Halloween falls on a Saturday this year, which almost never lines up this well for families. Then the calendar piles on. Georgia plays Florida at Mercedes Benz Stadium that same afternoon, the first time the rivalry has ever been played in Atlanta, and the clocks fall back an hour early Sunday morning.
We see this weekend from an unusual spot. Minty Living runs more than 150 furnished homes across intown Atlanta, and most of them sit on the exact porch lined streets families drive in to trick or treat. Our own office is on Edgewood Avenue in Inman Park. So this guide is the weekend as we know it from the neighborhood side: what's actually on from Friday to Sunday, which streets are worth the drive, and how to set up the night so you trick or treat on the block you sleep on instead of driving home in a costume at 10 p.m.
Halloween weekend in Atlanta at a glance
For the full month, see our October 2026 guide. For this weekend only:
Friday, October 30 - Midtown Halloween Block Party, 6 p.m. to 2 a.m., 30+ venues, tickets $15 to $40 - Disney's Hocus Pocus in Concert with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, Symphony Hall, 7:30 p.m.
Saturday, October 31 (Halloween) - Boo at the Zoo, Zoo Atlanta, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., included with admission - Howl O Ween Pup Parade and BeltLine Crawl, 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. - Georgia vs Florida, Mercedes Benz Stadium, 3:30 p.m. ET on ABC - Trick or treating on intown porch streets from dusk
Sunday, November 1 - Clocks fall back one hour at 2 a.m. - Día de Muertos at Oakland Cemetery, noon to 5 p.m., free - Hocus Pocus in Concert matinee, 3 p.m. - Atlanta United vs Toronto FC, Mercedes Benz Stadium
The game: Georgia vs Florida comes to Atlanta
For decades this game belonged to Jacksonville. This year renovation work at the Jacksonville stadium sent it north, so Georgia and Florida kick off at Mercedes Benz Stadium on Saturday, October 31, at 3:30 p.m. Eastern, on ABC.
That matters even if you have no ticket. Expect downtown and the roads around the stadium to be busiest from late morning through early evening, with fans from both states arriving on the same day as Halloween. Rooms near the stadium are the hardest thing to find this weekend.
Getting to the game from the east side. Many of our homes sit near the Inman Park/Reynoldstown MARTA station on the Blue Line, which runs west through Five Points to the stadium stops. That means a group can spend the morning on the BeltLine, ride to the game, and be back on the porch for trick or treating without moving a car. MARTA hadn't posted a game day schedule when we published, so check its site before you go.
No tickets? Keep your daytime plans on the east side (the zoo, the BeltLine, Ponce City Market) and stay off the downtown connector in the afternoon.
Where to trick or treat in Atlanta, and where to stay on the same streets
Atlanta's best trick or treating isn't downtown. It's on the older intown streets east of the city center, where houses sit close together, porches face the sidewalk, and neighbors decorate like it's a competition. These are the areas locals tend to name first, and they happen to be where most of our homes are.
Inman Park
Inman Park comes up in nearly every list of Atlanta trick or treat neighborhoods, and it's easy to see why once you walk it: Victorian houses with deep front porches, tree lined streets, and sidewalks the whole way. It's also right on the BeltLine Eastside Trail, so an afternoon at Krog Street Market rolls straight into an evening on the porches. If you know the neighborhood from the Inman Park Festival, Halloween has the same front porch energy with more fog machines.
Staying here: Inman Park is our home base, with 38 Minty homes, more than any other neighborhood. For a family, Fresh Prince is a three bedroom house that sleeps six.
Candler Park and Little Five Points
Candler Park's bungalow streets are compact and walkable, and Little Five Points next door is Atlanta's capital of costumes. The big Little Five Points Halloween Festival and Parade already happened this year (October 17 and 18), but the neighborhood still dresses the part all week.
Staying here: In Candler Park, Espresso Martini is a three bedroom house that sleeps six. Our eight Little Five Points homes are one bedroom apartments, a good fit for a couple coming in for the grown up side of the weekend. Field of Gold sleeps four.
Grant Park and Cabbagetown
Grant Park has big Victorian houses around the park itself, and Cabbagetown's tiny mill cottages and painted shotgun houses make for a short, dense walk. Both are next to Oakland Cemetery, which hosts its free Día de Muertos celebration the next day.
Staying here: We have 10 homes in Grant Park, all of them with a fenced yard, and six with three or more bedrooms. Zoo Atlanta is inside the park, so a Grant Park stay puts Boo at the Zoo, the evening porches, and Sunday at Oakland all within walking distance. Cabbagetown has 13 more, including two bedroom cottages that each sleep four, like Starry Night and, for the theme minded, Wonderland and Yellow Brick Road.
Virginia Highland
Virginia Highland's residential side streets off North Highland Avenue are classic porch territory. Its organized Candy Crawl was earlier in the week (October 28), so Saturday is the neighborhood's regular house to house night.
