Paradise Valley's Holiday Season Runs Down Lincoln Drive
November 5, 2026
November 5, 2026
The only holiday tree lighting on the Town of Paradise Valley's online calendar is a free event from Tuesday, December 2, 2014, held from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. at the Montelucia resort. The calendar runs into November and December 2026, and it lists no Town tree lighting and no holiday event at Town Hall.
That's why the season here is a resort calendar. Five properties along Lincoln Drive and the base of Camelback do the work a town green would do somewhere else. Most of what they offer costs money. The one public gathering that's free sits right where the Town's own event used to be.
Omni Scottsdale Resort & Spa at Montelucia lists "Omni Lights Up the Holidays," a tree lighting on December 4 from 6 to 7:30 p.m. in Cortijo Plaza. The resort calls the evening complimentary and open to the public. It promises a live drumline, Santa photos, s'mores, cookie decorating and hot cocoa. Omni's holiday page doesn't print a year beside any of its dates, so confirm with the resort before you plan around this one or any of the Montelucia events below.
The resort sits at 4949 East Lincoln Drive, with a Scottsdale mailing address and the 85253 ZIP code shared across the Town. The Town's 2014 listing put a tree lighting on this property, and the resort now promotes its own. Nothing else on the season's calendar is both free and open to everyone.
The rest of Montelucia's December has a price, but it shows how one property can fill a whole month:
With one free night in the season, the real planning question is price. Thanksgiving is the cleanest comparison, because three neighbors are serving the same meal on the same day, November 26.
| Where | Thanksgiving offer | Listed price |
|---|---|---|
| LON's at The Hermosa Inn | Prix fixe, noon to 8 p.m. | $135++ per adult |
| JW Marriott Scottsdale Camelback Inn | Brunch at Rita's Cantina, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. | $189 per adult, $79 ages 3 to 12, free for two and under, plus a 20% service charge |
| Mountain Shadows | Specials at Hearth '61, or a meal-to-go package | Not listed on the events page |
The gap is bigger than it looks. Add the 20% service charge and the Camelback Inn brunch comes to about $227 per adult before tax. For two adults and two children between 3 and 12, the listed rates add up to $536, or about $643 with the service charge, all before tax. The listing describes a buffet with carving stations, seafood, bottomless mimosas, live entertainment and family activities, so the price is built for a crowd that's staying a while.
LON's at The Hermosa Inn, at 5532 North Palo Cristi Road, starts from a lower listed base and serves through 8 p.m. That suits a household that would rather eat late. Mountain Shadows is the only one of the three offering a to-go package. That makes it the choice for anyone hosting at home who would rather skip the cooking.
Line the calendars up by date and a pattern shows. November's events are mostly ticketed adult evenings: tastings, cigars, sound baths. The family events nearly all fall in December. If you're planning around children, focus on the back half of the season. If you're planning a night out for adults, November is where most of the options are.
The November schedule along Lincoln Drive:
If you're near Montelucia before then, Joya Spa's seasonal "Golden Light" menu, with a Golden Hour Facial and a Sunlit Citrus Pedicure, runs through November 21.
December changes the mix. Montelucia's tree lighting and Breakfast with Santa are both built for families. At The Hermosa Inn, a gingerbread workshop and brunch runs December 13 from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., and two seatings of an Esteban Christmas concert follow on December 20. Sanctuary keeps to adult evenings with a Holiday Martini Making Class on December 9. Mountain Shadows holds its Jungle Rhythms Wellness Experience on Saturday, December 19, with guided breathwork, cold plunges and sound healing.
The holidays themselves close things out. Sanctuary's Elements restaurant is serving a Christmas Day dinner on Friday, December 25, and a New Year's Eve dinner on Thursday, December 31. Montelucia's holiday page describes its own New Year's Eve plans as dinner, live music and a midnight toast.
There's a gap in this calendar on the Town's eastern edge. The Ritz-Carlton, Paradise Valley was planned as part of a 122-acre project on the Paradise Valley and Scottsdale border. The plan included a 215-room resort, branded villas and estate homes, and a 29-acre retail and dining district called The Palmeraie, sized at about 160,000 square feet. The resort is still unfinished. Its developer entities filed for Chapter 11 on November 4, 2025, and on October 14, 2026 they filed an amended liquidating plan in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas. The plan would move the assets into a trust and market the hotel for sale. The deadline for creditors to vote on that plan is December 7, 2026. The Phoenix Business Journal has reported that the plan covers the unfinished hotel, unsold villas and the land meant for the shopping district.
For this season, that settles it. There won't be a Palmeraie tree, holiday market or Ritz-Carlton Thanksgiving to add to the list. The calendar belongs to the five properties already open: Montelucia, The Hermosa Inn, Sanctuary, Mountain Shadows and Camelback Inn. Of everything those five list right now, only Montelucia's tree lighting is free and open to the public.
Resort calendars change, and some of these listings had no year printed beside the date, so check with each venue before you plan an evening around it.
If you'd like a resort recommendation for visiting family this season, or want to know which of these spots is closest to your house, The Kallner Collective is happy to help. Contact us any time.
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