PHILADELPHIA, PA — One of Philadelphia’s most festive holiday traditions is rolling back into the city streets, combining twinkling lights, live music, neighborhood charm, and even cheesesteaks into a single, moving celebration.
City Sightseeing Philadelphia has relaunched its popular Holiday Light Show Trolley Tours, offering nightly 90-minute rides through the city’s most iconic seasonal displays now through January 5, 2026. The experience features decorated Victorian-style trolleys, expert tour guides, live singing and trivia, giveaways, and stops at three of Philadelphia’s most famous residential light shows.
The tours depart from the Bourse Building in Old City every 15 minutes between 5:00 p.m. and 10:30 p.m., running seven days a week, including Christmas Day.
Passengers ride aboard festively lit trolleys to Franklin Square’s Electrical Spectacle, South Philadelphia’s famed Smedley Street, and the Miracle on 13th Street, with time to disembark and explore each display up close. Along the route, the trolleys also pass major holiday attractions and landmarks, including Christmas Village at Love Park, the Made in Philadelphia Holiday Market at Dilworth Park, City Hall, Love Park, the Comcast Center, and Washington Square Park.
New this season, City Sightseeing has added a Lights and Cheesesteak Tour, pairing the holiday ride with a dedicated stop at Skinny Joey’s Cheesesteaks. The experience gives riders the chance to step off the trolley and enjoy a classic Philadelphia cheesesteak as part of the tour.
Organizers describe the tours as a four-in-one holiday experience, blending sightseeing, entertainment, music, and food into a single outing designed for families, friends, couples, and corporate groups. All tours are BYO for those who want to bring their own holiday cheer, and the trolleys accommodate between 23 and 43 passengers. Handicap-accessible trolleys with lifts are available by request.
City Sightseeing Philadelphia, known for its hop-on, hop-off bus tours, said the holiday trolleys are designed to offer a relaxed, immersive way to experience the city’s seasonal atmosphere without the stress of driving, parking, or navigating crowded streets.
Tickets start at $49.99, with options available for individuals, children, groups, and private chartered holiday trolley rentals. Reservations are now open, and tours often sell out during peak nights in December.
Franklin Square’s Electrical Spectacle, one of the tour’s signature stops, features hundreds of thousands of LED lights synchronized to holiday music, with shows running every 30 minutes nightly beginning at 5 p.m. The display is themed around Benjamin Franklin’s famous kite-and-key experiment and has become a staple of Philadelphia’s winter season.
City Sightseeing officials say the holiday trolley tours are meant to create new traditions while showcasing the neighborhoods and landmarks that make Philadelphia’s holiday season uniquely its own.
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