The 2026 Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree: Dates, Size and How to See It

This year's tree next to the last ten

• 1001999
• 942016
• 752017
• 722018
• 772019
• 752020
• 792021
• 822022
• 802023
• 742024
• 752025
• 762026

To one scale, in feet. Yellow is the tallest on record, 100 feet in 1999, from Killingworth, CT. Pink is 2026.

So 76 feet is a touch under the 78-foot average of the last 11 trees. Head gardener Erik Pauze has found the tree for more than 30 years, and 6sqft says he usually picks one near its maximum height that's getting too big for its property. Every tree on this list came from the Northeast or nearby, and the last two were donated.

• 2026 West Edmeston, NY76 ft
• 2025 East Greenbush, NY75 ft
• 2024 West Stockbridge, MA74 ft
• 2023 Vestal, NY80 ft
• 2022 Queensbury, NY82 ft
• 2021 Elkton, MD79 ft
• 2020 Oneonta, NY75 ft
• 2019 Florida, NY77 ft
• 2018 Wallkill, NY72 ft
• 2017 State College, PA75 ft
• 2016 Oneonta, NY94 ft

The tree's calendar, cut to lumber

1. Nov 5Cut down in West Edmeston.
2. Nov 7Arrives at Rockefeller Plaza. Meet the Tree Day runs 10am to 1pm with free family activities, first come, first served. Details.
3. Nov to DecWorkers build scaffolding around it and string the lights. You'll see it, but not lit.
4. Dec 2Lighting ceremony, live on NBC from 7pm.
5. Dec 3The first ordinary night to see it lit.
6. Dec 25Reported to stay lit for 24 hours on Christmas Day.
7. Dec 31Reported to go dark early, lit from 5am to 9pm.
8. Jan 9Last day on view, according to ABC News, NY1 and amNewYork.
9. AfterMilled into lumber for Habitat for Humanity.

Lighting night: go another night

Last year CBS New York found people spending hours in the cold, one of them first through the line before 2pm, for lights that came on just before 10pm. Police were all over the plaza. Read Rockefeller Center's page for this year's rules before you plan on going.

It's also a bad night to drive or pass through. Last year's closures took in Rockefeller Plaza from W 48th to W 51st St, the cross streets from W 46th to W 52nd between Fifth and Sixth, and both avenues over the same blocks. We didn't find a 2026 list. If you want the moment itself, watch NBC, then walk over the next evening without the fences.

How to see it properly

• From the Channel Gardens on Fifth Avenue. The garden walkway between W 49th and W 50th St frames the tree against 30 Rockefeller Plaza. That's the picture you've seen. It's free, and so is the Saks light show right across the avenue.
• From the rink, under it. The Rink at Rockefeller Center opened for the season on October 10. 6sqft has it open daily, 9am to midnight, with tickets from $22. NYC Tourism.
• On a tour, for a lot more. Rockefeller Center sells Top of the Rock tickets and tree packages. Last year CBS New York put a VIP pass with an up-close tour and a champagne toast at more than $300. See this year's options.

When to go? Nobody publishes crowd numbers. The sun sets around 4:30pm in December, so it's dark by the time most people finish work. We'd expect the weekends before Christmas to be the worst around Fifth Avenue, and weeknights to be easier.

What goes on top, and how it started

The star is by the architect Daniel Libeskind, made for 2018: 900 pounds, with 70 spikes and about 3 million Swarovski crystals.

The first tree went up in December 1931, when construction workers building Rockefeller Center pooled their money for a 20-foot balsam fir and decorated it with garlands their families made. The first lighting ceremony came in 1933, and the rink opened below it in 1936. Since 2007 the wood has gone to Habitat for Humanity.

From the tree to our door

We're on the same street. Rockefeller Center runs from W 48th to W 51st St, between Fifth and Sixth Aves, and we're at 605 W 48th St, near 12th Ave. Walk west along 48th without turning, past Times Square and across 8th, 9th, 10th and 11th Aves, and you'll be at our door in about 21 minutes. It's quieter with every avenue. If it's freezing, take a cab: we're on the far side of Hell's Kitchen, and this isn't a short hop. More on the walk.

Don't expect to see the tree from our roof: it stands inside a block of towers a mile east. What you get here is the glass roof, closed and heated when it's cold, a live DJ, Mexican food and the Midtown skyline. Our week looks like this: Tuesday to Thursday 5pm to 11pm (last reservation 10pm), Friday 5pm to 3am, Saturday 12pm to 3am and Sunday 12pm to 9:30pm. Closed Mondays. Lighting night falls on a Wednesday, which is usually 5pm to 11pm (last reservation 10pm), with karaoke night. Booking is free, with no deposit, and online for 2 to 8 people.