How Much Does It Cost to Attend Sundance 2027?
Sundance has now published full 2027 ticket pricing: single film tickets are $37, ticket packages range from $275 to $925, and Express Passes range from $4,500 to $7,500 (see our full Tickets & Passes guide for every product). Boulder hotels have not yet published festival-week rates, so lodging, food and local transport below are still estimated from current non-festival market data: a budget solo trip runs roughly $150–$250/day before tickets, mid-range $350–$550/day, and premium $700+/day. Add your ticket costs from the confirmed prices above. Treat the day-rate ranges as planning estimates; the ticket prices are official and confirmed.
How we built these numbers
Sundance has now published full 2027 ticket pricing, so that part of this estimate is confirmed rather than projected: see the exact figures in our Quick Answer above and in our full tickets and passes guide. Boulder hotels, however, still have not published festival-week rates, and no one outside Sundance has projected those yet either. So for lodging, food and transport, we built this page from three things we can actually source: current non-festival Boulder hotel rates, the 2026 Park City transit and food-cost data as historical precedent, and typical local transport pricing. Every number below is labeled by where it came from. We’ll rebuild the lodging and transport ranges with real 2027 figures the day festival-week hotel rates go official.
Three ways to budget your trip
Interactive: estimate your own trip cost below. The same figures as a table follow for reference.
$600 – $1,000
Estimate only, built from the budget ranges above at today’s non-festival rates. It does not include festival tickets or passes. 2027 ticket prices are now confirmed, from $37 single tickets to $7,500 Express Passes; see our Tickets & Passes guide for the full list. Expect festival-week lodging and rideshare rates to run higher than these baseline figures.
Same figures as a table
| Category | Budget | Mid-range | Premium |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lodging (per night) | $90–$150 (regional town or budget Boulder property) | $200–$350 (central Boulder mid-tier) | $450–$700+ (downtown/Pearl Street full-service) |
| Food (per day) | $40–$60 (fast casual, groceries) | $80–$120 (sit-down meals) | $150–$250+ (fine dining) |
| Local transport (per day) | $3–$10 (local bus fares, occasional rideshare) | $15–$40 (mixed rideshare and local buses) | $40–$85+ (rideshare for most legs) |
| Per-day total, before tickets | Roughly $150–$250 | Roughly $350–$550 | Roughly $700+ |
These are planning ranges built from current reference data (see sources), not confirmed 2027 festival-week pricing. Multiply the per-day total by your number of nights, then add tickets separately using the placeholder below.
Ticket cost: now confirmed
How much will Sundance 2027 tickets cost? Now confirmed. Single film tickets are $37, ticket packages range from $275 to $925, and donor-only Express Passes range from $4,500 to $7,500. Passes and packages go on public sale October 15, 2026; single film tickets go on public sale January 8, 2027. For reference, the final Park City edition in 2026 sold single film tickets at $35 each and a Utah-resident ticket package (10 in-person tickets) at $675, or about $67.50 per ticket — Boulder’s confirmed 2027 pricing above is now the number to use, not that historical figure. See our tickets and passes guide for the full breakdown of every product.
For the confirmed price of every ticket product, see our Tickets & Passes guide. For the step-by-step purchase process, see our buying guide, and for every on-sale date see our ticket sale calendar.
Hotel cost ranges
Boulder hotel search results currently show non-festival rates starting around $62–$82/night at budget properties, with full-service downtown properties like St Julien Hotel & Spa priced well above that baseline even outside festival season. None of this reflects 2027 festival-week demand, which will very likely push rates higher across every tier, the way major festivals typically do in their host city during the event itself. Hotel Boulderado, the festival headquarters, and other central Pearl Street properties should be expected to command the highest premium. See our where-to-stay guide for named properties by zone and a booking and cancellation checklist.
