Florida Events
Every date here was checked against the organiser’s own site. When an event has not announced its next edition, we say so rather than moving last year’s date forward twelve months.
Orlando
Halloween Horror Nights Orlando
The biggest, most expensive nightmare in America.
Check admission · $35 parking · admission tax extra · Worth traveling for — if you like being scared and can handle the crowd.
Dade City
Scream-A-Geddon Horror Park
Sixty acres of haunts, and this year a $2.5M rebuilt midway.
Check admission · $19 parking · + $3.95 online fee · The Tampa Bay area's best pure haunt night.
Fort Lauderdale
Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show
The world's largest in-water boat show takes over seven marinas.
Check ticket price · Florida's premier marine event, full stop.
Lake Buena Vista
Jock Lindsey's Halloween Hangar Bar
Disney's Indiana Jones bar goes full Halloween — no ticket required.
Check admission · Orlando's best free Halloween date night.
Sep 25 – Nov 1Plant City
Sir Henry's Haunted Trail
Three outdoor haunted trails and a haunted hayride, thirteen seasons in — Tampa Bay's real scare attraction.
From $27 · check fees · The haunt worth the drive from the Suncoast.
Sep 28 – Nov 1Tampa
Halloween at Nueva Cantina Downtown Tampa
Tacos, margaritas and a Halloween takeover.
Check admission · Halloween dinner that keeps the night moving.
Miami
The Berry Farm Harvest Festival
South Florida's only 5-acre corn maze, in Redland.
Check admission · Miami's actual fall farm, not a pop-up.
Myakka City
Sarasota Medieval Fair
Step into a medieval village for a fall weekend of performances and festival fun.
Check ticket price · The area's best full-day fall festival that isn't about pumpkins.
Florida starts Halloween in August.
Orlando
Halloween Horror Nights Orlando
The biggest, most expensive nightmare in America.
Check admission · $35 parking · admission tax extra · Worth traveling for — if you like being scared and can handle the crowd.
Dade City
Scream-A-Geddon Horror Park
Sixty acres of haunts, and this year a $2.5M rebuilt midway.
Check admission · $19 parking · + $3.95 online fee · The Tampa Bay area's best pure haunt night.
Lake Buena Vista
Jock Lindsey's Halloween Hangar Bar
Disney's Indiana Jones bar goes full Halloween — no ticket required.
Check admission · Orlando's best free Halloween date night.
Sep 25 – Nov 1Plant City
Sir Henry's Haunted Trail
Three outdoor haunted trails and a haunted hayride, thirteen seasons in — Tampa Bay's real scare attraction.
From $27 · check fees · The haunt worth the drive from the Suncoast.
Sep 28 – Nov 1Tampa
Halloween at Nueva Cantina Downtown Tampa
Tacos, margaritas and a Halloween takeover.
Check admission · Halloween dinner that keeps the night moving.
Miami
The Horrorland at Jungle Island
Season 7 scream park at Jungle Island.
Check ticket price · Miami's in-town haunt campus.
Miami
House of Horror Carnival
Tropical Park haunt-carnival with a dark coaster.
Check admission · The long-running Tropical Park Halloween.
Fort Lauderdale
Nightmare Village at Xtreme Action Park
Three haunted houses inside Xtreme Action Park.
Check admission · Broward's indoor haunt village.
Sarasota
Siesta Key Crystal Classic
Sand castles stopped being child's play.
From $10 · check fees · A Wayfind pick — genuinely unlike anything else on the Gulf coast.
Crystal River
Manatee Season Opens at Crystal River
The warm-water sanctuaries switch on November 15 — the first day manatees crowd the springs, two hours north.
Check admission · Florida's fall migration, with a calendar date.
St. Augustine
St. Augustine Nights of Lights
Millions of lights over a 450-year-old city, and walking through them costs nothing.
Free admission · The best free holiday night out in Florida, and the strongest reason to drive north of Orlando in December.
Venice
Wellen Park Wine Festival
Explore a weekend of wine tastings and dining in Downtown Wellen.
From $25 · check fees · Wellen Park's fully scheduled fall wine weekend.
Tampa
Busch Gardens Christmas Town
Millions of lights and coasters in the dark — included with admission.
Check admission · Tampa Bay's heavyweight holiday-lights night.
Miami Beach
Art Basel Miami Beach
Three public days of the fair that turns the whole city into Miami Art Week.
