Lights, Trees and Windows
The holiday season on Fifth Avenue starts with a snowflake, peaks with a tree and runs on windows. This guide sticks to what has been announced for 2026 as of mid-October. Several of the big stores have not yet given dates for this year's windows or light shows, and where that is the case we say so, with last year's details so you know what to expect. We will update this page as dates come in.
The Dates Confirmed for 2026
Fifth Avenue Snowflake, Wednesday, Nov. 18, 5pm. The season on the avenue opens when a 30-foot crystal snowflake is switched on above Fifth Avenue. St. Jude Children's Research Hospital lists the spot as the northeast corner of Fifth Avenue and 58th Street, and a St. Jude patient, Faith, will flip the switch. The ceremony is organized with the Fifth Avenue Snowflake for Humanity Foundation and the Fifth Avenue Association, and it is free to watch. The snowflake stays lit through the holiday season. The host and entertainment had not been announced when we checked.
Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree, arrives Saturday, Nov. 7; lit Wednesday, Dec. 2. Rockefeller Center has confirmed both dates. Nov. 7 is Meet the Tree Day, when the Norway spruce is set in the plaza before the decorating crew goes to work. A start time for the Dec. 2 ceremony is not posted yet, and neither are viewing hours; Rockefeller Center says to check back. Where the tree grew, its height and the performers had not been announced either. After the season, the 2026 tree will go to Habitat for Humanity and be milled into lumber for home building. The rink at Rockefeller Center opened for its season on Oct. 10.
Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, Thursday, Nov. 26, 8:30am. This year is the 100th parade, and it marches down Sixth Avenue. Macy's Herald Square is hosting a countdown clock for the anniversary.
The Windows: Saks on Nov. 23, the Rest to Come
Saks has set its date: the 2026 windows and light show are unveiled on Monday, Nov. 23. Bergdorf Goodman and Macy's have not announced 2026 unveiling dates or themes yet, so for them we give what they did last year, so you know where to stand.
Saks Fifth Avenue (611 Fifth Avenue, between 49th and 50th Streets) faces the Rockefeller Center tree and rink. In 2025 its light show came back after a 2024 hiatus, running every 10 minutes from 5 to 11pm through Jan. 4, 2026, and the windows on 49th Street celebrated the Rockettes' 100-year history. For 2026, Saks will unveil its windows and bring back the light show on Monday, Nov. 23. The holiday campaign is called "Main Character Energy," and the six central windows on Fifth Avenue will show an animated journey through New York City. Show times and the end date had not been posted when we checked. Inside, the store keeps a whole floor for shoes and more than 100 beauty brands on 2, useful if you are shopping as well as looking.
Bergdorf Goodman (754 Fifth Avenue, at 58th Street) is right by the snowflake. Its 2025 windows, "The Bergdorf Soirée," told a party scene by scene across nine Fifth Avenue windows on both the women's and men's stores and stayed up through Jan. 5, 2026. The 2026 theme and reveal date are not announced. BG Restaurant inside serves high tea daily if you want to warm up.
Two more Fifth Avenue stores dressed their windows in 2025. Tiffany & Co. The Landmark (727 Fifth Avenue) filled its windows with glass-like snowballs, diamond bracelets, doves and blue boxes, and Gucci (Trump Tower, at 56th Street) built an advent calendar of numbered emerald boxes. Neither has announced 2026 windows.
Herald Square: Macy's
Macy's Herald Square (151 West 34th Street) is the stop for the Herald Square leg. The animated windows are a long-running tradition there, and the 2025 theme was "The Most Wonderful Stories Start Here." Last year Macy's also ran a Holiday Square Market of local vendors on the Lower Level from Nov. 1 to Jan. 4, and Santaland was on the 8th floor next to a new Build-A-Bear Workshop. Macy's has not announced 2026 dates for the windows, Santaland or the market yet. Regular store hours run to 9pm most nights and 10pm on Fridays and Saturdays; holiday hours may differ.
For a hot drink nearby, Ghirardelli in the Empire State Building (16 W 34th Street) serves hot chocolate and sundaes until 10pm, or 11pm on Saturdays.
How to Plan the Walk
Go after dark on a weeknight. Start at the snowflake at 58th Street, look at Bergdorf's windows, then walk down the avenue past Tiffany and the jewelers to Saks and the tree at 49th and 50th. Apple Fifth Avenue (767 Fifth Avenue) is open 24 hours, so it is a warm place to wait for friends at the north end of the walk. Last year Fifth Avenue also closed to cars from 48th to 55th Streets for one Sunday, Dec. 14; no 2026 Open Streets date has been posted yet.
Subway Stops for the Walk
Take the subway. The Fifth Avenue Association lists 5 Av/59 St (N, R, W), 5 Av/53 St (E, F), 57 St on Sixth Avenue, 47-50 Sts-Rockefeller Ctr (B, D, F, M) and Lexington Av/51 St. The F and M swapped routes in December 2025, so check the MTA map for the 53rd and 57th Street stops. Use 5 Av/59 St for the snowflake and Bergdorf, and 47-50 St Rockefeller Ctr for Saks and the tree. No garages are named in our sources, and the avenue is crowded in December.
For Macy's, the Herald Square station is served by the D, F, N, Q and R plus PATH trains, and Penn Station adds the 1, 2, 3, A, C and E, the LIRR and New Jersey Transit.