Staying here: This is where our bigger homes are. Amber Lenox has five bedrooms and sleeps 11, and Axiom Haus has four bedrooms and sleeps eight. Either works for two families sharing a weekend or a game day group.
Kirkwood, Reynoldstown, and East Atlanta
Further east, Kirkwood and East Atlanta are quieter, with plenty of families and fewer visitors, a good fit if your kids are small and you want a calmer walk. Reynoldstown sits between them and the BeltLine.
Staying here: Four of our five Kirkwood homes are three bedroom houses. In Reynoldstown, Pop Fiction and Rustic Rouge each have three bedrooms and sleep six, and in East Atlanta, Aquarius Rising has four bedrooms and sleeps eight.
A few local habits worth knowing. Most trick or treating starts around dusk and winds down by about 8:30. A porch light on means the house is handing out candy; a dark porch means skip it. Stay on the sidewalk side of parked cars, carry a flashlight or glow stick for each kid, and park once and walk instead of driving block to block. When you're staying on the street, the car never moves at all.
Matching the home to your group
The right base depends on who's coming. Here's how we'd match the most common Halloween weekend groups to our homes.
| Your group | What to look for | Where we'd look first |
|---|---|---|
| Family of four with young kids | Two or three bedrooms, a fenced yard, a quiet porch street | Grant Park, Cabbagetown, Kirkwood |
| Two families, or a game day group of eight or more | Four or five bedrooms that sleep 8 to 11 | Virginia Highland, East Atlanta, Inman Park |
| A couple in for the parties and the game | A one bedroom near the bars and the BeltLine | Little Five Points, Inman Park |
| Anyone bringing the dog | A pet friendly home, ideally with a yard | Almost anywhere: 138 of our 153 listed homes are pet friendly |
That last row matters this weekend. The Howl O Ween Pup Parade runs on the BeltLine Saturday, and with most of our homes pet friendly, the dog doesn't have to spend Halloween at a kennel.
Daytime Halloween for families
Boo at the Zoo. Zoo Atlanta runs its Halloween event on Saturday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., included with regular admission. It sits inside Grant Park, so you can walk to the zoo in the morning and trick or treat the same neighborhood that night.
Atlanta Botanical Garden. The garden's Fall Family Fun program, with frog feeding, starts at 10 a.m. on Saturday.
Trick or Treat on The Roof. Ponce City Market hosts daytime trick or treating at its rooftop on Halloween. Check the Roof's site for timing and tickets.
Howl O Ween Pup Parade. Bringing the dog? The pup parade and BeltLine crawl runs 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday.
Puppets and pumpkins. The Center for Puppetry Arts lists a Halloween morning show, Spookhouse Annie, and Stone Mountain's Pumpkin Festival runs Friday through Sunday this final weekend. Confirm times and tickets on each site before you go.
After dark for grown ups
Midtown Halloween Block Party (Friday). Thirty plus Midtown venues, 6 p.m. to 2 a.m., with tickets from $15 to $40.
Hocus Pocus in Concert (Friday and Sunday). The Atlanta Symphony Orchestra plays the score live under the film at Symphony Hall, Friday at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday at 3 p.m.
A Ghastly and Ghoulish Affair (Saturday). The Center for Puppetry Arts' adults only Halloween party, with a costume contest.
Bar crawls. Halloween in the Highlands on North Highland Avenue and the Buckhead Creepy Crawl are both listed for Saturday night. Listings for these events don't all agree on times, so check the ticket page before you plan around them. If Highland Avenue is your night, our Virginia Highland and Poncey Highland homes put you within walking distance.
Netherworld. Atlanta's best known haunted house is in its 30th season and listed as open Friday and Saturday with timed entry. Buy ahead.
Concert. Young Miko plays State Farm Arena on Halloween night.
Sunday: Día de Muertos and a rain day
Sunday is a different mood. Oakland Cemetery's Día de Muertos celebration runs noon to 5 p.m. and is free. Oakland is Atlanta's oldest cemetery, and the celebration is a calm, beautiful way to close out the weekend. From Cabbagetown and Grant Park, it's a short walk.
The early forecast for Sunday calls for widespread rain, so plan for something indoors: the Hocus Pocus matinee at 3 p.m., a late brunch, or Atlanta United against Toronto FC at Mercedes Benz Stadium. And remember the clocks fall back at 2 a.m. Sunday, so everyone gets an extra hour after the late night. A rainy Sunday is also where a home earns its keep over a hotel room: a full kitchen for a slow breakfast, a living room for the kids to sort candy, and no rush to clear out.