Check ticket price · The one Florida event with genuine global pull, and worth planning a December weekend around.
Orlando
Festival of Trees at the Orlando Museum of Art
Fifty designer-decorated Christmas trees installed inside an art museum for nine days — and every one is auctioned off at the end.
Check admission · A forty-year Orlando institution, and still the best-designed holiday display in the city.
Orlando
Dazzling Nights at Harry P. Leu Gardens
A timed-entry walk through 50 acres of botanical gardens turned into light rooms, with slots every 15 minutes so you are never in a crush.
Check admission · Orlando's best-run holiday light walk.
The events people plan a whole year around.
Fort Lauderdale
Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show
The world's largest in-water boat show takes over seven marinas.
Check ticket price · Florida's premier marine event, full stop.
Aug 27 – Nov 21Lake Buena Vista
EPCOT International Food & Wine Festival
Food and Wine Festival dining and Eat to the Beat concerts at EPCOT.
Check admission · The best festival for eaters at Walt Disney World.
Miami Beach
Art Basel Miami Beach
Three public days of the fair that turns the whole city into Miami Art Week.
Check ticket price · The one Florida event with genuine global pull, and worth planning a December weekend around.
Lake Buena Vista
EPCOT International Festival of the Holidays
Eat your way around the world at Christmas.
Check admission · The most food-forward holiday event in Orlando, and the only one where the queue is for a dish rather than a ride.
Tampa
Gasparilla Pirate Fest
Tampa does not hold a pirate parade. It stages a hostile takeover.
Free admission · Unlike anything else in America. Plan the trip around it.
Lake Buena Vista
EPCOT International Festival of the Arts
Visual, culinary and performing arts take over EPCOT each winter.
From $119 · check fees · Winter's most underrated Disney festival.
Daytona Beach
Daytona 500
NASCAR's biggest race opens the season on Daytona's high banks.
From $75 · check fees · Florida's marquee motorsport day — go once.
Miami
Calle Ocho Music Festival
Fifteen blocks of Little Havana closed to traffic for the closing day of Carnaval Miami.
Free admission · The biggest free day on Miami's calendar, and it earns the crowd.
The annual ones worth planning a year around.
Miami
Ultra Music Festival
The one the rest of the world flies in for.
Check admission · Worth traveling for if electronic music is your thing. Book accommodation absurdly early.
Fort Lauderdale
Tortuga Music Festival
Country music with your feet actually in the sand.
Check ticket price · The best-sited music festival in Florida.
St. Petersburg
Tampa Bay Blues Festival
Three days of blues on the St. Pete waterfront.
Check admission · The closest marquee music festival to Tampa Bay, and the easiest one to do without booking a hotel.
Panama City Beach
Pepsi Gulf Coast Jam
Where country meets the coast, for four days.
Check admission · A real destination festival, not a day trip: Panama City Beach is a long haul from the peninsula, so treat it as the whole weekend.
White Springs
Florida Folk Festival
The state's own folk festival, 75 years deep.
Check admission
Dade City
Scream-A-Geddon Horror Park
Sixty acres of haunts, and this year a $2.5M rebuilt midway.
Check admission · $19 parking · + $3.95 online fee · The Tampa Bay area's best pure haunt night.
Myakka City
Sarasota Medieval Fair
Step into a medieval village for a fall weekend of performances and festival fun.
Check ticket price · The area's best full-day fall festival that isn't about pumpkins.
Apalachicola
Florida Seafood Festival
Florida's oldest maritime festival, the year the oysters came back.
Check admission · The bucket-list Florida festival for seafood people this year.
Fort Lauderdale
Seminole Hard Rock Winterfest Boat Parade
A hundred lit-up yachts glide down the Intracoastal for the holidays.
Free admission · South Florida's favorite holiday night — go for the megayachts.
Tampa
Gasparilla Pirate Fest
Tampa does not hold a pirate parade. It stages a hostile takeover.
Free admission · Unlike anything else in America. Plan the trip around it.
Daytona Beach
Daytona 500
NASCAR's biggest race opens the season on Daytona's high banks.
From $75 · check fees · Florida's marquee motorsport day — go once.
Key West
Conch Republic Independence Celebration
Key West celebrates the time it seceded from the US — with a straight face.
Free admission · The weirdest, most Key West party of the year.
Tarpon Springs
Tarpon Springs Seafood Festival
Grouper, gyros and sponge boats — two days on the Greek waterfront.
