Salt Lake City
Guide Last verified November 9, 2026. Salt Lake Valley only; every date, hour, price and address is from the venue's own 2026 page, TBD means the venue hasn't posted it, TRAX stops come from UTA, and the best-night and crowd notes are ours.
Nine places to see lights this winter, in the order they turn on. Prices are per person unless it says per car.
Free, on the train, and lit through New Year's Eve.
Opening night if you want the switch flipped, otherwise any weeknight after dinner; heavy on November 14 and light after. Open-air and easy with kids, strollers fine.
The only west-side display with somewhere warm to eat in the middle of it.
A weeknight before December 10, before the Saturday crowds set in. Built for kids: Santa, an elf scavenger hunt and the Chocolate Covered Wagon candy store.
A city tree, a market and fireworks on a Monday, three days before Thanksgiving.
It's one night with a neighborhood crowd. Short enough for kids.
The zoo's paths lit after dark on select nights through January 2, with the carousel running until 8:45pm.
A weeknight in the first week of December, before school breaks; the weekend after Thanksgiving and every late-December weekend are heavy. The obvious one for kids, with the animals mostly asleep and the lights doing the work.
A twilight wagon ride to the farm's lights and Santa on the farmhouse porch, four Friday nights only.
December 4, after the holiday-market weekend and before the weather turns; crowds are moderate, two hours and four nights total. Kids get a twilight wagon ride to the lights and Santa on the farmhouse porch, so bundle up.
The one display that feels like the valley in 1870 rather than a parking lot in 2026.
A Monday or Tuesday: the heritage village is the draw, not a light show, so it rewards a quiet night; weeknights are light, the last Saturday heavy. Kids get carolers and Father Christmas in a pioneer village.
Millions of lights without putting on a coat.
A weeknight, since the page says popular nights sell out, so reserve; weekends mean a queue of cars. The easiest option with a toddler: thirty minutes, synced music, nobody leaves their seat.
Lanterns outdoors on the aquarium's plaza, with the galleries open inside until 9pm for when hands get cold.
Plan about two hours and skip the 5:30 opening, when lines are longest. It runs rain or shine.
The display most people think of first, but nothing is posted for Christmas 2026 and the temple reopens in 2027.
Sunday evening, when the retail crowds thin; Friday and Saturday nights in December are the heaviest in the valley. Fine with kids, but it's a walk in the cold with a stroller through crowds.
Glow has no Utah stop in 2026.