The 7 Best Things to Do in San Diego in November 2026

Twice a year, in May and again in November, Carlsbad Village Drive fills with booths. The Carlsbad Village Street Faire comes back to downtown Carlsbad Village on Sunday, November 1, and the Carlsbad Chamber calls it the nation's largest one-day street faire. Entry is free from 8am to 4pm. It tops this list because it's the biggest free event of the month, you can get there without a car, and it opens November on day one.

The scale is the story. There are 900 arts-and-crafts booths lining Carlsbad Village Drive, with antique vendors mixed in, and each faire pulls in more than 100,000 people. Nobody sees all of it by lunch, so pick one end of the route, start there and let the day move at browsing speed.

Plan to eat there. The international food court is a big part of the day, so arrive hungry and treat it as your home base. There's also a section of children's rides, an entertainment stage and a beer garden. That spread is what makes it work for a mixed group: the kids get rides, the shoppers get booths, the grown-ups get the beer garden, and everybody meets back at the food court.

Getting in is the one thing to sort out ahead of time. Parking downtown is limited, and the City's bike valet isn't running in 2026. The easy answer is the free shuttle, which runs every 15 minutes from the Coaster station and from The Shoppes at Carlsbad. Take the Coaster, hop on the shuttle and skip the parking hunt entirely. Coming by car? Carlsbad Village Drive heads west off I-5 into the village, and the shuttle from The Shoppes saves you from circling downtown.

If the Turkey Trot at No. 2 is the best reason to set an alarm this month, the faire is its best full day, and it only comes around twice a year.

Thanksgiving morning in Oceanside belongs to the O'side Turkey Trot, a 5K run and walk on Thursday, November 26, that starts on Coast Highway and finishes on The Strand near the Oceanside Amphitheater. Runner's World and the LA Times have both voted it a top trot, and it draws people from 46 states and more than 500 cities. That's a hometown holiday race people travel for.

The morning runs on a schedule, so pick your wave when you register. The 5K waves go at 7 and 8am, the walk starts at 8:15, and the kids' runs, including a 1-mile kids run, follow at 10 and 10:25. The costume contest is judged at 9:45. If someone in your family has waited all year to race in a turkey hat, this is their moment.

The extras are half the fun. Finishers get a medal, there's a custom T-shirt and age-group awards, and the team competition gives each of the top five teams a $100 restaurant gift certificate. Over 20 years the race has raised more than $550,000 for local nonprofits and schools, and the 2026 primary partner is the Jacobs & Cushman San Diego Food Bank. It's a pre-feast workout that helps feed people, too.

The route is flat and beachside, with ocean views, and the finish on The Strand is worth sticking around for. The race lists parking as free until 11am, so get there early, park, and leave yourself time to reach the start before your wave.

The street faire is the biggest day of the month. The Turkey Trot is the best way to start the biggest meal of it.

The coast is the one plan here without a date. Pick any open day in November, choose a stretch of City of San Diego beach and walk it. It's free, there's no admission, and with summer's crowds thinned out, the shoreline has a different, quieter feel. That flexibility and that change of season are why a coast walk earns No. 3.

The water has turned, and that's the other November shift. NOAA puts the monthly average at 62.9°F at La Jolla and 65.2°F in San Diego Bay. Those numbers describe the whole month, a good way to set expectations, and they say nothing about what the water is doing the morning you arrive. So let the walk be the plan, and make any swim its own call on the day.

There's plenty of shoreline to choose from. The city counts 17 miles of coastline plus 4,600 acres around Mission Bay Park, and it features 12 main public beaches. Ocean Beach, Mission Beach, Pacific Beach, Windansea, La Jolla Shores and La Jolla Cove all make good starting points for a long November walk.

Lifeguards are the part to understand before you go. The city keeps nine permanent lifeguard stations year-round: Ocean Beach, South Mission Beach, Mission Beach, North Pacific Beach, Pacific Beach, Children's Pool, La Jolla Cove, La Jolla Shores and Black's Beach. The extra seasonal stations are a summer thing, so November runs on the permanent ones, and even those don't guarantee a guard on duty at every hour.

The morning of your walk, check the surf, the weather, water quality and lifeguard information, then start early enough to finish with daylight to spare.

On Sunday, November 8, the Silver Strand Half Marathon closes Silver Strand Highway 75 and sends runners from Coronado toward Silver Strand State Beach with, as the race puts it, the ocean on your right and San Diego Bay on your left. A closed highway with water on both sides is a rare race-day view, and it falls on Veterans Day weekend.

