Attractions & Events

The 19th annual San Diego Bay Wine & Food Festival returns to San Diego on Nov. 6 – 12. The festival will bring together an unprecedented roster of over 100 regionally and nationally recognized chefs and over 800 craft wine, beer, cider and spirits selections, sommeliers, brewers, artists, artisans, and live entertainment. It will also emphasize the influence of Mexican culture, heritage, and gastronomy on Southern California’s food scene with participation from top chefs from both sides of the border.

The Del Mar Thoroughbred Club’s fall Bing Crosby Season kicks off on Nov. 10 and runs through Dec. 3, featuring a lineup of exciting races and events. The fall meet will feature 15 stakes races in 13 days and the lineup of trackside events includes Uncorked Derby Days Wine Festival, Thanksgiving Brunch, Beer & Wine Fest and more.

From Nov. 10 – Jan. 7, on select dates, A Very Furry Christmas at Sesame Place San Diego is a festive, family-friendly celebration with everyone’s favorite Sesame Street friends. The park is transformed into a festive winter wonderland filled with holiday magic and surprises. Guests will enjoy Sesame Street Christmas shows, the Sesame Street Christmas Parade, the Furry Friends Christmas Dance Party, and exciting rides.

The internationally acclaimed Lightscape show will illuminate the San Diego Botanic Garden from Nov. 17 – Jan. 1. The enchanting, after-dark, illuminated trail will span one mile and feature a festive world of wonder with over one million twinkling lights. Attendees will enjoy eye-catching artistic installations from international artists that come alive at night with color, imagination, and sound.

SeaWorld Christmas Celebration returns to SeaWorld San Diego from Nov. 17 – Jan. 7, where guests can enjoy live entertainment, delicious festive food and drinks, and eye-catching displays, including the iconic 320-foot SkyTower Tree of Lights.

Skating by the Sea® at Hotel del Coronado is returning for the 2023 holiday season from Nov. 17 – Jan. 7, 2024, as part of Hotel Del's Frosted by the Sea celebrations. The beachfront ice rink features stunning views of the Pacific and benefits Make-A-Wish® San Diego. Guests can also reserve the rink-side Frostbite Lounge with plush seating, roaring fire pits, holiday-themed libations, and delectable bites. Frosted by the Sea also features sparkling lights draping the hotel's iconic red turrets, Christmas trees, snowy surprises and garlands galore, filling the property with holiday cheer and visits from Santa.

Annual holiday cocktail pop-ups Miracle and Sippin’ Santa are returning to town. They will offer inventive holiday-themed drinks and decorations from Nov. 20-Dec. 31. The Miracle cocktail list includes Christmapolitan made with vodka, elderflower, dry vermouth, spiced cranberry sauce, lime, rosemary and absinthe mist, and the Snowball Old-Fashioned with rye whiskey, gingerbread, aromatic and wormwood bitters and orange essence. This year, Miracle will be at Draft Belmont Park, while Sippin’ Santa will be transforming The Grass Skirt in Pacific Beach.

The USS Midway Museum will deck out the carrier from bow to stern with hundreds of thousands of twinkling and shimmering lights to celebrate this year’s holidays with “Jingle Jets,” its inaugural festive lighting experience. This joyous evening event will be the newest holiday tradition in San Diego. Jingle Jets will begin on Friday, Nov. 24 and run on 17 selective nights through Dec. 23 from 5:30 – 9:30 p.m.

On Dec. 1 and 2, December Nights will return to Balboa Park as The City of San Diego's largest free holiday festival. The family-friendly event brings San Diegans together to enjoy the lights, the sounds, the attractions and of course, the amazing food.

From Dec. 9 through Jan. 1, The San Diego Zoo will be aglow with holiday cheer and decorations, with music filling the air, joyful roaming entertainers, and special food items and sweets available. The Zoo’s Jungle Bells celebration lights up the night until 8 p.m. (except Dec. 24) with entertainment featuring the spectacular show, Aurora.

