Austin City Limits 2026
Two weekends in Zilker Park for the festival's 25th year — and you get to pick your weekend.
October 2–11, 2026
Venue: Zilker Park, 2100 Barton Springs Rd, Austin, TX
Austin City Limits 2026 Lineup
Weekend 1 · Friday · Friday, October 2, 2026
- Charli XCX
- Skrillex
- Brandon Flowers
- Labrinth
- Leon Thomas
- The Chainsmokers
- Turnstile
Weekend 1 · Saturday · Saturday, October 3, 2026
- Lorde
- RÜFÜS DU SOL
- Bleachers
- Lola Young
- Lykke Li
- Suki Waterhouse
- Young Miko
- Levity
Weekend 1 · Sunday · Sunday, October 4, 2026
- The xx
- Twenty One Pilots
- Blood Orange
- Geese
- Parcels
- SOFI TUKKER
- The War On Drugs
- Cannons
- Max McNown
Weekend 2 · Friday · Friday, October 9, 2026
- Charli XCX
- Kings of Leon
- Labrinth
- Leon Thomas
- The Chainsmokers
- Turnstile
Weekend 2 · Saturday · Saturday, October 10, 2026
- Lorde
- RÜFÜS DU SOL
- Bleachers
- Lola Young
- Lykke Li
- Suki Waterhouse
- Young Miko
- Levity
- Sienna Spiro
Weekend 2 · Sunday · Sunday, October 11, 2026
- The xx
- Twenty One Pilots
- Blood Orange
- Geese
- Parcels
- SOFI TUKKER
- The War On Drugs
- Max McNown
Is ACL Worth the Trip?
Austin City Limits is the rare festival where the city is half the reason to go. It runs two straight weekends in Zilker Park for its 25th anniversary in 2026, and the bill barely changes between them, which means the real question isn't whether to come but which weekend to pick. Charli XCX headlines Friday, RÜFÜS DU SOL and Lorde take Saturday, and Twenty One Pilots and The xx close Sunday, across nine stages and a couple hundred acts.
The two-weekend split is the whole game. Almost everyone plays both, so you choose on the exclusives and the practicalities: Skrillex only plays Weekend One, Kings of Leon only Weekend Two. Weekend Two tends to run a touch cooler and less mobbed, and since 3-Day GA sells out first on both weekends, higher tiers or single-day passes are often the way in closer to the date.
Insider tip: ACL sells an official Hotel + Festival bundle that packages your pass with a room near Zilker. On a trip where downtown books up fast for both weekends, that bundle is often the least-stressful way in.
Best For
Travelers who want a real city wrapped around the festival — Austin's food, live music, and Barton Springs are all part of the weekend. Groups who want to choose their date, and anyone chasing a specific exclusive headliner.
Less ideal for
Less ideal for: anyone set on a specific 3-Day GA weekend (the first tier to sell out), heat-averse travelers (early-October Austin still runs warm), and campers — this is an urban, day-only festival with no on-site camping.
Where to Stay
Zilker Park sits just southwest of downtown Austin, so you're picking a neighborhood and a commute, not a distant hotel. There's no on-site camping. The catch this year: you're competing with two sold-or-selling weekends of demand, so book early and favor refundable rates while you settle your dates.
Four ways to play it, depending on whether you want walkability, nightlife, value, or the official bundle.
- Closest & most walkable — Downtown / South Lamar. Downtown and the South Lamar corridor put you within a short rideshare, bike, or even a long walk of the Zilker gates, plus easy reach of Austin's restaurants and bars. The most convenient base, and the first to sell out — lock it in early.
- The Austin vibe — South Congress (SoCo). The strip of boutique hotels, shops, and restaurants everyone means when they say 'Austin.' Walkable to food and music, a quick ride to the park. Best for travelers who want the festival and the city in equal measure.
- Nightlife-forward — Rainey Street & East Austin. Rainey's bungalow bars and East Austin's food and cocktail scene are where the after-hours energy lives, and East Austin skews a little cheaper. A slightly longer haul to Zilker, easy by rideshare.
- Least-stress — the official Hotel + Festival bundle. ACL packages 3-Day passes with rooms near Zilker. You pay for the convenience, but on a weekend where downtown fills up it can be the simplest single booking — and it solves the 'can I even still get a pass' problem in one step.
Whichever weekend you choose, book the room before the pass if you can — Austin's festival-weekend rates climb fast, and the closest neighborhoods go first.
Getting There
Flying: Austin-Bergstrom (AUS) is the only airport that matters — about 20–25 minutes from Zilker by rideshare, with wide domestic service. Book flights early; two festival weekends plus Austin's regular convention traffic tighten fares.
Getting to the park: There's no meaningful festival parking at Zilker — plan on rideshare to the designated zones, the official ACL shuttle, a bike, or a walk if you're downtown. Rideshare surges hard at the nightly close, so budget for it or walk out to a calmer pickup point.
Insider tip: stay somewhere you can bike or walk from. Zilker is genuinely close to downtown and South Austin, and skipping the end-of-night rideshare scrum after nine hours in the Texas sun is worth more than the fare you save.
Where to Eat
Most festivals, the food is an afterthought. At ACL it's a headliner: ACL Eats pulls in Austin's best — Franklin Barbecue, Torchy's Tacos, Home Slice Pizza — alongside dozens of trucks, with free water refill stations throughout the park. Come hungry and treat it like a food crawl between sets.
Off-site, you're in one of America's great eating cities. Do the Austin canon: breakfast tacos before gates, barbecue when you can stomach the line, and a South Congress dinner. Insider tip: Franklin Barbecue's wait is legendary for a reason — if it's on your list, build a whole morning around it on a non-festival day rather than trying to squeeze it in.
Weekend One or Weekend Two?
This is the decision ACL hands you that no other festival does. The lineup is nearly identical across both weekends, so you're really choosing on three things. First, the exclusives: Skrillex plays Weekend One only, Kings of Leon Weekend Two only — if one of those is a must, your weekend is decided. Second, availability: 3-Day GA is the first tier to sell out on both weekends, so if GA is the goal, book early or plan on a single-day or higher-tier pass. Third, the feel: the second weekend often runs slightly cooler and a touch less crowded as the initial rush passes.
Insider tip: if you're flexible, Weekend Two is usually the smarter trip — marginally kinder weather, slightly smaller crowds, and the same headliners. Only chase Weekend One if Skrillex or a specific W1 act is the whole point.
Plan Around the Texas Heat
Early October in Austin is not fall the way most of the country means it. Expect daytime highs in the upper 70s to mid-80s, strong sun, and the occasional pop-up storm, across 350 acres where you'll walk five to ten miles a day between stages. People underestimate it every year and pay for it by Saturday.
Hydrate constantly (the park has free refill stations — bring an empty bottle), wear a hat and real sun protection, and pace yourself. Insider tip: Barton Springs Pool is right next to the festival grounds and sits at a spring-fed 68–70°F year-round. A morning dip before gates open is the single best heat-recovery move in Austin.
Make It an Austin Weekend
ACL's advantage over a field-in-the-middle-of-nowhere festival is that when the music stops, you're in Austin. Build in a day. Paddle or walk Lady Bird Lake downtown, cool off at Barton Springs, and dig into the live-music scene the festival is named after — the Continental Club, Antone's, and the Red River district all run their own programming all weekend, and ACL Fest Nights puts festival artists into clubs like Stubb's and Emo's after hours.
Insider tip: give yourself the Monday after. Austin on a festival Sunday night is a rideshare-surge, everyone-leaving crush; a slow Monday morning of breakfast tacos and a Barton Springs swim before an afternoon flight is the far better exit.