New York City lights up for the holidays like nowhere else on earth.
Here’s your calendar and guide to the best NYC holiday tree and Hanukkah menorah lighting ceremonies, vintage subway rides, Kwanzaa celebrations, crafts markets and more.
Enjoy NYC on the cheap with these FREE and family-friendly 2025 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.
Keep checking back, since we are adding events as we receive them.
See Also
NYC Calendar of FREE November & December Events
Where to Go Ice Skating in NYC Parks
Best NYC Holiday Train Shows and Rides
Ride a Vintage NYC Subway Train
The popular New York Transit Museum’s Holiday Nostalgia Rides returns again to ride another season.
Every Sunday 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.
Again this year, the MTA Nostalgia Rides features the subway system’s old R1/9 train cars, which were in service on the Eighth Avenue line (today’s A/C/E line) until 1977, with rattan seats, paddle ceiling fans, incandescent light bulbs, roll signs, and period advertisements.
NYC Transit Museum Holiday Train Show
The museum’s popular FREE holiday train show is back at Grand Central Terminal
It’s a city within a city, with the display of a miniature electric railroad running over, through, and beneath some of New York’s most magnificent landmarks.
Celebrating its 20th year of operation, this beloved holiday exhibit features Lionel model trains traveling along a 34’ long, two-level, “O” gauge model train layout.
Departing from a miniature replica of Grand Central Terminal, the Transit Museum’s collection of model trains including Metro-North, Polar Express, and vintage subway train sets will dazzle both children and adults alike as they make their way past New York landmarks and on to the North Pole.
- Daily, through February 2025
- FREE, but reservations are recommended to manage the small-ish space.
Holiday Train Show at New York Botanical Garden
Returning for its 34th year, the always-popular Holiday Train Show at the New York Botanical Garden features model trains zooming over and around miniature replicas of recognizable NYC landmarks, each one meticulously crafted from plant parts like palm fronds, pinecones, and cinnamon sticks.
American steam engines, streetcars from the late 1800s, and modern freight and passenger trains travel inside the huge glass Conservatory galleries along overhead trestles, through tunnels, across soaring structures such as the Brooklyn Bridge. Outdoors, visitors can explore a glowing mountainscape brimming with even more trains and picture-perfect moments.
There also are special evening shows. Holiday Train Nights take place on 16 select evenings through January 11th from 6 pm to 9 pm.
- Tickets start at $39 for adults and $27 for children ages 2 to 12.
- Admission also includes access to NYBG’s historic landscape and gardens,
Best NYC Holiday Trees & Lighting Ceremonies
Bryant Park
Tuesday, December 2 – As always, the annual Tree Lighting show at Bank of America Winter Village includes a special FREE ice skating show, with performances by world-class skaters Mariah Bell, Kaitlin Hawayek, Jean-Luc Baker, Kaiya Ruiter, Emmanuel Savary, Ice Theatre of New York, Figure Skating in Harlem, and The Skyliners.
Space is limited. Entry will begin at 3:30pm on a first come, first served basis. If you can’t make it to the park, enjoy the livestream here
Please note: The Rink closes to the public 12:10pm on the day of Tree Lighting. Public skating resumes right after the show, around 6:15pm. The Lodge bar + food hall will remain open all day.
Rockefeller Center
Wednesday, December 3 – Festivities include ice skating and musical performances, appearances by The Rockettes and more.
- 7:00 – 10:00 p.m.
About the 2025 Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree
- It is decorated with more than 50,0000 multi-colored, energy-saving LED lights
- It is topped by a nine-foot, 900-pound star adorned with three million Swarovski crystals
- It is a Native New Yorker. The 75-foot-tall Norway spruce, hails from East Greenbush, NY. Donated by the Russ family, the tree has been part of their property for over 60 years, including as the backdrop for decades of family celebrations.
- It will be on view through early January 2026, when decorations are removed for storage for next year and the tree is recycled into boards for Housing for Humanity, which builds homes for the needy.
