Dyker Heights is a few residential blocks in south Brooklyn where homeowners cover whole houses in Christmas lights, and you can see all of it for free. Here is how to do it with kids on the subway, without a tour, and with a plan for the restroom problem.
The Dyker Heights Christmas lights are free and best seen on a weeknight between about 5pm and 9pm, around 84th Street between 11th and 12th Avenues. Nobody publishes official dates: guides say the lights go up around Thanksgiving weekend (Thanksgiving is November 26, 2026) and stay into early January. Take the R to 86 St and walk about 20 minutes, and use a restroom before you arrive, because there are none in the residential blocks.
Checked October 5, 2026. Nothing about this year's lights has been announced yet, so everything about timing below comes from how the display has run in past seasons. Where a page is official, it's linked.
Dyker Heights Christmas lights are on every New York must-see list, and then, helpfully, tells you to see from a tour bus for $60 or more. You don't need the bus. The lights are on residential streets, they're free, and a family with a subway map and a thermos can do it in an evening. What you do need is a plan for the cold, the crowds and the fact that your seven-year-old will need the restroom at the exact moment there are none.
A word on what this is. Dyker Heights is a residential neighborhood in south Brooklyn, and for more than 30 years a number of homeowners have decorated their houses and lawns to an astonishing degree: millions of lights, inflatable and singing Christmas characters, some of them playing carols. Nobody organizes it and nobody charges for it. The houses are people's homes, which matters more than anything else in this guide.
Think of it as visiting a very long, very bright street party where the hosts did not send you an invitation. Be a good guest.
There is no official start or end date, because there is no official organizer. The city rejected a street activity permit request for the display in 2017, and Community Board 10 has been dealing with the crowds ever since. What guides report, year after year, is this: houses begin lighting up around the weekend after Thanksgiving (that's November 28 and 29 this year, since Thanksgiving is November 26), most are finished by early December, and the lights stay up into early January. Guides agree on roughly that, which is as exact as it gets.
The nightly window matters more than the season. Guides say the lights come on at dusk, around 5 to 6pm, and most houses switch off around 9pm. If you're in town the week of Thanksgiving, expect some houses to be half-finished; the first or second week of December is when guides say the displays are complete and the crowds are not yet at their Christmas peak.
The core is the stretch of 84th Street between 11th and 12th Avenues, with the displays spreading out roughly between 82nd and 86th Streets and from 10th to 13th Avenues. Guides disagree by a block or two on the edges, which tells you nobody has an official map. The simplest plan is to walk 84th Street first, then loop back along 83rd or 85th Street, then 12th and 13th Avenues if the kids still have legs.
Don't expect a trail with arrows. Expect a neighborhood. Some houses sell hot chocolate from stands out front, and in my opinion that is the best bit: it feels like people having a good time, not an attraction. Cash for the hot chocolate is sensible, and so is a spare phone battery, because you will film the inflatable thing your child won't stop talking about.
Free, unofficial, and loud with bulbs. There is no organizer's page, so the link goes to Brooklyn Community Board 10, the local body that has dealt with the crowds. The core is 84th Street between 11th and 12th Avenues, where houses are wrapped from the lawn to the roofline.
It's a residential street, so there are no restrooms and nowhere to sit, and a charged phone is your only map.
Practical
The two usual routes are the R train to 86 St, which the MTA lists as an accessible station, and the D train to 79 St, which is not. Both involve a walk of roughly 15 to 20 minutes, and the R walk runs east from 4th Avenue toward 11th. Elevators go out of service, so check the MTA's elevator status before you rely on one. One guide also mentions the X28 and X38 express buses from Manhattan; check the MTA's own pages before you plan around them.
With children aged four to ten, the walk in is the hard part, not the lights. A 20-minute walk in December cold is a long trip for little legs, and every parent knows the moment around block six when the cheerful marching stops and the carrying starts. A carrier or a stroller with a rain cover will earn its keep, though the sidewalks are ordinary residential ones and will be crowded on weekends.
See also Subway with a stroller, and which stops have elevators →
Plain version: there are no public restrooms in the blocks where the lights are. Use one before you leave your starting point, or at a library or a diner on the way. A resident told CBS News back in 2017 that people ringing her bell to use the bathroom late at night was one of the problems, so please don't. The libraries below are open in the daytime and shut by the time the lights come on, so they're a before-the-lights stop.
Travel Awaits says there are no restaurants nearby, and guides advise bringing snacks and a thermos. A hot chocolate from a front-lawn stand is a pleasant surprise, not a plan, and a child holding a cup of it will forgive a lot.
