Los Angeles Greater Area
Top places to find your tree
True, that gas station lot on the corner is handy. But will you regret it in a couple of days, when your living room rug looks like the floor of a forest? No, you must go where the firs are fresh cut and fragrantly green.
Restaurants with warm holiday ambience
Sometimes, snow-flocked windows and waiters in Santa hats just don’t create the holiday vibe you want for that family dinner or festive lunch with friends. Find a place where warmth is always on the menu, and the holidays just make it better.
LA’s coolest outdoor ice rinks
No matter how often you do it, there’s something about ice skating outside in LA that’s a bit, well, uncanny. (But in a good way.) Here are six chill places to glide into the holidays, whether your skill level features double axels or just falling down gracefully.
Frosty mountain getaways
‘Tis the season for an Alpine escape, and the sleigh ride’s not much more than a couple of hours away. Here are just a few of the many picturesque rental choices waiting in the pines of Big Bear, Arrowhead to Idyllwild. Get there and get cozy.
The San Francisco Bay Area
Wine Country winter wonderland
Illuminated snowmen at Cornerstone. Latkes in Petaluma. Mexican folk dancing in Santa Rosa. It may lack snowy peaks, but there are plenty of festive ways to celebrate the holiday season in Sonoma County. Here are 20.
No pain, no gain: Chop your own tree
Looking for something a bit more challenging than getting a cashier’s attention at Home Depot? Inject in a little sweat equity into the holidays this year by sawing down your own Christmas tree at one of these U-Cut tree farms around the Bay Area. Sorry, no chainsaws allowed.
The best self-care rituals in the Bay
Work out that in-law-hosting, present-buying, over-eating-and-drinking seasonal stress with a body treatment at a top Bay Area spa. We’ll start with a Signature massage at the Claremont, followed by a body scrub at Imperial Spa, capped off by a mineral and mud bath at Indian Springs.
Light it up: Displays that spread good cheer
From oversized decorations in Noe Valley and a Disney-themed set-up in San Rafael, to Christmas Tree Lane in Alameda and the Fantasy of Lights in Los Gatos, the Bay Area’s holiday lights game is strong. Curbed San Francisco highlights the 20 most impressive displays to dial your cheer up to 11.