Starry Christmas: Dazzling light displays in world cities
Christmas wouldn’t be complete without the bright, colorful lights and festive decorations that bring the holiday spirit to life. Businesses, local governments, and individuals alike use holiday light displays to brighten their spaces and make the season feel extra special.
Nowadays, people have become more innovative and creative in using dazzling lights and luminescent displays to fully create a magical Christmas atmosphere. Some places have even gained recognition for going all out in putting up unique, extravagant, and elaborate light shows for people to visit just in time for the Christmas celebration.
Here are some of the most incredible Christmas light displays around the world.
Tokyo, Japan
Winter in Tokyo is all about lights and illumination, and there’s no shortage of holiday light displays in this busy city.
Tokyo’s districts engage in a friendly competition to produce the best winter illuminations—much to the delight of locals and travelers alike. These winter light displays have also become the center of Christmas holiday celebrations in Tokyo.
Among the most popular winter illuminations is the Shibuya Ao no Dokutsu (Blue Cave), which features over 770,000 blue LED lights strung along zelkova trees that line the streets from Shibuya to Yoyogi Park every December. A reflective sheet is laid out in the center of the street and blue light is cast everywhere, such that people can easily see themselves inside a blue cave.
Tokyo Midtown’s light displays are very popular as well. The golden illuminations here are composed of more than 240,000 lights and a variety of art installations throughout the Midtown complex. The ice skating rink is popular among couples and families. The lights display are expected to be up from Nov. 14 to Dec. 25, 2024.
London, United Kingdom
London is always festive and radiant during Christmas. Oxford Street, in particular, is home to one of the city’s most popular holiday light displays. This bustling shopping, dining, and entertainment hub is renowned for its dazzling, all-out light shows, creating a magical holiday atmosphere year after year.
For 2024, Oxford Street switched on more than 300,000 LED stars to create a magical illumination over the street. LED lights were used because these are 75 percent more energy-efficient than standard lights. Oxford Street also partnered with Great Ormond Street Hospital Charity for this year’s Christmas observance.
New York, USA
One of the most iconic lights shows in the world takes place in New York City’s Rockefeller Center, where it lights up a massive Christmas Tree every year. The first such tree was lit back in 1933, and since then, Rockefeller Center has always held a traditional lighting ceremony.
This year, the Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree will come from Massachusetts, the first tree to hail from the state since 1959. It will be lit daily from 5 a.m. to midnight. On Christmas Eve, the tree will be lit for 24 hours, and on New Year’s Eve it will be lit from 5 a.m. to 9 p.m. The Tree will be available to view until mid-January 2025.
Another popular spot in New York is in Dyker Heights in Brooklyn. Residents of this area go all out in decorating their houses with breathtaking light displays for the holidays. This has been a decades-long tradition in the neighborhood, earning the area a reputation of being a “free holiday spectacle” in New York.
Salerno, Italy
The city of Salerno in Italy has earned its unofficial title as the “Capital of Christmas Lights” in southern Italy because of its dazzling holiday festival, the Luci d’Artista or the festival of lights. The streets of Salerno are decorated annually with light installations that are creatively designed to portray magical attractions. The city’s public parks and squares are also adorned with spectacular light decorations.
Displays in the previous years included a light show replication of the night sky, an illuminated zoo, and lemon tree-shaped lights serving as a tribute to the nearby Amalfi Coast, along with awesome renditions of jellyfishes, butterflies, and polar bears. Another significant attraction in the city is its 60-foot ferris wheel, which provides a bird’s eye view of the striking displays.
Sources: bbc.com, mylondon.news, japan-guide.com, metropolisjapan.com, rockefellercenter.con, dykerheightschristmaslights.com, festival-of-light.com, turismotorino.org, cntraveler.com, architecturaldigest.com