Getting there and around
| Leg | Option | Approximate cost |
|---|---|---|
| DEN airport to Boulder | RTD regional bus (AB routes) | Around $10 one-way (RTD airport fare) |
| DEN airport to Boulder | Rideshare (Uber/Lyft) | Around $85 average, higher during surge pricing |
| Around Boulder | HOP/SKIP/JUMP local buses | $2.75 standard fare per boarding; Boulder plans free HOP rides for Festival attendees, SKIP/JUMP not confirmed free |
| Around Boulder | Occasional rideshare (bad weather, late night) | Typically $10–$25 per short trip |
| DEN airport parking (if you drive and fly) | Economy to garage tiers | Roughly $8–$35 per day depending on lot |
Most visitors staying inside the downtown/CU Boulder footprint do not need a rental car. See our getting around guide for the full breakdown of airport transfer options and local transit, and confirm current RTD fares directly before you travel since transit pricing changes. If you do drive, our Sundance 2027 parking guide covers garage and Park-n-Ride costs.
Food and daily costs
Based on current Boulder cost-of-living data: a meal at an inexpensive restaurant runs around $21, a mid-range restaurant meal for two runs around $96, a regular cappuccino runs about $5.50, and a fast-food combo meal runs about $11. Grocery-based self-catering (useful if your lodging has a kitchenette) will land well under the budget-tier food estimate above; multiple sit-down restaurant meals per day will push you toward or past the premium tier.
Hidden costs to budget for
- Hotel parking: often $15–$40+ per night in dense areas and rarely included in the quoted room rate.
- Resort or destination fees: some properties add these at checkout rather than showing them in the listed rate. Ask directly when booking.
- Local lodging tax: added on top of the room rate; confirm the all-in total before booking.
- January 20 buffer night: booking an arrival night before the festival opens January 21 reduces risk from flight delays or winter weather, at the cost of one extra night’s lodging.
- Winter gear: if you’re not already equipped for cold, layered clothing and waterproof footwear are a real line item: see our weather and packing guide.
- Regional-town commute costs: a cheaper hotel in Longmont or Broomfield can cost more overall once you add a daily rideshare or rental car for the commute into Boulder.
Simple trip cost calculator
Estimate a per-person total before tickets. Pick a budget tier and enter your number of nights.
Estimated lodging + food + local transport total: $1,400
Add tickets separately using our confirmed 2027 ticket prices. This calculator estimates lodging, food and local transport only, using current-market planning ranges, not festival-week rates.
Frequently asked questions
How much does it cost to attend Sundance 2027?
Now largely known: ticket prices are published (single tickets $37, packages $275-$925, Express Passes $4,500-$7,500), though festival-week lodging and rideshare rates are not yet published. A solo budget trip runs roughly $150-$250/day before tickets, mid-range $350-$550/day, and premium $700+/day, plus your ticket costs from the confirmed prices above.
Is Sundance 2027 expensive because it’s Boulder’s first year?
Possibly. New host cities sometimes see higher demand and less price transparency in year one because there’s no local festival-history pricing data to compare against. We don’t have evidence either way yet for Boulder specifically.
What’s the single biggest cost to plan for?
Lodging, by a wide margin, especially if you stay within walking distance of the festival headquarters at Hotel Boulderado. Booking early with a flexible cancellation policy is the most useful cost-control move available before official pricing lands.
Sources
- RTD Denver: Fares
- Uber: DEN to Boulder route pricing
- HikersBay: Boulder, CO prices
- Tripadvisor: Boulder, CO hotels
- Sundance Visitor Guide: 2026 Park City ticket precedent
- City of Boulder: Sundance Film Festival FAQs (transit and fares)
Update log
| Date | Update |
|---|---|
| August 17, 2026 | Page published with budget/mid-range/premium planning ranges, ticket placeholder, and interactive cost calculator. |
| August 21, 2026 | Corrected local bus fare line to match the standard $2.75 HOP/SKIP/JUMP fare and the City of Boulder’s planned free-HOP-for-Festival-attendees policy, resolving a contradiction with our getting around guide. |
Continue planning: see our where-to-stay guide, the tickets and passes guide, getting around guide, or the parking status on the complete guide.