The Holiday Bowl returns to Petco Park on Dec. 27, featuring top teams from the Pac-12 and ACC. For the second straight year, the downtown skies above Petco Park will light up after the Holiday Bowl with the 46th KGB Sky Show. First launched in 1976, the KGB Sky Show is an astonishing and crowd-pleasing fireworks display synchronized to music and broadcast over the radio.

New Hotels & Renovations

Opened in Sept. 2023 on the sand in Pacific Beach, the refreshed and rebranded Wayfarer San Diego features 126 bright and beachy accommodations, an oceanfront pool deck with a heated pool and outdoor firepit, and the new Zephyr Café for quick bites, craft canned cocktails and local roasts from Bird Rock Coffee Roasters.

In July, CH Projects reopened the historic Lafayette Hotel following a $31 million makeover that included opening five new restaurants and bars. Still to come in late fall are Le Horse restaurant, Lulu's Jungle Room and The Mississippi Room. Le Horse will be a luxurious European-style restaurant that pays homage to the old-world style of restaurant dining, with prime rib cut tableside, cold martinis and table service carts. Lulu's Jungle Room and the Mississippi Room will be in adjacent rooms and operate together as a supper club and bar, except on nights when Lulu's offers live music on its clamshell stage. Then, they will run separately, and the Mississippi Room will also offer a chef's table meal service.

A multi-million-dollar renovation is nearly complete for Hotel La Jolla, Curio Collection by Hilton, a landmark 50-year-old property in the picturesque seaside community of La Jolla Shores. The project is slated for completion in November 2023. It includes a revamp of each of the property’s 110 guestrooms and suites, 1,600 square feet of meetings and events space, and 11^th Floor, which will include the opening of Sea & Sky, a penthouse-level fine dining restaurant replacing the hotel’s existing eatery Cusp Dining & Drinks.

Sheraton San Diego Hotel & Marina’s multimillion-dollar renovation to the Marina Tower will launch in early 2024. The redesign of the Marina Tower focuses on the hotel’s public spaces, guest rooms and suites. The resort will also welcome four new concepts: Rumorosa, a Cali-Baja-inspired dining outlet, the first San Diego Brewery X location, Sunglow harborside bar and cabana club, and Strada, a casual grab-and-go eatery.

Arts & Culture

Interpretations 2023 is featured at Visions Museum of Textile Art from Oct. 13 through Dec. 30. This biennial juried exhibition showcases some of the most innovative art quilts today. Of the 377 entries received from 13 countries, jurors invited only 37 artists to the exhibit. In its 5th year, this exhibition celebrates their collective creative spirit.

From Sept. 14 – Dec. 31, Beyond the Elements at New Americans Museum pays tribute to the vibrant and creative energy of San Diego's hip-hop subculture during the mid-80s to early 90s. It's a salute to the immigrant and multi-gen immigrant youth who fueled this unforgettable movement, uniting diverse communities and inspiring a generation. Guests can explore the fusion of cultures that defined this iconic era, celebrating self-expression through aerosol art, graffiti, DJs, MCs, underground parties, and dance crews.

The Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego’s new exhibit, Kelly Akashi: Formations, runs Sept. 21 through Feb. 18. Encompassing a selection of artworks made over the past decade, Kelly Akashi: Formations features a newly commissioned series in which Akashi explores the inherited impact of her family’s imprisonment in a Japanese-American incarceration camp during World War II.

Restaurants, Breweries & Bars

Opened this April in Leucadia, Manna is a “modern-day atelier” created by executive chef and owner Andrew Bachelier (Jeune et Jolie, Cucina Enoteca). This stylish cafe and test kitchen’s eclectic and craveable daytime menu ranges from coconut milk-soaked Spanish-style French toast to blue corn chilaquiles in mole negro and Turkish poached eggs served alongside fresh juices and tonics. Its 25-seat patio will also be used for special events, including preview dinners for Chick & Hawk, the highly anticipated North County restaurant with Tony Hawk.