There are four distances to choose from: the half marathon (13.1 miles), a 10-miler, a 12K (7.45 miles) and a 5K. The course is flat and fast, walkers are welcome, and the finish is right on the state beach. Pick your distance early and train for it. The Strand is an exposed stretch, so race morning goes better when you've been watching the forecast all week.

The swag has a sense of humor. Finisher medals are custom to the race, and everyone picks a Hawaiian-style button-down shirt or a dress. Chip timing handles the serious side, the Taku Drummers and a DJ handle the entertainment, and the finish turns into a beach party with a live band and a beer garden.

The race has a mission, and it suits the weekend. It benefits the Life Sports Foundation, Team Hoyt, Stop Soldier Suicide and the Islander Sports Foundation, and you can race for free by raising $600 or more. Military veterans and first responders, including police, fire, FBI and Border Patrol, get discounted entry with a valid ID.

If the Turkey Trot is November's holiday fun run, the Silver Strand is the one worth training for, with two bodies of water to look at while you do it.

Coronado spends five days on film this fall. The Coronado Island Film Festival runs Wednesday, November 4, through Sunday, November 8, 2026, on Coronado Island, with screenings, special guest appearances, industry networking events and the festival's signature celebrations. It's the one week of culture on this list built entirely around November.

The festival is run by a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit whose mission is supporting filmmakers, industry leaders, emerging artists and audiences, and festivalgoers point to that focus on discovery and community. It keeps going after November, too, with a Monthly Classic Series, an Educational Classic Film Program and Film Forum discussions through the year, so if the festival dates don't fit your trip, there's still a way in.

Start with the badge question. The festival has offered Marquee and Emerald badges for 2026, and the live program will set the films, guests, venues and reservation options. Decide first whether you want broad festival access or one great day, then confirm badge types and current prices before you buy. If a badge is more festival than you need, watch for single-screening options once the program is out.

When the schedule is published, pick one screening or event to anchor each day you go and leave room around it. Five festival days don't have to mean five packed days, so protect a waterfront break between programs.

It sits at No. 5 because the screening schedule was still pending when this guide was written. The dates are set, and once the lineup lands, it's the month's big week for film.

Decision Day is the final day of the MLS regular season, and on Saturday, November 7, San Diego FC plays it at home. The club hosts Sporting Kansas City at Snapdragon Stadium in Mission Valley, and every Western Conference match kicks off at the same time, 4pm Pacific, with playoff places across the whole conference settled that afternoon.

That shared kickoff is what makes it special. You're following the match in front of you and the whole Western table at once, because every other result is coming in at the same moment. A goal in another stadium can change what the next one at Snapdragon means, and that makes for a very different afternoon from a regular home game.

It's also San Diego FC's only November home date in 2026, so if you want one soccer match this month, this is it. Tickets go through Ticketmaster, and the club offers group packages, suites and premium seating if you're bringing a crew.

Make the 4pm kickoff the anchor of your Saturday. Check the stadium's current entry rules before you head over, give yourself time to get through the gates, and keep the Western Conference standings open on your phone. With the film festival running all weekend on Coronado and the Silver Strand races the next morning, it makes a strong middle to a full November weekend.

A week after Decision Day, Snapdragon Stadium turns over to college football. San Diego State hosts Utah State on Saturday, November 14, 2026, at 6:30pm, and it's the Aztecs' Military Appreciation game, sponsored by Aztec Shops. It's the straightforward pick for anyone who wants a Saturday night in Mission Valley built around one game.

The timing lands well. It's the Saturday after Veterans Day, which gives the military theme extra weight, and the evening kickoff leaves your whole day open for the coast or a slow morning. Can't make it in person? The game airs on USA Network.

A night kickoff asks for a little planning. Eat before you go, confirm your tickets and the stadium's current entry rules, and get to your seat before 6:30. A last-minute dash across town is a rough way to start a game night.

Snapdragon is open-air, and November evenings call for a warm layer, so check the forecast before you pick what to wear. For the full pregame, the Aztecs offer full-service tailgate packages through REVELxp. See what's available for this game before you build your day around it.

If Decision Day is the whole Western Conference in one afternoon, the Aztecs game is simpler and just as fun: one team, one opponent, one big Saturday night.