The Holidays at Filoli Historic House and Garden
Filoli Historic House and Garden is one of my favorite places in the Bay Area. It’s a gorgeous estate with well-cared-for gardens that you can buy tickets to take a self tour.
If you want to learn more about Filoli year-round, read my Guide to Filoli Historic House and Garden.
During the holidays, Filoli is decked out in lights and open late for optimal light-viewing. Plus, they have an adorable outdoor Holiday Bar for warm seasonal drinks.
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Getting Tickets to Holidays at Filoli
The Holidays at Filoli tickets sell out in advance, especially weekends. It’s best to book them as soon as possible if you want to go! You will have a much better chance of getting tickets on a weekday.
Visit the Filoli website to book your tickets. Even if you’re a member, you are required to purchase tickets for Holidays at Filoli (but you do get a discount!)
They have the usual daytime tickets for entry at 10am, but you must leave by 4pm if you don’t have special holiday tickets. The holiday tickets entry starts at 4pm, 5:30pm, and 7pm, and Filoli closes at 9pm.
One year we got 5:30pm tickets and that was great! We left by 8:30pm and felt like we had seen everything. The next year we got tickets for 4pm and that was even better because we got to see the garden before the sunset and once it got dark — best of both worlds!
Things to Do During Holidays at Filoli
Filoli during the holiday season is a completely unique experience from the usual daytime tours. For one, it’s completely dark outside so the focus is really on the lights. Beyond that, there is so much holiday cheer and magic throughout the whole house and garden! It’s really a perfect Bay Area holiday activity.
Tour the Filoli Historic House
While the flowers and plants aren’t as visible during the evening, the house is fully decked out in holiday decor with at least one Christmas tree in every room.
The holiday decor is absolutely magical and gives you a sense of what Christmas was actually like for the families that used to live at Filoli.
You can expect completely different decorations each year! The house is not only regularly rearranged and decorated differently throughout the year, but it’s not even the same from one year to the next. The holiday decor in the house was completely different between 2022 and 2023!
Get Drinks at the Holiday Bar
I am a huge fan of mulled wine, and especially love being able to drink it while surrounded by holiday cheer! The Filoli Holiday Bar is located in the Woodland Court, which is the rooftop of a building in the garden.
Just take the stairs up and you’ll find tons of Christmas lights, firepits, heaters and tables, a holiday bar, and a coffee bar. There were lots of people both hanging out at Woodland Court and walking around with their hot drinks as they strolled through the garden — you choose!
The setup in the area changes from year to year — they had heaters in 2022 with only a few firepits, but in 2023 seemed to have more firepits and no heaters. It was warmer this year so heaters likely weren’t needed!
Relax by the Fire Pits
Once we got mulled wine, we hung out under a standing heater for a while admiring the lights, sipping our hot mulled wine, getting nice and warm, and chatting. There are fire pits as well that you can sit by for free!
If you want to do something really special, you can book a private fire pit (located at the Dining Room Terrace under the oak tree) for your group and have your very own private Holiday Bar.
Walk Through the Garden
The garden at Filoli is the best part and I love how it changes seasonally. Since I usually visit Filoli during the daytime, being at Filoli after dark was a whole new experience for me!
The garden is meticulously decorated with Christmas lights, light globes, and an incredible light tunnel (perfect for photos!). You can easily spend a couple of hours exploring the garden. With the timed tickets, it never got too crowded so it was easy to have a relaxing walk through the garden.
Grab a Bite at Quail Café
The Quail Café has decent food and drinks that you can eat there or take to-go. It closes at 8:30pm, so keep that in mind if you were planning to grab something on your way out at 9pm.
Alternatively, you can bring your own food and have a picnic in the designated picnic area!
What to Wear for Holidays at Filoli
It was cold outside as we walked around the garden! I was happy to have a sweater and a coat. Many people were wearing gloves, hats, and earmuffs as well.
Some people dress up a bit fancier for Filoli. If that sounds like something you want to do, do it! You’ll look like you fit right in.
Other people were dressed more comfy in leggings, sweaters, and coats. There’s no required dress code so you can dress as fancy or casual as you want!
Here’s what I recommend bringing:
Warm coat:
Camera: Phones do okay to capture Christmas lights, but a camera will really get those perfect holiday photos!
Walkable shoes
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