San Diego celebrates in mid-July, Palm Springs in November.įolsom Fair Street- SF ©Hyun-ha Kim/Lonely Planet September SF Pride sets the global parade standard, with more than a million people, tons of glitter and ounces of bikinis. Mountain resorts offer cool escapes, but the deserts are just too darn hot.Ĭalifornia also celebrates GBLTQIA+ pride not just for a day but for the entire month of June, with costumed parades, film fests, marches and streets parties. Once school lets out for the summer, everyone heads to California beaches – only to shiver through San Francisco as ‘June gloom’ coastal fog descends. Key events: Cinco de Mayo, Jumping Frog Jubilee & Calaveras County Fair, Bay to Breakers, Kinetic Grand Championship June LA and San Diego have the biggest celebrations, but you'll find margaritas, music and dancing across the state.Īlso in May, artists spend months preparing for this 'triathlon of the art world,' inventing outlandish human-powered and self-propelled sculptural contraptions to cover 42 miles from Arcata to Ferndale over three days. Memorial Day holiday weekend marks the official start of summer, and one of the year’s busiest travel times. California celebrates its Mexican heritage and the victory of Mexican forces over the French army on May 5, 1862.

Weather starts to heat up statewide, although some coastal areas are blanketed by ‘May gray’ fog. Key events: Coachella Music Festival, San Francisco Film Festival Key events: Mendocino Coast Whale Festivals, Festival of the Swallows AprilĪs wildflower season peaks in the high desert, the southern desert bursts into song and San Francisco twinkles with international film stars as the nation's oldest film festival lights up with star-studded US premieres of hundreds of films from around the globe, usually held over two weeks in April. Shoulder season in the mountains and along the coast brings lower hotel prices. Meanwhile, after wintering in South America, the swallows return to Mission San Juan Capistrano in Orange County around March 19 – and the historic mission town celebrates its Spanish and Mexican heritage all month long. Its ruins are located in present-day San Juan Capistrano, Orange County, southern California ©Ahmet27/Shutterstock MarchĪs ski season winds down the beaches warm up, just in time for spring break (exact dates vary with school schedules and the Easter holiday). Mendocino, Fort Bragg and nearby towns toast the whale migration with wining and dining, art shows and naturalist-guided walks and talks over three weekends in March. Mission San Juan Capistrano was a Spanish mission in colonial Las Californias.

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