Book the right city, because UC Davis uses two. The next ceremony is Saturday 12 December 2026 and it is held on campus, in the University Credit Union Center, so December demand lands squarely on Davis itself, a town of about 66,000 with a small hotel base and no larger market next door to absorb it. The June round is the opposite: undergraduate ceremonies move to Golden 1 Center in downtown Sacramento, twenty minutes away, where the hotel market is far deeper. A family booking December on the assumption that the ceremony is in Sacramento has booked the wrong city. Woodland is 15 minutes out and Sacramento 20, both real options once Davis fills. Both dates come from the registrar, which marks them subject to change.
Get the alert when University of California, Davis’s booking window opens
We email you once, when rooms near campus start selling out (often 6–12 months ahead). No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Two rounds, two cities, and the next one is the Davis one
UC Davis graduates twice a year and holds the two rounds in different cities. Getting that wrong is the expensive mistake at this campus, and most coverage of it describes only the June arrangement.
The next ceremony is Saturday 12 December 2026, and UC Davis states where it goes: “Each Fall, UC Davis hosts a Commencement ceremony for undergraduates, held in the University Credit Union Center.” That building is on the Davis campus. December stays in town.
June is the arrangement everyone has heard about. UC Davis runs 13 ceremonies that weekend, and the undergraduate ones take place at Golden 1 Center in downtown Sacramento, twenty minutes away, after a heat incident in 2022 pushed them off campus. Graduate ceremonies stay in Davis.
So the answer to “where do I stay for UC Davis graduation” is genuinely different depending on which round you are attending, and a family that reads June advice and books Sacramento for December will be driving the wrong way on the morning of the ceremony.
Why the December round is the tighter one
It is worth being precise about why, because the intuition runs the other way. June sounds bigger, and it is.
June is bigger and easier. Thirteen ceremonies, more graduates, more visitors, and the largest of them held in a state capital with a hotel market built for legislators, conventions and Kings games. That market absorbs a graduation without noticing.
December is smaller and harder. One undergraduate ceremony, and all of it landing on Davis, a city of roughly 66,000 whose hotel base is correspondingly small. There is no second market inside the city limits. The nearest depth is Woodland at 15 minutes and Sacramento at 20, which means the overflow plan for December is a drive rather than a different neighbourhood.
On what a graduation week is worth to this town, the clearest number came from the argument about moving the spring ceremonies away. Davis City Councilmember Dan Carson told CBS Sacramento the move “could cause a loss of as much as $200,000 in city hotel tax revenues”, adding that “our city gets a lot of sales tax revenue from hotels and bars”. That is an elected official’s estimate about the spring move rather than a December forecast, and it is quoted here as that. What it establishes is scale: one graduation week is a measurable fraction of a small city’s hotel economy.
Where to go when Davis fills
The figure above sorts the alternatives by drive time.
Woodland is the closest real market at about 15 minutes, straight up the road and outside the campus squeeze entirely. Sacramento is 20 minutes and is the deepest option in reach by a wide margin, which is exactly why UC Davis is willing to hold its June ceremonies there.
There is a nice corroboration for this ordering, and it comes from UC Davis itself rather than from us. On its Parent and Family Weekend page the university tells visiting families to “look for hotels in Davis, but Woodland and Dixon areas are also close and sometimes less expensive.” That is the same argument this site makes, made by the university, and it names Woodland specifically.
One honest note on the ring: Dixon is not currently in the ladder above, and its availability has not been checked to the standard the other two were. It is on the university’s own list and worth a look yourself if Woodland and Sacramento both tighten.
What is settled and what is not
Both dates come from the registrar’s Quarter Dates and Deadlines table for 2026-2027, in a row headed “Commencement Date.”, read on 11 August 2026. Fall 2026 reads Dec 12 and Spring 2027 reads Jun 11-13. The registrar attaches its own caveat, which this page repeats rather than hides: “Dates and times subject to change without notice.” We checked the weekdays ourselves; 12 December 2026 is a Saturday.
December’s start time (10 a.m.), tickets (up to six per graduate, free) and parking (free in Lot 25 and the Pavilion Parking Structure) are now published, and the ceremony logistics page carries them. Still unestablished: any commencement-specific rate, minimum stay or cancellation policy at a named Davis property, and a room count for the town.
