Budget vacation - Kentucky Bourbon Festival

[lilsweetpea]

I know it is early, but I want to book the best deals to make this vacation fun and affordable. Where should we stay, eat, play? Any tips and tricks?

 

[cpparrothead]

I don't know anything about the festival to help you out, but would be interested in learning more about it. We stopped at 2 distillerys while we were the area for the Derby, and wanted to stop at a couple more to compare but ran out of time. We did find one BBQ in Lexington we enjoyed called Billy's BBQ. It's a small place near the U of Kentucky campus, and was very good.

 

[LizabethSwan]

Here are a few websites that I found that might help you. I live in KY but have not attended the festival. I have however visited the distilleries, railway museum, Bernheim forrest and the Stephen Foster musical. I would reccomend all of them.

http://www.kybourbonfestival.com/

http://www.rjcorman.com/dinnertrain.html


http://www.rjcorman.com/dt_attractions.html

http://www.rjcorman.com/dt_accomodations.html

 

[rottiemom]

I had no idea such a thing existed! I'll be keeping an eye on this thread. Not much about the event looks budget (but, oh, that black tie dinner and bourbon pairing!)

 

[JDUCKY]

Here are a few websites that I found that might help you. I live in KY but have not attended the festival. I have however visited the distilleries, railway museum, Bernheim forrest and the Stephen Foster musical. I would reccomend all of them.

http://www.kybourbonfestival.com/

http://www.rjcorman.com/dinnertrain.html


http://www.rjcorman.com/dt_attractions.html

http://www.rjcorman.com/dt_accomodations.html

Can't forget a quick stop to Rooster Run to get a cap!

 

[lilsweetpea]

I had no idea such a thing existed! I'll be keeping an eye on this thread. Not much about the event looks budget (but, oh, that black tie dinner and bourbon pairing!)

I KNOW!!! I think we are going to just stay on the lawn and visit the Spirit Garden instead of the Gala. Maybe another time!!!

 

[lilsweetpea]

55,000 people attended in 2009, and no one on the DIS has gone????

 

[minnie mouse ears]

I never go to the Bourbon festival but sometimes go to the arts and crafts festival in October. Bardstown is a very quaint little town with a few neat things to do such as visit My Old Kentucky Home. We did a horse drawn carrige ride there at Christmas time a few years ago and it was nice.

I am not really sure about the hotels in Bardstown since it is a very short ride up the road for me. You might want to look at hotels in Elizabethtown as there are several decent ones there.

You will be within a short drive of several tourist locations. Mammoth Cave is about an hour and a half south of Bardstown, Louisville with Churchill Downs is about 30 minutes north. Fort Knox has the Patton museum. Abraham Lincolns birthplace is located in Hodgenville. Lexington has the horse parks, etc. etc. Bardstown alone has a ton of history.

Good Luck. I haven't attended the festival itself so I can't help you there.

 

[minnie mouse ears]

One more thing = I haven't done the dinner train either but I have heard mixed reviews on the food. I think it would be worth doing though just for the experience.

New Haven has a lot of neat train rides including one with train robbers etc.

 

[Leajess99]

We have many decent hotels in Elizabethtown. The Holiday Inn is pretty nice as is the Fairfield Inn. It is not a very long drive to Bardstown from Elizabethtown.

Food wise we have Texas Roadhouse, Cracker barrel, and several other nation brands but we also have a plcae called Back Home which is delicious. Monday and sometimes Tuesday they have Chicken and Dumplings for the Special of the day. They also have a very good Hot Brown. It is not real expensive either.

Things to do in this area aren't really a lot unless you go to Louisville. Louisville has the Bat Museum (think baseball not animal), the Louisville Bats Triple AAA baseball team, a pretty nice zoo with a water play area for the kids, and several other fun things.

Here are some sites that may help you -

http://www.kentucky-hotels.org/citi...own-KY~Exact&gclid=COWT6eSr-KgCFchI2godgyIWSg

http://www.elizabethtownky.org/