Auckland has an unusually packed few days on its hands: the city's Halloween celebrations coincide with the return of the Auckland Diwali Festival, so central Tāmaki Makaurau is hosting both spooky fun and one of the biggest festivals of its kind in the Southern Hemisphere at the same time.

The Diwali festival is the headline act. It runs across Aotea Square, Queen St, Rutland St and nearby venues from midday to 9pm on Saturday and midday to 9.10pm on Sunday, with music, dance, art, workshops and vegetarian food stalls, plus a public fireworks display to close things out. Getting there is easier than it used to be — the new CRL line stops right beside the action at Te Waihorotiu Station. Satellite events are also running at the Central City Library, Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki and Auckland War Memorial Museum.

If you're travelling with kids and want the Halloween side of things, head west. Spooks & Sparks at The Trusts Arena is the family pick: Scribe headlines, with carnival rides, roaming entertainers, food trucks, costumed characters and a fireworks finale. Fancy dress is encouraged.

For a grown-ups-only night, HI-SO Rooftop Bar downtown is hosting Black, White & Wicked, with a Hendrick's welcome drink, a choose-your-path cocktail booth, drag hostess Ruby and DJs until 2am. Tickets are $22.20 via Eventbrite — dress code is black, white or in between.

Theatre fans are well served too. Basement Theatre opens two shows this week: I Know You, Fish (Te Conozco Bacalao), a solo work by Genoveva Reverte told through the eyes of a forgetful fish, on a choose-what-you-pay model starting at $8; and Full Puss, Lily Catastrophe and Keegan Thomas's maximalist alt-comedy cabaret, running Thursday and Saturday. Over at Tapac, boutique company Potent Pause stages a limited season of two Harold Pinter one-act plays, The Lover and The Collection, from Tuesday evening, with Paul Gittins and Michael Lawrence sharing directing duties.

Garden lovers get a look in as well. The annual Highwic Plant Fair runs 10am to 2pm in the grounds of the Heritage New Zealand property in Newmarket, with heritage roses, natives, perennials and vintage garden tools on sale, compost demonstrations and the Wonky Vege Creature Competition. The 1863 homestead and its vintage embroidery displays are open too.

There's also a free community art project worth a detour: artist Linda McFetridge is inviting passersby at Westfield Newmarket to add drawings, messages and memories to a large-scale work as part of Art out of the Park, with pieces later heading to Art in the Park at Eden Park and tickets to the event up for grabs all weekend.

For travellers, the timing is the appeal. A late-October or early-November trip to Auckland can now bundle a major cultural festival, fireworks, theatre and markets into a single weekend, mostly in the compact city centre and mostly free or cheap to attend.