New York Night Christmas Lights: Dyker Heights, Fifth Avenue and the Tree

Christmas in New York is an evening show. The sun sets at 4:28pm in early December, so by five o'clock the lights are the whole point. The tours split two ways: coaches and a private car to the lit houses of Dyker Heights in Brooklyn, and one of the Manhattan night tours, a walk past the Fifth Avenue windows to the tree. This guide covers when each runs, what you see, and how cold it gets.

When do the Christmas lights tours run?

From late November to early January. The Fifth Avenue walk starts first, on 22 November, and the first Dyker Heights coach on 27 November.

The dates are the operators' for this season. Book December for the widest choice.

When is the tree lit?

In early December. In 2025 the Rockefeller Center tree was lit on Wednesday 3 December, at the end of a ceremony from 7pm to 10pm, and it stayed on view until mid-January. It stood 75 feet tall with more than 50,000 multicoloured lights. Rockefeller Center announces each year's date, so check it before you plan round the lighting.

You can see it from the plaza between 49th and 50th Streets, and the classic street view is from Fifth Avenue, looking west. In 2025 a Top of the Rock ticket also gave access right under the tree from 4 December to 10 January.

How do you get to Dyker Heights?

By road from Midtown, which is what the tours are for. The coaches board on 10th Avenue at 41st Street, at Broadway and 51st Street, or on 7th Avenue at 51st Street, and bring you back to Midtown. The private car collects you anywhere in Manhattan; pickups in Brooklyn, Queens or New Jersey cost extra.

The coach from 10th Avenue ends at Bryant Park's Winter Village, and the Spanish-or-English coach finishes at Bryant Park too, so you can carry on into Midtown's lights.

Walking the blocks or driving them?

A coach cannot drive the display streets, so every coach gives you about an hour on foot among the lit houses. That is the best way to see them, and the coldest.

The private car is the only way to drive the blocks: about 30 minutes at a crawl, then a 20-minute stop by the Brooklyn Bridge. It comes with a chauffeur rather than a tour host, so you explore the lights in your own way.

Where else do the coaches stop?

Each Dyker Heights coach adds a view of the skyline on the way back, and each chooses a different one.

• The 10th Avenue coach: 25 minutes in Brooklyn Heights, looking across the river at Lower Manhattan, then Bryant Park. It takes three hours and 45 minutes in all.
• The Broadway coach: 15 minutes at the Brooklyn Bridge and 15 at a skyline stop, then back near Times Square, in four hours.
• The 7th Avenue coach: 15 minutes in Bay Ridge and 20 in Dumbo, then Bryant Park, in four hours.

If the skyline matters as much as the houses, pick the coach whose second stop you want.

What else is lit in Midtown at Christmas?

Plenty, and most of it is free to see. The Winter Village in Bryant Park is where the 10th Avenue and 7th Avenue coaches finish and where the lights walk spends half an hour. The Macy's windows at Herald Square, the Fifth Avenue windows and the tree are all a short walk apart. At Rockefeller Center you can skate on the rink under the tree, a New York tradition since 1936, in 60-minute sessions.

So a coach to Brooklyn and an evening walk in Midtown make a good pair across two nights.

What is on the Fifth Avenue walk?

Two and a half hours on foot for up to 12, from West 34th Street. It starts with the Macy's windows at Herald Square for 20 minutes and Bryant Park for 30. Then it goes up Fifth Avenue, past Saks Fifth Avenue's light show, to the tree for 15 minutes, and past the windows at Tiffany & Co. and Bergdorf Goodman. It ends near Central Park South.

It is a lot of walking, and the operator asks anyone sensitive to bright or flashing lights to skip it. The Manhattan night tours page lists it with the other evening walks.

Can you see the lights from a bus?

Yes, in December. The holiday bus runs from 1 to 30 December for four and a half hours, from 7th Avenue at 50th Street, with eight stops on foot of 15 to 30 minutes. It walks you through Grand Central and along the High Line, which closes at 8pm from December to March, and stops at Rockefeller Center.

It carries up to 15, and the seats are first come, first served. The night bus tours page compares it with the year-round buses.

How cold is a December evening?

Cold enough to plan for. Evening lows in Central Park average about 34°F in December and 28°F in January. The coaches are heated, and the 10th Avenue coach has a restroom on board, but the hour in Dyker Heights is outside.

Wear a hat, gloves and warm, waterproof shoes. The coaches run rain or shine, and the Fifth Avenue walk is outside for its whole length.

When does it get dark in December?

Early. The sun sets at 4:28pm in the first week of December and it is fully dark by 4:59pm. Even on the shortest day it sets at 4:32pm. So every lights tour, whatever its start time, runs in the dark.

That also means an early evening works. You can see the lights by five and still have dinner at a normal hour. The sunset and dark times by month give every month.

Which lights tour is in Spanish?

The Brooklyn coaches do. The Dyker Heights coach from 7th Avenue runs in Spanish or English by option, and the coach from Broadway and 51st Street offers tours in both languages. Pick the language when you book.

The 7th Avenue coach is sold first as a Spanish-language tour with an English option, so if you want English, check that the option you choose says so before you pay.

Is the private car worth it?

For a family or a group of five, it can be. The car is $649 for an SUV of up to five, about $129 each when full, against $63 a person on the 10th Avenue coach. It collects you, drives the lit blocks, carries infant seats on request, and brings you back.

The fare covers the car and its chauffeur only; a tour host is not part of it, and tips are extra. For two people, a coach seat costs far less.

Which should you book?

• The Brooklyn houses, with a stop for the skyline: the 10th Avenue coach at $63, 25 minutes in Brooklyn Heights included.
• The lowest fare to Dyker Heights: the Broadway coach at $45.
• In Spanish: the 7th Avenue coach at $49.
• Fifth Avenue and the tree: the lights walk at $54.
• A family of five, door to door: the private car.

Our guide to night tour prices sets these fares beside the rest of the year's.

Frequently asked questions

Three ways to see the Christmas lights

Dyker Heights Christmas Lights Guided Tour

A heated coach with a restroom from 10th Avenue at 41st Street: an hour on foot among the lit houses, 25 minutes of skyline in Brooklyn Heights, then Bryant Park.

From $63 per person

Check Availability

Ultimate NYC Christmas Lights At Night Walking Tour

Two and a half hours on foot from West 34th Street, late November to early January: the Herald Square windows, Bryant Park, Fifth Avenue and the tree. Up to 12.

From $54 per person

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NYC Private Holiday Lights Tour

Your own SUV for up to five with a chauffeur, collected in Manhattan: half an hour driving the lit Dyker Heights blocks and a 20-minute stop by the East River.

From $649 per vehicle (up to 5)

Check Availability