Every holiday season, locals, like me and my fellow tour guides, and tourists enjoy the traditional festive lights around New York City.
There’s the iconic Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree and the magical department store Christmas window displays.
But of all the Christmas lights I have seen over the years in NYC, the spectacular annual Saks Fifth Avenue Holiday Light Show takes the cake!
2025's Light Show
Dates for 2025 have yet to be announced. Based on past years, we expect the light show to be unveiled in the third week of November at 7 pm. It usually continues until early January.
Check back with us for updates!
The show typically runs every 10 minutes between 5 pm and 11 pm
This incredible light display projects hundreds of thousands of LED lights onto the 5th Avenue side of its building between 49th and 50th Streets.
The lights are synchronized to holiday music. Running between three and four minutes long, it has to be seen to be believed!
In this 3-minute video, see this extraordinary light show.
The first show in 2004 was a whimsical display of 50 giant snowflakes lit using 70,000 LED lights.
I saw that show, and let me tell you, Saks has come a long way! Last year, the show used more than 300,000 LED lights!
For the best centered view, I suggest you stand on the sidewalk along 5th Avenue across from Saks, as in the video above.
It will be more crowded there, so if you aren't concerned about the angle and prefer avoiding crowds, stand across from the building on 5th Avenue, but closer to the corners.
If you stand across the building, deep into the Channel Gardens at Rockefeller Center, you will see only the middle section of the building.
Saks also has some of the best holiday windows and is a stop on our New York Holiday Lights Tour.
In the video below, Katie, my fellow tour guide with us, New York Tours by Foot, takes you on a virtual tour of NYC Christmas lights.
If you can't get enough of NYC's holiday lights, join our tour of the Dyker Heights Lights in Brooklyn!
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