Only two Owner’s One-Bedroom Suites are available on Emerald Harmony, making them our most exclusive suites. Enjoy your own private terrace, complete with a spacious hot tub for ultimate indulgence, as well as an extra roomy lounge and bedroom.
The Virginia Christmas Light Festival: A Sparkling, Statewide Guide
Virginia doesn’t do holiday lights halfway. From oceanfront boardwalks to mountain trails and historic town squares, December nights glow with drive-through wonders, botanical garden spectacles, and time-honored illuminations. Use this guide to the marquee shows and beloved local traditions that collectively create what many travelers think of as the “Virginia Christmas Light Festival”—a statewide season of light you can road-trip end-to-end.
Coastal Virginia & Tidewater
Virginia Beach: Holiday Lights at the Beach turns the famed Boardwalk into a drive-through seaside fantasy, with ocean-themed displays, a towering dancing tree, and a new 600-foot LED tunnel for 2025. Cruise beside the Atlantic with the lights synced to a festive soundtrack.
Norfolk: Two can’t-miss experiences anchor the city. Dominion Energy Garden of Lights at Norfolk Botanical Garden is a walk-through wonderland of a million lights, food trucks, and a bustling gift shop; timed tickets keep crowds comfortable. Nauticus’ WinterFest on the Wisconsin lights up a WWII battleship with immersive trails, shows, and over one million lights right on the downtown waterfront—an experience recently recognized among top light displays in the U.S.
Newport News: Celebration in Lights, Virginia’s first drive-through lights event, has illuminated Newport News Park since 1993. Expect two glittering miles, 800,000+ lights, animated scenes, and arches—plus a one-night “Holiday Light Stroll” to walk it all on foot.
Suffolk: At Sleepy Hole Park, the Suffolk Festival of Lights brings family-friendly, walkable displays to the Nansemond River shoreline—an easy add-on if you’re exploring the Tidewater cluster.
Greater Williamsburg
Christmas Town at Busch Gardens is one of North America’s largest holiday light displays—10 million lights, themed shows, seasonal bites, and coasters glowing after dark. The 2025 season runs select dates from November 14 to January 4, 2026.
Colonial Williamsburg’s Grand Illumination paints the Historic Area with fireworks and live entertainment on December weekends—a cherished tradition that pairs beautifully with a Christmas Town visit.
Central Virginia (Richmond & Doswell)
Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden’s Dominion Energy GardenFest of Lights is Richmond’s signature walk-through show. Each season unveils a new design theme layered across the garden’s lakes, forests, and conservatories—plus hot cocoa, s’mores, and model trains.
Illuminate Light Show at Meadow Event Park (Doswell) is Virginia’s largest synchronized drive-through lights-and-music show, returning Nov. 21, 2025–Jan. 3, 2026. Tune your radio, roll the windows down, and watch the displays dance in time.
RVA city traditions round out the glow: RVA Illuminates, the Dominion Energy Christmas Parade, and Richmond’s famed “Tacky Lights Tours,” where wildly decorated homes become a joyful, self-guided (or chauffeured) spectacle across town.
Northern Virginia
Bull Run Festival of Lights (Manassas) delivers 2.5 miles of classic drive-through magic, followed by a holiday village with rides and treats—perfect for multigenerational groups.
Meadowlark Botanical Gardens’ Winter Walk of Lights (Vienna) transforms a half-mile garden trail into an illuminated fantasia—ranked among the nation’s most impressive winter garden makeovers.
Blue Ridge & Southwest Virginia
Roanoke’s Illuminights at Explore Park is a half-mile wooded walk threaded with 650,000+ LEDs, fire pits for s’mores, and artisan pop-ups—an alpine-feeling counterpart to the coastal displays.
Bristol Motor Speedway’s Speedway in Lights (just beyond the Virginia line yet a beloved holiday outing for Southwest Virginians) loops four miles around “The Last Great Colosseum,” with a festive infield Christmas Village. The 2025–26 dates are Nov. 21, 2025–Jan. 3, 2026.
Charlottesville & the Piedmont
Boar’s Head Resort’s Winter Wander—Trail of Lights wraps a lakeside path in artful illumination. For 2025, it runs Nov. 14, 2025–Jan. 3, 2026, with timed evening entries and plenty of cozy moments along the water’s edge.
Southern Virginia
Danville’s Community Holiday Light Show turns Ballou Park into a nightly drive-through tradition, Dec. 11–23, 2025, with a Children’s Village inside the park on select nights.
How to Build Your Own “Festival of Lights” Road Trip
Pair the Tidewater cluster (Virginia Beach → Norfolk → Newport News → Williamsburg) over a weekend, then swing west to Richmond/Doswell and up to Northern Virginia for Meadowlark and Bull Run. If you have an extra night, cap it with Roanoke’s Illuminights in the Blue Ridge. This sequence keeps drive times short and puts you on scenic routes between stops. For the richest experience, anchor one “walk-through” show (GardenFest, Meadowlark, Norfolk Botanical) between drive-through nights (Boardwalk, Bull Run, Illuminate, Celebration in Lights).
Practical Tips (Read Before You Glow)
Buy timed tickets early, especially for weekends and the week before Christmas; many shows use capacity controls and dynamic pricing. Garden and walk-through events often sell out prime evenings.
Look for value or themed nights—Virginia Beach offers Military Mondays and Bike Night, and some parks add “stroll nights” or pet-friendly evenings.
Expect security and parking queues at big venues; arrive early, carpool when possible, and confirm rules for snacks, strollers, and pets (policies vary).
Check each attraction’s page for weather policies and day-of operating updates, especially for outdoor walk-throughs.
Final Word
Whether you’re steering past Surfing Santa on the Virginia Beach Boardwalk, sipping cocoa beneath glowing oaks in Norfolk, strolling a lakeside path in Charlottesville, or watching fireworks crown Colonial Williamsburg, Virginia’s light-filled season is a tapestry of coastal sparkle, mountain glow, and historic charm. Pick a region or stitch them together—you’ll find a festival’s worth of sites, wonders, and events lighting up the Commonwealth all season long.
