kopp

We're planning a trip to Daytona Beach in late October. Thru researching the DB website, it mentions the Bike Week ending on Sunday, the 24th. Does this mean that the festival is mostly over the night of the 23rd, and everyone is leaving the 24th? We'd really rather not participate in the activities, so I'm just trying to figure out when would be the best time to arrive and miss out on all the fun (?)...Thanks!

kopp

Doesn't anyone know how crowded it gets during this weekend? I'd appreciate your comments.

Johanna1

My brother lives in Orlando, and he says that he avoids going to Daytona during Bike Week because of the crowds. A lot of bikers leave on Sunday, but not all. I would plan to come well after Bike Week if I were you!

GoTravel

That means all of the officially sponsored activities will be over by Monday. There will still be bikers in town on Sunday.

TrishTravels

I've been there with the bikers. If I wasn't one, I would absolutely avoid going there. It's usually packed dor a few days afterward.

Tandoori_Girl

I stumbled into Daytona many years ago during Bike Week, not knowing about the annual event, and I was amazed at the great number of bikers, and the noise from their bikes! Daytona can get incredibly crowded anytime anything is going on, this event borders on the absurd and is quite amusing what with all those Harley's, bikers, tattoos, leather, and the biker babes. Usually there are at least a few related motorcycle/car accidents that happen during the week while folks get on the highways to attend the event. If you're driving to Daytona, you'll be sharing those same roads, keep that in mind for yours and others safety.

Good luck steering clear of the event!

Austin

Bike week was in March back when I lived in Daytona in the early 80's. Have they added another Bike Week or changed it to October? (Or has my memory totally faded?)

Syv

The Bike Week I know of is next week - end of Feb / 1st week of March. (My friend just left from Canada to drive down to it)

Perhaps there's one in October but I don't know of it.

Austin

Whew, so my memory really isn't that bad. I remember it being a couple of weeks after the 500. What fun it was back then, except for the traffic.

gmoney

Bike week is end of Feb beginning of March. What you are talking about is called Biketoberfest which is a smaller event. This was done to try to bring in business during the slow fall months. This event is not nearly as big as the real bike week (which can attract up to 500,000 people.) I have not heard how bad the crowds are during biketoberfest but is no where near bike week. Hope this helps. Daytona is relatively quiet this time of year as it is the off season.

kopp

Thanks for all the replies. I had heard the one in the next week was a real big event, but I hadn't heard about the October one until I started looking up things on the Daytona Beach events calendar.

I'd certainly stay away for the Feb/March Bike Week. Sounds like the October one won't be a problem.