6 Holiday Light Shows at Botanical Gardens

Trees, shrubs and buildings covered in colored lights make gardens even more colorful than they are in full summer bloom. Walk through arbors of twinkling lights and marvel at special effects and illuminations as many botanic gardens are aglow with light shows, making for exciting destinations for family travel.

At New England Botanic Garden in Massachusetts, take a mesmerizing trip through a landscape lit by more than a quarter million lights in a rainbow of colors. Amid the NightLights show (through Jan. 5), you’ll find a skating rink, a model train, s’mores and plenty of photo ops.

Garden Lights, Holiday Nights is a long-standing favorite at Atlanta Botanical Garden, where the world’s largest curtain of synchronized light and sound is larger than ever this year. Highlights for kids are the dramatically lit giant plant sculptures from Alice’s Wonderland Returns, where a towering white rabbit stands near a Cheshire cat overlooking the Chess Set (open nightly through Jan. 12).

Blossoms of Light at Denver Botanic Gardens is a mile-long path through immersive, luminous displays that highlight the gardens’ plant collections (through Jan. 12). Missouri Botanical Garden features more than 2 million dazzling lights during Garden Glow (through Jan. 4).

Giant trolls and an enchanted forest with mushrooms and shooting stars highlight Gardens Aglow at Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens in Boothbay, Maine (open Thursday–Sunday and Dec. 23,30 and 31) and more than1.5 million twinkling lights illuminate Norfolk Botanical Garden during Garden of Lights (nightly through Jan 5).