New York City lights up for the holidays like nowhere else on earth.
Here’s your complete calendar and guide to the best NYC holiday tree and Hanukkah menorah lighting ceremonies, vintage subway rides, Kwanzaa celebrations and more.
Enjoy NYC on the cheap with these FREE and family-friendly 2023 holiday events.
If you want to spend a lot of money to celebrate the holidays in the greatest city on the planet, you’ll have to find those things on another website.
See Also
NYC Calendar of Events November/December 2023

Ride a Vintage Subway Train
The New York Transit Museum’s Holiday Nostalgia Rides return this season.
Every Saturday between Thanksgiving and Christmas, anybody with the price of a subway ride ($2.90, even less if you have a discount such as a weekly pass) can take a trip on on old-school NYC subway trains used in the 1930s.
This year’s train features eight of the subway system’s old R1/9 cars, which were in service on the Eighth Avenue line (today’s A/C/E line) until 1977. The vintage cars feature rattan seats, paddle ceiling fans, incandescent light bulbs, roll signs, and period advertisements.
You can get on in Manhattan from Second Avenue on the uptown F line platform or at 145th on the downtown D line platform.
The Holiday Nostalgia Train departs from Second Avenue every two hours, at:
- 10 a.m., Noon, 2 p.m. and 4 p.m.
And depart from 145th Street every two hours at:
- 11 a.m., 1 p.m., 3 p.m., 5 p.m.
The Holiday Nostalgia Train will run between 2nd Avenue on the uptown F line platform and 145th Street on the downtown D line platform and make stops at the following stations:
Uptown stops and connections:
- 2nd Avenue (F)
- Broadway-Lafayette Street (D/F/M)
- West 4th Street – Washington Square (D/F/M, A/C/E)
- 34th Street – Herald Square (D/F/M)
- 42nd Street – Bryant Park (D/F/M)
- 47th – 50th Streets – Rockefeller Center (D/F/M)
- 59th Street – Columbus Circle (A/C/D)
- 125th Street (A/C/D)
- 145th Street (A/C/D)
Downtown stops and connections:
- 145th Street (A/C/D)
- 125th Street (A/C/D)
- 59th Street – Columbus Circle (A/C/D)
- 7th Avenue (D/E)
- 47th – 50th Streets – Rockefeller Center (B/D)
- 42nd Street – Bryant Park (D/F/M)
- 34th Street – Herald Square (D/F)
- West 4th Street – Washington Square (A/C/E, D/F)
- Broadway-Lafayette Street (D/F/M)
- 2nd Avenue (F)
Vintage trains are scheduled on December 2, 9, 16, 23, and 30.
Find more information on Holiday Nostalgia Rides here.
Transit Museum Holiday Train Show
The museum’s holiday train show returns to Grand Central Terminal’s annual Holiday Fair for the first time since 2019.
As part of the event, intricate displays of model trains include a miniature replica of Grand Central Terminal.
- November 16 through February 2024.
- FREE, but reservtations are required to manage the space.
Pedestrians Only on Fifth Avenue
and Around Rockefeller Center/Radio City
Fifth Avenue between 48th and 59th Streets will be closed to vehicles on the three Sundays before Christmas, Dec. 3, 10 and 17 as part of the city’s Open Streets program.
Instead, it will be a giant street party, with food and crafts vendors and entertainment – and zillions of pedestrians enjoying the holiday lights, store window displays and the world-famous Rockefeller Christmas tree, from Noon to 6pm..
The streets around Rockefeller Center and Radio City Music Hall —major tourist magnets during the NYC holiday season – also will be closed.
According to NBC New York, 49th Street and 50th Street between Fifth Avenue and Sixth Avenue will be for pedestrians only every day between 11am and midnight from November 29 through January of 2024.
There will be protective barriers throughout the area closed for Open Streets. Vehicle right turns will be prohibited from Fifth Avenue onto 47th Street, 49th Street, or 51st Street.
2023 Holiday Trees & Menorah Lightings

Opens Nov. 20 – Origami Holiday Tree at AMNH
Festooned with more than 1,000 meticulously hand-folded paper ornaments, this year’s 13-foot-tall tree at the American Museum of Natural History is inspired by the theme “Proboscideans on Parade.”
The tree features specially crafted origami creations inspired by the museum’s new exhibtion The Secret World of Elephants. Pieces include brightly colored elephants, a woolly mammoth, plus depicting iconic museum exhibits like the Blue Whale and Tyrannosaurus rex.
The origami decorations are created by local, national, and international origami artists.
You can see the tree with museum admission starting on November 20, 2023, it in the Ellen V. Futter Gallery on the first floor gallery adjacent to the 77th St. entrance.
- FREE with museum admission.
- Secret World of Elephants is an additional $5 ticket.

