One of America's Most Magical Holiday Festivals Is Held at This Fairytale-like Hotel With 10 Million Lights

"Every year, the historic Mission Inn Hotel & Spa dazzles visitors with a mesmerizing display of enormous ornaments, enchanting animatronics, carnival rides, food vendors, and towering Christmas trees decked out in over 10 million lights. The extravagant Mission Inn Festival of Lights is now in its 33rd year of illuminating Riverside, a city about 60 miles east of Los Angeles."

"The sheer number of lights and exquisite decorations alone would make for a thrilling festival, but it's the celebration's unique setting at the Mission Inn that truly makes it magical. What began as a modest boarding house in 1876 is now a sprawling, castle-like complex with an eclectic fusion of architectural styles. In addition to the foundational Mission Revival style, Spanish Colonial, Moorish, Gothic, Mediterranean, Japanese, and Chinese influences are prevalent in the ornate labyrinth."

"A collection of bells-including a 400-year-old Spanish treasure, medieval armor, religious artifacts, and antique art like stained glass designed by Louis C. Tiffany fill the hotel's maze-like halls, soaring towers, grand rotunda, and catacombs. The Mission Inn's lore grew evermore intriguing throughout the 20th century."

The Mission Inn Festival of Lights transforms Riverside’s historic Mission Inn into a holiday spectacle with enormous ornaments, animatronics, carnival rides, food vendors, and towering Christmas trees adorned in more than 10 million lights. The festival opened with a lighting ceremony in November, runs through Jan. 6, and draws about 650,000 visitors in its 33rd year. The Mission Inn began as an 1876 boarding house and expanded into a sprawling, castle-like complex that blends Mission Revival, Spanish Colonial, Moorish, Gothic, Mediterranean, Japanese, and Chinese architectural influences. The hotel houses global rarities collected by founder Frank Miller and earned National Historic Landmark status in 1978.

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