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The Dyker Heights Christmas Lights tour is something you shouldn’t miss if you are in New York during the Christmas season. In Dyker Heights, Brooklyn, you can expect amazing over-the-top decorated houses, full of Christmas lights, reindeer, snowflakes and Santas. The area is famous for wildly celebrating this tradition. It’s brilliant to see this spectacle and a bus tour through Dyker Heights with a guide is the best way to find all exuberantly lit houses.
Tickets for 2026 are not available yet Would you like to receive an email as soon as the tickets are available? Send me a message at eric@newyorkcity.ca and I’ll email you on the day the tickets go on sale.
During this tour, you visit Dyker Heights and Bay Ridge in Brooklyn. These two American-Italian neighbourhoods are both battling for the glory of having the most beautifully decorated homes during the Christmas holidays. Hop on the bus in Midtown Manhattan and hop off again in Brooklyn to walk around with a guide and admire the marvellously lit houses.
The benefit of taking this tour compared with exploring the neighbourhood on your own is the guide tells you all about the history of this Christmas tradition (it started with just one decorated home!) and he might even introduce you to some of the proud owners. Some of them hire companies for thousands of dollars to create the decorations!
Christmas Decoration in Manhattan
After you’ve sampled Brooklyn’s Christmas atmosphere, the bus takes you back to Manhattan. You have excellent views of the skyline and the tour finishes at Union Square.
Hey there, I'm Eric!
I'm a true New York fan with over 20 years of experience visiting and living in NYC. Here on my website, I share all my tips and valuable information to help you make the most of your trip. I personally test and regularly re-test everything on my site to ensure that what I write is helpful, honest, and always up to date.
If you have questions, are unsure about something, or want me to check your itinerary, please email me at eric@newyorkcity.ca. You can also follow me on Facebook or Instagram to get daily updates from New York.
Eric’s Tip: “The most important advice I can give for this tour is: don’t wait to book! A tour of Dyker Heights is an absolute must-do if you are in New York in December. These tours are very popular and often sold out. Don’t wait too long to book your tickets, otherwise, your preferred dates may no longer be available.”
Practical Information
After your purchase, you’ll receive a voucher that you can print out and use as your ticket for the tour. The Dyker Heights tour is not suitable for people with reduced mobility or wheelchair users.
Duration: 4 hours
Departure Point: In front of McDonald’s at 1651 Broadway, corner of West 51st Street
Departure Time: 17:00 or 18:00
Book the Dyker Heights Christmas Lights tour here
FAQ
The Dyker Heights Christmas Lights will go up the weekend following Thanksgiving, and the most of the lights will be up by the first week of December. As the houses are spread throughout the whole area, I would recommend taking a tour of Dyker Heights. This way you can easily see all the decorated homes.
Typically, the Dyker Heights Christmas Lights are taken down in early January. The tours, which you can book through my website, also run until then.
You can get to the neighbourhood by using the subway D to 79 St in Brooklyn. From there, it's about a 20-minute walk to the decorated houses. The neighbourhood you'll be walking through isn't the best, and it's often cold and wet. If you go by yourself, you might miss the best streets and houses, so I recommend booking the Dyker Heights Bus Tour.
Dyker Heights Christmas Lights refer to the iconic American holiday displays of this Brooklyn neighbourhood. During the Christmas season, the area is famous for having the most magnificently lit and adorned homes.
You can explore the area for free, but I recommend taking the Dyker Heights Christmas Lights Tour to find the best streets amid the vast suburbs. Book the bus tour through my site.
The tradition started in 1986 with one woman named Lucy Spata decorating her house in honour of her mother. At first, the neighbours weren't too happy about it, but as Lucy's collection of glowing figurines grew, more and more neighbours joined in, resulting in the spectacle that it is today.
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