Check admission
Orlando
EDC Orlando
Three nights under the electric sky.
Check ticket price · A big weekend. Commit to all three nights or skip it.
Miami
Calle Ocho Music Festival
Fifteen blocks of Little Havana closed to traffic for the closing day of Carnaval Miami.
Free admission · The biggest free day on Miami's calendar, and it earns the crowd.
Tampa
Sunset On The River
Sunset Music Festival, reborn on the river.
Check admission · The closest major electronic festival to Tampa Bay, and the one you can get home from.
St. Petersburg
Reggae Rise Up Florida
Four days of reggae on the St. Pete waterfront.
Check admission · Close enough to Tampa Bay to do without a hotel, which is rare for a festival this size.
St. Petersburg
Tampa Bay Blues Festival
Three days of blues on the St. Pete waterfront.
Check admission · The closest marquee music festival to Tampa Bay, and the easiest one to do without booking a hotel.
Panama City Beach
Pepsi Gulf Coast Jam
Where country meets the coast, for four days.
Check admission · A real destination festival, not a day trip: Panama City Beach is a long haul from the peninsula, so treat it as the whole weekend.
White Springs
Florida Folk Festival
The state's own folk festival, 75 years deep.
Check admission
Panama City Beach
Seabreeze Jazz Festival
Five days of smooth jazz beside the Gulf.
Check admission · A Panhandle trip, not a day out — but one of the longest-running jazz bills in the Southeast.
Aug 27 – Nov 21Lake Buena Vista
EPCOT International Food & Wine Festival
Food and Wine Festival dining and Eat to the Beat concerts at EPCOT.
Check admission · The best festival for eaters at Walt Disney World.
Lake Buena Vista
Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party
Snow on Main Street in Florida, and it is not a metaphor.
From $189 · check fees · The best hard-ticket night Disney sells. Book a November date and you get the same show for less money and shorter queues.
Miami
The Berry Farm Harvest Festival
South Florida's only 5-acre corn maze, in Redland.
Check admission · Miami's actual fall farm, not a pop-up.
Eustis
Amber Brooke Farms Fall Festival
More than 25 ways to earn the ride home nap.
From $19.95 · check fees · The all day family farm near Eustis.
Clermont
Southern Hill Farms Fall Festival
The fall festival that needs a full itinerary.
From $29.94 · check fees · Clermont's biggest all in fall day.
Kissimmee
Green Meadows Farm Fall
Meet the animals. Pick a pumpkin. Keep it.
From $18 · check fees · The smartest value farm day in Kissimmee.
Myakka City
Sarasota Medieval Fair
Step into a medieval village for a fall weekend of performances and festival fun.
Check ticket price · The area's best full-day fall festival that isn't about pumpkins.
Key West
Race World Offshore Key West World Championship
Offshore powerboats hit race speeds inside Key West Harbor, close enough to watch from Mallory Square.
Free admission · A world championship you can watch for nothing.
Aug 27 – Nov 21Lake Buena Vista
EPCOT International Food & Wine Festival
Food and Wine Festival dining and Eat to the Beat concerts at EPCOT.
Check admission · The best festival for eaters at Walt Disney World.
Apalachicola
Florida Seafood Festival
Florida's oldest maritime festival, the year the oysters came back.
Check admission · The bucket-list Florida festival for seafood people this year.
Lake Buena Vista
Frontera Cocina Día de Muertos Menu
A Chocolate Skull mousse cake and a charcoal-black Serenata de Muertos tequila cocktail.
Check admission
Lake Buena Vista
Chef Art Smith's Homecomin' Fall Menu
A 12-oz orange-maple pork chop, pumpkin bread pudding and a Burnt Sugar Old-Fashioned.
Check admission
Lake Buena Vista
Raglan Road Halloween Menu
A Guinness pie with a spooky pastry face, a Baileys pumpkin shake and apple-cider Samhain Sangria.
Check admission
Orlando
Florida Coffee Festival
Every roaster in Florida worth knowing, pouring in one park.
From $20 · check fees · The best single-day coffee event in Central Florida.
Naples
Taste of Mercato
Graze through 9 Mercato restaurants with fall cocktails and live music in one evening.
Check admission
Miami
Thanksgiving Day at Toro Toro
À la carte Thanksgiving dishes with a Pan-Latin twist, served downtown from noon to 10pm.
Check admission
Planning around one of these? Our city guides cover what else to do while you are there — Tampa, Sarasota and Parrish.