New York Botanical Garden’s Train Show and Christmas Lights Return this Year

NYBG's Holiday Train Show will once again be open to the public, and the botanical garden's holiday lights will return this year.

By Barbara Russo August 2, 2021

The New York Botanical Garden will once again transform into a winter wonderland this year with the return of two popular holiday experiences: The Holiday Train Show and NYBG GLOW.

New York Botanical Garden’s Holiday Train Show

A favorite holiday tradition among tourists and New Yorkers alike, the botanical garden's train show will be back for the 30th year inside the Enid A. Haupt Conservatory. After offering limited ticketing to members, patrons, and community partners last year (in order to comply with pandemic safety guidelines), the event will be open in its full holiday glory for the public to enjoy in 2021.

Visitors will see model trains zip through a display of more than 175 New York landmarks, including the Statue of Liberty, Brooklyn Bridge, and Rockefeller Center. Each miniature landmark will be re-created from natural materials that are signatures of the season, including birch bark, lotus pods, pinecones, acorns, and cinnamon sticks. Check out some of the displays in this video from 2019:

New this year is a re-creation of the garden's LuEsther T. Mert Library Building, a designated New York City Landmark. The new addition will be part of the show's New York Botanical Garden showcase, which features several of the garden's own buildings.

The Holiday Train Show will run Nov. 20, 2021-Jan. 23, 2022.

NYBG GLOW: The Botanical Garden’s Christmas Lights

NYBG GLOW, which launched last year as a spacious outdoor experience appropriate for social distancing, will return this year even bigger than before.

Similar to last year's event, the botanical garden’s light show will offer multiple nights of brilliant color and thousands of dazzling lights outdoors. There will be a newly expanded 1½-mile colorful experience with more displays for visitors to wander through after dark. Visitors will see the garden's iconic sights and buildings transformed into glowing canvases, with the Haupt Conservatory and Mertz Library Building as the centerpieces.