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A Full Dose of Festiveness: San Diego Holiday Goings-on

A Full Dose of Festiveness: San Diego Holiday Goings-on

Nestled right in the heart of the holiday season as we are, now’s the perfect time to welcome you for a festive visit to the Sofia Hotel in Downtown San Diego, where you’ll find yourself not only treated to the quintessence of boutique hospitality but also easy access to a slew of festive happenings in and around America’s Finest City.

Here’s a look at only a sampling of that merriment: varied enough, we hope, to entice you to experience the holidays with us amid plenty of good cheer and pampering!

Holiday Shopping & Events in the Gaslamp Quarter

The richly historic Gaslamp Quarter, yours to explore just steps from the Sofia Hotel, is one of San Diego’s holiday nerve centers. For one thing, with its cornucopia of shops, it’s the perfect place to get your hands on those last-minute gifts that always seem to slip through the cracks of the holiday list and inspire some eleventh-hour panicking as Christmas Eve draws close. 

The district also hosts its share of holiday events. On December 14th, for instance, there’s the Toast of the Gaslamp celebration, wherein you can nibble on all sorts of holiday goodies (and get some of that unfinished holiday shopping done). The next day, an interspecies soiree goes down in the form of the 12th Annual Gaslamp Holiday Pet Parade at MLK Promenade Park, which’ll feature an eye-popping procession of festively garbed participants of both the two- and the four-legged affiliation.

We’d also be remiss not mentioning the jampacked lineup of parties and shows the Gaslamp Quarter offers on New Year’s Eve. Have a look at the neighborhood’s Event Calendar for more info. 

Holiday Happenings in Balboa Park

San Diego’s gorgeous Balboa Park, which has already kicked off its holiday events with December Nights, has much else still in store for the season. That includes a production of Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas at the Old Globe through December 29th, with a mockup of Whoville at the theater to boot.

Balboa Park’s Spreckels Organ Pavilion, meanwhile, will be offering both its regular program of Sunday organ concerts and some special performances over the next month. The afternoon of December 15th will deliver a Christmas Carol Sing-Along featuring San Diego Civic Organist Raúl Prieto Ramírez alongside song leader Lauren Leigh Martin, while at 6 PM Ramírez will join vocalists from the San Diego Opera and players from the Navy Band Southwest Wind Ensemble for a holiday concert presented by the Spreckels Organ Society and the USO.

Light Parades

A San Diego County holiday tradition is multiple boat parades of light glittering and glinting up the Pacific waterfront. Upcoming events include the Oceanside Harbor and Mission Bay light parades on December 14th and the second of the Port of San Diego’s hugely popular version—which musters a fleet of better than 80 lit-up vessels and is viewable in San Diego Bay just blocks from the Sofia—on December 15th. 

Holiday Nights at the San Diego Botanic Garden

The San Diego Botanic Garden’s Botanic Wonderland: Holiday Nights in the Garden is another treasured yuletide tradition hereabouts, offered on select evenings in December.  Among the attractions are a beer/wine garden pouring mulled wine, attendance by Santa and the Snow Princess, a well-stocked holiday bazaar, and some dazzling decorations, not least the 10-foot-tall Poinsettia Tower.

An Old Town San Diego Holiday

Old Town State Park—just a hop, skip, and a jump from our doorstep—has its own marvelous holiday festival in the form of its Old Town Las Posadas, anchored by a traditional Las Posadas procession and including plenty of other festive activities. It takes place this year on December 14th.

The Port of San Diego Holiday Bowl Parade

There’s no way we can wrap up this non-exhaustive list of San Diego holiday events without mentioning the biggest gosh-darn balloon parade in the country! The Port of San Diego Holiday Bowl Parade will once again draw more than 100,000 spectators to its super-sized march, which takes place at 3 PM on December 26th.

Make the Sofia Hotel Your Downtown San Diego Holiday Haven This Year

Come immerse yourself in our own decorated holiday wonderland here at the Sofia Hotel, and use us as a luxurious launch pad for partaking of greater San Diego’s prodigious holiday spirit!