Austin’s South By Southwest Festival starts March 10. It promises a historic lineup of musicians, filmmakers, comics, developers, innovators and entrepreneurs for a 10-day cultural extravaganza. And it’s in the heart of Bat City. Get ready for the most-anticipated cultural festival of the year by planning your Austin SXSW daycation with an early checkin hotel or late checkout intraday stay hotel from HotelsByDay.

The nine-day festival kicks off on Friday and the first day’s schedule is packed with activities. They include opening parties for the film, music and interactive “tracks” of the event after some midday luncheons of BBQ and tacos. Not sure which “track” is right for you? Then take the SXSW Tracks Quiz. The quiz ensures you get the precise badge to attend the talks and events that are right for you. By securing an intraday stay hotel, you’ll also be sure to not miss any of it!

Movies, music & more!

A music badge lets you skip the lines.  Hit up all of the 2,200 musicians and DJs performing at venues all over the city throughout the festival. Our dayuse hotels ensure you’re refreshed and ready for action. A film festival badge gets you into exclusive screenings of upcoming movies by independent filmmakers. The film selection includes the highly-anticipated Life directed by Daniel Espinoza and starring Jake Gyllenhaal. A gaming badge gets you previews of upcoming games, talks by developers and a sneak peek at cutting-edge VR technology and applications.

Even if you skip the pricey festival tickets, there’s still plenty to do in Austin during SXSW. Grab a free SXSW Guest Pass. This pass gets you into hundreds of venues across the city, no charge. Sign up for a list of all the free events across Austin during SXSW 2017. Pair the free passes with a same day hotel room and you’ll have a first-rate experience on a budget!

SXSW is about the latest in movies, music, and technology. However, you can still satisfy your craving for good, old-fashioned retro entertainment at the Austin’s Pinballz Arcade, one of the largest shrines to pinball in the country. There’s also the Peter Pan Mini-Golf course, a whimsical and kind of creepy spot that lives up to the city’s unofficial slogan: Keep Austin Weird. Book one of our late checkout hotels and catch an all-night movie marathon at the Alamo Drafthouse. This Alamo is touted as the best movie theater/draft house in the world, at least in the twisted cinematic mind of Quentin Tarantino.

Don’t miss the food during this dream daycay!

No trip to Austin would be complete without sampling the city’s famous food trucks. Fortunately, you don’t need to become a food truck chaser to find them. Many of the best are stationed at the SouthBites Trailer Park at the corner of Driskill and Rainey.

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Get a free SXSW Guest Pass and sample the good eats from the following: Tamale Addiction, mmmpanadas, Wholly Cow Burgers, The Waffle Bus, Juice Austin, The Happy Lobster, Four Brothers, DFG Noodles, Chi’lantro BBQ, Bowl’d Up, Art of Tacos, to name a few. Don’t judge Austin’s food trucks before you try them, East Side King, an Austin institution, is headed by Top Chef winner Paul Qui.

Whether you’re in Austin for SXSW on a tight budget or not, there’s an intraday stay hotel from HotelsByDay waiting for you.

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Scott Dylan graduated from the University of California at Santa Cruz with a B.A. in History, a Minor in Economics, and a firm belief that financial knowledge is a human right. When Scott's not writing about financial matters, he's traveling to new places, cooking strange foods and getting to know good people.