When was Cruisin' the Coast 2026?

Sunday, October 4 through Sunday, October 11, 2026, the event's 30th anniversary. The 2026 event has wrapped; 2027 dates have not been announced yet. Registration and the Finale Ceremonies are at Cruise Central in Jones Park, Gulfport, and the seven cruise-in venues open Thursday through Saturday, October 8–10.

Where should I stay for Cruisin' the Coast?

Somewhere on Highway 90 between Bay St. Louis and Biloxi, so you can reach every venue without crossing the whole coast in event traffic. Long Beach sits between Pass Christian and Gulfport, ten minutes from Cruise Central, and is residential and quiet at night, which matters after a week of oldies bands and burnouts.

How far ahead should I book?

Book the week the 2027 dates are announced. Coast-wide lodging sold out months ahead for 2026, and our Long Beach home was taken for the middle of it. 2027 registration opened on site on Thursday, October 8, 2026, and the people registering are the same people booking next year's rooms. Ask us and we will hold dates for you.

Is Long Beach close enough to the events?

Yes. Cruise Central in Gulfport is about ten minutes east, Pass Christian about ten minutes west, and Long Beach has its own day on Monday, October 5, with the Show & Shine on Jeff Davis Avenue, the Kick-off Parade at 5:30 p.m., and a band at the harbor that night. Biloxi and Ocean Springs are 25–35 minutes on a normal day. Allow more during the week.

At the Beach Bungalow in Long Beach, yes, up to two dogs. The yard is fenced and large enough that a dog will not mind you leaving for a cruise-in.

Can I park a trailer or car hauler at the house?

The Beach Bungalow sits on a large private lot on a quiet residential street with off-street parking. Tell us what you are towing when you book and we will confirm it fits before you arrive.

Cruisin' the Coast: Where to Stay, Long Beach MS

Update, October 11, 2026: Cruisin' the Coast 2026 has wrapped. Thank you to everyone who cruised with us. Save the date for 2027 and ask us for the dates the week they are announced and we will hold them. In the meantime, our Long Beach Beach Bungalow is a great fall weekend on the coast, three bedrooms, fenced yard, two dogs welcome. The 2026 schedule and availability notes below are kept for reference.

Cruisin' the Coast 2026 ran Sunday, October 4 through Sunday, October 11, and lodging anywhere on the Mississippi Gulf Coast that week sold out months ahead. It is the 30th anniversary of America's Largest Block Party: thousands of antique, classic and hot-rod cars cruising a 30-mile beachside stretch of Highway 90, with cruise-in venues in seven towns, headline bands, a swap meet and the Vicari auto auction. This is the honest picture of what the week looks like town by town and why our one home on the coast sits in the right place for it, useful if you are planning 2027.

Where the week actually happens, day by day

Most guides tell you the dates and stop. The thing that matters for lodging is where each day is, because the coast is 30 miles long and the event moves. Here is the shape of it, from the official 2026 schedule. Times can shift, so check cruisinthecoast.com before you drive.

Sunday, October 4 — Gulfport. View the Cruise in downtown Gulfport from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., a cruise-in at Hardy Court, and Cruisin' Through the Decades over in Gautier.
Monday, October 5 — Long Beach's day. Registration opens at Cruise Central (Jones Park, Gulfport), then the Long Beach Show & Shine runs on Jeff Davis Avenue from 9 to 4, the Cruisin' the Coast Kick-off Parade lines up at Long Beach High School and rolls at 5:30 p.m., and The Tip Tops play Long Beach Harbor from 6 to 9. If you are staying in Long Beach, you walk to all of it.
Tuesday, October 6 — Gulfport and Biloxi. Salute to Our Veterans at Cruise Central, a cruise-in at Margaritaville in Biloxi, and the flame-throwing competition at the IP Casino at dusk.
Wednesday, October 7 — Biloxi and the west end. The Biloxi Block Party downtown from 8 to 3, Hot Rods & Hospitality in Waveland, the Blessing of the Classics in Diamondhead, and a new drifting exhibition in D'Iberville that evening.
Thursday through Saturday, October 8–10 — everywhere at once. All seven cruise-in venues open 9 to 5 with bands: Bay St. Louis, Pass Christian, Gulfport Cruise Central, Edgewater Mall, D'Iberville, Ocean Springs and Pascagoula. The Vicari auction and the swap meet run at the Coast Coliseum. Thursday is Burn 'Em Up in the Pass; Friday is the Ocean Springs Sock Hop and 38 Special at the Beau Rivage; Saturday is the Super Saturday concert and fireworks in Bay St. Louis and Jay Leno at the Beau Rivage. The Country Cruisin' Breakfast is at the Long Beach Yacht Club from 7 to 10 all three mornings.
Sunday, October 11 — Gulfport. Finale Ceremonies at Cruise Central from 9 to 10:30, sixty $500 cash drawings and the Make-A-Wish raffle car.

Why Long Beach is the quiet middle of it

Long Beach sits on Highway 90 between Pass Christian and Gulfport. Cruise Central is about ten minutes east. Pass Christian's downtown venue is about ten minutes west. Bay St. Louis is twenty; Biloxi and Ocean Springs are 25 to 35 on a normal day. That geography is the whole argument: you are never more than a short run from a venue, you are on the cruise route itself, and you are not parked inside Biloxi's casino traffic at midnight. And on Monday the event comes to you.

It is also a residential town. Cars cruise past all week, but at 10 p.m. the street you are sleeping on is quiet, which is not something we would promise about a hotel on the Biloxi strip during this particular week.

Our home in Long Beach

We host one home on the Mississippi coast, and we are not going to dress that up as a portfolio. The Beach Bungalow is a three-bedroom, three-bath home that sleeps nine on a large private lot a five-minute walk from the beach. It carries 126 guest reviews at 4.99 stars, takes up to two dogs, and is set up for the way this week travels: two families or a car club under one roof, a real kitchen, a fenced yard and off-street parking for whatever you are towing.

The week itself is over, but the Bungalow is open for fall weekends on the coast, with the beach, the harbor and Gulfport all within ten minutes. Check the live calendar for open dates.

A full week or a weekend?

If you are registering a car, come for the week. Registration package pick-up runs Monday and Tuesday, the venues do not fully open until Thursday, and the stamping-card drawings on Sunday require you to have made the rounds. A weekend visitor gets the busiest three days, Thursday through Saturday, but misses the parade and the quieter early-week cruise-ins that longtime attendees prefer.

Whatever you choose, arrive on a Sunday if you can. Saturday check-ins during the event are the hardest driving of the year on Highway 90.

Nothing else on our calendar collides with it

We also host in Starkville, Oxford and Auburn, and we watch the football calendar closely. October 4–11 overlaps none of it: Alabama plays at Mississippi State on Saturday, October 3, the day before Cruisin' begins, and October 10 is a quiet Saturday in all three of our college towns. If you are a coast regular who also follows the SEC, this is the one October week you do not have to choose.

Planning for 2027 already?

You are not early. 2027 registration opened on site at Cruise Central on Thursday, October 8, 2026, and the people who registered that day are the same people booking next year's lodging on the drive home. If you want the Bungalow for the 31st Cruisin' the Coast, ask us for the dates the week they are announced and we will hold them.

Booking direct at stayca.life skips the platform service fees you would pay elsewhere for the same home. Our homes carry a 4.95-star average across 3,300+ guest reviews. For everything else about the town, read our Long Beach, MS guide.

Last updated: October 11, 2026 · Written by the Stay'ca team, family-owned hosts based in Laurel, Mississippi