Three private vehicles run to these blocks, priced for the car rather than per person and collected from the address you give. The thing that actually separates them from a coach seat is not comfort — it is that a car can drive the display streets and a coach cannot, so the hour on foot becomes your choice. A Dyker Heights Christmas Lights private tour makes sense from about four people up.
A vehicle and a driver, for your party alone, collected from the address you give. You set off when you want to, you stop where you want to, and the price is for the car rather than for each person in it.
The important difference is not comfort. It is that a car can drive the display streets and a coach cannot. On a private evening the walking is a choice; on every other option here it is an hour of the itinerary.
One of these picks up anywhere in the five boroughs, one from any Manhattan hotel or address, and one from any hotel in the city. You are not standing on a corner in December waiting for a coach to find you.
Fares are $399, $649 and $999 for the whole car, seating five or six. Split four or five ways that is a different sum from the one the headline number suggests.
One traveller booked this for two parents with limited mobility and wrote afterwards that coaches drop everyone to walk for an hour, while the van meant they could stay inside and still see everything. That is the whole argument in one sentence.
You decide how long you spend on each block, whether to add DUMBO or Brooklyn Heights, and when you have had enough. Nobody is counting a group back onto a coach.
The comparison that decides it, and it is mostly arithmetic:
Seat prices use the $45 floor. The car is a fixed number however many of you there are, which is why the gap closes as the party grows.
| Party size | Cheapest coach seats | Cheapest private car | Which wins |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 person | $45 | $399 | Coach, comfortably |
| 2 people | $90 | $399 | Coach |
| 4 people | $180 | $399 | Coach on price, car on everything else |
| 5 people | $225 | $399 | Close — the car is $35 a head more |
| 6 people | $270 | $399 | Car, at about $22 a head more |
Check availability — the four-hour private evening for six
Price is only half of it. The other half is whether anyone in your party would rather not walk for an hour, and that is not a number. The full comparison guide works both halves through, and the bus tours page covers the alternative properly.
Four hours, up to six, from $399: a licensed New York guide walks the
neighbourhood with you while the driver handles the rest, and it adds Brooklyn Heights and
DUMBO.
Three and a half hours, up to five, from $649: a chauffeur and a private
vehicle from any Manhattan address, with thirty minutes on the blocks and twenty at
Brooklyn Bridge Park.
Four hours, up to six, from $999: your choice of limousine, SUV or van,
with every fee and tax, bottled water, drinks and WiFi inside the price.
Read the guide line carefully. Two of these three include a licensed guide or host who comes into the neighbourhood with you. The third excludes a tour guide or escort explicitly: you get a professional chauffeur and a private vehicle, which is a different product at a similar price.
That is not a criticism of it — a driver who knows the streets is exactly what some parties want. It is simply the thing to check before you compare the three on price alone.
Always included: the vehicle, the driver and collection from an address
you choose.
Sometimes included: a licensed guide, bottled water, drinks, WiFi, and all
fees and taxes.
Never included: gratuities, on all three.
Worth confirming: which vehicle you are actually getting, and whether
collection outside Manhattan carries a supplement. One listing states that it does.
Not a thing you need: admission. The lights are free and always were.
When to book: earlier than a coach seat. There are three of these and a
five-week season.
What it costs: $399 to $999 for the vehicle, seating five or six.
How long: three and a half to four hours, door to door.
Child seats: one operator requires a safety seat for children under four
and a booster to eight, by law, and cannot start the tour without one.
Cancelling: free up to 24 hours before you travel, on all three.
Which night you pick still matters as much as which car. The dates page sets out the season and the quiet weeks.
Take the cheapest coach seat at $45 and multiply it by your party. If the answer is under $399 you are paying a premium for the car, and you should decide whether the door-to- door collection and the option not to walk are worth it to you.
For a lot of people they are, and for a lot of people they plainly are not. A couple on a first visit to New York should almost certainly take a coach and spend the difference on dinner.
Choose something else if there are one or two of you and the budget matters. At that size a coach seat is a fifth of the price for the same streets, and the bus tours page lists seven of them.
Choose something else, too, if you actively want the walk. The hour on foot with a guide is what most people remember, and one of these three gives you a chauffeur rather than a guide, so nobody comes into the streets with you. And if you are two people who would happily work out a Brooklyn neighbourhood on your own, the route page and two subway fares will do it.
Whichever way you go, Dyker Heights Christmas Lights Tours lists every departure with what it covers, and the dates page covers which week to pick.
A bus tour is a per-person fare from a published Midtown corner at a fixed time, and it always includes an hour on foot — coaches are not allowed into the display streets, so everyone walks. A private tour is a per-vehicle price, it collects you from your own address, and the car can drive the streets, so nobody has to walk if they would rather not. The full comparison is on the bus tours and private tours pages.
Only on the private vehicles. All three of them collect you from an address you choose, one of them anywhere in the five boroughs and one within Manhattan with an extra charge beyond it. Every coach tour meets at a published street corner instead, and two of them list hotel pickup explicitly as excluded.
The streets are public pavements and two listings state that their vehicle and the surfaces are wheelchair accessible. Most of the coaches state the opposite, and the pavements are crowded and uneven on a busy night. A private vehicle is the straightforward answer if walking is difficult.
About an hour on foot, on every coach tour, because buses are not allowed into the display streets. The blocks are gently uphill — the neighbourhood sits on a hill that rises to about 110 feet — and there is nowhere to sit down. If that is a problem, a private car can stay in the streets with you inside it.
Yes. Coach group caps run from 40 to 150 travellers depending on the operator, so there is room on most departures for a party booked together. The private vehicles hold five or six people and are priced for the car, which usually works out better for a group of four or more.
It is customary in New York and every single listing here excludes gratuities from the fare. Ten to twenty per cent of the ticket price is the usual range for a guided tour. Carry small notes, because there is nowhere to draw cash on the route.
Collected from any address in the five boroughs, with a licensed guide who walks the blocks with your party. Adds Brooklyn Heights and DUMBO on the way back.
From $399 per group (up to 6)
A chauffeur and a private vehicle from any Manhattan hotel, with no guide — the listing excludes one. Thirty minutes on the blocks, twenty at Brooklyn Bridge Park.
From $649 per group (up to 5)
Limousine, SUV or van, your choice, from any hotel in the city. Every fee and tax, bottled water, drinks and WiFi are inside the price.
From $999 per group (up to 6)