Dallas Stadium (the AT&T Stadium most fans still call it) hosts nine FIFA World Cup 2026 matches — five Group Stage games, two Round of 32, one Round of 16, and a Semi-Final on July 14. That's a tournament-high for the United States and the most matches any single stadium will host outside the final. Hotel rooms in Arlington, Fort Worth, and downtown Dallas were essentially gone by late 2025; the smart play now is short-term rentals in the suburbs with good highway access.
This is what we recommend after operating four homes in Frisco and watching neighborhood-by-neighborhood pricing data since the host cities were announced.
The four real options for where to stay
Frisco / Plano (north suburbs)
Distance to Dallas Stadium: 40 miles, 45–60 minutes on the Dallas North Tollway → Sam Rayburn Tollway → 360 South. On match day, plan 60–90 minutes door to door.
Why it works: Quiet, family-friendly, big homes with pools and yards, good restaurants, plenty to do on non-match days (PGA Frisco, The Star, Universal Kids Resort opening 2026). Pricing during the World Cup is high but not insane — and you get a real house with a real kitchen for groups.
Why it might not: You will be driving (or rideshare-ing) to every match. If you're a single fan going to one game, this is more car than you need.
This is what we offer at stayinfrisco.com.
Arlington (immediately around the stadium)
Distance to Dallas Stadium: 1–5 miles, often walkable from some hotels.
Why it works: Walk to matches, walk back. Six Flags and Globe Life Field (Rangers baseball) are right there. Tickets to local entertainment are easy to combine with a match-day ticket.
Why it might not: Inventory is gone, what's left is at 4–6× normal pricing, and most of the housing stock is small chain hotels not designed for groups. Match-day traffic in Arlington is a known disaster — paradoxically you can be 1 mile away and still take an hour to leave.
Downtown Dallas
Distance to Dallas Stadium: 22 miles, 30–60 minutes depending on time.
Why it works: Restaurants and nightlife are unmatched in the region. If you want to do a Texas city break around your match, downtown is the right base.
Why it might not: Match-day I-30 traffic is brutal. Pricing during the World Cup is downtown-NYC-Bali-level. Parking is its own line item.
Fort Worth
Distance to Dallas Stadium: 16 miles, 25–45 minutes (gets bad on match days because everyone heading west uses I-30).
Why it works: Genuinely interesting city — Stockyards, the cultural district, the Modern. Often a slightly better deal than downtown Dallas if you're flexible.
Why it might not: Less group-sized inventory than Frisco. Traffic into Arlington from the west is notably worse on weekends than from the north.
The honest tradeoff for a group of 4–12
If you're traveling alone or with one other person and only attending one match, a hotel in Arlington — if you can find one at a survivable price — is the path of least resistance.
If you're a group of 4+, especially with kids or a mix of soccer and non-soccer fans, a private house in Frisco beats every other option. Concrete numbers from our properties for World Cup dates:
- 8 guests in one of our homes during a typical match week works out to roughly $120–$200 per person per night, including pools, hot tubs, game rooms, and full kitchens.
- The equivalent 4 hotel rooms in downtown Dallas (since you'd need 4 to sleep 8 people) runs $600–$1,200/night during the same window.
- You break even on the rideshare cost to/from the stadium versus 4 separate hotel-tax line items in roughly 2 nights.
That math is why every group booking we've taken for the World Cup is from people who started looking in downtown Dallas or Arlington and ended up here.
How to plan match-day travel
On the way there
- Leave 3.5 hours before kickoff for the drive (you should arrive 90 minutes pre-match to clear security and park).
- Take the Dallas North Tollway south to I-635 west to I-30 west, then take 360 South or Collins Street to the stadium. Avoid the urge to cut through downtown Dallas — it's slower than it looks on the map.
- If you're rideshare-ing, request the ride 45 minutes earlier than you think you need to. Surge is heavy in Frisco on match mornings.
Where to park
- Stadium lots sell out months in advance through Ticketmaster. They're the most expensive but the closest.
- Surrounding restaurants and parking garages sometimes sell event-day parking on PreFlight or SpotHero. Walk-up parking exists but you'll pay tomorrow's rent for it.
- Park & ride is offered for some matches through the city of Arlington — check arlingtontx.gov closer to the date.
On the way back
- Expect the parking lots to take 45–90 minutes to drain. Have a plan for those 45 minutes — a restaurant nearby with a reservation, a place to walk to, etc. — or accept that you'll sit in your car listening to recap radio.
- I-30 East back to the toll road is your best route home from Arlington.
Our four Frisco homes
All four sleep 8–12, all four have heated pools and game rooms, and all four are within 40 miles of Dallas Stadium. Book direct on this site to skip Airbnb's guest service fees — same homes, same hosts, same standards.
- The Palmera — five bedrooms, a basketball half-court, the most kid-friendly of the four.
- Dreamscape — modern aesthetic, oversized pool, big group dining room. Group favorite.
- Frisco Waves & Fairways — adjacent to a golf course, multiple primary suites, good for blended generations.
- The Indigo Oasis — newest renovation, the most "resort" feel of the four.
The World Cup 2026 landing page has the full nine-match schedule, an FAQ on parking and travel times, and dates pre-mapped for each property.
When to book
Three things are tightening simultaneously through 2026:
- Pricing climbs every month. Direct booking gives you Hospitable's dynamic pricing, which doesn't surge as aggressively as Airbnb's algorithm does.
- Availability for the Semi-Final week (July 12–15) is already 60%+ booked across our four homes.
- Knockout-stage matchups will be confirmed only after Group Stage. If you're holding out for a specific team, the conservative move is to book a flexible-cancellation rate now and lock the team in later.
