The Great Dickens Christmas Fair returns to the Cow Palace Exhibition Halls at 2600 Geneva Ave. in Daly City for 11 days: five weekends from November 21 to December 20, 2026, plus the Friday after Thanksgiving. The fair is open 10am to 6pm, and tickets are sold online only.
Dates and Hours
The fair runs on these days, all from 10am to 6pm:
- Saturday and Sunday, November 21 and 22
- Friday, November 27 (the Friday after Thanksgiving), plus Saturday and Sunday, November 28 and 29
- Saturday and Sunday, December 5 and 6
- Saturday and Sunday, December 12 and 13
- Saturday and Sunday, December 19 and 20
More than four acres of the Cow Palace halls are laid out as the lanes, pubs and theatres of Victorian London, with hundreds of costumed characters drawn from the novels of Charles Dickens and the Victorian stage. The fair describes its offerings in five groups: pubs and eateries, theatre and nightlife, family fun, dramatic streets, and shops for jewelry, clothing, art and collectables.
Tickets and Prices
Tickets are sold only at dickensfair.com. There are no ticket sales at the Cow Palace and no authorized resellers. Each ticket is good for one date of your choosing, and daily attendance is limited. Tickets are non-refundable but transferable, and can be switched to another date online.
- General adult (13 and up), all day: $50 ($56.56 with fees)
- General youth (ages 5 to 12), all day: $30 ($35.86 with fees)
- Children under 5: free
- Twilight adult (entry after 3pm): $35 ($41.04 with fees)
- Twilight child (entry after 3pm): $20 ($25.51 with fees)
- Pickwick Club season pass: $200 ($211.81 with fees), covering all 11 days, with 10% off at the fair’s memorabilia store and other participating locations
Active military personnel and three family members are admitted free on the first two weekends (November 21, 22, 27, 28 and 29) with photo ID at the Will Call window; no ticket is needed.
Experiences Inside the Fair
The fair sells a set of add-on experiences: a Port and Chocolate Tasting paired with Bramosia Chocolates, a Gin Tasting with a cocktail of your choice, a Jekyll and Hyde Pub Crawl through four London pubs, and the Dark Garden Corset Experience with complimentary sparkling wine and store credit. Details and booking are on the ticket page.
Getting There and Parking
Parking at the Cow Palace is $20 per car, charged at the lot entrance; use the main entrance at 2600 Geneva Ave. There is no shuttle from BART. The fair’s FAQ says to take the #8 Muni bus from Balboa Park BART station to the Cow Palace and to confirm bus details with Muni before you leave. Rideshare drop-off and pick-up is available at the venue. The fair is wheelchair accessible, with wheelchair rentals at the Cloak and Parcel Check in the Lower Lobby.
The Upper Lobby, called Victoria Station, is a free-admission area next to the main parking lot where the Will Call booth, printed programs and hot beverages are found before you go down the ramp into the fair.
For more of the month, see our things to do in San Francisco in November 2026.
Photo: Dante Alighieri, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
