December in the Valley is the one month the weather is perfect for driving around at night looking at lights.
The problem is parking. ZooLights lots fill, Glendale's downtown streets close, and the good neighborhoods get bumper to bumper with everyone else doing the same thing.
A bus turns all of that into someone else's problem. You look out the window with cocoa and nobody argues about directions.
Group size and picking your night
Lights tours are family-sized. The typical Phoenix group we quote is 15 people, and that's almost exactly what a lights night looks like: two or three households, or an office team plus spouses.
At that size you're picking between a Sprinter and a compact party bus. The 16-passenger party bus is the fun choice with lights of its own inside, while the 14-passenger executive Sprinter gives everyone a forward-facing window seat, which matters more than you'd think when the whole point is looking out.
Night choice is the real lever. Four out of five Phoenix requests are for a Friday or Saturday, and December weekends are the worst of it — every party in the Valley wants the same vehicles. A Tuesday or Wednesday lights tour gets you better availability and thinner crowds at every stop. The lights don't know what day it is.
The Valley's big displays, and how they differ
These aren't interchangeable. Pick two, not five.
| Display | What it is | Time needed |
|---|---|---|
| ZooLights, Phoenix Zoo | Ticketed walk-through, millions of lights, animal sculptures | 2 hours |
| Glendale Glitters | Free downtown blocks, walkable, food and vendors | 1.5 hours |
| Las Noches de las Luminarias | Ticketed evening at the Desert Botanical Garden, candle-lit paths | 2 hours |
| Neighborhood streets | Drive-through, free, no tickets, no walking | 30 to 45 min each |
The ticketed ones sell timed entry, so book those before you book us and then tell us the time. Luminarias nights in particular go early.
Neighborhood streets are the underrated half of the night. Some Valley blocks coordinate the whole street, and rolling through slowly with the windows down is a genuinely different experience from walking a ticketed path.
Pick one side of the Valley
The single biggest mistake is a route that crosses the whole metro. Glendale to the Phoenix Zoo and back is most of an hour in December traffic, and that's an hour nobody spends looking at lights.
Three routes that hold together:
- West Valley: Glendale Glitters downtown, then neighborhood displays around Peoria and Litchfield Park. Everything inside 20 minutes.
- Central Phoenix: ZooLights at Papago Park, the Botanical Garden next door, and the older neighborhoods around Encanto and Arcadia. Two ticketed stops within walking distance of each other.
- East Valley: downtown Mesa and Gilbert's Heritage District, plus the big residential streets in Chandler.
Check your own legs with the drive time calculator before you commit to a route.
Doing it with kids, or with grandparents
Same tour, two different plans.
With small kids: start earlier than feels right. Sunset in December is around 5:20, so a 5:00 pickup means lights by 5:45 and home before a meltdown. Keep walking stops short and put the drive-through neighborhoods at the end, when the little ones will probably be asleep anyway.
With grandparents: weight the route toward drive-through streets and one ticketed stop, not two. Walking a zoo path for two hours in the cold is a lot. Ask us about step height when you call if anyone's unsteady.
With coworkers: this is one of the better office outings in the Valley, and it works because nobody has to drive afterward. A company holiday run that starts with dinner and ends at Glitters beats another restaurant private room.
Bring blankets whatever the group. December evenings drop into the 40s and everyone underdresses because it was 68 at lunch.
The Tempe boat parade is its own night
The Fantasy of Lights Boat Parade on Tempe Town Lake is the one December event that isn't really a lights tour at all. It's a fixed evening with a fixed viewing window, and the whole thing runs on the water.
Plan it as its own trip. Get to Tempe early because the lake path fills up, have the vehicle drop you near the viewing area, and set a firm pickup point and time before anyone walks off — phone service gets unreliable in a crowd that size.
Mill Avenue is right there, which makes for a natural dinner before or drinks after. If your group is heading that way anyway, a night that pairs the parade with dinner is an easy five hours.
The same logic applies to any fixed-time December event: book the event first, tell us the time, and we'll work the pickup backward from it.
How to book it without the scramble
December weekends go early, and lights tours compete with every holiday party in the Valley for the same buses. If you want a Friday or Saturday in the two weeks before Christmas, ask in early November.
Three things to have ready when you call:
- Your ticketed entry times, if you've got them. We build the route around those.
- A headcount including kids, since car seat questions are easier to sort early.
- Whether you want a dinner stop, which usually adds an hour.
Four hours covers two good stops and some driving. Five is comfortable. Booking the extra hour up front is cheaper than extending on the night, and on a December Saturday extending may not be possible at all.
If your holiday plans run past Christmas, we also do New Year's Eve, which is the single most-requested night of the year and needs booking earlier still.
Free quote
Planning a holiday lights tour trip?
Send your date, headcount, and stops and we will match a vehicle to the plan. The form at the top of this page takes about a minute.
Helpful Resources
- Visit Phoenix — EventsOfficial Phoenix tourism event calendar
- Experience ScottsdaleScottsdale tourism and event resources
- Phoenix New Times — EventsLocal event listings and recommendations
