Christmas Events in San Diego 2026: Dates and Traditions

San Diego Christmas events 2026: the calendar

These dates come from each organizer’s own 2026 announcement. Times and details can change, so confirm on the official site before you go.

• November 4 to December 31: Dr. Seuss’s How the Grinch Stole Christmas! at The Old Globe, Balboa Park.
• Sunday, November 8: The Old Globe Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony, Copley Plaza, 6 p.m., free.
• November 19 to 22: ¡Cómo el Grinch robó la Navidad!, the Globe’s Spanish-language Grinch, four performances.
• November 20 to December 27: Ebenezer Scrooge’s BIG San Diego Christmas Show at The Old Globe.
• Friday, November 20: Santee Holiday Lighting at Santee Trolley Square, from 5:30 p.m., free.
• November 20 to January 3, 2027: Skating by the Sea at Hotel del Coronado.
• November 28 to January 3, 2027 (select evenings): Wild Holidays at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park.
• December 4 and 5: Balboa Park December Nights, free.
• Sunday, December 6: La Jolla Christmas Parade and Holiday Festival, free.
• Sundays, December 13 and 20: San Diego Bay Parade of Lights, from 5:30 p.m., free to watch.

Tree lightings that open the season

The Old Globe holds its 21st annual Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony on Sunday, November 8, 2026, at 6 p.m. on the Globe’s Copley Plaza in Balboa Park. It is free and open to the public, and it coincides with opening night of the Globe’s Grinch.

In East County, the City of Santee hosts its free Holiday Lighting on Friday, November 20, 2026, at Santee Trolley Square, starting at 5:30 p.m. with the tree lit at 6:15 p.m. The city promises live entertainment, Santa photos and sledding, and suggests taking the trolley because nearby parking is limited.

Up in the mountains, Julian’s Country Christmas season brings small-town shopping, wood smoke and, some years, snow on the surrounding peaks. Visit Julian promotes a Country Christmas tree lighting; check its site for the 2026 date and time.

Holiday festivals and parades

Balboa Park December Nights is the City of San Diego’s largest free holiday festival. In 2026 it runs Friday, December 4, from 4 to 10 p.m. and Saturday, December 5, from noon to 10 p.m., with holiday lights, multiple entertainment stages, food vendors and shopping across the park.

The La Jolla Christmas Parade and Holiday Festival celebrates its 70th year on Sunday, December 6, 2026. The parade lasts about 90 minutes through La Jolla village, and the holiday festival runs from 1 to 5 p.m. at the La Jolla Recreation Center. It is run by volunteers through a nonprofit foundation and has a rain-or-shine policy.

The 56th San Diego Bay Parade of Lights sails on Sundays, December 13 and 20, 2026, starting at 5:30 p.m. Decorated boats follow the bayfront to the Chicano Park pier and then turn toward Coronado. The 2026 theme is “Liberty Lights the Bay – Cheers to 250 Years.”

Christmas lights at the zoo and Safari Park

At the San Diego Zoo Safari Park, Wild Holidays turns the park into an evening walk of lights, music and storytelling on select dates: November 28 and 29, December 18 to 23, and December 26, 2026 to January 3, 2027, with the park open until 8 p.m. on those nights. Santa photos are also listed during the day on December 5 and 6 and December 12 and 13. Everything is included with admission or membership.

At the San Diego Zoo in Balboa Park, Jungle Bells brings holiday light experiences from 5 to 8 p.m. plus seasonal performances, also included with admission. It usually runs from mid-December into early January; check the zoo’s official page for 2026 dates.

Holiday theater and skating

The Old Globe’s Dr. Seuss’s How the Grinch Stole Christmas! returns for its 29th year, transforming the Globe’s stage into a snow-covered Whoville from November 4 to December 31, 2026. New this year is the world premiere of a fully produced Spanish-language version, ¡Cómo el Grinch robó la Navidad!, for four performances, November 19 to 22. The comic Ebenezer Scrooge’s BIG San Diego Christmas Show, a musical riff on Dickens’s A Christmas Carol set in “wintery” San Diego, runs November 20 to December 27.

Hotel del Coronado’s Skating by the Sea puts an ice rink beside the Pacific from November 20, 2026 through January 3, 2027. The hotel says the event has supported Make-A-Wish San Diego for more than 20 years.

Christmas week itself is busy. From December 18 the Hotel del rink is open daily from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m., and the Safari Park’s Wild Holidays nights run December 18 to 23 and resume December 26, so it is not an option on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day evenings. If family is in town between Christmas and New Year’s, these two, plus the Grinch through December 31, are the easiest plans to book.

Living history and medieval Christmas

For a Christmas outing that looks back further than Victorian carols, East County has a living-history option. The Yuletide Medieval Festival at El Monte County Park in Lakeside recreates a holiday in England in 1420, with jousting, a battle pageant, guild encampments and St. Nicholas, Father Christmas and Krampus, on December 5-6 and 12-13, 2026. Its seated St. Nicholas Feast is a five-course meal with limited seats.

Pair it with a walk along the county’s Historic Flume Trail, which starts at the same park and tells the story of the 1889 wooden flume that carried mountain water toward San Diego.

Planning tips for Christmas in San Diego

• Free events draw the biggest crowds: arrive early for December Nights, the La Jolla parade and the boat parade.
• Book ticketed events such as the Globe shows and skating sessions well ahead.
• Dress for cool evenings; NOAA’s normal December low at Lindbergh Field is about 50°F, and colder inland.
• Look for 2026 dates only on official sites; many listings online still show 2025 schedules.
• Gray whale season at Cabrillo National Monument begins in late December, so a holiday-week whale walk on Point Loma can be part of the plan.

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