Holiday Light Displays Near Minnetonka in December
The nearest lights on this list to Minnetonka cost nothing: Holiday Lights at the Hilde, behind Plymouth City Hall, turns on at dusk every night from Thanksgiving weekend with no ticket to book. For a bigger show, the choices within about 25 miles include Sever's Holiday Lights in Shakopee, over 2.5 million lights for $10 a carload on its cheapest night, and Winter Lights at the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum in Chaska at $25 an adult.
Two things separate these nine. One is whether you stay in the car: Sever's and Magic of Lights at Viking Lakes are drive-throughs, while the Arboretum, GLOW at CHS Field and Dakota City's heritage village are walked. The other is how the price is counted. Three displays charge per vehicle, three charge per person, and three are free, so the Admission column only compares fairly once you read the Priced per column beside it.
Our picks
- Best for toddlers and strollers: Winter Lights at the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum. A stroller-friendly path just over half a mile long, part of it indoors, and children 15 and under get in free with a paying adult.
- Best for staying warm in the car: Sever's Holiday Lights. Over 2.5 million lights on a drive-through route, from $10 per vehicle on Tuesdays, with an observation lot for a second look.
- Cheapest ticket with heated stops: Christmas in the Village at Dakota City Heritage Village. $5 a person with free parking, heated buildings and horse-drawn trolleys, though it runs only a couple of weekends in early December.
- Best for adults who want a drink: The Spirit of Winter at Sovereign Estate. Mulled wine, local beer and a 21+ cocktail bar inside the winery, with lights strung over 20 acres of lakeshore vineyard.
- Best for seeing lights after Christmas: Delano Light the Night. Free, with 87+ community-sponsored trees, and it stays lit through January, later than anything else here.
At a glance
| Option | Admission | Priced per | Format | Setting | Display size | Address |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| $25source | Per personsource | Walk-throughsource | Garden or arboretumsource | Just over a half-mile walking pathsource | 3675 Arboretum Dr, Chaska, MN 55318source | |
| $10source | Per vehiclesource | Drive-throughsource | Farm or winerysource | Over 2.5 million lightssource | 3121 150th St W, Shakopee, MN 55379source | |
| $21.75source | Per personsource | Walk-throughsource | Ballpark or stadiumsource | Over a million lightssource | 360 N Broadway St, St Paul, MN 55101source | |
| $31source | Per vehiclesource | Drive-throughsource | Two million lightssource | 2685 Viking Circle, Eagan, MN 55121source | ||
| $5source | Per personsource | Walk-throughsource | Historic villagesource | 22 historic buildings on five acressource | 4008 220th St W, Farmington, MN 55024source | |
| $15source | Per vehiclesource | Walk-throughsource | Farm or winerysource | Over 20 miles of lights across 20 acressource | 9950 N Shore Rd, Waconia, MN 55387source | |
| Freesource | Freesource | Bothsource | Public parksource | 40-foot digital treesource | 109 W 4th St, St Paul, MN 55102source | |
| Freesource | Freesource | Walk-throughsource | Public parksource | 3500 Plymouth Blvd, Plymouth, MN 55447source | ||
| Freesource | Freesource | Bothsource | Public parksource | 87+ community-sponsored treessource | 650 River Street N, Delano, MN 55328source |
Paying by the carload or by the ticket
Magic of Lights charges $31 for the whole car, Sovereign Estate $15 and Sever's $10. GLOW charges $21.75 a person, the Arboretum $25 and Dakota City $5. For a car of four adults, that means $87 at GLOW against a flat $31 at Magic of Lights, which is why the per-vehicle shows look better the fuller your back seat is. The Arboretum narrows the gap for families, since children 15 and under are free with a paying adult.
Two of the per-vehicle figures are the lowest published nights, not the usual ones. Sever's is $10 on Tuesday and $45 on a Friday, and Sovereign Estate is $15 on its discounted Wednesday and $25 on a Friday. Sort the table by price and you will see the weeknight rate, so pick your night before you compare.
Drive-through or walk-through in a Minnesota December
Only Sever's and Magic of Lights are drive-through shows, and even Magic of Lights lets you park afterward and walk among trees strung with white lights. Sovereign Estate is the odd one: you pay by the car but walk the vineyard. On foot, the Arboretum route runs partly indoors and Dakota City's buildings are heated, which helps on a bitter night. At GLOW's ballpark you can stay from your reserved hour until closing.
The Salvation Army Tree of Lights in Rice Park and Delano Light the Night work either way. Delano adds fire pits along the path and, on Saturday evenings, music, a free meal and Santa.
Timed tickets and short runs
Several of these need planning. The Arboretum requires a timed ticket for everyone, members included, and its popular evenings sell out; Sever's sells online only and most evenings sell out too. GLOW is cashless with tickets bought in advance and has announced its return to CHS Field on November 19, 2026. Dakota City's village is open only a couple of weekends in early December, so it is the one to put on the calendar first.
