Bourbon & Beyond
- Dates
- Expected September
- Status
- Confirmed
- Venue
- Highland Festival Grounds at Kentucky Exposition Center
- Price
- $214 to $497Payment plan available
- Camping
- None on site
- Last checked
- Aug 23, 2026
Bourbon & Beyond comes to Louisville, KY, Expected September, with Chris Stapleton, Counting Crows, Dave Matthews Band, plus 9 more. Froligo tracks the confirmed lineup, current ticket prices, attendee feedback and travel details.
What to eat & drink
You must try…
Crowd favourites and signature dishes are being verified. Check back before you go.
Festival weekend in pictures
The people, producers and atmosphere around the festival.
Watch before you taste
Food tours, crowd favourites and festival highlights.
The experience
What's special
Bourbon & Beyond is a four-day music, bourbon and food festival held each September at the Highland Festival Grounds (KY Expo Center) in Louisville, pairing 120-plus acts across multiple stages with bourbon tastings and celebrity-chef culinary programming
What people love
Attendees single out the strong, varied lineups and big-name headliners as the main reason to go
Last time around (2025)
The 2025 edition featured more than 120 musical acts, with attendees noting the food and drink choices felt more plentiful and varied than before; the parking-lot venue's layout, limited shade and short set times remained recurring complaints across recent editions
Music & entertainment
Tap an artist to play them right here.
Getting there
Nearest airport SDF.
How do I get to Bourbon & Beyond?
By car
Most people drive to Bourbon & Beyond. The nearest major airport is SDF, and from there it is a straightforward drive to the venue. Check current road and traffic conditions before you set off, and see parking below.
By train
No direct passenger rail to the venue was found. Drive, fly in, or use a shuttle instead.
By bus & public transit
Intercity coaches (Greyhound, FlixBus, Barons Bus) all serve the Louisville Bus Station at 1211 W Broadway, Ste 101 a 2023-opened, 24-hour station southwest of downtown, roughly 4-5 road miles from the Expo Center; connect onward by TARC or a short rideshare. Note for rail-minded travelers: Louisville has NO Amtrak passenger train service (none since the Kentucky Cardinal ended in 2003) Amtrak instead sells a Thruway motorcoach connection from Louisville (station code LVL) to Chicago-bound trains via Indianapolis, bookable on amtrak.com
Book / info →TARC's #2 bus is the local route the festival itself directs attendees onto: it serves both Louisville Muhammad Ali International Airport (stop outside baggage claim, lower level) and the Kentucky Exposition Center, and runs seven days a week. Festival-specific routing per the official parking page: inbound riders exit at Phillips Lane near KEC Gate 1; post-show return service boards on Crittenden Drive near Gate 4 starting at 9 PM. The festival also runs a park-and-ride variant: park downtown at the PARC garage (115 W Jefferson St) for a nominal fee that includes roundtrip TARC service for everyone in the car, boarding the #2 at S 1st St and W Liberty St (details under parking below)
Book / info →Festival shuttle
The festival's OFFICIAL hotel shuttle operated by Pegasus, passes sold through Jampack (the festival's official pass-and-hotel-package partner). It is a hotel-to-festival shuttle, not an airport-terminal pickup: stops are the downtown Kentucky International Convention Center area hotels (Galt House, 140 N Fourth St; Louisville Marriott Downtown, 280 W Jefferson St) and two airport-area hotels (Best Western Premier Airport, 4110 Dixie Hwy; Comfort Suites Louisville Airport, 6535 Paramount Park Dr). Runs every 15-25 minutes from ~10:30 AM; service from hotels until ~8 PM; last return shuttle leaves the festival at midnight. ADA-accessible vehicles available. 2025 passes SOLD OUT by early September buy early
Book / info →Taxi & rideshare
Uber and Lyft are authorized at SDF with pickup on the baggage-claim level (west side of the terminal). The airport-to-venue hop is only ~2 road miles, so this is a cheap, fast ride. At the festival end, drop-off and pickup use a designated Rideshare Lot; the festival's parking page specifically promotes the zTrip taxi app, which offers set trip rates with no surge pricing and drop-off near the festival entrance
Book / info →Taxis and rideshare such as Uber and Lyft can be limited near the venue, especially late at night or in rural areas. Agree a pickup point and time in advance and keep a backup plan.
🅿 Parking
On site parking available. Cost General onsite parking: first-come first-served, sold daily at the gate (cash or card) via KEC Gates 1, 4 & 6 Vehicles that leave during the show lose their spot and must repurchase; parking is single-use with no in/out privileges unless noted. Reserved premium parking: prepay via ParkMobile at parking.kyexpo.org/bnb across multiple lots with varying walk distances festival advertises saving up to $100 with a 4-day reserved pass vs. daily gate rates. Downtown park-and-ride: PARC garage at 115 W Jefferson St for a nominal fee that includes roundtrip TARC #2 bus service for everyone in the car (return buses from 9 PM). Rideshare/taxi uses a designated Rideshare Lot. ADA parking: Lot B via KEC Gate 1, first-come first-served, daily fee, valid state-issued disabled placard/plate plus proof of ownership required. Overnight parking is strictly prohibited in all lots 'Any vehicle left overnight will be towed.'. Prepay via ParkMobile (official online parking processor for the Kentucky Exposition Center / Highland Festival Grounds) optional reserved premium parking.
