Festival of Lights

Each winter the Mendocino Coast Botanical Gardens transforms into a spectacular show of glittering color.

The Gardens invites guests to create a holiday tradition and take a stroll along twinkling pathways lined with inventive displays. After dark, the Succulent Garden morphs into a fantastic underwater scene of seaweed and floating jellyfish. A sailing brig that struck nearby reefs back in 1850 is reanimated with dazzling lights amidst the Gardens’ nationally recognized Heath and Heather Collection.

Visitors can warm up and wind down in a beautifully decorated tent complete with live music, local craft brews, and some of the best wine Mendocino County has to offer. The Holiday Sweets Café offers hot cocoa, cider, and homemade goodies baked by members of Friends of the Gardens.