Verified hotel rules
| Hotel | Min. stay | Prepayment | Cancellation / forfeit | Typical rate | How to book |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hyatt Place UC Davissource | Not published | Not published | Not published | Not published | Online, hotel’s own site |
- Hyatt Place UC Davis: 173 Old Davis Road Extension, Davis, CA, the hotel physically closest to campus. UC Davis's own supply-chain office lists it as a preferred-booking property for university travel. No commencement-specific public rate or minimum-stay policy was independently confirmed this session.
Opens live availability around campus via our partner Stay22. Several of the properties above take graduation bookings only by phone, mail-in form, or lottery, so treat this as a price check against the rules in the table, not a replacement for them. We may earn a commission at no extra cost to you.
The ring
| Town | Drive time | Typical availability | Rate vs. epicenter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Woodland, CACheck rooms in Woodland, CA → | 15 min | A live per-night Google Hotels count wasn't obtained this session. Woodland is Yolo County's other real town, a short drive north of Davis, with its own small chain-hotel base as a closer-in alternative to the Sacramento drive. | Broad chain-hotel tier; not independently rate-compared this session. |
| Sacramento, CACheck rooms in Sacramento, CA → | 20 min | A live per-night Google Hotels count wasn't obtained this session (the search tool's results page failed to load repeatedly). Structurally, downtown Sacramento is a deep, large-metro hotel market anchored by Golden 1 Center itself, the same arena hosting UC Davis's own undergraduate ceremonies, so real inventory exists, even during graduation week. | Full metro range; not independently rate-compared this session. |
A live Google Hotels availability check, the method used for most other clusters in this project, could not be completed this session; the search results page repeatedly failed to load through our research tools. Ring-town availability here is described structurally rather than as a live count.
“Check rooms” are partner links (Stay22), and we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you.
Live availability near campus
Map and booking links are provided by our partner Stay22. We may earn a commission on bookings made through this map at no extra cost to you.
Frequently asked questions
When is UC Davis's next commencement?
Saturday 12 December 2026, the Fall undergraduate ceremony. The registrar's Quarter Dates and Deadlines table for 2026-2027 carries a row headed "Commencement Date." reading Dec 12 for Fall 2026 and Jun 11-13 for Spring 2027. We read it on 11 August 2026 and checked the weekday: 12 December 2026 is a Saturday. The registrar marks these subject to change.
Is the ceremony in Davis or in Sacramento?
It depends which round you are attending, and this is the thing most likely to cost you a booking. UC Davis states that "Each Fall, UC Davis hosts a Commencement ceremony for undergraduates, held in the University Credit Union Center", which is on the Davis campus. For spring it runs 13 ceremonies, with undergraduates at Golden 1 Center in Sacramento and graduate ceremonies across campus. So December is Davis, June is Sacramento.
Why is December harder to book than June?
Because none of it leaves town. In June the largest ceremonies move twenty minutes away into a state-capital hotel market that can absorb them. In December the whole thing stays in a town of roughly 66,000. The same number of families, a much smaller pool of rooms, and the nearest depth is Woodland at 15 minutes or Sacramento at 20.
Where should I look once Davis fills?
Woodland is the closest at about 15 minutes, and Sacramento is 20 and by far the deepest market in reach. UC Davis makes the same recommendation itself for its Parent and Family Weekend, telling families to "look for hotels in Davis, but Woodland and Dixon areas are also close and sometimes less expensive". The ladder above sorts them by drive time with live booking links.
What has UC Davis published for December?
The ceremony starts at 10 a.m. on Saturday 12 December at the University Credit Union Center. Graduates can request up to six free guest tickets when they register by 30 November, and parking in Lot 25 and the Pavilion Parking Structure is free that morning. UC Davis also tells out-of-town guests to book accommodation as early as possible.
How we verified this
Last verified:
- UC Davis Registrar, Quarter Dates and Deadlines, AY 2026-2027 (the "Commencement Date." row: Fall 2026 Dec 12, Spring 2027 Jun 11-13, subject to change)
- UC Davis Ceremonies and Special Events, University Commencements (Fall in the University Credit Union Center; spring's undergraduates at Golden1 Center)
- UC Davis Parent and Family Weekend (the university's own lodging advice naming Davis, Woodland and Dixon)
- CBS Sacramento, UC Davis graduation ceremonies moving to Golden 1 Center
This page is verified in two stages. Every fact is checked against the primary sources listed above, then the page is reviewed and signed off by our editor, A. Hassan. Corrections and enquiries: hello@graduationstay.com