Christmas at Park Hyatt Aviara, the Home of Stocking Full of Christmas
A Forbes Four-Star, AAA Five-Diamond resort on 250 acres above Batiquitos Lagoon in Carlsbad, and for thirteen nights in December, the ballroom becomes five themed rooms.
Where the event lives inside the resort
Stocking Full of Christmas is built each December in the Park Hyatt Aviara ballroom on the lower level. The ballroom is divided into five themed rooms joined by decorated hallways, and each journey of no more than forty-five guests moves through them with an elf, with live entertainment in every room. VIP guests spend an hour in a lounge before the journey.
Everything is indoors and climate-controlled. You park at the resort, follow the signage down to the ballroom, and the journey runs about an hour to an hour and a half. What happens inside · Parking, arrival & directions
Stay the night: the Stocking Full of Christmas Getaway
Park Hyatt Aviara offers an overnight package built around the event. It includes accommodations at the resort, tickets to Stocking Full of Christmas, and hot chocolate to sip while you stroll the grounds afterward.
It turns the evening into a weekend for families coming from Orange County, Los Angeles, or Temecula, and it is the easy answer for anyone who would rather not drive I-5 southbound after a December night out.
The resort itself
Park Hyatt Aviara sits about a mile inland from the Carlsbad coast, overlooking Batiquitos Lagoon in North County San Diego.
Dining
Restaurants on the property
Food is not included with admission apart from a cookie from Mrs. Claus, and outside food is not permitted inside the experience. Ponto Lago, the resort’s Baja-inspired signature restaurant with an open show kitchen, and Ember & Rye, Richard Blais’s steakhouse at the golf club, are both a short walk, not a drive. Company parties often make an evening of it.
The grounds
Golf, spa, pools, and the lagoon
The property includes an Arnold Palmer-designed golf course, a spa, heated pools, and gardens with lagoon and ocean views. In December the resort dresses for the season, which makes the walk from the car to the ballroom part of the evening.
Room reservations, dining, and hotel questions go directly to Park Hyatt Aviara at (844) 474-1944. Event questions go to info@stockingfullofchristmas.com.
More of the holidays at Park Hyatt Aviara
Stocking Full of Christmas is the centerpiece, and in 2025 the resort built a whole season around it. Check the resort’s site for the 2026 schedule.
Tree lighting
The 2025 season opened with a tree-lighting ceremony on the first night of the event.
Garden party
A Holiday Garden Party in the resort gardens, with live performances, train rides through light displays, real reindeer, and a towering Christmas tree.
Holiday market
Local artisans, seasonal food and drink, and family photo spots in the gardens.
Tea with Santa
Seasonal teas and baked treats with Santa on select December mornings.
Holiday dining
Christmas Eve and Christmas Day dining, and a New Year’s Eve celebration at the resort’s restaurants.
The programs above are hosted by the resort, not by Stocking Full of Christmas, and are ticketed separately. Making a day of it? Things to do in Carlsbad in December.
What the press said about the first season
“Set to become San Diego’s premier holiday event.”
— Forbes, November 2025- Forbes
- Locale Magazine
- Fabulous California
- Visit Carlsbad
Our partners
Finding the resort
- AddressPark Hyatt Aviara Resort, Golf Club & Spa
7100 Aviara Resort Drive, Carlsbad, CA 92011 - From I-5Carlsbad, between Oceanside and Encinitas
- Downtown SD31 miles, about 40 minutes
- AirportSAN 33 miles; Palomar 4 miles
- Hotel(844) 474-1944
Thirteen nights in the ballroom
Stocking Full of Christmas at Park Hyatt Aviara, Carlsbad. From $50 on value nights. Forty-five guests per journey.