NYC Holiday Light Shows 2026: Dates for the Bronx Zoo, Lightscape and the Free Ones
Lightscape opens November 20, 2026 and Bronx Zoo Holiday Lights November 21. Both run to January 3, 2027. Dates, hours and the free lights worth the trip.
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Bronx Zoo Holiday Lights opens Saturday, November 21, 2026. Lightscape at Brooklyn Botanic Garden opens a day earlier, Friday, November 20. Both close Sunday, January 3, 2027. Both are ticketed. The best lights in the city, Dyker Heights, are free.
If you’re picking one paid show: the zoo for kids, Lightscape for adults. The zoo has animals, a train and ice carving. Lightscape is a quiet walk through a garden lit like a stage set.
The short answer
- Bronx Zoo Holiday Lights: select nights, November 21 to January 3. Lights on at 4:30pm, last entry 8pm. Online tickets only.
- Lightscape, Brooklyn Botanic Garden: November 20 to January 3. Timed entry. Allow an hour to 90 minutes.
- NYBG GLOW: no 2026 dates announced.
- Free: Dyker Heights, the Rockefeller tree, the Fifth Avenue windows.
Bronx Zoo Holiday Lights
Dates. Saturday, November 21 and Sunday, November 22, then Friday, November 27 to Sunday, November 29. In December it runs the 3rd to 6th, the 10th to 13th, the 17th to 23rd and the 26th to 31st. It closes with Saturday, January 2 and Sunday, January 3. It’s dark on the nights in between, so check the date before you buy.
Hours. Holiday Lights runs 1pm to 9pm. The lantern trails switch on at 4:30pm, and last entry is 8pm. On those days, regular daytime admission stops at noon.
What’s there. Lantern trails, a holiday train, ice carving and a light show around the holiday tree, most of it from 4:30 or 5pm. Most animal exhibits close at 4pm. The World of Darkness and World of Reptiles stay open all night. New this year, the Children’s Zoo farmyard is open during the event, from 3pm.
Tickets. Online only, no sales at the gate, and every sale is final. You can buy a ticket for one date or a pricier any-night ticket. It runs rain or shine. Prices are on bronxzoo.com.
Getting there. Take the 2 or 5 train to Pelham Parkway and walk west along Boston Road to the Bronx River gate. That station has elevators. The only other gate open for Holiday Lights is Southern Boulevard, which the Bx9 and Bx19 buses reach at 183rd Street.
Sensory-friendly night: Thursday, December 3.
Go early in the season, on a weeknight. You arrive at 4:30 as the lights come on, and you’re on the 2 train home by 7.
Lightscape at Brooklyn Botanic Garden
Dates. Friday, November 20, 2026 to Sunday, January 3, 2027.
How it works. It’s a one-way lit trail through the garden. It starts and ends at the Visitor Center, 990 Washington Avenue. Your ticket has a time, and you enter in the 15 minutes after it. Don’t come more than 15 minutes early. Allow an hour to 90 minutes.
Special nights. 21+ nights on Thursday, December 10 and Thursday, December 17. Sensory-friendly early entry at 4pm on Thursday, December 3 and Friday, December 18.
Getting there. The 2 or 3 to Eastern Parkway-Brooklyn Museum is the easy one, with an elevator. The 4 or 5 to Franklin Avenue is close to the entrance too, but has no elevator. The Brooklyn Museum is next door if you want to make an afternoon of it.
During the run, the garden closes to daytime visitors at 3:30pm. Brooklyn Botanic Garden hasn’t posted 2026 nightly hours, and ticket prices change by night, so check bbg.org/lightscape before you buy.
NYBG: the train show, and no GLOW date yet
The New York Botanical Garden used to run GLOW, an evening light event. It hasn’t announced 2026 dates.
What is confirmed: the Holiday Train Show runs November 14, 2026 to January 10, 2027. On select evenings the conservatory stays open until 8pm. Our Holiday Train Show guide has the dates and how to get the timing right.
The free ones
Dyker Heights, Brooklyn. The best lights in New York, and nobody runs them. The houses on 83rd to 86th Street light up around Thanksgiving and stay on into early January. Our Dyker Heights guide has the blocks and the subway.
The Rockefeller Center tree. It’s lit on Wednesday, December 2, 2026, and stays up through mid-January 2027. Rockefeller Center hasn’t posted this year’s viewing hours yet. Go at 7am on a weekday. Our tree lighting guide explains why the lighting night itself is a bad way to see it.
The Fifth Avenue windows. Our holiday windows walking route covers them south to north in one walk.
Which one to pick
- Kids under 10: the Bronx Zoo. There’s more to do than look.
- A date, or adults only: Lightscape, on a 21+ night.
- No budget: Dyker Heights on a weeknight in early December.
- One night, one borough: Lightscape and the Brooklyn Museum, or Dyker Heights and dinner in Bay Ridge.
The rest of the season
- NYC Christmas markets 2026
- Ice skating in NYC 2026
- Things to do in NYC in November 2026
- Things to do in NYC in December 2026
- NYC with kids
Questions about anything in this guide? Reach MUSEENYC at museenyc.art@gmail.com or @museenyc on Instagram.
More December in the city → museenyc.com