Origami Tree at AMNH
The traditional Origami Tree at the American Museum of Natural History offers a nod to the museum’s newest exhibition Impact: The End of the Age of Dinosaurs, the theme of this year’s tree is New Beginnings.
It celebrates the spectacular variety of species that evolved after an asteroid impact ended the age of dinosaurs some 66 millions years ago. An annual New York City tradition, the 13-ft (4-m) tree is adorned with thousands of origami models. Among them are dinosaurs and other extinct reptiles—pterosaurs that ruled the skies, mosasaurs and plesiosaurs that roamed the seas, as well as Triceratops and T. rex, which walked the Earth during the Cretaceous Period.
The tree also includes an array of mammals and insects that evolved after the asteroid impact. These new mammals include ancestors of the Museum’s iconic Blue Whale, as well as our primate ancestors. Look for birds, too—dinosaurs living among us today.
Produced in partnership with OrigamiUSA, the Origami Tree is delightfully decorated with hundreds of hand-folded paper models created by local, national, and international origami artists.
- FREE with museum admission.
Best FREE NYC Holiday Lights
2025 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, be sure to book with Dyker Heights Christmas Lights,
This is a a tourism company created by residents of Dyker Heights with local residents as 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.
FREE Holiday Under the Stars Light Show
Through Sunday, January 4 -The iconic Holiday Under The Stars returns bringing festive brilliance to the Upper West Side.
Featuring 300,000 twinkling lights and 44 gi-normous illuminated stars, the display transforms the center into a dazzling kaleidoscope of changing colors. The huge sparkling stars are suspended within the multi-story atrium, called the Great Room.
The mesmerizing color-changing stars perform choreographed light shows every 30 minutes from 5PM to midnight, set against a backdrop of shimmering garlands. Additional glowing stars suspended throughout the Ground Floor, along with sparkling photo moments. You can also watch from nearby, including from the steps and seating at Columbus Circle.
FREE Broadway Under the Stars
On Thursday evenings through Dec. 18, enjoy live, free Broadway performances from renowned shows, including exclusive Q&As with cast members by Broadway alum, George Psomas, at the Shops at Columbus Circle.
This year’s line-up includes new Tony award-winning productions like Maybe Happy Ending and Hell’s Kitchen, alongside beloved Broadway classics like Chicago, The Lion King, Moulin Rouge! The Musical. Click here for the weekly schedule
- FREE, 5-6pm, on the 2nd Floor Stage at The Shops at Columbus Crcle.
Best NYC Holiday Crafts Markets
Made in NYC Pop-Up Markets
Old Stone House Holiday Bazaar
The Museum of the City of New York x Brooklyn Pop-Up Holiday Market
Brooklyn Pop-Up x Red Hook Holiday Market
Grand Bazaar Holiday Market at Grand Central
|
Grand Central Terminal Holiday Fair
Through December 24, 2025 – Dozens of artisans – many of them local – offer handmade jewelry, clothing, gift items and more, inside the landmark Vanderbilt Hall.
The Grand Central Gift Shop is back at the Holiday Fair this year, along with a permanent location in Graybar Passage. This is where to find New York–themed items, including cozy apparel, home goods, puzzles, magnets, and other souvenirs. There’s also a gift shop with NYC-themed items inside the NYC Transit Museum location, along with the FREE holiday train show there.
The Holiday Fair is open Monday through Saturday, 10 am to 7 pm, and Sundays, 11 am to 6 pm (closed Thanksgiving, closing early Christmas Eve).
For details, vendor lists, and updates, visit the Grand Central Terminal website.
ecoXplorer Evelyn Kanter is an award-winning journalist with 25+ 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 is President Emeritus of the International Motor Press Assn. (IMPA).
ecoXplorer Evelyn Kanter also is a 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
Thanks for following ecoXplorer.
Leave a Reply