For more than 30 years, the Portland International Raceway has hosted this drive-through holiday light show, which claims to be “the largest light holiday show west of the Mississippi” with more than 250 light displays and multiple animated scenes depicting your favorite Christmas carols (five golden rings, anyone?). 

Tickets are $38 per car on weeknights and $49 on weekends, but if you want to show up in a limo or other such lavishly large vehicle, be prepared to pony up $85, and more if your buds happen to spring for a bus. Three nights are car-free: November 30 is bikes only, while December 1 and 2 are dog walk nights.

The Oregon Zoo’s holiday light show, ZooLights, has been running and growing steadily since 1988. It’s exactly what it sounds like: the zoo done up with twinkly lights. There’s the Polar Bear Bobsled, the Rainbow and Galactic tunnels, Primate Way, Jellyfish Junction. You get the idea. Cozy up to bellowing purple hippos, swimming penguins, and jungle alligators and jaguars. Classic treats are on hand, like elephant ears and hot cocoa, and beer and wine for the adults. 

Prices range depending on the date, with adult walkthroughs running $13–35, and $13–30 for kids under 12. (Zoo members get a 20 percent discount.) Tickets must be purchased in advance, assigned to selected entrance times (30-minute increments starting at 4:30pm). If you’re hesitant to commit to a specific date or time slot—yes, parents, we see you—you can pay $35 for anytime passes ($30 under age 12).

The Grotto’s Christmas festival bills itself as one of the world’s largest Christmas choral festivals, with nightly indoor concerts featuring choirs, schools, and churches from near and far. Inside the peaceful grounds, you’ll see more than two million lights and other events in the plaza, such as caroling, puppet shows, and musical guests. 

General admission for those 12 and older is $16.95 ($18.95 at gate), ages 3 to 11 is $7.95 ($8.95 at gate), and those 2 and younger are free. Pro tip: Save a few bucks on the value nights, which are December 1–4 and 8–11.

The festive light displays on Peacock Lane started in 1932 as a friendly competition between neighbors, but it has exploded into a Portland rite of passage that pulls in hordes of Yuletiders every year. The cocoa booth offers free cocoa and cider, and pedestrian-only nights are December 19 and 20 in 2025. Expect dozens of enthusiastically decorated houses along the block, all done on the owners’ own volition; some are relatively low-key, while others go all-out, with interactive walk-through displays. (We’re partial to the house with the Peanuts gang.) Unless you’re game for a four-block drive that lasts an hour, park five to six blocks away and walk over.

One of Oregon’s oldest holiday light shows, the Christmas Ships Parade has been  floating down the Columbia or Willamette River, or both, depending on the night, for over 70 years. It first set sail in 1954, with one lonely but proud vessel. Today, up to 60 individually designed boats join the fleet, all covered in holiday lights and Christmas scenes with a nautical twist (think Santa fishing or the Loch Ness Monster sporting a Santa hat). The parade runs on various dates and covers various stretches of water over two weeks; to pinpoint where the boats will be on a given night, you can find schedules online for the Columbia Fleet, Willamette Fleet, and when the two come together. 

Beaverton’s downtown comes to life each holiday season with free winter light displays and festivities, starting with a tree-lighting ceremony at 7pm on Friday, December 5. Festivities start at 4pm, and feature live music, craft activities, and vendors.

Take a peek inside Santa’s toy factory at this free display located in the Parrett Mountain neighborhood of Newberg, 45 minutes southwest of Portland. Sip a cup of hot cocoa and write a letter to the big man himself—there’s a mailbox that’s a sure-fire direct line to the North Pole. No tickets or reservations are required, but donations are accepted and benefit St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital. Don’t miss the market of handmade crafts, baked goods, jams, butters, and more.

The Silverton Christmas Market, 45 minutes south of Portland, boasts more than one million lights. Stroll the paths at Oregon Garden Resort to find a biergarten, a snowless tubing hill, and an authentic German market brimming with artisan vendors (imported German nutcrackers, anyone?).  

Admission is $15–25 depending on the time of week, $8–12 for kids 12 and under, and free for kids 5 and under; parking and snowless tubing paid separately.

Similar to Peacock Lane, the Gubser neighborhood light display started as a blazing bulb battle between neighbors in 1984 in this suburb an hour southwest of Portland, north of Salem. After word got around about the festive displays, the event evolved into a fundraiser for the Marion Polk Food Share nonprofit, pulling in nearly $50,000 in donations annually, and tens of thousands of pounds of food. 

The Roseburg Rotary Club’s annual holiday lights festival has been running for over 30 years. Today, it boasts more than 90 light displays, as well as what the festival claims is the world’s largest nutcracker.

Entry is $10 per car, which also gets you into the nearby Dutch Bros Holiday Village at Riversdale Grange. Make an overnight of it: The festival is two hours and 45 minutes south of Portland. 

Lumber baron and shipbuilder Louis Simpson’s mansion may have burned down a century ago, but his stunning estate garden remains a highlight in Shore Acres State Park between Coos Bay and Cape Arago. For the holidays, area businesses and community groups string up thousands of lights in the formal gardens. Many of the displays, no surprise, boast a marine theme—think jellyfish, anemones, and spouting whales.

A parking permit is $10.