Dyker Heights Christmas Lights 2026: How to Do It Right

The Dyker Heights Christmas lights go up around Thanksgiving and stay lit through Christmas, many into early January. Go on a weeknight in early December, after 5pm, and walk 84th Street between 11th and 12th Avenue first. It’s free.

It’s the best Christmas display in New York, and nobody official runs it. A few blocks of a quiet Brooklyn neighborhood simply go all out, every year, with inflatable everything, life-size nutcrackers, and houses lit so bright you can read by them.

The short answer

• When: a weeknight between the start of December and the 15th, from about 5pm.
• Where: 83rd to 86th Street, between 10th and 13th Avenue. Start on 84th Street between 11th and 12th.
• How: the D train to 79 St, then walk. Don’t drive.
• Cost: nothing.

When to go

The lights start going up in the days around Thanksgiving, November 26, 2026. Not every house is ready on day one, so the last week of November can feel half-finished.

The first two weeks of December are the sweet spot. Everything is up, and the crowds haven’t hit their peak yet.

Weekends in mid-December are the worst. Between about 5pm and 9pm on a Saturday, the sidewalks are shoulder to shoulder and tour buses line the avenues.

Go early in the evening. It’s dark by 5pm in December, and the houses are fully lit from then. People live here, and plenty of displays switch off by mid to late evening, so don’t show up at 10pm expecting the full show.

Christmas week is busy but festive. After Christmas, the lights thin out night by night into early January.

Where to walk

The lights run across roughly 83rd to 86th Street, between 10th and 13th Avenue. It’s a grid, so you can walk it as a loop.

• 84th Street between 11th and 12th Avenue. The famous block, with the biggest houses. Start here.
• 83rd, 85th and 86th Streets in the same stretch. Walk each block. Some of the best houses are one street over from where everyone’s standing.
• The side streets and the avenues between them. Smaller displays, fewer people, and often more charm.

Give it an hour to an hour and a half at a walk. More if you stop at every inflatable, which you will.

How to get there

• Subway: the D train to 79 St, or the R to 86 St in Bay Ridge. Either way, it’s roughly a 15 to 20 minute walk to 84th Street and 11th Avenue.
• Don’t drive. Parking is close to impossible on December evenings, the streets clog with cars crawling past, and you’ll spend the night looking for a spot instead of looking at lights.
• Bus tours run from Manhattan in season. They’re convenient if you don’t want to deal with the subway, but you’re paying for a ride to something free. The walk is the whole point.

Don’t be a bad guest

This is the part that matters. Dyker Heights isn’t a theme park. It’s a residential neighborhood, and the people who live here share their street with huge crowds every December.

• Stay on the sidewalk. Don’t walk onto lawns, stoops or driveways for a better photo.
• Don’t block driveways, and don’t stand in the street. Cars still need to get through.
• Keep it down. People have kids asleep inside.
• Take your trash with you.
• Don’t touch the displays.

Make a night of it

Dyker Heights borders Bay Ridge, which has plenty of places to eat along Third and Fifth Avenue. Eat after the lights, when you’re cold and the walk is done.

If you’re doing a whole December night in Manhattan instead, our holiday windows walking route covers Fifth Avenue, and our NYC Christmas markets guide has every market’s dates. For everything else on this month, see things to do in NYC in December 2026.

What to bring

• Warm layers. You’ll be outside for an hour or more, mostly standing and looking.
• A charged phone. Cold drains batteries, and you’ll take more photos than you think.
• A bathroom plan. There are no public restrooms on these blocks. Go before you leave, or use a restaurant in Bay Ridge.

Check before you go

Nobody runs this officially, so there’s no schedule to check. Before a special trip:

• The weather. Rain empties the streets and makes it a much worse night out
• Subway service changes on the D and R for the evening you’re going

Questions about anything in this guide? Reach MUSEENYC at museenyc.art@gmail.com or @museenyc on Instagram.

The best lights in New York are free. More December in the city → museenyc.com