There is a moment every December when Minneapolis stops apologizing for winter. The snow hushes the streets, the lamps come on by 4:30, and whole neighborhoods quietly compete to out-twinkle one another. From the windows of 300 Clifton, our historic Carpenter Mansion bed and breakfast on the edge of Loring Park, the garden glows white — and guests keep coming downstairs with the same question: where are the best holiday lights in Minneapolis, and what is the warmest way to see them?
We have opinions. A holiday lights tour in Minneapolis is the rare winter outing that asks nothing of you but a warm coat and good company — no skates, no skis, no shame in bringing cocoa. Here is our guide to the Twin Cities holiday lights worth bundling up for, and the Christmas lights trolley ride we tell every guest to book before it sells out.
Where to find the best holiday lights in Minneapolis
Start with the classics. The streets around Lake Harriet turn storybook after the first snow, with luminaries, lit-up porches, and the pavilion twinkling near the bandshell. In the Lyndale neighborhood, Hayden’s Holiday Lights syncs thousands of bulbs to music — a beloved residential display that draws carloads of admirers every winter. Farther southwest, the Armatage and Kenny blocks go all in, house after house, the kind of glow you only find where neighbors have been friendly rivals for decades.
Cross the river and Nicollet Island’s lantern-lit lanes feel like a Victorian Christmas card, with the Stone Arch Bridge shimmering beyond. If you are willing to share your loyalty with St. Paul, the grand old mansions of Summit Avenue dress for the season like they are expecting company. And for the big ticketed spectaculars and drive-through shows, Meet Minneapolis keeps a current holiday lights guide each year.
The Christmas lights trolley ride that starts at a mansion, not a parking lot
Here is the trouble with most BYOB holiday light tours in the Twin Cities: they check you in at a downtown bar. You haul a cooler across a parking lot, wait on a barstool, and shuffle out to the curb when the bus finally arrives. Festive? Not exactly.
The Naughty or Nice Holiday Light Rides from Minneapolis Trolley Tours do it the way it should be done. You board at the Pillsbury Club — the historic Charles S. Pillsbury Mansion — and your drinks come straight onto the heated vintage trolley with you. No cooler drag, no barstool purgatory: just a warm seat, a glass in hand, and a city full of lights rolling past the windows.
Choose your list. The Nice ride (from $30) is an all-ages, 1.25-hour family adventure with special child pricing and a holiday market of local vendors at the mansion before you roll — and riders judge the displays along the route to crown the city’s fan-favorite house. The Naughty ride (from $75) is strictly 21+: it starts with a pregame in the mansion and becomes a rolling, music-filled BYOB holiday lights trolley party — merry, twinkly, and gloriously unhinged.
Then come home to a mansion of your own
The only thing better than touring holiday lights from a mansion is sleeping in one afterward. At 300 Clifton — the Eugene J. Carpenter Mansion, celebrated as the finest Georgian architecture in Minnesota — December means a four-season garden hot tub steaming under the winter sky, a nightcap in Gertrude’s Cistern (our tucked-away speakeasy), and breakfast on us at the Nicollet Diner when you book direct. Curious about the house? Take a peek inside the Carpenter Mansion, or read about Minneapolis mansion tours at 300 Clifton.
Hosting family for the holidays and short on guest rooms? Our sister property Oakland’s on 9th offers furnished studio suites downtown by the week or month — a graceful way to love your relatives and still keep your kitchen to yourself.
Make it a December to remember
Holiday light season books up early — the trolley rides especially. Reserve your Naughty or Nice holiday lights trolley ride, then book your room at 300 Clifton and let Minneapolis glow for you.