Seeing the Lights

Prepare to be mesmerized! Holiday-season nights in Descanso Gardens are a magical interplay of lights and natural beauty that dazzle as you stroll through the Enchanted Forest of Light. Kids and adults alike will thrill as they enter 10 themed gardens, each beckoning visitors to

There's a reason Redding Garden of Lights (November 21 – January 4) has been named a Top 10 Reader’s Choice event by USA Today. Stroll through sparkling trees and colorful tunnels, past shimmering gardens, and across the glittering Sundial Bridge. More than two million lights are used to illuminate this incredible exhibition.

Riverside’s Mission Inn has one of the most stunning displays of holiday lights in the US, but first things first: To really get in the mood—and earn your holiday treats, calorically speaking—take a quick-escape hike on nearby Two Trees Trail.

Hidden in the bucolic hills of Paso Robles lies one of the greatest light shows on earth. The lighted art exhibition, Sensorio, is as if the rainbow magic of the aurora borealis was plucked from the sky and planted in the fields. DECEMBER BONUS: Enjoy a holiday market, see The Nutcracker, and visit Santa at Sensorio.

As the sun goes down, the iconic lights come up in the Biggest Little City in the World. And there’s a perfect place to witness both on a short sunset hike to an outcropping offering a brilliant panorama. South Reno’s Huffaker Hills is a grass prairie open space teeming with wildlife and seasonal wildflowers.