Cruisin' the Coast and golf: how to play Biloxi during car week

Cruisin' the Coast golf trips are possible, but the classic-car week in early October is the hardest hotel week of the year on the Mississippi Gulf Coast. Courses stay open. Rooms sell out from Bay St. Louis to Pascagoula and US 90 crawls all week, so either move your trip a week later or stay and play off I-10.

This guide covers what car week does to a golf trip, which courses and bases still work, and what October golf costs. Prices were seen in October 2026 and change, so confirm with each course.

Quick facts

• When: the first full week of October, in all 12 coast cities. 2026 ran Oct 4-11 (the 30th year).
• 2027: not announced as of October 2026. A Diamondhead listing for Wed Oct 6, 2027 fits Oct 3-10, 2027 (our inference, unconfirmed).
• Size: 10,334 cars registered in 2025.
• Hotels: the biggest hotel week of the year coast-wide.
• Roads: US 90 (Beach Blvd) slow all week.
• Weather: October is the driest month, about 79F highs and 62F lows on the beach.
• Hurricane season still runs to November 30.

What Cruisin' the Coast means for golfers

Cruisin' the Coast is a week-long classic-car show that runs along the whole Mississippi coast. It is not a golf event, and the golf courses do not close for it. What it changes is everything around the golf.

The season file calls it the hardest hotel week of the year and says golf groups should avoid it or book far ahead. Rooms sell out from Bay St. Louis to Pascagoula, and US 90, the beach road that runs past every casino, is slow all week. In 2026, Hurricane Isaias also cancelled the Super Saturday concert and fireworks and closed the Pascagoula venue for a day, a reminder that early October is still storm season.

Casino hotels on the coast already price Friday and Saturday nights well above Sunday to Thursday. On event weeks that pattern breaks down, because the whole week is in demand. Our guide to Biloxi hotel prices on weekends covers the normal spread.

Cruisin' the Coast dates and other October events

For the full year of price-moving dates, see our Biloxi events calendar for golfers.

The best plan: golf the week after

October is one of the two best golf months on the coast. NOAA normals put beach highs near 79F and lows near 62F, with about 3.7 inches of rain on about 6.5 days, the driest month of the year. Inland at Saucier, near Fallen Oak and Grand Bear, highs are about the same and nights are cooler, around 57F.

Moving your trip a week or two later keeps that weather and takes away the hotel crunch. Check two things first: the Fallen Oak college event (Oct 17-19 in 2026) if you want a Fallen Oak round, and the Peter Anderson festival weekend in November if you plan to stay in Ocean Springs. Our best time to golf in Biloxi guide covers every month.

If you go during Cruisin' the Coast: stay off US 90

US 90 runs along the beach, and that is where the cars are. I-10 runs east-west about 5 to 8 miles inland, and the inland courses all hang off it or off the highways north from it. A car week plan is simple: sleep near I-10 and play courses north of the beach.

Courses that are easy to reach on I-10

Drive times below are free-flow estimates from downtown Biloxi with no traffic, so add time on car week.

The Preserve's fall rates run Sept 1 to Nov 15, 2026, and include cart, range balls and tax. Windance's peak rate covers March to June and September to November. The Bridges is closed every Tuesday. Our Windance course guide, The Oaks course guide and The Preserve course guide have the full detail.

Close-in Sunkist in Biloxi is the shortest drive from the casinos at about 20 minutes, at $79 Monday to Thursday or $89 Friday to Sunday.

Bases near I-10

These hotels sit off the beach road. The rates below were seen for Tuesday Nov 10, 2026, not for car week, so expect car week to cost more.

• Hampton Inn & Suites D'Iberville at the I-10 / I-110 junction (exit 46): $101 on that Tuesday. About 23 minutes to Fallen Oak and The Preserve.
• Hampton Inn Biloxi/Ocean Springs at I-10 exit 50: from $80. About 17 minutes to The Preserve and 21 to Shell Landing.
• Ramada Diamondhead off the Diamondhead exit: from $76. About 6 minutes to both Diamondhead courses and 15 to The Oaks.
• Hilton Garden Inn Gulfport Airport south of I-10 / US 49: about 22 minutes to Windance and 20 to The Oaks.

Our where to stay in Biloxi for golf guide compares every base.

Book tee times early, too

Hotels are the first problem on car week, but tee times on weekend mornings can tighten as well. Booking windows differ a lot by course:

• The Oaks: 365 days on its public foreUP rate, so you can lock car week a year out.
• Windance, The Bridges and Diamondhead: about 14 days.
• Sunkist: at least 13 days online.
• Pass Christian Isles: 7 days.
• Fallen Oak: booked through Beau Rivage with the room; the window is not published.

Our Biloxi tee times guide lists every system.

Make the most of October light

Late October still allows 18 holes from about 2:00 to 2:30 PM with a cart, according to the Windance notes, and twilight rates make that the cheapest way to play. On October-November 2026 dates, The Oaks dropped to $59-$69 from about 2 PM and $39-$49 from about 4 PM, Windance to $85 from 2 PM, and The Bridges to $65-$75 from 2 PM. Some coast courses overseed ryegrass in October and November, but many do not, and the research found no published overseed dates for most courses. See Biloxi golf rates for every course's seasonal prices.

Storm risk in early October

Cruisin' the Coast sits inside the main hurricane risk window of August to October. Isaias brought tropical-storm gusts and surge road closures to the coast on Oct 8-10, 2026, in the middle of car week. Read the cancellation terms on any room you book and consider travel insurance. Our guide to hurricane season golf in Biloxi covers how to plan around it.

If you are weighing the Alabama coast for October instead, the Gulf Shores guide to October golf in Gulf Shores covers the National Shrimp Festival there.

Plan it on the map

Open the Biloxi golf map to see every course in this guide with its drive time from your hotel, so you can pick a car week base off the beach road. The $30 plan builds a day-by-day October trip around the week you choose.