Ready to take a glowing tour of Ohio?
The Ohio Holiday Lights Trail is the largest trail since it began five years ago. The curated list includes Ohio’s most impressive holiday light displays across 55 locations throughout the state.
“There really is no better place than Ohio for the holidays,” said Lydia Mihalik, director of the Ohio Department of Development. “It’s a magical experience to see so many charming towns and amazing places across the state decked out to celebrate the holiday season.”
Taking a drive to see some awesome light displays is a beloved family tradition for many Ohioans. Here are a few of the highlights.
- In Akron, Stan Hywet Hall & Gardens presents “Deck the Hall: Lights, Cameras, Christmas.” The Manor House features 25 beautifully decorated trees, a reception hall turned into a movie theater lobby, and 21 rooms each showing a different class holiday movie. Outside, more than 1 million holiday lights illuminate the gardens and grounds.
- The historic Clifton Mill will again present “Legendary Lights,” voted one of the 10 best public holiday lights displays in USA Today’s 2020 Readers’ Choice Awards. More than 4 million twinkling bulbs light up the mill, gorge, riverbanks, bridges and trees.
- Now in its 10th year, the Armstrong Air & Space Museum in Wapakoneta kicks off the holiday season by illuminating its grounds with tens of thousands of twinkling lights in the shape of space-themed displays.
- The Kings Island Winterfest, held select nights between Nov. 26 and Dec. 31, captures the spirit of the season with dazzling light displays, carriage rides, ice skating and more!
- The city of Belpre in southeast Ohio turns its public park and other areas into a winter wonderland with lights in the shapes of poinsettias, angels, a carousel and more.
- Conservatory Aglow transforms the Franklin Park Conservatory in Columbus into a wonderland of lights with stunning displays, including a musical light show.
- Ohio has five of the country’s top-rated zoos, which all boast amazing light displays:
- Nearly the entire Akron Zoo is decorated with lights for Wild Lights, including, for the first time, the Lehner Family Foundation Wild Asia exhibit.
- Wild Winter Lights presented by NOPEC transforms the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo into a winter wonderland with more than 1 million individual lights.
- Columbus Zoo Wildlights, voted the second-best zoo lights in the country by the Travel Channel, features many animated lights displays set to music.
- Cincinnati Zoo’s PNC Festival of Lights was voted the best zoo lights in the country in 2020 by the readers of USA Today and by the Travel Channel.
- Lights Before Christmas at the Toledo Zoo, presented by KeyBank, was voted the second-best zoo lights in the U.S. by the readers of USA Today and the fifth-best by the Travel Channel.
To learn more about the Ohio Holiday Lights Trail, you can visit the Ohio tourism website right here.