🚙 Car hire
Compare car hire at SDF
Genuinely optional for this festival: the venue sits ~2 road miles from SDF with a $1.50-1.75 city bus, a minimum-fare rideshare hop, and an official downtown-hotel shuttle a fly-in attendee staying near the venue or downtown does not need a car for festival days. Car hire earns its keep here for Bourbon Trail side trips (the distilleries this festival celebrates are spread across central Kentucky, well beyond transit reach) before or after the weekend
Search car hire →Live price search coming soon.
Where
Venue
The venue has its own page with capacity, accessibility and parking.
Camping & Accommodation
Where can I stay near Bourbon & Beyond?
No on site camping. Here is where to stay nearby.
Hotels nearby 7
140 N Fourth St, downtown Louisville riverfront, ~6 mi from the venue named official pickup/dropoff stop on the festival's Pegasus/Jampack shuttle ($175 4-day unlimited pass; every 15-25 min, ~10:30 AM from hotels, last return from the festival at midnight)
Link coming soon280 W Jefferson St, downtown, ~6 mi from the venue named official stop on the festival's Pegasus/Jampack shuttle (pass required, see above; 2025 shuttle passes sold out by early September)
Link coming soon4110 Dixie Hwy, airport area, ~4 mi from the venue named official airport-area stop on the festival's Pegasus/Jampack shuttle (pass required, see above)
Link coming soon6535 Paramount Park Dr, airport area, ~3 mi from the venue named official airport-area stop on the festival's Pegasus/Jampack shuttle (pass required, see above)
Link coming soon830 Phillips Ln, directly adjacent to the Expo Center travel-platform listings describe it as a ~6-minute walk to the Louisville Expo Center and under a mile from SDF, with a complimentary 24/7 shuttle within a three-mile radius (which covers both the airport and the venue). The closest full-service hotel to the festival grounds; books out far in advance for this weekend
Link coming soonLess than one mile from the Kentucky Exposition Center per hotel-platform listings nominally walkable, but note the arterial roads and I-65/I-264 interchange around KEC make some on-foot approaches unpleasant; a minimum-fare rideshare is the practical hedge
Link coming soonAirbnb & private camping
Demand-surge weekend, well documented: Bourbon & Beyond runs back-to-back with Louder Than Life at the same venue, drawing 300,000+ combined visitors, and local news reports area hotels at or near 90% capacity with nearby rooms as high as $599/night and three-night minimums so Airbnb pricing near the venue and downtown surges accordingly and inventory thins months out. Listings cluster in Old Louisville, the Highlands, and downtown (roughly 3-6 mi from the venue) rather than the industrial airport/Expo belt itself; book early and cross-check the TARC #2 corridor or shuttle-hotel proximity when choosing
Search Airbnb →A real budget escape valve for this festival: there is no on-site camping and overnight parking at KEC lots is prohibited (tow-enforced), so Hipcamp's private-land tent/RV/glamping sites around Louisville are the closest thing to a camping option for this weekend. Hipcamp's Louisville directory is active with ~1,866 campsites in the wider area (tent sites, RV sites with 30/50-amp and full hookups, cabins/tiny homes), mostly a 20-45 min drive out pair with the PARC park-and-ride or a rideshare, since festival lots don't allow overnight stays
Search Hipcamp →Accessibility & comfort
What the organiser or venue publishes about getting around, and what they do not.
Bourbon and Beyond publishes a full accessibility page at bourbonandbeyond.com/accessibility for the Highland Festival Grounds at the Kentucky Expo Center. Terrain is described as a combination of concrete, asphalt and natural terrain across both the campgrounds and festival grounds, with many newly tarred and paved pathways.
Read the full notes
Access Centers sit next to guest services at both entrances and issue the Access Program wristband needed for accessible viewing; the wristband admits the patron plus one companion, and viewing areas are first come first served.
Provision listed includes raised accessible viewing platforms, ground level accessible viewing areas with chairs provided, accessible restrooms in the form of mobility device accessible portable toilets at the ends of each bank of portable toilets, mobility device charging at the Access Center, and FM based assisted listening devices for check out.
The festival does not provide personal care, golf cart rides or push services inside the grounds and has no wheelchairs for rent or loan. Designated disabled parking is sold at the event in Lot B on a first come first served basis for a 40 dollar daily fee and requires a valid state issued placard, permit or plate plus proof it belongs to you.
Accessible camping is offered with ADA accessible showers, via an ADA Camping Registration Form to be completed after reserving a campsite. Shuttles between the campground and the festival entrance are explicitly accessible: an accessible shuttle runs throughout the day and complimentary accessible golf cart shuttles carry campers to near the Campground Festival Entrance, limited to Access patrons plus one companion.
Service animals must be registered with Accessibility Staff at the security checkpoint before entry. The site publishes no free companion ticket policy; the one companion rule described applies to entry into accessible viewing areas and shuttles, not to ticket pricing
Two distinct spaces are published. The Reset Space is a low stimulus space for neurodiverse patrons, located in the West Wing Hall of the Kentucky Expo Center near Main Medical, with a limited number of noise cancelling headphones available to check out for use within it.
Separately the Access Oasis is a break space at the Cardinal Festival Entrance and just inside the West Wing Hall, first come first served, each fan permitted one companion, with entry paused at capacity
ASL interpreted shows are provided. Deaf and hard of hearing fans request an ASL Viewing wristband at the Access Center, which admits the fan and one companion to the ASL viewing areas. Interpreters for specific sets can be requested in advance through a request form that closes one month before the festival, and requests are not guaranteed.
The ASL Interpreter Viewing Area is first come first served with a posted maximum capacity. FM based assisted listening devices are available for check out at both Access Centers
Confirm your specific needs with the organiser's access team before you travel.
Checked 2026-09-03 · source
Pricing
Price history and tiers
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