NYC holiday windows and lights: Fifth Avenue, Macy's, and Dyker Heights

• Saks + light show 2025: Nov 24; 2026 not announced
• Bergdorf, Macy's 2025: Nov 20; 2026 not announced
• Dyker Heights After Thanksgiving; no official date
• Walk About a mile and a half, Bergdorf to Macy's

What is known, and what is last year's calendar

A walking route that works

Go north to south, after dark. Start at Bergdorf Goodman (Fifth Avenue at 58th), walk down to Saks (49th to 50th) and step around the corner to the Rockefeller tree. Keep going down Fifth to the library at 42nd, cut west through Bryant Park, where the Winter Village sits, and finish at Macy's at 34th. That is a little under a mile and a half: about 45 minutes without stopping and two hours with. Bring a coat, because the wait for a front spot at a good window is what gets cold, not the walk.

Our advice, not the stores': weeknights after 7 p.m. beat weekends, and the sidewalk in front of Saks is packed at every hour in the light-show years. The windows are street-facing glass, so viewing costs nothing, but we could not confirm any store's window lighting schedule.

Dyker Heights: the DIY version and the tour

The displays are in Brooklyn, centered on 83rd to 86th Streets between 11th and 13th Avenues. The Brooklyn Paper's 2025 guide puts the start in late November or early December and the end at Christmas or sometimes early January. One local tour operator says the lights come on around 5 p.m. and stay on until at least 10, and the Brooklyn Paper puts the peak crowds between 5 and 9 p.m. on mid-December weekends. Those are an operator's and a newspaper's words; nobody publishes an official schedule.

To go on your own, the Brooklyn Paper recommends the R to 86 St or the D to 79 St, followed by a 10 to 15 minute walk. Stay on the sidewalk, keep off driveways, keep it quiet; residents have complained about crowds, litter and noise, and tour groups get off at designated bus zones and walk the blocks. A weeknight in the first half of December is the calm one.

A tour buys you the ride from Manhattan and someone who knows the houses. Operators' own listings we saw put a public walking tour around $25 and a bus tour around $65 (checked September 2026); prices vary by operator and night, so read the listing for your date.

• Do it yourself, on the subway

  Free, and it is the same subway locals use. You decide how long to stay and when to leave.

  What to know: R to 86 St or D to 79 St, then walk, per the Brooklyn Paper. Go on a weeknight; peaks are 5 to 9 p.m. on weekends.

• A guided bus tour from Manhattan

  Worth it if you do not want to work out Brooklyn transit in the dark or you have small children in tow. The bus drops you at the designated zone and you walk the blocks.

  What to know: Compare departure point, length and whether the price includes a skyline stop. Listings run from roughly $25 (walking) to $65 (bus) (checked September 2026).

• The Fifth Avenue walk

  Free, central, and the route above covers Bergdorf, Saks, the tree and Macy's in one loop.

  What to know: Nothing is ticketed, and no 2026 unveiling date is out yet.