Modeled after a modern Parisian Cafe, Pâtisserie Mélanie opened its new North Park storefront this May. The menu for the cafe includes classic, yeast-leavened viennoiseries like croissants, escargots aka pains aux raisins, and two different sizes of kouign-amann, the caramelized Breton pastry, as well as canneles, macarons, financiers, and traditional cakes and tarts ranging from mille-feuille and Paris-Brest to tarte tatin. There are also coffee drinks, French-style hot chocolate, and various teas and tisanes from French gourmet food house Fauchon.

An all-in-one destination for Japanese food that’s emerged in the East Village is an ambitious enterprise from the team behind Beshock Ramen. The largest storefront belongs to Asa Bakery, a sidewalk-facing cafe offering coffee, espresso drinks, matcha and hojicha lattes. The in-house bakery turns out a wide range of Japanese bread and pastries. Behind a secret door hidden in the right wall of the bakery is Bar Kamon, a speakeasy that transports guests back to Japan in the 1920s. A door in the back of the bakery leads to Sushi Gaga, a cozy 10-seat, omakase-only sushi bar.

In September, chef Helene Henderson and her actor-director husband John Stockwell opened the ninth and largest location of their Malibu-born international restaurant chain in the former Harbor House location in Seaport Village. Malibu Farm’s menu is vegetable-forward with a focus on sustainability. The restaurant sources produce from local farmers and serves brunch and dinner daily, along with seasonal cocktails.

In September, Rikka Fika Café, a weekly Asian bakery coffee pop-up business, moved into a newly leased cafe in East Village. The bakery offers a concise menu of carefully crafted coffee and matcha drinks and a rotating pour-over and bean menu curated by international specialty coffee roasters. The small-batch baked goods are made in-house with fresh, seasonal ingredients.

James Beard award-nominated LA pizza joint, Pitfire Pizza, renowned across Los Angeles and Orange Counties for its prodigious pies, is making its debut in Carlsbad this November. The Carlsbad menu is anchored by 12 core pies, all of which begin with Pitfire Pizza’s slow-rise fermented sourdough pizza crust. Pitfire's California-style pizzas are known for their quality and custom ingredients like house made vegan cheese and cauliflower crusts to please all, including vegetarian, vegan and gluten-free options.

Steak 48, a high-end national steakhouse chain, will open in the long-shuttered Searsucker space at the Del Mar Highlands Town Center in October. The restaurant is an experiential steak and seafood spot offering multiple private dining rooms for special events, chef's table experiences, a glass-walled kitchen, a 3,000-bottle wine vault, and an in-house 28-day beef-aging program. The new location joins six other Steak 48 restaurants nationwide.

This fall, Bivouac Ciderworks will open a 5,700-square-foot space next door to its existing taproom and brewery in North Park, which will triple its overall footprint. The Adventure Lodge will offer 100 indoor and outdoor seats, a coffee shop, a communal co-working-style space, a market for cider and chef-driven pantry and other items, a retail shop with adventure-inspired gifts, a cider education and tasting bar, a members-only private brandy lounge and a large cider production facility.

Following a 10-year closure, the Whaling Bar will reopen this fall at the La Valencia Hotel. Opened in the 1940s, the nautical-themed cocktail lounge will continue as part of the hotel, but its cocktail and bar menu will be created and managed by the SDCM Restaurant Group.

Finca, a casual, 90-seat California tapas restaurant and wine bottle shop in North Park, will open in late fall. The restaurant is a project from Dan Valerino and Joe Bower, two hospitality veterans who met while working at the acclaimed restaurant Juniper & Ivy. The space will be an open kitchen concept and the menu will feature Spanish-inspired shareable plates, complemented by a bar program highlighting sangrias and wines from Spain and California. 

Busalacchi Restaurants will open its latest concept, an upscale Italian gastropub named Lala, this fall. The Busalacchi family has owned restaurants in Little Italy since 1996, including Nonna, Zucchero and Barbusa. Lala will serve shareable modern Italian food, along with cocktails. The restaurant will have an "Italian Mediumalist" design, including an 18-seat granite-top bar and a covered outdoor patio illuminated by fringed lanterns.

