Plan your Gold Rush Days visit
How to get to Dahlonega, when to arrive, where to look for a room and what to bring.
By the Gold Rush Dahlonega Editorial Team. Updated .
The short answer
Dahlonega is about an hour north of Atlanta at the end of GA 400, by the visitors bureau’s reckoning. For Gold Rush Days, arrive before the 9:00 AM opening, park outside the closed downtown streets and walk in. Bring cash, comfortable shoes and a layer for the morning. For a room, start with the visitors bureau’s lodging list.
Getting there
The visitors bureau puts Dahlonega one hour north of Atlanta. Its directions: take GA 400 north through Alpharetta, Cumming and Dawsonville to where the highway ends, turn left onto GA 60 and US 19, and continue about 5.5 miles to the square.
The road you come in on becomes South Chestatee Street, which is where the university parking deck is. Downtown itself is closed to cars from Friday evening to Sunday night. The parking page has the times.
The weekend at a glance
- Dates
- Saturday and Sunday, October 17 and 18, 2026 goldrushdaysfestival.com
- Opens
- 9:00 AM both days goldrushdaysfestival.com
- Booths close
- 5:30 PM, the organizer’s standing hours goldrushdaysfestival.com
- Parade
- Saturday at 3:00 PM, rain or shine goldrushdaysfestival.com
- Where
- The Public Square and historic district, downtown Dahlonega goldrushdaysfestival.com
- Rain
- The parade goes ahead in rain. The organizer has not published a rain policy for the festival as a whole goldrushdaysfestival.com
Weather
- A normal October 17
- High near 71°F, low near 44°F. These are 1991 to 2020 daily normals from the Cleveland, Georgia station, the nearest one that records temperature ncei.noaa.gov
- October rain
- About 4.95 inches in a normal October at the Dahlonega station ncei.noaa.gov
- This weekend’s forecast
- A forecast goes stale within a day, so we do not print one. Read the National Weather Service forecast for Dahlonega before you leave forecast.weather.gov
What to bring
- Cash. The organizer does not say whether vendors take cards, and it does not list an ATM.
- Walking shoes. You will park outside the closed streets and walk in.
- A layer. At the nearest temperature station a normal mid-October morning is in the mid 40s and the afternoon is near 70.
- A bag for what you buy. There are a lot of booths.
- A plan for 3:00 PM on Saturday. That is when the parade starts.
Where to stay and eat
We do not keep a hotel or restaurant list, because the visitors bureau already keeps one. Start with its places to stay and food and drink pages.
Gold Rush Days is the town’s largest festival of the year, in the visitors bureau’s words, and the bureau notes that it falls in peak fall color. If you are reading this the week of the festival and find nothing in town, the bureau’s list also covers cabins and campgrounds.
Dogs, strollers and wheelchairs
The organizer has no visitor rules page, so there is no published policy on pets, strollers or wheelchairs at the festival. Expect streets closed to cars and lined with booths.
The Dahlonega Gold Museum allows leashed pets on its trails but not in its buildings, and some of its second-floor exhibits are not wheelchair accessible. If access matters for your visit, the Dahlonega Visitors Center number published by the city is (706) 864-3711.
Where these facts come from
We link the organizer and other primary sources so you can confirm anything before you travel. Checked October 12, 2026.