In Rancho Santa Fe, the 2026 holidays are already on the calendar, and most of them repeat. The Village Church market comes back every Sunday for five weeks. The Inn's new chalet opens on eight days spread over three weekends. Last year the season centered on one Thursday evening, when the Rancho Santa Fe Stroll and the tree lighting at The Inn filled Paseo Delicias for three hours. That event has no 2026 date yet. Even so, a resident who never makes it to the Stroll now has more than a dozen confirmed chances to spend a holiday evening or Sunday morning in the Village.
Here is everything announced so far, in order.
- Thursday, November 19, 10 a.m. Rancho Santa Fe Garden Club Holiday Brunch & Speaker Series, Secret Garden, 17025 Avenida de Acacias
- Sunday, November 22, 10 a.m. to noon. Alternative Christmas Market opening on the Village Church patio, 6225 Paseo Delicias
- November 26, 1 to 8 p.m. Thanksgiving dinner at Lilian's, The Inn at Rancho Santa Fe; the listing gives no year, so confirm when booking
- Sundays, November 29, December 6, 13 and 20. Alternative Christmas Market on the patio, with online giving through December 24
- December 3 and 4. Champagne Chalet opens at The Inn's Croquet Cottage
- December 10 through 12. Champagne Chalet, second weekend
- Sunday, December 13, 7 p.m. Christmas Choral Concert, Village Church
- December 17 through 19. Champagne Chalet, final weekend
Five Sundays on the Church Patio
The Village Church's Alternative Christmas Market is the longest event on the list. The church's event page has it opening on Sunday, November 22, from 10 a.m. to noon, with more than a dozen charity booths on the patio. After that it runs online and on the patio each Sunday through December 24.
The market sells gifts made as donations. Visitors give by check, cash or card in honor of a friend or relative, and the causes listed include lifting farmers out of poverty, providing toys and clothing for families experiencing homelessness, and helping shelter refugees in San Diego. According to the church, the participating charities receive 100 percent of each donation, and every donor receives a card describing the organization they supported, ready to hand over as the gift. For anyone with a long list of people who already own everything, it makes shopping much simpler.
The church also anchors the middle of the season. Its Christmas Choral Concert is set for Sunday, December 13, at 7 p.m., with the Village Community Chorale performing works by Bach and Heather Sorenson, according to the concert listing. That Sunday is the busiest one on Paseo Delicias, with the patio market in the morning and the concert in the evening.
The Inn Builds a Chalet Across Three Weekends
The Inn at Rancho Santa Fe's main new event follows the same spread-out pattern. Its Champagne Chalet is a partnership with Perrier-Jouët that turns the Croquet Cottage into what The Inn calls a private après-ski retreat, open December 3, 4, 10 through 12, and 17 through 19. On the 2026 calendar, each of those runs starts on a Thursday. The first one, December 3, falls on the first Thursday of December, the same spot the Stroll held in 2025.
The menu reads like a mountain lodge moved to Linea Del Cielo:
- The Perrier Journey: a traditional champagne flight of Perrier-Jouët's expressions, or champagne by the glass or bottle
- Fondue & Bubbles: artisanal cheese fondue
- Spa treatments and welcome pours on arrival
- Chalet Takeover: a buyout of the whole cottage with seasonal menus and a champagne toast for up to 75 guests, offered for private parties and corporate holiday events
The Inn says the experiences are "open to guests and locals alike," and walk-ins are welcome. Its experience listing puts the chalet at Croquet Cottage, 5951 Linea Del Cielo, but neither page gives opening hours, so check with The Inn before a Thursday evening plan depends on it.
With three separate runs, the chalet is easy to fit in. Missing the first weekend still leaves two more, and a family visit on the 12th still leaves the 17th through the 19th open.
Before December Starts
Two events earlier in the calendar get the season going before the chalet opens.
The Rancho Santa Fe Garden Club holds its Holiday Brunch & Speaker Series on Thursday, November 19, at 10 a.m. at Secret Garden, 17025 Avenida de Acacias. The speaker is arborist Wes Marshburn, presenting a guide to healthy trees and plants, and BelleCal Seasonal is catering, according to the club's event page. In a community this shaped by its mature trees, an arborist makes a practical choice of holiday speaker.
A week later, The Inn serves Thanksgiving at Lilian's. The listing describes a four-course meal on November 26 from 1 to 8 p.m., priced at $195 per adult plus tax and gratuity, with a children's menu. November 26 is Thanksgiving Day in 2026, but the page doesn't print a year, so confirm with The Inn that the listing applies to this year when you reserve.
Where the Village Eats Between Events
A season spread over weeks brings more casual reasons to stay in the Village after an event, and two places that are new since last December give residents more choice.
Paseo RSF opened in late 2025 at 6024 Paseo Delicias, in the space that was Rancho Santa Fe Bistro for over a decade. Owner Jennifer Fields, a Rancho Santa Fe local with 24 years in hospitality, renovated the interior completely and kept the exposed beams and historic brick. The building has its own history. According to Paseo RSF's account of the space, it was the first Rancho Santa Fe School, which held its first graduation in 1924 with a single student. The California coastal menu includes filet mignon with demi glaze, shrimp scampi, mushroom risotto and the Paseo Chopped Salad.
Its site lists hours of 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday through Thursday and 11 a.m. to midnight Friday and Saturday, with the kitchen closing at 9 p.m. on weekdays and 9:45 p.m. on weekends. It is closed Sunday, and it recommends dinner reservations at (858) 756-1221. Those hours were posted in February 2026, so confirm them before you go. On a chalet Thursday or Friday in December, Paseo is a short trip across the Village for dinner afterward. Paseo has also announced a market and bakery in the space next door, with baked goods, crepes and café service, but it hadn't opened as of that post.
Rancho Sandwich and Creamery at 6110 El Tordo covers the daytime. In June 2026, the San Diego Union-Tribune reported that it had opened with breakfast, lunch and soft-serve, Monday through Saturday from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. After the Garden Club brunch or a weekday errand in the Village, it's the easy stop.
Based on those posted hours, both places are closed on Sunday, the day the church patio market runs.
The One Night Still Unannounced
The event that defined last year's season hasn't been announced for 2026. In November 2025, the San Diego Union-Tribune announced the third annual Rancho Santa Fe Stroll for Thursday, December 4, 2025, from 4 to 7 p.m. The Roger Rowe choir caroled from Amy Meier Design to The Inn, the tree lighting at The Inn started at 5 p.m., and the event was free and open to the public. The same article credited resident Khaki Wennstrom with bringing the Stroll concept to life.
The Inn's full 2025 holiday lineup, also reported by the Union-Tribune, added carols on December 7, a Christmas market on December 11, cookie decorating on December 13 and 20, a menorah lighting on December 15, and dinners on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. Those dates show last year's pattern. They aren't 2026 dates. The 2025 announcements came out in the last week of November, so this year's Stroll, tree lighting and menorah lighting may follow a similar timeline.
When those dates come out, they'll fit into a season that already fills more than a dozen days: five Sundays at the church, eight chalet days at The Inn, the Garden Club brunch and a choral concert, with Thanksgiving at Lilian's listed as well. A first-Thursday tree lighting would join a December that's already full.
A season spread across this many weekends gives Rancho Santa Fe homeowners plenty of time to host family and show off the Village. If you're thinking about how your own property would look to buyers next spring, Michelle Williams is glad to walk through it with you between holiday plans. Request Your Free Home Valuation.
