On Sunday, December 6, two Upper East Side tree lightings happen 90 minutes apart. The first is at 5 p.m. on the edge of Carl Schurz Park, where 86th Street meets East End Avenue. The second is at 6:30 p.m. on the steps of Brick Church at Park Avenue and 91st Street, where the trees along the Park Avenue malls come on for the season.
To get from one to the other, you walk west from the river past York, First, Second, Third and Lexington, then north to 91st. This year that walk carries more of the season than usual. The neighborhood's most famous tree, the one inside the Met, goes up without a lighting ceremony. That leaves the lit moments of the Upper East Side's holiday season outdoors, on one evening, along a single crosstown route.
The Met's Tree Goes Up November 24, With No Switch to Watch
The Met's Christmas Tree and Neapolitan Baroque Crèche returns to the Medieval Sculpture Hall on Tuesday, November 24, and stays through January 6, 2027. It looks as it always does. A twenty-foot blue spruce stands over an eighteenth-century Neapolitan Nativity, with silk-robed angels above it. Behind it is the eighteenth-century Spanish choir screen from the Cathedral of Valladolid.
The museum's page also says, "There are no tree-lighting ceremonies scheduled this year."
The tree will be lit whenever you visit, and the Met is still a fine stop on a gray Sunday afternoon in late November. Nobody will be counting down there, though. The neighborhood's moments of watching lights come on now happen outside on December 6, first by the East River and then on Park Avenue, with music at the first and the lit malls at the second.
5 p.m. at 86th Street and East End Avenue
The Carl Schurz Park Conservancy runs its free Holiday Tree Lighting at the park's 86th Street entrance on East End Avenue. The Conservancy's own description reads "Rain, Snow, or Shine!"
The carols come from Cantori New York, a professional choir. They are accompanied by the New York Brass Quintet, which the Conservancy calls its "favorite armed forces brass band." The Conservancy serves free hot chocolate, cookies and candy canes.
The 5 p.m. start matters. By early December it is dark by then, so the tree comes on in real darkness, and you still have time to cross the neighborhood before Park Avenue lights up. The Conservancy lists only a start time, so plan the walk around how long you want to stay for the carols.
Ninety Minutes Between the Two Trees
The 90 minutes between 5 and 6:30 make room for a second cocoa, a pastry, or an early table. The route runs west along 86th Street and up through the high 80s, close to several places with published Sunday hours. Each one fits a different part of the afternoon and evening.
| Stop | Address | Sunday hours, as published | Where it fits |
|---|---|---|---|
| Opening Move Café | 208 East 87th Street | 10:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. | Before the first lighting |
| Mia's Brooklyn Bakery | 1573 Third Avenue, between 88th and 89th | 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. | Between the two lightings |
| Sandro's | 322 East 86th Street | Dinner 4:30 to 9 p.m. | After Park Avenue |
| Café D'Alsace | 1703 Second Avenue | Dinner 5 to 9 p.m. | After Park Avenue |
Opening Move Café is the newest stop on the map, and the one with the earliest close. Upper East Site reported in October that the woman-owned board game café had opened in a below-grade storefront on a quiet Yorkville block, serving coffee and baked goods alongside its shelves of games. Its published Sunday hours end at 5 p.m., the same minute the Carl Schurz tree comes on. That makes it the warm-up. Come in mid-afternoon for a game and a coffee, then walk the few blocks east to the park.
Mia's Brooklyn Bakery is the stop that works between the two lightings. It sits on Third Avenue between 88th and 89th Streets, right on the way from the river to Park, and its Sunday hours run until 10 p.m. It serves pastries, coffee and espresso drinks. Stopping there after the park still leaves time for the two avenues to Park and the walk up to 91st.
6:30 p.m. at Brick Church, Park Avenue and 91st
Brick Church lists "December 6 at 6:30 PM - Park Avenue Tree Lighting" on its 2026 calendar. The church is at 1140 Park Avenue, and in past years the gathering has been on the steps of its Sanctuary.
The Park Avenue lighting is older and carries more weight than most holiday traditions in the city. The Fund for Park Avenue describes how it began:
"Since 1945, the Park Avenue Tree Lighting has been one of New York City's enduring holiday traditions. Established by Park Avenue families to honor the men and women who lost their lives during World War II, the annual display has grown into a moving tribute to all who have made the ultimate sacrifice in service to our country."
The lights also reach well beyond the corner where people gather. According to the Fund, the display forms "a luminous corridor" from 54th Street to 97th Street. A small group of families once paid for it, and today it depends on donors to the Fund for Park Avenue.
The two lightings share a tradition but differ in scale. Carl Schurz lights a single tree at the edge of a park, while the Brick Church lighting covers forty-three blocks of median at once. Standing at 91st, you can look south down the avenue and watch the corridor stretch toward Midtown. After the Carl Schurz tree an hour and a half earlier, the second lighting makes the evening feel like it started with a single tree and ended with a whole avenue.
Dinner After the Lights Are On
The walk back east brings you to dinner. Both of the neighborhood's Sunday-evening options in the table are back toward the river, so the evening ends roughly where it began.
Sandro's at 322 East 86th Street serves Sunday dinner from 4:30 to 9 p.m. The restaurant notes that its listed hours are last seatings, which helps when you are leaving Park Avenue around 7. Café D'Alsace at 1703 Second Avenue serves Sunday dinner from 5 to 9 p.m. Both sit within a few blocks of the 86th Street corridor you crossed an hour earlier.
A Sunday dinner on the first weekend of December after a free public event is likely to be busy. If your group is larger than two, book ahead for 7:15 or later. Hours here are each place's published schedule, so check with them the week of.
The Dates Around December 6
The two Sunday lightings sit in the middle of a short run of openings on Fifth Avenue. Together they make a calendar that runs from mid-November into early January:
- Thursday, November 12. The Met opens A Long Shadow: Postwar Japan Through the Lens, its first exhibition of Japanese photography since 1995, on view through May 2, 2027.
- Tuesday, November 24. The Met's Christmas tree and Neapolitan crèche go up in the Medieval Sculpture Hall, with no lighting ceremony.
- Sunday, December 6, 5 p.m. Holiday Tree Lighting at Carl Schurz Park, 86th Street and East End Avenue.
- Sunday, December 6, 6:30 p.m. Park Avenue Tree Lighting at Brick Church, Park Avenue and 91st Street.
- Sunday, December 20. The Met opens Across Wine-Dark Seas: Art and Identity beyond Ancient Greece, on view through April 11, 2027.
- Wednesday, January 6, 2027. Last day for the Met's tree and crèche.
For a slower holiday outing, the Jewish Museum's Sacred Splendor is also up the avenue through February 7, 2027. It brings together Jewish ritual art and Christian treasures from St. Vitus Cathedral in Prague.
If you're hosting family that weekend or showing out-of-town friends around the neighborhood, we're happy to help plan the evening, from where to stand on Park Avenue to which table to book afterward. The Jane Advisory loves sharing the neighborhood calendar. Connect with Jane.
