Newport Beach's 2026 Holiday Calendar Is Set, and Almost Everything Is Where You Left It
November 5, 2026
November 5, 2026
The 2026 holiday season in Newport Beach starts Nov. 13 and runs into early January. Almost nothing on the schedule is new. The tree lightings, the Lighting of the Bay, the Christmas Walk and the boat parade are all back, mostly in their familiar slots. Two changes are worth knowing about. The Corona del Mar Christmas Walk is adding a trolley, and the Christmas Boat Parade moves one day earlier. Both affect how you get around and when you go, more than what you'll see.
Here is the full run from mid-November through the parade, using the dates each organizer has published.
The Lighting of the Bay runs the whole time in the background. It is lit nightly from Nov. 27 through Jan. 3, 2027.
The Corona del Mar Chamber of Commerce lists one addition for this year: a hop-on, hop-off trolley that connects the Walk's entertainment stops. The chamber has posted a trolley route map along with the event details.
The trolley matters because the Walk has no single starting point. The chamber's own description tells visitors to "simply stroll the sidewalks of PCH throughout Corona del Mar village." The program is spread out. The chamber's event page lists more than 17 local bands, a beer and wine garden with the "Pinch Me" Band, Santa photos, children's activities, street performers and a vendor fair at PCH and Dahlia. On a day built around walking from one end of the village to the other, the trolley changes how much of the Walk one family can realistically cover.
The Walk benefits the U.S. Marines Toys for Tots Program. Opportunity drawing tickets cost $5 each, 5 for $20 or 25 for $100. The drawing happens the week of Dec. 9, and winners don't need to be present.
In 2025, the parade ran Dec. 17 to 21, according to Visit Newport Beach. In 2026 it runs Dec. 16 to 20, still Wednesday through Sunday and still hosted by the Commodores Club of the Newport Beach Chamber of Commerce. With Christmas on a Friday this year, the final night lands five days before the holiday. That leaves the last weekend before Christmas for the parade and the days after it for family.
The route itself is familiar. Boats leave from the east end of Lido Isle and finish back at the tip of Lido Isle. The first public viewing spot along the way is Marina Park at 1600 W. Balboa Blvd. Marina Park is the largest public viewing area on the route, with 177 parking spaces, and admission is free. The organizers have posted a printable 2026 route map with estimated times at each viewing point. That map is the best tool for deciding where to stand on a given night.
The parade has more going on around it than the boats.
The drone shows were also on the 2025 schedule, so they are not new this year.
The parade's dates also fit with the Dunes schedule. The Fire & Lights Festival is open Thursday through Sunday evenings, so Dec. 17 to 20 are four nights when both are running.
Newport Dunes' 2026 event page includes one short line:
"There will be no ice rink this year."
The resort's 2025 event page carried the same sentence, and neither year's page gives a reason. For a second straight season, the Dunes festival is built around everything else.
According to Newport Dunes, that means more than 50 lighted displays floating on the bay, fire dancer shows, fire pits, photos with Santa, inflatables and a toboggan tunnel. Festival hours are 4 to 9 p.m. Thursday through Sunday. It is closed Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and New Year's Eve. Entry is free and parking is paid. Fire pits, fire dancers and Santa are free, while inflatables and concessions cost extra. Santa's Garden is on site too, selling Noble, Nordmann and Douglas trees from Oregon with weekly deliveries, plus wreaths and garlands. The Dunes is at 1131 Back Bay Drive.
Weather is the bigger difference between the two seasons. The 2025 festival was scheduled to run through Jan. 4, 2026, but the page later announced it had closed for the rest of the season because of bad weather. The 2026 page says the Lighting of the Bay goes on rain or shine, while weather can affect the inflatables, performances and concessions. The resort asks visitors to call (949) 729-3863 for current conditions. If a storm is in the forecast, the floating lights will still be on, even if the evening activities are cancelled.
One Corona del Mar holiday stop sits outside the event calendar. Roger's Gardens at 2301 San Joaquin Hills Road opened its Halloween boutique, "Moonlight Masquerade," on Aug. 28, 2026. This year's Christmas boutique is themed "The Stories of the Season," a storybook concept built around holiday traditions, and it is listed as open daily from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. The Christmas page doesn't list an opening date, so check it before planning a visit around the change from Halloween to Christmas.
Roger's Gardens is the one stop on this list open every day of the week. Fashion Island and the Christmas Walk are single dates, the Dunes festival runs Thursday through Sunday, and the parade has five fixed nights. Roger's fits a Tuesday afternoon as well as a Saturday.
At The Gipe Group, we build every client's sale around the dates that can't move, the same way this calendar is built around a parade, a walk and a lighting. If you're thinking about spring and want to talk timing over a cup of coffee before the boats head out from Lido Isle, we'd be glad to hear from you.
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