Twin Cities Con comes back to the Minneapolis Convention Center on Friday, November 20 through Sunday, November 22, 2026, and if you are travelling in for it, the question is not just where to sleep but where to recover. Three days of panels, photo ops and an exhibit hall is a marathon, and the con’s own programming runs past midnight on Friday and Saturday. A historic mansion a few blocks from the front doors, with a hot tub in the garden and a speakeasy in the basement, is a very different way to do it than a chain hotel by the freeway.
When is Twin Cities Con 2026, and where exactly is it?
The organisers, Nerd Street Events, have posted the full hours on the Twin Cities Con info page. The exhibit hall is open Friday from noon to 7 PM, Saturday from 10 AM to 7 PM and Sunday from 10 AM to 5 PM, with VIP badge holders admitted half an hour early each day. Programming runs much later than the hall does: 1 PM to 2 AM on Friday and 10 AM to 2 AM on Saturday, before wrapping at 5 PM on Sunday. The address is 1301 2nd Avenue South, on the southern edge of downtown Minneapolis, which matters more than it sounds. The Convention Center sits between downtown proper and the Loring Park neighborhood, so the closest places to stay are not all skyscrapers.
A few practical notes from the same page, because they shape your weekend: kids’ tickets (ages 2 to 13) are $10 for the whole weekend and the organisers publish free-kid codes, anyone 13 and under must be with an adult, and there is no refund on admission for any reason. Cosplay is welcome, with a strict prop policy: foam, cardboard and other light materials are fine; metal blades, wood, realistic firearms and anything that fires a projectile are not, and there is nowhere on site to check a prohibited prop. Outside food and drink are not allowed, but an empty water bottle to fill inside is. Tickets are on the Twin Cities Con site.
Where should you stay for Twin Cities Con?
Close enough to walk, far enough that you are not sleeping inside the con. That is the case for 300 Clifton, the Eugene J. Carpenter Mansion on the edge of Loring Park. The house is a National Register landmark, generally considered the finest Georgian Revival architecture in Minnesota, and the Convention Center is a few blocks away on foot. You can go back to the mansion between a morning panel and an evening photo op without a parking ramp in between, and a friend who is not going to the con can spend the day in the neighborhood and meet you for dinner.
The Convention Center’s own parking advice for the con is worth knowing even if you drive: the organisers point attendees to the Loring Park Ramp at $10 a day, which tells you how close Loring Park is to the show floor. Guests at 300 Clifton get parking details before arrival, so the car can stay put for the weekend and you can walk everything.
What a con weekend looks like from a mansion
Friday: check in, then walk to the hall
Check-in is at 3 PM (an early check-in can be arranged for a small fee if the room is ready), which lines up well with a Friday exhibit hall that opens at noon and stays open until 7. Drop your bags, change into the costume you did not want to wear on the drive, and walk over. Every room in the house has its own character, from the Georgian Room with its en-suite king and sitting area to the Grand Edwardian up top and the Coachman’s Room in the carriage house. If you are bringing a group of friends who all want to go, the house has eight room types, and whole-house buyouts are possible.
Saturday: the long day, and the hot tub after it
Saturday is the day that goes from 10 AM to 2 AM. When you finally leave the Convention Center, the four-season garden hot tub is a few blocks away under a November sky, which is a better end to a con day than an elevator. Under the house is Gertrude’s Cistern, a speakeasy-style lounge and haunted video lounge with heated reclining seats, which is exactly where a group that has been on its feet since breakfast wants to land. Coffee is out in the common area in the morning; breakfast is not served on site, but you are steps from the neighborhood’s cafés and the con hall opens late enough on Saturday to have a real one.
Sunday: check out at 10, back to the hall
Check-out is at 10 AM, the same moment the Sunday exhibit hall opens, so the usual move is to check out, walk over, and do your last lap of Artist Alley with the car already packed. A late check-out is available for a small fee if you would rather sleep in. If you are staying on for Thanksgiving the following Thursday, the house has done that weekend before too; see where to stay for Thanksgiving in Minneapolis.
Two vouchers, one trolley and a mansion bar
Book directly and you receive two vouchers per stay: $20 toward dining at the Pillsbury Club, a private members-style club inside the Charles S. Pillsbury Mansion a short ride south of downtown, and $20 toward a ride with Minneapolis Trolley Tours, which departs from that same mansion. Late November is when the trolley’s holiday lights ride season begins, and the Candlelight Ghost Tour runs year-round, so a con group can add a very Minneapolis Friday night without a car. Check the trolley’s schedule for the dates you are here before you plan around it.
Getting around without the car
Downtown Minneapolis is walkable from Loring Park, and Nicollet Mall’s restaurants are a short walk north of the Convention Center. For anything further, Metro Transit’s trip planner will give you current bus and light-rail options from the neighborhood. If you fly in, the light rail connects the airport with downtown; check the trip planner for current service on the day you arrive.
Book early: it is the weekend before Thanksgiving
Twin Cities Con lands on the weekend before Thanksgiving, which means con-goers are competing with early holiday travellers for rooms near downtown. A house with eight rooms fills faster than a tower with four hundred. If a mansion a few blocks from the show floor is the way you want to do it, check availability at 300 Clifton for November 20 to 22 now, and give yourself the hot tub as a reward for surviving Saturday.
Keep reading: When is the best time to take a mansion tour in Minneapolis? — fall ghost season, Christmas at the mansion, or any day of the year.