All Aboard for one of the best things to do in NYC at the holidays. The Holiday Train Show literally takes over The New York Botanical Garden with miniature NYC landscapes. This year, the Holiday Train Show show visits Lower Manhattan, with new scale models of famous buildings including One World Trade Center and the Oculus. Plus, there are special adults-only evening events including ice sculpting, adult beverages and entertainment.
The 27th annual show features more than 25 G-scale model trains, trolleys, and ferries that run along nearly a half-mile of track past re-creations of iconic sites from all five boroughs of NYC and elsewhere in New York State.
Replicas new this year include the historic Battery Maritime Building, vintage ferry boats, the Battery Park Control House, the Woolworth Building, One World Trade Center, the Oculus, and the Terminal Warehouse.
SEE ALSO Holiday Train Show at Grand Central Terminal
The new Lower Manhattan replicas will share the spotlight with old favorites including the Statue of Liberty and the Ellis Island Immigration Station, and all are constructed from natural materials such as bark, twigs, stems, fruit, seeds, fungus, and pine cones.
The display includes more than 175 New York landmarks under the dome of the marvelous glass house, the Enid A. Haupt Conservatory.
The New York Botanical Garden’s Holiday Train Show® this year. The 27th annual show is open through January 21st and free with admission.
NYBG Holiday Train Show Hours
During The Holiday Train Show, NYBG is open Tuesday–Sunday, and Monday, December 17, 24, and January 21, 10 a.m.–6 p.m.;
Extended hours, 10 a.m.–7 p.m., Saturdays, November 24–January 19; Friday, November 23 (day after Thanksgiving); and December 26–January 1.
The Garden is closed all day on November 22 (Thanksgiving) and December 25 (Christmas); it closes at 3 p.m. on December 14 and 24 (Christmas Eve).
The Enid A. Haupt Conservatory closes at 2 p.m. on November 28 and December 6.
Adults-Only Bar Car Nights
On these nights exclusively for adults 21 and over, the wintry landscape of NYBG sets the scene for festive outdoor adventures, with an after-dark viewing of the Holiday Train Show® as the centerpiece.
Grab a drink from one of the seasonal bars and then set out to explore the night’s offerings. Relax and warm up around the fire pits in the Leon Levy Visitor Center, watch art emerge from giant blocks of ice during live ice-sculpting demonstrations, sing along to favorite tunes with dueling pianos in the Pine Tree Café, and listen to roving a cappella groups throughout the Garden.
- Non-Member $38 / Member $28 (Adults 21 and over)
- November 17, 23, 24, & 30; December 1, 7, 8, 21, 22, 28, & 29, 2018; January 5 & 12, 2019; 7–10:30 p.m.
NYBG Admission
All-Garden Pass tickets start at $23 for adults and $10 for children (ages 2–12) and differ during certain peak times and weekends. Members and children under 2 are free. Advance timed tickets are strongly recommended.
Get discount tickets here from $8.
How to get to NYBG
NYBG is just 20 minutes from Midtown Manhattan, via Metro-North Railroad, which offers an NYBG Getaway Package that includes an All-Garden Pass and a round-trip train ticket from Grand Central Terminal (42nd Street) to the Botanical Garden Station. The package can be purchased at any Metro-North ticket window or kiosk in Grand Central Terminal. Visit Metro-North Railroad for more details.
All-Garden Pass tickets start at $23 for adults and $10 for children (ages 2–12) and differ during certain peak times and weekends. Members and children under 2 are free.
- Advance timed tickets are strongly recommended. Purchase online to save time.
@NYBG
The New York Botanical Garden (NYBG) is New York City’s museum of plants. NYBG is located just 20-minutes from Midtown Manhattan by Metro-North Railroad, on the Harlem Line and to the Botanical Garden stop. For more on admissions,
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