air-Rail Link runs from the terminal to Birmingham International station. Our guide to travelling from Birmingham Airport to the NEC compares the options if you have luggage or a large group.

The organiser’s website suggests four hotels for visitors making a weekend of it:

• Hilton Birmingham Metropole: on the NEC campus.
• Arden Hotel: a walk of five to ten minutes, with on-site parking for guests.
• Premier Inn Birmingham NEC/Airport: about a 20-minute walk from the halls.
• Holiday Inn Birmingham Airport NEC: around two miles away, with a shuttle to Birmingham International station.

Those walking times are the organiser’s own estimates. With three shows on the campus, rooms near the NEC may be scarce. Late bookers may need to look in Solihull or Coventry and travel in each morning.

Accessibility and Blue Badge parking

Blue Badge holders pay the standard parking rate at the NEC unless the event offers a concession. Accessible bays are allocated on a first-come, first-served basis, and pre-paying does not reserve one. Staff check badges on arrival.

When the nearest bays fill, the NEC directs drivers to overflow accessible parking and provides shuttle buses. Arriving before the Classic Motor Show opens at 09:00 improves your chances of a closer space.

Inside, the venue says every level has lift access and accessible toilets, and the Atrium and Piazza entrances have automatic doors. Wheelchairs can be hired for £10 and mobility scooters for £25. Stock is limited, so the NEC advises pre-booking.

Travelling with dancers, costumes and kit

Dance events bring a particular packing problem. The Main Stage pack is clear that there are no allocated spaces to leave bags during the day. Belongings may stay in a changing room during a performance only, and the organiser accepts no responsibility for items left on site.

Pack with that in mind:

• Arrive with detailed hair and make-up finished, as the organiser requests.
• Use one bag per dancer, labelled with a name and school.
• Keep costumes in garment bags that fold flat, since you will carry them all day.
• Bring layers for the walk from the car park; it is mid-November.
• Take a portable phone charger, as running orders and tickets live on phones.

Chaperone rules matter for travel planning too. Only chaperones named on the register in advance receive a wristband for backstage, and the organiser allows no changes on the day. Make sure the adults travelling with each car are the adults on the list.

For groups, one vehicle is easier to manage than three. NET’s Mercedes V-Class carries up to seven passengers, which suits a teacher and a small team or two families travelling together. Larger schools can book several vehicles on one schedule.

Book your Super Weekender transfer with NET

National Executive Transfers is a Birmingham-based executive chauffeur company with a Mercedes fleet of S-Class, E-Class and V-Class vehicles. We operate 24 hours a day, which covers an early start for 08:30 doors and a collection after the 19:00 close.

Tell us your performance or competition time when you book, and we will plan the pick-up around it. Child seats are available on request if you give each child’s age. Call 01564 778080 or request a quote online for a fixed price covering both journeys.

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