San Diego's holiday season is built around the unusual combination of a Mediterranean climate, a working naval port, and Balboa Park, the largest urban cultural park in the country. The result is a season spent largely outdoors, with several events that use the harbor itself as their stage.

• December Nights at Balboa Park: The city's signature holiday event opens 17 museums for free and fills the park's Spanish-Renaissance pavilions with international food, music, and entertainment.
• San Diego Mexican Food: The fish taco (a Baja-California invention 20 miles south at Tijuana), the carnitas and ceviche at spots like Las Cuatro Milpas in Barrio Logan, and the California burrito define the city's distinctive border-Mexican holiday food culture.
• Hotel del Coronado: The 1888 beachfront Victorian resort is one of the most-photographed American hotels during the holidays, with an outdoor ice rink on the sand looking out at the Pacific.
• Mission Heritage: Mission San Diego de Alcalá, California's first, hosts Las Posadas processions and traditional Mexican Christmas Eve programming at the founding site of the state's Spanish-Catholic heritage.