In November, Open Gym restaurateur/chef Phillip Esteban will open his latest restaurant concept in Barracks 19 at Liberty Station. Inspired by a cafe of the same name in the Philippines, Wildflour will be an all-day restaurant/delicatessen incorporating elements of a bakery, coffeehouse and bar. The menu will deliver fresh Southern California vibes, centering around seafood and expanding on the relationships forged with local fishermen over the pandemic-born Fish to Families program.

Pali Wine Co., a Central Coast winery with a wine tasting room in Little Italy, will open its first full-service restaurant in November in North Park. The 63-seat restaurant will offer Mediterranean fare, including house-baked pita, fresh seafood, and California produce. The wine menu will feature the full spectrum of Pali's cellars, which include still and sparkling, white, pink, orange and red wines. Architects Tecscape Design are giving the indoor-outdoor venue the vibe of Central Coast wine country.

In December, San Diego restaurateurs Brian Malarkey and Christopher Puffer (Animae, Herb & Wood, Herb & Sea) will open Le Coq, a French-inspired steakhouse, in their former Herringbone restaurant space in La Jolla. The restaurant will be remodeled into an elegant, modernist French space serving escargot, frisée salad, chateaubriand and other classic French fare.

Enlitenment, an Asian-fusion eatery, is set to open this December in downtown San Diego’s Gaslamp neighborhood. The space will be a bar, restaurant and day club hybrid, featuring a custom Zen Garden with a swing set and art from Austria. The menu will include Korean crispy chicken sandwiches and several other bites that draw from all corners of Asia as inspiration.

Awards and Recognitions

Citing its beautiful beaches, recent influx of hot hotels and an emerging culinary scene, Condé Nast Traveler recognized San Diego as the No. 2 big city in America as part of the magazine’s annual Reader’s Choice Awards.

WalletHub.com, a personal finance outlet, named San Diego as 2023's second best warm destination for winter travel according to a recent study.

The Wall Street Journal ranked the San Diego Convention Center as #4 overall and #1 for “City Surroundings” in their recent ranking of the best convention centers in the United States.

San Diego International Airport (SAN) has been selected as the 2023 Airports Council International – North America (ACI-NA) Environmental Achievement Award winner in the Mitigation Award Category. Earlier this year, SAN introduced renewable diesel for all non-road diesel vehicles and equipment on the airside. The judging panel praised the program, saying it was an effective way to lower emissions until electricity technologies become more available.

More than half of all restaurants and retail shops at San Diego International Airport (SAN) have been certified as SAN Green Concessions in recognition of their significant efforts to conserve energy and water and reduce waste. The certification, earned by 12 restaurants and 18 retail shops, lasts one year and requires an annual check-in to ensure continued participation in the program. Certified businesses display a SAN Green Concessions logo at their storefront.

Transportation

Visitors heading by foot and car to San Diego International Airport (SAN) on N. Harbor Drive will access Terminal 1 via new entrances beginning Oct. 27. The new entrances are a part of the airport's New Terminal 1 (New T1) planning and construction. The new entrances will also allow construction crews to continue working on the New T1 Parking Plaza, which will open in late 2024. The five-level structure will offer 5,200 parking spaces — 750 more than the old Terminal 1 surface parking lot. Ten percent of parking spaces in the new parking structure will be equipped with charging stations for electric vehicles. The first phase of the New T1 is scheduled to open in late summer 2025.

San Diego International Airport (SAN) added daily non-stop service to Atlanta, Georgia via Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ALT) on Alaska Airlines starting May 16.

San Diego International Airport (SAN) will increase non-stop service with a second daily flight to London Heathrow Airport (LHR) on British Airways starting April 20, 2024.

San Diego International Airport (SAN) will increase non-stop service to Munich, Germany, via Franz Josef Strauss International Airport (MUC) on Lufthansa Airlines starting April 2024. Lufthansa currently serves SAN-MUC three times a week. It will expand to five days per week in April 2024 and transition to daily service in June 2024.

For more information on San Diego’s offerings, including exciting vacation packages and valuable coupons for attractions, restaurants and more, visit the San Diego Tourism Authority’s website at www.sandiego.org.

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