Holiday Ice Rinks

In the heart of downtown San Diego's Horton Plaza there's an outdoor ice rink for guests to enjoy. Fantasy on Ice holiday ice skating rink features music and fun with an urban setting as your background. Combining what most rinks in California are unable to include is shopping, dining and skating side by side. Irvine's Spectrum ice rink also offers this amenity, but many of the municipal winter rinks in California are placed in settings devoid of holiday shopping. With California's expensive properties, sometimes, it's a challenge to find an appropriate space for one of these holiday rinks, so the event ends up being in a zone not often utilized during the "off" season.

Horton Plaza spans a city block or more, and features a variety dining, shops and stores. It's an outdoor mall, which makes it ideal as a venue for this holiday skate event.

San Diego epitomizes the year-round sun and fun city next to the Mexican border. So it's no surprise that the ice skating in this warmest of California beach cities often includes Hawaiian shirts and shorts since it's also a year-round vacation destination, as well.

The beauty of this event is that it is designed to raise money for Children's Hospital and other special causes. What better way to celebrate the season than to skate and support the needs of others! Location: 225 Broadway, San Diego, CA. Contact: marketing@sdice.com  /sdice.com

Where to stay: When visiting this fabulous winter holiday celebration, you stay within walking distance of the rink at a really nice place called Westin Horton Plaza. It's not the cheapest hotel by any means, but it offers a walk-to-everything setting, bar and restaurant on site, outdoor swimming pool, and many amenities, plus really nice rooms. Usually half the price (or less) of the Westin is the Days Inn nearby. With over 400 San Diego hotels to choose from, the options are endless.

Getting around: Take the San Diego Transit System's Daytripper rides pass.