‘Tis the season for charming. Solvang, California brings the sweetest elements of the Christmas season to the Danish town. A last minute road trip to Solvang ended up being the start of a new holiday traditions for our family.
All thoughts and opinions are my own.
My husband, the merriest gentleman this side of the North Pole, was researching new holiday traditions when he stumbled across the most Christmas-y towns in the US. Realizing that one of the top contenders was just a few hours away, he booked a last-minute trip to Solvang.
The town was founded in 1911 by a group of Danish settlers looking to escape harsh winters. Now a quaint community, it is filled with bakeries, restaurants, souvenir shops, and windmills. Imagine stepping into a Hallmark Christmas movie set but with yummier treats!
We arrived early on a Saturday morning. Since it was a last-minute trip, we found a hotel just outside of town. The charming windmill delighted our children, as we settled into our room. The promise of a dessert trail was too tempting to stay cooped up in a hotel room for long. We drove into town to sample the pastries and grab a spot on the sidewalk for the Julefest parade. The community parade was filled with everything from dogs wearing their best bandanas, monks from the nearby mission, and real estate agents in their cool cars. It was so cute and quaint!
After the parade, we explored the town. One of our road stop traditions is to visit the local book store, so we happily picked up new books for each of the girls (perfect for the drive home on any road trip). Since we hadn’t done a whole lot of research in advance (other than researching Danish pastries), we strolled through town looking for somewhere to eat. We stumbled upon a pretty mediocre restaurant, but they had chicken nuggets so the kids were happy.
Neaby in Solvang Park, Santa had made an appearance for photos. It was a great opportunity for the kids to run around and explore mini playhouses. We decided to head back to the hotel to let our youngest rest and head back into town that evening.
There are nods to Hans Christian Andersen, the Danish author of fairy tales and beloved stories like The Little Mermaid throughout town.
For dinner, we checked out the Solvang Brewery. The town closes down very early, so there wasn’t much to do in ways of nightlife (even family-friendly nightlife). In hindsight, we should have stayed through the afternoon and left town after dinner.
The whole day was so delightful with the cute parade and sweet treats. But Sunday was even better!
Just outside of town is Ostrichland, USA, home to 50 ostriches and emus. Admission was pretty inexpensive and bird food was just $1. I don’t think I’ve laughed that hard in my entire life. The combination of their long dinosaur necks and my children’s fear of them had me giggling for an hour straight. There are also tons of cute photo ops.
We headed back into Solvang afterwards to check out the parts of town we had missed. With my eldest being in 4th grade, we took advantage of being so close to an important part of California state history and visited Mission Santa Ines. The church was beautiful, and the grounds have stunning views of the lands once belonging to the Chumash.
We snapped some photos in the local landmark, an oversized shoe, outside the Solvang Shoe Store.
All of our vacations require finding a Christmas ornament to commemorate the fun, so we explored the many souvenir stores to find just the right one. A pair of Danish shoes was just the thing! Jule Hus with holiday decorations all year round was one of our stops.
We also needed to try homemade ice cream (despite it being a chilly December morning). We were so sad to head home and leave all of the sweetness of the season.
With sweets, holiday ornaments, and the merriest memories Solvang was an instant family tradition. We plan to visit again in 2018, this time bringing extended family for even more fun. We’ve been adding to our itinerary, swapped hotels for a location in town, and daydreaming about the pretzels. If you’ve been to Solvang, we’d love any recommendations for family-friendly fun.
Tags:Solvang
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That looks like such a wonderful town! I love how festive they get for the holidays. I must go there.
That sounds like a fun little town for a quick weekend getaway. My kids and I would LOVE Ostrichland! How fun!
I have been to that bakery many times and have pictures of the grandkids in that same shoe. We always go to the bakery for goodies and good food.
This sounds like such a fun little place to go and visit. I love the look of the bakery I think I could find so many things in there I would fancy trying out.
I’d love to check this place out one day. It looks like a great town. I actually saw part of it since it was depicted in Little Women: LA. The ladies went there 😉
I know I’d love the bakery!
What a wonderful place to visit! I always search for Christmas ornaments whenever I visit a unique place like this.
Oh my gosh I have been there and it is so cool! The drive up here is gorgeous in this little town has so much little fun things to do. The food in the desert their outstanding too.
OMG what a cute town. It looks straight out of a Hallmark channel movie plot! I had no idea there was a Danish town in California. The pastries look amazing too.
My kids would adore the ostriches and emus! They like animals, and they also like places that sell food to feed the animals. This looks like a fun trip!
This looks like a nice town to spend the weekend. It seems like this is a great town to explore and i have never seen an ostrich up close. I would love to go to that old fashioned bakery too.
Solvang would be an awesome place to spend Christmas! I have never gone up there during the holidays but since my husband and I will be stuck in Los Angeles this holiday season, perhaps we should make that happen!
What a cute little place! There is a town in Michigan called Frankenmuth that is Christmas themed all year round! It’s like travelling back in time. I am sure you would love it!
What an amazing way to kick off the holiday season! We visit Southern California quite often and would love to stop in Solvang to enjoy some Christmas charm.
I love your photos. This looks like such an amazing place to visit. I can’t wait to visit with my family
This sounds like such a fun place to visit. I love the photo opp with the giant wooden slipper.
It looks like everyone had a really great time! Ostrichland would be really entertaining and I can imagine how fun that must have been!
What a fun place! You had me at ostrich land, lol. What a great little place.
Solvang looks so enchanting. Interesting to note its association with Hans Christian Andersen. No wonder the place looks straight out of a fairytale.
We spent a day there and loved it . One day was really not long enough for us, we had to rush through. I really hope to get back there some day.
Lucky enough to call Solvang home! 24 years and counting. A very festive and fun place to spend your holiday.
My wife and I have been there many times, except it wasn’t a Christmas Holiday, and we always have fun strolling around their old streets, danish style houses and restaurants. People are very nice. We’ll definitely go back, possibly this Christmas, Dec. 2020.
I hope you have a wonderful visit should you make it up for Christmas this year! We’ve made it an annual tradition since this first visit. Hoping we will get to keep our 2020 reservations! If you have any favorite local spots, please share!