Do you know what one of the worst things about winter is? The seasonal blues. But we’ve got a word for you! Whether you’re traveling to Dallas in winter or just trying to stay off Prozac, the city has tons of things to do! We’ve lived here for decades, so not only can we attest to this, but we can also tell you exactly where to go.

Here’s What’s Up Dallas!

What Is Dallas Like in Winter?

Dallas weather is usually mild and pleasant, but it can be unpredictable. One day it’ll be sunny and perfect, and the next day, heavy rains come in short, periodic bursts, and then an ice storm follows that shuts down the entire city! This is our lived experience. There’s really no telling what you’re in for.

That being said, as far as winters go, Dallas TX has a pleasant one. Most afternoons are generally mild, often in the high 50s or low 60s.

Temperatures in December, January and February

© WeatherSpark.com

Dress in light layers, and you can enjoy almost any day. Be warned, however: In January and early February, there’s a greater chance of freezes.

And if there’s an ice storm… our advice is to stay put.

Despite the fact DFW has experienced a major winter storm every year since 2021, the metroplex still isn’t used to such turbulent weather. Unless you want to drive on unsalted roads, you’ll just have to stay comfy indoors.

Best Things to Do in Dallas in Winter

We’ve already shared the perfect Dallas itinerary for first-time visitors, complete with stops at City Center, Bishop Arts District and Deep Ellum. During a longer stay, travelers can also walk around the Dallas Arboretum and White Rock Lake, as well as take a day trip to Fort Worth! But, if you visit Dallas in winter, you can add even more to your itinerary — holiday lights, seasonal shows, ice skating, and some of the city’s biggest sporting events!

SIGNATURE HOLIDAY EXPERIENCES

Dallas has no shortage of Christmas events, but a few stand out above the rest. If you only have time for the big ones, start here!

Grapevine Christmas

With 1,400 events over 40 days, Grapevine goes all-in for Christmas with a decorated Main Street, holiday trains, ice skating, and special events throughout the season. It probably the best place in all of DFW for Christmas activities.

You should at least visit the Christmas market. We can’t cover everything offered in a single paragraph, but we have an entire post on how to do a Grapevine Christmas if you want to visit the Christmas Capital of Texas!

New Year’s Eve at Reunion Tower

Everything is bigger in Texas, am I right? Downtown Dallas welcomes the new year with a huge fireworks and drone show centered around Reunion Tower. The show combines thousands of pyrotechnic effects, the tower’s LED display, and hundreds of drones.

You can watch from several downtown locations, including Dallas City Hall or Trinity Groves! If you’re planning on watching from a restaurant or hotel, reserve early!

Dallas Holiday Parade

The Dallas Holiday Parade is always held on the first Saturday in December. It is 100% free and also huge. There are floats, marching bands, dancers, balloons, and holiday characters. Although it is free to attend, arriving early is important if you want a good view and a spot along the route. Tickets for bleacher seats are also available for purchase. This is one of the largest one-day, outdoor events in Dallas.

In 2026, the parade falls on Saturday, December 5.

Holiday Events at Klyde Warren Park

If you live in Dallas, you know. Klyde Warren is the most famous and well-visited park in all of Dallas; it also has a gigantic Christmas tree in December and some truly awesome holiday programming.

Unlike Grapevine Christmas, however, the festivities only happen on a single weekend. You’ll have to check Klyde Warren’s schedule to catch the specific date, but if you’re able to go, you can enjoy the famous tree lighting, outdoor movie screenings, a holiday market, games, pictures with Santa and a family-friendly festival.

HOLIDAY LIGHTS & DISPLAYS

Now for everyone who loves pretty lights. I know we do! If your entire winter agenda is to walk around somewhere charming with a hot drink, Dallas can accommodate. The next two displays are ticketed attractions and bring enough lights to justify the price, and the last one . . . it’s 100% free.

Holiday at the Dallas Arboretum

Visually, the Dallas Arboretum puts on an outstanding Christmas display. If you want top-tier Christmas photos, come here. The gardens transform with (in our opinion) extremely elaborate lights and decorations.

However, this is the last year! We repeat: after a beloved 12-year run, 2026 is the last year to see the 12 Days of Christmas gazebos.

Holiday magic at the Dallas Arboretum will continue, but the famous gazebos are officially retiring after this season. So, visit if you can!

Dallas Zoo Lights

Dallas Zoo Lights is another full-scale holiday display, with more than two million lights, lanterns, photo ops and seasonal activities after dark. The zoo has confirmed it will return for the 2026 holiday season, although dates have not yet been announced.

Personal preference: if you’re visiting and trying to choose only one Dallas animal attraction during your trip, we actually prefer the Dallas World Aquarium. But if you specifically want Christmas lights, choose the Dallas Zoo.

Vitruvian Lights

Now if you just want lights, head north to Vitruvian Park in Addison. During Vitruvian Lights, hundreds of trees throughout the park are wrapped in sparkling LEDs, turning an otherwise normal walking trail into one giant glowing forest. It’s easy, pretty, FREE, and the perfect low-effort date night or family outing.

CONCERTS AND SHOWS

Want to catch a show? December is obviously heavy on Christmas programming, but performances continue throughout January and February, so this is one of the better categories for visitors coming after the holidays. Every one of these options has great programming year-round!

Holiday Concerts at the Dallas Symphony Orchestra

Every December, the Meyerson fills its calendar with Christmas concerts, holiday pop songs and seasonal performances. The exact lineup changes each year, but there are usually several options throughout the month. Plus, the Meyerson is gorgeous. Très classy.