Opens Nov. 20 – Metropolitan Museum of Art
- Free with museum admission

Opens Nov. 24 – Luminaries at Brookfield Place Winter Garden
It is one of the most mesmerizing light shows in town. More than 600 colorful lanterns hang from the soaring glass atrium of the Winter Garden, changing color, pattern and intensity.
Visitors can actually control the lights, by sending a motion-activated wish or conducting the “orchestra” of glowing lanterns. Every such interaction at Luminaries adds to a greater cause. To celebrate the season of giving, Brookfield Place will donate $1 for every interaction, up to $25,000, to the GO Project which helps NYC public school students.
Holiday Wishing and Maestro Conduction is 10am to 8pm daily, through Jan. 1.
Special light shows are at the top of every hours, 8am to 10pm, also through Jan. 1, featuring one of these holiday songs –
- Winter Wonderland by Michael Bublé
- Silver Bells by Tony Bennett
- Carol of the Bells by The Bird and The Bee
- Let It Snow by Pentatonix
Luminaries is on view through 5pm on January 6.

Nov. 28 – Bryant Park Christmas Tree Lighting
The annual Tree Lighting and ice skating show at Bank of America Winter Village begins at 6pm and features:
- Broadway stars and co-hosts Jessica Vosk and Mauricio Martínez
- Performances by world-class skaters Mariah Bell, Karen Chen, Ryan Bradley, skating pair Alexa Knierim and Brandon Fraizer, and The Skyliners
- World premiere of Ice Theatre of New York’s Jazz Nutcracker, choreographed by Kolton Krouse for Bryant Park
- Figure Skating in Harlem, skating to live music by vocalist Alicia Hall Moran
About the Bryant Park Christmas Tree
- This year’s tree is 48 feet tall and weighs more than 8,000 pounds.
- It is adorned with over 12,000 lights and 1,000 oversized ornaments, including giant glimmering pine cones and traditional holiday bells.
Please note:
- The Rink closes to the public 1pm on the day of Tree Lighting.
- Public skating resumes right after the show, at 7pm. The Lodge Bar and Food Hall will remain open all day.
Nov. 28 – South St. Seaport Tree Lighting
- Starts at 6pm.
- FREE, but reservation recommended to guarantee admission.

Nov. 29 – Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree Lighting
The biggest and best NYC holiday lights are in Rockefeller Center when the world-famous Christmas tree is lit for the first time.
The tree lighting ceremony is Wednesday, Nov. 29.
The ceremony is broadcast live nationwide on NBC.
The actual lighting is at 10pm NYC time, after an ice skating show and music performances.
Read more here about the size of this year’s tree, the 60-year history of the tree and more.

Nov. 30 – Central Park Christmas Tree Lighting
For more than 25 years, the Central Park Conservancy has been draping the Charles A. Dana Discovery Center in holiday lights.
The tree lighting ceremony includes caroling, Santa with gifts of hot chocolate, along with the lighting of a flotilla of trees floating on the Harlem Meer.
Print out this songsheet to singalong with the carols.
- The event is scheduled for 5:30pm.
- The Charles A. Dana Discovery Center is at the north end of Central Park

Nov. 30 – Wall St. Christmas Tree Lighting
2023 is the 100th Anniversary of this annual tradition, which began with President Calvin Coolidge’s national push for tree lighting as a promotional tool for electric lighting and to brighten the dark days of the Great Depression.
Festivities include performances by the High and Mighty Brass Band, the NYC Gay Men’s Chorus, PS 150 Children’s Choir and some familiar faces from “America’s Got Talent.”
Hot cocoa and other seasonal refreshments will be on tap, and you’ll even get the chance to send a letter to Santa himself.
- 3pm to 6pm at Wall and Broad Streets.

