Dyker Heights Christmas Lights: Bus Tour or Private Car?

These two are not really competing on price, and treating them as if they were is how people end up with the wrong booking. One sells a seat; the other sells a vehicle. Here is every way they differ, and the point at which the numbers cross.

What does each one actually sell you?

A coach sells a seat on a scheduled departure from a published corner in Midtown, with a guide, and brings you back to a fixed point. A private car sells the vehicle and the driver, collected from your address at a time you agree, going where you ask.

Both take you to the same dozen blocks. Neither gives you a better view of the houses, because the houses are free and the pavement is public.

Where does the money cross over?

The $45 column is the Portuguese and Spanish departure; $63 is the most-reviewed English one. The car is one number whatever the party size.

At six people the difference is about twenty dollars. At two it is more than three hundred. That single row is most of the decision for most parties.

Which one includes the walking?

Both include the neighbourhood. Only one makes you walk it. Coaches are not permitted into the display streets, so a coach ticket always means an hour on foot on uneven pavement, on a hill, with nowhere to sit.

A car can drive those streets. That is the difference travellers write about most, and it is the reason a family with a grandparent or a pushchair pays four times the fare without complaining.

What is the group like on each?

Coach caps run from 40 to 150 travellers depending on the operator, and on a busy night several groups share the same pavement. Guides carry lit-up markers so people can find them, which tells you what the crowd is like.

A private car is five or six people, all of them yours. Nobody is counted back on, and nothing waits for a straggler. The bus tours page lists every coach cap.

Where does each one collect you?

Coaches meet at street corners between 41st and 51st Streets in Midtown, at a fixed time, and ask you to arrive fifteen minutes early. Missing one counts as a late cancellation.

All three private vehicles collect from an address. One will come to anywhere in the five boroughs, one to any Manhattan hotel with a supplement outside it, and one to any hotel in the city. On a December evening that is worth more than it sounds.

What is included, and what never is?

Every coach: return travel, a guide, the hour on the blocks. Never gratuities, food, drink or hotel pickup.
Every private car: the vehicle, the driver and door-to-door collection. Never gratuities.
Some private cars: a licensed guide, bottled water, drinks, WiFi, all fees and taxes.
Neither: admission. There is none.

Which is better with children?

It depends on their age more than on the money. Older children do well on a coach and enjoy the commentary. With a toddler, a baby, or three children between two adults, the car wins on almost every measure — no fixed departure, no walk in the cold, and a warm seat available at any moment.

Taking children works through the ages and the departure times.

Which is better for a special occasion?

The car, without much argument. A limousine or SUV through the lit streets with drinks on board is a different kind of evening, and people book it for birthdays, proposals and last nights of a trip. One of the three includes drinks and every fee inside the price.

For ordinary sightseeing it is a lot of money for the same houses, and a Dyker Heights Christmas Lights private tour does the job for a fifth of it.

How far ahead should you book each one?

A week for a coach seat on a weekday, two for a mid-December weekend. Earlier for a car, because there are three vehicles against a five-week season and they are the first thing to go on the busy nights.

Both refund in full up to 24 hours before departure, so booking early is free. The dates page has every published window.

What do the reviews say about each kind?

The coach reviews cluster on three things: the cold, the walking and the guide. Nearly every critical review is about one of those, and nearly every positive one names the guide by first name. Two travellers describe a guide holding a lit-up Santa above the crowd so the group could find him.

The private-car reviews cluster on something else entirely: the driver, the collection and mobility. One traveller booked it for parents who could not walk the hour. Another notes the driver knowing how to work around the traffic. A third, on the most expensive of the three, says plainly that it was excellent and expensive at once.

Are the private cars all the same thing?

No, and the differences are larger than the prices suggest. One includes a licensed New York guide who walks the neighbourhood with your party and adds Brooklyn Heights and DUMBO. One is a chauffeur with the guide explicitly excluded. One lets you pick between a limousine, an SUV or a van and puts every fee, tax, drink and WiFi inside the price.

Read the inclusions before comparing the three on cost. A car with a guide and a car without one are not the same product at a different price.

Which one handles bad weather better?

The car, obviously, and it is worth saying because December is December. Both run in all conditions and the displays stay lit. The difference is that a coach puts you outside for an hour regardless, while a car lets you decide in the moment.

Both refund in full up to 24 hours ahead, so the forecast is a decision you make the day before either way. The dates page covers the season and the weather question together.

Is there a middle option?

Not really, and that is worth knowing before you go looking for one. There is no small-group coach at a premium price, no shared car, and no walking-only ticket. The inventory is seven coaches between $45 and $95 and three vehicles between $399 and $999, with nothing in the gap.

The closest thing to a middle is the smallest coach, capped at forty travellers against fifty, fifty-five and a hundred and fifty elsewhere. On a crowded night that is a real difference for thirty-two dollars, and it is the compromise most parties of three or four end up making.

The decision, in one paragraph

Under four people, book a coach and spend the difference on dinner. Five or six, price the car, because it is within about twenty dollars a head and it is a better evening. And at any party size, if somebody cannot comfortably walk for an hour in the cold, book the car and stop doing arithmetic.

Frequently asked questions

Every departure this guide mentions, with fares and hours side by side, is on Dyker Heights Christmas Lights Tours.