Allow yourself to be mesmerized by 4.5 million twinkly lights at The Mission Inn Festival of Lights in Riverside!
Since 1992, the historic Riverside hotel and spa has been dazzling visitors with an incredible spectacle of lights and holiday displays. It’s one of the largest holiday light collections in the country and has been voted “Best Public Lights Display” by USA Today, so it’s no surprise it’s one of our favorite holiday traditions and draws roughly 500,000 people each year. From November 25 2022 to January 6, the Festival of Lights will be twinkling away throughout the winter nights.
This six-week event is completely free and open to the public, so you won’t need to be staying at the hotel to see the best of the glittering collection. This stunning hotel’s castle-like towers, Mediterranean domes, sprawling arcades and cascading balconies will be decorated with 5 million twinkling holiday lights for a five-week extravaganza. You’ll be greeted by two giant nutcracker figures flanking the entrance with towering palm trees draped in meters of fairy lights. Along with that, there’ll be 200 animated figures and the world’s largest man-made mistletoe to steal those giant smooches under.
As you bask in the fairy tale magic, you can take advantage of the perfect photo opportunities amongst the sea of oversized ornaments, bows, and garlands on lights and bridges. The inside of the hotel will only be accessible to hotel guests and restaurant patrons, which is worth considering with the array of award-winning restaurants available. Not to mention seeing every inch of the great Rotunda and vast courtyards covered in illuminating decor.
Location: 3649 Mission Inn Ave, Riverside, California