Driving in? How far Atlanta really is
Most of the Southeast is a day trip from Atlanta. Driving times below are estimates without traffic, from each city's center to downtown Atlanta:
| From | Miles | Drive time (about) |
|---|---|---|
| Athens, GA | 72 | 1 hr 30 min |
| Macon, GA | 83 | 1 hr 35 min |
| Columbus, GA | 108 | 2 hr |
| Chattanooga, TN | 117 | 2 hr 15 min |
| Birmingham, AL | 146 | 2 hr 45 min |
| Augusta, GA | 148 | 2 hr 45 min |
| Greenville, SC | 145 | 2 hr 50 min |
| Montgomery, AL | 160 | 3 hr |
| Knoxville, TN | 202 | 4 hr |
| Nashville, TN | 247 | 4 hr 40 min |
| Charlotte, NC | 244 | 4 hr 45 min |
| Tallahassee, FL | 260 | 5 hr 25 min |
| Gainesville, FL | 330 | 6 hr 5 min |
| Jacksonville, FL | 345 | 6 hr 20 min |
Under three hours sounds like an easy out and back. It is, until it's 9 p.m., the candy has kicked in, it's game day traffic, and someone has to drive home. On a Saturday Halloween, staying one night turns a long day into a weekend. Fans coming up from Florida will want at least one night anyway, and most of the drives from Alabama, Tennessee, and the Carolinas end on the east side of the city, close to where our homes are.
Where to stay: the honest version
When a hotel is still the right call. If you're two adults coming for the game and nothing else, a hotel within walking distance of the stadium is worth the premium, if you can still find one.
When it isn't. For a family or a group, a hotel room on Halloween means costumes on the bed, candy on the floor, and kids who can't fall asleep in the same room as their parents. You also spend the night trick or treating somewhere you have to drive to and back from.
The better setup is to sleep where you trick or treat. A furnished home in Inman Park, Candler Park, Grant Park, Cabbagetown, Virginia Highland, Kirkwood, or Midtown puts the porches on your own block, gives you a kitchen for a real breakfast before the game or a slow Sunday, and separate bedrooms for the kids who crash at 8:45. It's the same logic we laid out for Labor Day weekend: base yourself one neighborhood off the action, not in the middle of it.
Why our homes in particular. Every Minty home is designed and furnished by our in house design team, led by architect and cofounder Sidra Gross, so a house that sleeps eight is laid out for eight people, not just photographed for them. Support is available 24/7 during your stay, which matters on a night with costumes, candy, and a late game. Our homes hold a 4.9 Google rating and Airbnb Superhost status, and our eligible homes meet Plum Guide's Top 1% selection criteria.
Frequently asked questions
Is Halloween 2026 on a weekend? Yes. Halloween 2026 is Saturday, October 31, and daylight saving time ends early Sunday, November 1.
What time is the Georgia vs Florida game in Atlanta? Kickoff is 3:30 p.m. Eastern on Saturday, October 31, at Mercedes Benz Stadium, on ABC.
What are the best neighborhoods to trick or treat in Atlanta? Locals most often name Inman Park, Candler Park, Grant Park, Cabbagetown, Virginia Highland, and Kirkwood: older intown neighborhoods with sidewalks, front porches, and houses close together.
What's free to do in Atlanta on Halloween weekend? Trick or treating, the Día de Muertos celebration at Oakland Cemetery on Sunday, and walking the BeltLine. Boo at the Zoo is included with Zoo Atlanta admission.
Can I book a furnished home in Atlanta for just one or two nights? Yes. Minty Living stays run from hourly to annual, so a Saturday night for Halloween books the same way as a month. Individual homes can set their own minimum stay, so check the dates on the listing.
Does Minty Living have homes that fit a big group? Yes. Our largest intown homes sleep 8 to 11, including Amber Lenox in Virginia Highland (five bedrooms, sleeps 11) and Axiom Haus (four bedrooms, sleeps eight).
Can I bring my dog? Most likely. 138 of our 153 listed homes are pet friendly. Each listing shows whether pets are allowed.
Pick one thing per day
Friday, a party or Hocus Pocus. Saturday, the zoo or the game in the afternoon and the porches at dusk. Sunday, Oakland Cemetery and a slow drive home with an extra hour of sleep. For more ideas through the rest of the year, see our guide to Atlanta's best festivals and events.
How Minty Living Can Help
Minty Living has furnished homes across intown Atlanta, including Inman Park, Candler Park, Grant Park, Cabbagetown, Virginia Highland, Kirkwood, and Midtown, so you can sleep on the same streets you trick or treat.
One night or longer. Stays run from hourly to annual, so a Saturday night for Halloween and the game books the same simple way as a month.
Room for the whole crew. Homes range from one bedroom apartments for two to five bedroom houses that sleep 11, each with a full kitchen for the morning after.
Bring the dog. Most of our homes are pet friendly, many with fenced yards.
Help when you need it. Support is available 24/7 during your stay.
Browse homes available this weekend, call or text 404.999.0841, or email [email protected].