Dec. 1 – Sunset Park Annual Tree Lighting
Santa, goodies for the good little children, and more.
- 3pm to 6pm
Link to a full schedule of tree lighting ceremonies in Brooklyn, thanks to our friends at Brooklyn Bridge Parents.

Dec. 2 – Holiday on the Hudson Tree Lighting
Celebrate the season with a holiday tree lighting, live music, decoration making, and hot chocolate (while supplies last).
- 4:30-6pm. Tree lighting at 5:30pm, rain date Sunday, December 3.
- Riverside Park, 125th & Marginal Sts

Dec. 5 – Lincoln Square Magical Lights
This is more than just a tree lighting.
It’s a street fair with stilt walkers and other performers from the Big Apple Circus, musicians from the Kaufman School of Music, a marching band of kalimbas, a brass quintet and a DJ dance party.
The Magical Lights decorate the trees of the Lincoln Square area, around Lincoln Center – which has its own holiday lights. The brightly lit installation decorates the grand branches of the London Plane trees. The lights are audio reactive, changing color, twinkling and “dancing” in response to sound. The more music, singing or clapping, the more the lights dance.
- 4:30pm at Dante Park, Broadway at 64th St.

Dec. 6 – Madison Square Park Tree Lighting
This is the 111th annual tree lighting – which the Madison Square Park Conservancy claims is the oldest annual celebration of its kind in the USA.
There is hot cocoa, live music by the acapella group New York Life Singers, and more.
- 4pm to 6:30pm. Tree lighting before 5pm, which is great for little kids.

Dec. 7-15 – World’s Largest Hanukkah Menorah Lighting
Hanukah is the Festival of Lights, when a candle is light every night for eight nights. Hanukkah 2023 is Dec. 7-15, and once again the World’s Largest Menorah will be lit at Fifth Ave. and 59th St., just outside the entrance to Central Park.
In years past, the 36-foot tall menorah weighed in at 4,000 pounds – and certified as the world’s largest by Guinness World Records.
There’s a similar lighting ceremony with Brooklyn’s largest menorah, at Brooklyn’s Grand Army Plaza.
Lightings are each night of Hanukkah in Manhattan (at 5:30 p.m. most evenings) and Brooklyn (at 6 p.m. most evenings), and earlier on Fridays for the Sabbath.
Lighting Schedule for 2023:
- December 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th and 11th at 5:30 PM
- December 12th at 3:30 PM
- December 13th at 8:30 PM
- December 14th at 5:30 PM
Manhattan lightings typically have Chassidic dancing and live music thanks to the Lubavitch Youth Organization.
Brooklyn lightings include hot latkes, gifts for children, and live music from the Chabad of Park Slope.
The Backstory
- For years, Manhattan and Brooklyn battled for the title of the world’s largest menorah.
- According to Central Park, the competition first sparked in 1984 when Rabbi Shimon Hecht brought a similar menorah to Brooklyn’s Grand Army Plaza.
- However, Manhattan’s menorah was – and is – larger and maintains the title as the ‘world’s largest’ after being certified by Guinness World Records.
There’s also a Menorah and lighting ceremony at Hudson Yards, and eight days of discounts from merchants, starting December 7th. Details here.
See also –
Crispy on the outside, tender on the inside — here are 20 fabulous latke recipes, published in the NYTimes..
Dec. 7 – Rockefeller Park Menorah (and Tree) Lighting
The Lower Manhattan park will be full of ecumenical holiday cheer for observers of both Christmas and Hanukkah.
The joint tree lighting and menorah lighting kicks off at 6 p.m. and will feature carols, drinks, treats and performances from Broadway’s Sam Primack, who starred in “Dear Evan Hansen,” plus the chorus from PS/IS 276.
Feel free to bring a toy with you for the Coalition for the Homeless’s toy collection. They’ll be accepting unwrapped gifts at 75 Battery Pl. on weekdays from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. if you miss the park celebration.
Dec. 7 – Hanukkah Celebration at Bowling Green
Tthe Jewish Learning Experience is hosting a celebration at the “location of the first Jewish community in North America” that dates back 369 years.
It will feature the lighting of a grand menorah, Hanukkah treats, music, balloons, face painting and more. The event starts at 4 p.m. at Bowling Green Park.
Dec. 10 – Menorah Lighting and Celebration at the Seaport
The Seaport will bring its six-foot-tall menorah to life right after sunset on December 10 on the Heineken Riverdeck at Pier 17.
From 3 p.m. to 5 p.m., the lighting ceremony will feature latkes, hot cocoa, live music, arts and crafts, face painting and other treats. Hosted by the Jewish Learning Experience, the free event will also feature a menorah made of chocolate.
Dec. 11 – Menorah Lighting at the New York Stock Exchange
Not every menorah lighting is in a park; this one happens right outside the New York Stock Exchange, next to the Christmas tree already lighted, and comes with a chance to enter the famous “pen” inside the building.
The menorah lighting party will feature sufganiyot and other holiday treats, and a live performance from rapper Nissim Black. Plus, every 10th registration comes with a special VIP entrance to the NYSE pen.
The event runs from 4 p.m. to 5 p.m. FREE, but registration is required, register here.
Dec. 13 – Menorah Lighting at FDNY Engine 4
Proper fire safety is key to any lighting ceremony (well, one that includes real candles, at least) so there’s no better place to celebrate than at one of our local firehouses.
FDNY Engine 4 (42 South St.) is hosting a menorah lighting celebration on December 13 from 4:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m.
It’s also a chance to check out the FDNY equipment and learn about fire safety.