The options in detail
Winter Lights at the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum
The Arboretum's gardens become a lit walking route each winter, with displays built around plants and the University of Minnesota's own horticultural history. It is an easy one for younger kids: the path is stroller-friendly and just over half a mile, and part of the route runs indoors, which matters on a cold night. Everyone needs a timed ticket, members included, and the popular evenings sell out. Members pay $10 against the $25 general price, and children 15 and under get in free with a paying adult.
Sever's Holiday Lights
Sever's runs its holiday show on the same Shakopee farm that hosts the corn maze every fall, and it is built for a car: you drive the route, then park in the observation lot to watch the program again or loop through a second time. There is a vendor area with food and drink if you want to get out. Tickets are sold online only and most evenings sell out, so book ahead. The price swings hard by night, with Tuesday the cheap night and weekends several times that.
GLOW Holiday Festival
GLOW takes over CHS Field, the St. Paul Saints' ballpark, and fills it with more than a million lights plus things to actually do: a carousel, a zip line, a slide, a s'mores station. Entry is by reserved hour starting at 5 p.m., but once you are inside you can stay until closing, so it is closer to an evening out than a quick loop. It is cashless, and tickets have to be bought online in advance. It sits in Lowertown with ramps and street parking nearby, which makes it the easiest of the big ticketed shows to fold into a night downtown.
Magic of Lights at Viking Lakes
Magic of Lights is a stay-in-the-car show on the Vikings' Viking Lakes campus in Eagan, with about two million lights and set pieces built for scale: a 32-foot animated Barbie, prehistoric dinosaurs, a lit monster truck. One price covers the whole carload, which makes it one of the better-value options if you are filling seats. After the drive you can park and walk among trees strung with white lights, so it is not strictly a windshield experience. It is a national touring format rather than a local tradition, so expect polish over quirk.
Christmas in the Village at Dakota City Heritage Village
This one is a heritage village rather than a light show: restored early-1900s buildings on the Dakota County Fairgrounds, decorated and lit, with the interiors open so you can watch the blacksmith shop working or hear carols in the church. Horse-drawn trolleys run the loop and the buildings are heated, which makes it the gentlest option here on a bitter night. It is also by far the cheapest ticket, and parking is free. The catch is that it runs only a couple of weekends in early December rather than all season.
The Spirit of Winter at Sovereign Estate
Sovereign Estate strings its lights across the lakeshore vineyard on the north shore of Lake Waconia, and you walk it rather than drive it, even though admission is charged by the car. The activity list leans young: a snow maze, a boot hockey rink, live llamas, a gingerbread house, a s'more station. Adults get their own version of the same evening, with mulled wine, local beer and a 21+ cocktail bar inside the winery. Wednesday nights are discounted, and a season pass for one car costs about what two regular visits would.
The Salvation Army Tree of Lights at Rice Park
The Salvation Army's 40-foot digital tree anchors Rice Park in downtown St. Paul, and the show it plays changes every week of the season, running on a short loop through the evening. The rest of the park is lit too, so it reads as a stop rather than a destination: pair it with a concert, a game or dinner nearby. It costs nothing and needs no ticket. It is the smallest experience on this list and the easiest to fold into a night you were already having downtown.
Holiday Lights at the Hilde
Plymouth lights the park behind its City Hall from Thanksgiving weekend onward and leaves it on at dusk every night, with no ticket and nothing to book. The draw is the photo stops built into the path: an igloo, an oversized red chair, a lit snowflake. It is the closest display on this list to Minnetonka and the lowest-effort one, which makes it a reasonable weeknight outing with small kids. Do not expect the scale of the ticketed shows.
Delano Light the Night
Delano's Central Park fills with community-sponsored trees, each dedicated by the family or business that paid for it, plus a few dozen interactive props. You can walk the path or drive past it, and there are fire pits along the way. It runs later into the winter than anything else here, staying lit through January, and it costs nothing. Saturday evenings add music, a free meal and Santa. It is run by a small nonprofit on donations, which is worth knowing if you want to leave something behind.
How we researched this
We held this list to displays within roughly 25 miles of Minnetonka, which kept out the two biggest in the Twin Cities guides, Sam's Christmas Village in Somerset, Wisconsin and Miracle at Big Rock in St. Croix Falls, at 16 and 25 million lights but 50 to 65 miles away. Holidazzle is no longer running, Christmas in Color's site lists no Minnesota show we could confirm, and the Minnesota Zoo's lantern event now runs in summer. Bus and trolley light tours were left out as tours rather than displays, and private home displays such as Christmas in the Grove in Maple Grove have no page of their own to cite.
In September 2026 only GLOW had posted its 2026 season, so most admission prices are from the 2025 to 2026 season, and Sever's figures come from Shakopee's tourism office and a regional lights guide, since Sever's own site was showing only its fall festival. Re-check the Arboretum, Sever's, Magic of Lights, Dakota City and Sovereign Estate once they publish dates in late fall. Two cells are empty because no source stated them: Viking Lakes' setting, and how large the Hilde display is.