No. Tours depart from Manhattan (guides mention Union Square and Bryant Park) and cost, according to a few guides, somewhere between $60 and $75 for an adult, with a lower children's price, and last three to four hours including the ride. They can make sense if you can't manage the subway, can't walk far, or have limited mobility, because the buses drop you on 86th Street near 11th Avenue, which the city designated as the tour bus drop-off area some years ago. But big groups are part of what residents have complained about, and on foot you'd see the same houses. Book early if you do want one, since they sell out.
The best way to make this trip worth the subway fare is to arrive early and do something in daylight first. The places below are in Dyker Heights, Bay Ridge or a short subway hop away, and most are free. Half of them are on this list for the restroom, I'll admit.
A big public park along 86th Street and the Belt Parkway, with a playground, an 18-hole public golf course, and a junior golf center. The NYC Parks page also lists Kids in Motion, supervised outdoor activities led by Parks staff. It's the sensible place to burn off energy in daylight before the lights come on. Nobody comes to Dyker Heights for the park, which is a mild shame.
Practical
A Brooklyn Public Library branch at 13th Avenue and 82nd Street, close to the lights zone, designed by the architect Daniel Laitin with a blue-green glazed brick front. It lists preschool activities and an annual family concert in partnership with Carnegie Hall, and it's fully accessible. It's the nearest warm indoor stop.
Posted hours: 10am to 6pm Monday, Wednesday and Friday, 1pm to 8pm Tuesday, 10am to 8pm Thursday, 10am to 5pm Saturday, closed Sunday. Go before the lights, not after. The page doesn't mention restrooms, so ask at the desk.
Practical
If you're starting your trip in Bay Ridge, or coming off the R train, this is the best restroom and warm-up stop. It has a Children's Program Room with storytimes and afterschool playtime, and it's one of Brooklyn Public Library's busiest branches. It's also open on Sunday afternoon (1pm to 5pm), which the Dyker branch is not.
Practical
A long strip of park along the water in Bay Ridge, with a promenade that NYC Parks says has views of the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge, the Statue of Liberty, One World Trade Center, Fort Wadsworth on Staten Island and Coney Island. It's a good use of the hour before the lights.
Stay on the paths and well back from the water. Wind off the Upper Bay is strong in winter and the water is cold.
Practical
Rolling hills, a playground, basketball courts, a spray pool for summer, a skateboarding area, and a dog run, with views of the skyline and the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge. NYC Parks lists winter sledding too, which in a New York December means maybe two days. A fair snack stop between Bay Ridge and the lights.
Practical
At the foot of Bay Ridge Avenue, south of Owl's Head Park, this is a fishing pier with a view of the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge, the Statue of Liberty and the Manhattan skyline. NYC Parks calls it Bay Ridge's most popular go-to fishing spot. It's open water, so keep small children by the hand and well back from the edge, and don't go near the end in wind.
Practical
The paid, ticketed answer to 'what if I want lights without the sidewalk crowds'. Per the garden's page, Lightscape runs November 20, 2026 to January 3, 2027, with timed evening entry, a lit walking trail and sound installations. Adult tickets run from $29 on value nights to $44 on peak dates, children aged 3 to 11 are $15 to $28, and children under 2 are free. The garden closes at 3:30pm daily during the event for daytime visitors.
It's a different thing from Dyker Heights, not a replacement, and it has a bar and a lodge-style cafe with reservations. Tickets are not refundable (exchanges cost $10).
Practical
See also See more ways to do Christmas in the city →
If you're coming from Manhattan with a child under five and the weather is bad, I'd honestly pick Lightscape and leave Dyker Heights for another year. If it's fine and dry on a Tuesday night, I'd take the R and go.
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No official dates are published. Guides say the lights go up around the weekend after Thanksgiving (Thanksgiving is November 26, 2026), are complete by early December, and stay up into early January.
Guides say they come on at dusk, around 5 to 6pm, and most houses switch off around 9pm. Go on a weeknight to avoid the biggest crowds.
Yes. The houses are private homes on public streets, so walking past is free. Paid tours exist but you do not need one.
84th Street between 11th and 12th Avenues has the highest concentration of decorated houses, with more on the surrounding blocks between roughly 82nd and 86th Streets.
Take the R to 86 St (accessible per the MTA) or the D to 79 St (not accessible). Both leave a walk of roughly 15 to 20 minutes. Check the MTA's elevator status first.
No. Guides report none in the residential blocks where the lights are. Use a restroom before you arrive, for example at a library branch during opening hours.
The sidewalks are ordinary residential ones, so a stroller works on quiet nights but gets awkward on crowded weekends. A baby carrier is easier.
Facts checked against 13 pages on Monday, October 5, 2026. Opening times and prices change, so confirm with the venue.