Majestic Theatre

This historic downtown theater hosts comedy shows, movies, concerts and other performances throughout the year, including plenty of special shows during winter. Check the calendar for dates, and enjoy the scenery! The Majestic Theatre itself is also quite beautiful.

Seasonal Theater, Ballet & Broadway

Dallas has a large performing arts scene, and winter brings touring Broadway productions, musicals, ballet and theater all across the city. Even if you don’t want to watch The Nutcracker, between the AT&T Performing Arts Center (which includes venues, such as the Winspear Opera House and Wyly Theatre) and Music Hall at Fair Park, you’re sure to find the show for you!

ICE SKATING

Did you know one of us used to be in a figure skating club? That’s an aside. Dallas may not have lakes that freeze over, but we are perfectly willing to manufacture ice ourselves.

Galleria Dallas Ice Skating

The Galleria has a permanent indoor ice rink, so you can skate here whether it’s 30 degrees or 70 degrees outside. During Christmas, the gigantic decorated tree installed directly over the rink makes the whole thing considerably more festive. Best of all, this isn’t exclusively a holiday attraction. If you’re visiting Dallas after Christmas, the rink stays put. You can skate in January, February, July — whenever.

CultureMap City Rink

If you want your ice skating with a downtown winter-festival atmosphere, try the CultureMap City Rink at Main Street Garden. The seasonal outdoor rink pops up in downtown Dallas around the holidays, surrounded by lights, food and other festivities. Unlike the Galleria rink, however, this one is temporary. It generally lasts into the first few days of January, so check the dates before making it part of a post-Christmas trip.

Children’s Health StarCenter

There are several other rink locations around DFW, including Farmers Branch, Frisco, Plano and Richardson. They aren’t very festive, but unlike the CultureMap City Rink, these are open year-round and are often filled with people learning to ice-skate and/or play ice hockey!

GAME-DAY FUN

Winter is secretly a fantastic time to visit Dallas if you’re a sports fan. Basketball and hockey are both in season, and football can stretch into winter too. More importantly, all three experiences happen indoors. Weather crisis averted.

Dallas Stars Games

The Dallas Stars play at American Airlines Center from fall through spring, making hockey one of the easiest winter activities to add to a Dallas trip. Even if you’re not a huge hockey person, Stars games are fun and wonderfully climate-controlled. American Airlines Center is also located in Victory Park (a mixed use and upscale entertainment district), so there are plenty of places nearby to eat or grab a drink before the game.

Dallas Mavericks Games

Same arena, different sport. The Dallas Mavericks also play at American Airlines Center throughout winter, and Mavs games are even more fun. Why? Because Dallasites love the Mavericks. Tickets vary dramatically in price depending on the opponent and where you sit, but trust: you don’t need courtside seats to have a good time!

Dallas Cowboys Games

So, the Cowboys do not actually play in Dallas. They play at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, about halfway between Dallas and Fort Worth. Still, nobody is going to write a Dallas winter guide without mentioning them. If you’re visiting while the Cowboys are playing at home, you can have a full-on Texas experience. Even if you can’t get tickets, nearby Texas Live! is packed with restaurants, giant screens and Cowboys fans on game day.

RESORT & HOTEL EXPERIENCES

Around Christmas time, several hotels transform themselves into festive attractions. And what’s even better, you absolutely do not have to stay at one of Dallas–Fort Worth’s big resorts to enjoy them.

Gaylord Texan’s ICE! & Holiday Activities

Gaylord Texan in Grapevine offers giant parkas and ICE!, an enormous walk-through display carved from millions of pounds of actual ice. Gaylord also piles on Christmas shows, tubing, crafts, lights, activities, and assorted festive chaos. You can stay overnight at the resort, but you don’t have to. Day visitors can book individual activities and make an entire outing of it.

Great Wolf Lodge Snowland & Indoor Water Park

Great Wolf Lodge in Grapevine takes a slightly different approach to winter: celebrate Christmas and then go swimming. During Snowland, the resort adds holiday decorations, activities and seasonal entertainment to its usual indoor water park.

It’s obviously designed for families with kids, and because the water park is indoors, if January or February gives you three straight days of freezing rain, your children can blissfully fly down a water slide while everybody else in Dallas stares sadly out the window.

Christmas Tea & Rooftop Winter Village at The Adolphus

For a significantly less child-centered Christmas outing, visit the Adolphus in downtown Dallas. This historic hotel hosts its famous Holiday Tea at The French Room during the Christmas season, complete with tiny sandwiches, pastries, and general fanciness. Upstairs, the hotel also turns its rooftop into a seasonal Winter Village. It’s one of the best places to stay in the city!

Visiting Dallas After Christmas?

December gets the glitter, but January and February are less crowded. On a typical winter afternoon, you can still walk Bishop Arts, White Rock Lake, the Arboretum or one of Dallas’s many neighborhoods without dealing with bad weather.

January and February are also the months when our indoor attractions become especially appealing. Dallas has enough museums, immersive attractions, shopping, arcades, food halls, and weird little indoor experiences to build an entire trip without letting the weather get in the way. We have a full guide to indoor activities in Dallas (or at least we will in two weeks) if the forecast is ugly — or if you simply hate being outside.

In February, keep an eye out for Black History Month programming across Dallas. The African American Museum in Fair Park (read our review!) is an obvious place to start, and can be paired with special programs, performances, and exhibits happening around the city.

FAQ

You made it! Welcome to the end of our post where we tell you to sign up for our newsletter, be our friend and visit us again. We’re friendly. Don’t question, just go with it, and seriously, you really should check out our Grapevine Christmas Guide— Not to brag, but we killed it! And if you yearn for a Merry Christmas, you must go.