New Zealand’s biggest home-grown music festival is back in Hamilton for its 20th year. One day, five stages, and a city full of people needing somewhere to sleep. Bring the van, book a powered site, and make it a weekend.
Stay for Homegrown →Dates and venue as published by the organiser; always check their site before travelling. Jim Beam Homegrown is run by Homegrown Festival (see organiser site) and is not affiliated with Waypoint Hamilton.
Waypoint is a small, self-service campground for self-contained motorhomes, campervans and caravans at 368 Holland Road, Puketaha, on the north-east edge of Hamilton. You book online, get your site number and gate details by email, and let yourself in — there’s no front desk and no check-in queue.
Every site is level and sized for a large motorhome or a caravan with a tow vehicle. Power is an optional add-on when you book and switches on automatically from 1pm on your arrival day until your checkout time. Fresh water is on site; there are no toilets, showers or dump station, so you need to be fully self-contained — the nearest public dump station and rubbish drop-off are listed on our Explore nearby page.
Claudelands is on the east bank of the river, just north of the city centre — one of the closer venues to Waypoint. The directions link gives the live route. On the day, Claudelands has limited parking and road closures; for a festival finishing late, leaving the van at Waypoint and taking a taxi or rideshare both ways is the sensible plan.
Homegrown’s early releases have sold out within a day in recent years. Get tickets first, then book your site.
Rideshare and taxis are busy at closing time. Pre-book if you can, or walk into town and pick one up from there.
Homegrown is an R18 event. Check the organiser’s site for what you can bring in.
The Hamilton Farmers’ Market runs Sunday morning at Claudelands — an easy recovery breakfast before you head off.
Hamilton and the Waikato are easy to explore from Waypoint — cafés, farmers’ markets, Hamilton Gardens and day trips to Hobbiton, Waitomo and Raglan. See our local guide, and the rest of what’s on in Hamilton.
Hero photo via Unsplash (stock image, not taken at Homegrown).
