The Bay Area holiday season runs about seven weekends, from the first tree lightings in mid-November to the first weekend of January. That's longer than most people plan for, which means you can do one thing a week and still miss most of it.
The weather is what makes it different here. You can walk a mile of lights in a jacket, which isn't true in most of the country, and the best displays are built for walking rather than driving past.
Three displays, one in each part of the Bay
Filoli lights the historic estate and its gardens in Woodside — a light tunnel, a model railway running through the redwoods, and the option to book a fire pit if you'd rather sit than walk.
Lightscape turns the San Francisco Botanical Garden into a one-mile evening trail through Golden Gate Park, with the lights set to music.
Glowfari fills the Oakland Zoo with illuminated animal lanterns after dark, and it's the one to take children to.
All three sell timed entry, all three sell out at weekends, and all three are better on a weeknight.
Thanksgiving is four days and the Bay Area uses all of them
Thursday starts before dawn on Alcatraz, at the Indigenous Peoples Sunrise Gathering marking the 1969 occupation. The boats leave in the dark and it isn't a tourist event. Later that morning there are turkey trots in Golden Gate Park and around Lake Merritt, most raising money for food banks. A number of museums stay open on the day itself, which is worth knowing if the plan involves getting everyone out of the house between the cooking and the eating.
The tree lightings, and a warning about them
They cluster in the first week of December, and Union Square and PIER 39 often fall on the same night. Check before you plan to do both, because you can't.
Book earlier than feels reasonable
San Francisco Ballet's Nutcracker runs most of December at the War Memorial Opera House — it was the first full-length Nutcracker ever staged in America, and it's the version everyone else's gets compared to. Tickets, holiday teas, Santa slots and anything involving a train go on sale long before you're thinking about December. If you're reading this mid-season and haven't booked, assume the good nights are gone and look at weeknights.
The Great Dickens Christmas Fair takes over the Cow Palace for several weekends. It's a full Victorian London built indoors, and it rewards turning up in costume more than it rewards spectating.
Before you go
Rain is the variable. Most outdoor events run anyway, so check before you drive rather than assuming a cancellation. Parking near anything downtown in December is worse than you expect — BART and Caltrain get you closer than you'd guess, and the walk from the station to the lights is usually part of the evening.
It's out there. Let's go find it.