Dyker Heights Christmas Lights Tour

Best streets and blocks

Brooklyn Paper's December 16, 2025 guide puts the lights between 83rd and 86th Streets and 11th and 13th Avenues, and the best-known houses along 10th through 13th Avenues in that same stretch. Lucy Spata's house is on 84th Street. The paper does not print a house number.

Plenty of houses on those blocks stay dark. The paper says the number of participating homes changes, and that some owners spend heavily and hire professionals. There is no official house count. A number you see on a tour listing is that company's estimate.

You are on a sidewalk in front of people's doors. Some homeowners sell hot chocolate from the front walk. Buy a cup if you want one.

How to get there (subway, bus, driving/parking)

In this part of Brooklyn the avenue numbers rise from west to east, and the street numbers rise as you walk south. The houses sit on the higher-numbered avenues. Get those two directions wrong and you walk away from the lights.

Subway

From the west, take the R to 86th Street. The MTA R line map, updated December 7, 2025, lists entrances at 86th Street and 4th Avenue and at 85th Street and 4th Avenue, one island platform, and marks the station ADA accessible. It is a weekday map; weekend and late-night service can differ. Fourth Avenue is six avenues west of the houses. Walk east on 86th Street, then north into the 83rd–85th Street blocks. This is the step-free station.

From the east, take the D to 79th Street. The MTA D line map lists that station at New Utrecht Avenue and 79th Street, with two side platforms. From the D at 79th St, head west to 84th Street and 13th Avenue, about a 10 to 15 minute walk; use a map app.

Bus

The B16, effective September 6, 2026, is Bay Ridge–Lefferts Gardens via Fort Hamilton Parkway and 13th and 14th Avenues. Fort Hamilton Parkway at 84th and 86th Streets is west of 10th Avenue, so a stop on the parkway still leaves you a walk east into the lights. Thirteenth and 14th Avenues run along the east side of the same blocks. Ride in, then walk. Check the live timetable for the stop you actually want.

Driving and parking

There is no visitor lot. You are parking on residential streets that also have to take tour buses. Brooklyn Paper tells drivers to expect limited parking and heavy traffic when the sidewalks are full. No NYC DOT or NYPD page had posted a 2026 closure or one-way plan for these blocks. Leave driveways clear, including while someone gets out for a photo.

Best times to avoid crowds

Brooklyn Paper's 2025 guide says weeknights are quieter and that mid-December weekends from about 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. are the crush. A Monday, Tuesday, or Wednesday in the first half of December is the bet if last year's pattern holds. Earlier in the evening beats 8 p.m. on a Saturday. There is no rope line. Crowded here means the sidewalk and the street.

The lights are the point of going after dark. An afternoon visit gets you the houses and empty sidewalks, and displays that are still off. Dusk moves through December, and the houses are not on one published timer.

When the Dyker Heights lights are on in 2026

Nobody sells a ticket to the sidewalk. The displays are paid for by the people who live there, and some of them hire decorators. There is no 2026 permit, gate, or posted hours.

NYC Tourism's event page describes a December bus tour and says more than 100,000 people visit the neighborhood a year. It does not give 2026 dates. The agency's 2026 holiday press release lists other light events and skips Dyker Heights.

Brooklyn Paper, December 16, 2025, is the latest local report. Most homes started lighting in late November or early December, stayed up through Christmas, and sometimes into early January. The busiest nights were mid-December weekends, especially 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. Use that as last season's shape. A single switch-on time for 2026 has not been posted.

Guided tour vs going on your own

Walking costs nothing, and you can stay as long as the sidewalks are tolerable. A tour earns its money if you do not want to deal with parking, you are coming from Midtown, or you want the bus to continue to a view of the skyline. From-prices below are for December 10–20, 2026. They move with the night.

58476P2 — Dyker Heights Christmas Lights Guided Tour, from $63

Operator: scatto a new york. Listed duration: 3 hours 45 minutes. The coach ride from Midtown to Dyker Heights is about an hour. You walk for about an hour, including Lucy Spata's house, then get about 25 minutes at the Brooklyn Bridge in DUMBO. The bus returns over the Manhattan Bridge and ends at Bryant Park Winter Village. Meeting point: 566 10th Avenue, New York, NY 10036. Everyone meets there. Hotel pickup is excluded. The coach is heated, with air conditioning and a restroom. A local guide is included. Up to 52 people. English. Infants through age 2 sit on a lap at no extra charge. It runs rain or shine, and the cancellation policy does not refund for weather. Cancel at least 24 hours before departure for a full refund. The listing advises against it for wheelchairs and for travelers with serious mobility problems. Gratuities, ice skating, and coffee are extra.

Dyker Heights Christmas Lights Guided Tour

11569P5 — Dyker Heights Brooklyn Christmas Lights Tour, from $45

Operator: Tour America. Listed duration: 4 hours. The route covers Dyker Heights and Bay Ridge, then the Manhattan skyline on the way back. Meeting point: 1651 Broadway, New York, NY 10019. The tour ends at Times Square. Options on the listing: English at 4 p.m., 5 p.m., and 6 p.m., and Spanish at 5 p.m. Climate-controlled vehicle, licensed New York guides, up to 50 people. Strollers and service animals are allowed. Infants sit on a lap. It runs in all weather. Skip it if you cannot walk. Food and gratuities are extra. Same 24-hour cancellation rule for a full refund.

Dyker Heights Brooklyn Christmas Lights Tour

Choose 58476P2 if you want to finish at Bryant Park and you are fine with a coach that is a poor fit for a wheelchair. Choose 11569P5 if you want the lower from-price, a Times Square ending, or a Spanish-language departure. Choose neither if you want to linger, or if you need step-free access the listing does not offer. The sidewalk is still the only free version.

Etiquette (it's a residential neighborhood)

Stay on the sidewalk, including for photos. Keep your voice down. People are home. Leave driveways clear. Use a bin for trash. Josephine Beckmann, district manager of Brooklyn Community Board 10, told Brooklyn Paper in 2023 that the board asks visitors to remember it is a residential community, and that the board works with the Mayor's Office on extra trash bins and traffic control during the season.

If a homeowner is selling cocoa, buy it if you want a cup. The cup is a purchase.

Combine it with other NYC lights and markets

The $63 tour already ends at Bryant Park, which is also the simplest second stop if you went on your own. Bryant Park dates the rink from October 28, 2026 through February 28, 2027, and the holiday shops from October 28, 2026 through January 3, 2027. The rink stays open nearly two months after the shops close. Skating admission is free if you reserve a time, including a free ticket when you bring your own skates. A skate-aid rental is $26, including a $1 administrative fee. What the shops feel like is on the Bryant Park market guide.

Union Square is the other Manhattan market people try to pair with a lights night. Urbanspace's visitor page says the market will be back in 2026 and has not listed opening or closing dates. Wait for those dates before you build a same-night plan around it. The Union Square market guide covers what the market usually sells.

NYC Tourism's 2026 holiday release dates a few other light events for a different night: Bronx Zoo Holiday Lights, November 21 through January 3; Fifth Avenue decorations from November 20, with the Open Streets day on December 13; Rockefeller Center described only as December, with no tree-lighting date in that release. Harlem Holiday Lights is a single date in that release, November 17, on West 125th Street. The zoo and these blocks are a bad pairing on one weeknight.

Last verified October 15, 2026. Tour links are affiliate links. We may earn a commission if you book. Affiliate disclosure.