Dec. 26-30 – Kwanzaa at African Burial Ground National Monument
Kwanzaa is the annual celebration of African American culture, and this year you can mark the holiday in one of the most sacred spots in Lower Manhattan.
The African Burial Ground National Monument hosts five days of Kwanzaa events, with drumming, dancing, guest speakers and more. The site marks the largest and earliest known African burial ground in the United States, discovered under Lower Manhattan, and tells the story about New York’s links to the slave trade.
Schedule highlights include –
- December 26 from 11 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., you can catch African drumming, drinks, performances, spoken word poetry and guest speakers in the lobby of 290 Broadway.
- December 27 through 29, you can also participate in crafting activities from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m, with additional drumming in the lobby from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. A
- Also on December 29, the park’s theater will host a Kinara-Side Chat from noon to 1 p.m.
- The celebration concludes on December 30 with more drinks, drumming, performances and a guest speaker in the lobby of 290 Broadway from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.
See the full schedule, or call 212-238-4367 for more information.

2023 Dyker Heights Holiday Lights
This Brooklyn community is famous for its blocks and blocks of brightly decorated homes on the blocks from 11th to 13th Avenues (also known as Dyker Heights Blvd) from 83rd to 86th St.
The lights are turned on around Thanksgiving and stay on until a New Year’s Eve.
You can get there by NYC subway and walk around on your own.
- Take the D Train to 79th St and New Utrecht Ave, Brooklyn. Then, it’s a 15-minute walk to the houses, so wear comfortable shoes.
- This is a residential neighborhood, so there are no public bathrooms, and because of the crowds, driving and parking is not recommended. .
If you decide to take one of the organized bus and walking tours, book with Dyker Heights Christmas Lights, a tourism company created by residents of Dyker Heights with local guides, which supports the community instead of a for-profit tour business. You get picked up at Bryant Park and chaperoned by a knowledgeable local.
ecoXplorer Evelyn Kanter is a journalist with 20+ years of experience as a newspaper and magazine writer, radio & TV news producer & reporter, and author of guidebooks and smartphone apps – all focusing on travel, automotive, the environment and your rights as a consumer.
ecoXplorer Evelyn Kanter currently serves as President of the International Motor Press Assn. (IMPA), a former Board Member of the Society of American Travel Writers (SATW) and a current member of the North American Travel Journalists Assn. (NATJA) and the North American Snowsports Journalists Assn. (NASJA).
Contact me at evelyn@ecoxplorer.com.
Copyright (C) Evelyn Kanter
Thank you! This is very helpful.
How long are most lights and decorations left up for?
We will be visiting on Jan 5th 2024
Most trees and lights and holiday store windows will still be sparkling bright through the first weekend in January when you visit, but not all – which is why the post includes ending dates, including for the Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree. The two giant Hanukkah Menorahs, in Manhattan and Brooklyn, are taken down at the end of the holiday, on Dec. 15. Enjoy my hometown!