Free Mondays and Dark Tuesdays at ZooLights and the Lincoln Park Conservatory

Lincoln Park Zoo's ZooLights and the Lincoln Park Conservatory's Winter Flower Show close on the same night, January 3, 2027. Their weekly schedules fit together too. ZooLights is free on four Mondays from November 23 through December 14, and the Conservatory is closed on Mondays. The Conservatory stays open Wednesday through Sunday during the hour when the zoo empties out before the lights come on. Most Tuesdays in December, both are closed.

If you live within walking distance of Cannon and Stockton drives, you mostly pay for ZooLights when you plan late or drive in. Lincoln Park Zoo is free 365 days a year, and ZooLights ticket sales help keep it that way. That makes the holiday season the one stretch when the zoo charges admission in the evening, and the zoo built a free night into nearly every week through mid-December.

The season, week by week

ZooLights opens to the public on Friday, November 20, and runs nightly from 4:30 to 9 p.m., with last entry at 8 p.m. The Winter Flower Show opens five days later, on Wednesday, November 25, and runs 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. through January 3. Here is how the two calendars line up, starting the Monday after this post goes up.

The free Monday tickets come out on a chain. Each batch is released one week in advance at 11 a.m. Central, so tickets for the next free Monday go live on the morning of the current one. If you're at the Nov. 23 free night, the Nov. 30 tickets went out that same morning. Tickets are required for everyone, infants included, even when admission is free.

The Tuesday pattern is worth having in your head before you promise anyone a lights walk. ZooLights is closed on Tuesdays except December 22 and 29, and the Nov. 24 Tuesday is a separately ticketed Sensory-Friendly Night. The Conservatory closes every Monday and Tuesday. On December 1, 8 and 15, neither one is open.

What deciding at the last minute costs

On the other nights, the price depends on when you commit. Fixed Date tickets cost $7 to $12 if you buy ahead, depending on the night, and $20 if you buy on the day you go. Flexible Admission also costs $20 and works on any regular night of the season, though not for the separately ticketed special events. Fixed Date tickets can't change dates and can't be refunded.

So the walk-up price and the flexible price are the same. The discount is for committing to a date ahead of time, and in a Chicago December the weather is what makes that a gamble. The zoo says ZooLights runs rain, snow or shine. Here is how the three options trade off:

• Fixed Date, bought ahead: $7 to $12, a set date, and a selected entry time, with guests asked to arrive within an hour of it.
• Fixed Date, bought same day: $20, so you can check the forecast first.
• Flexible Admission: $20, any regular night, with entry any time up to 8 p.m.

For a household that can see the zoo from the corner, the forecast is the deciding factor. If you buy a $9 ticket for a night that turns into sleet, you either go anyway or you've lost $9. The $20 options let you skip the bad nights. The free Mondays let you skip the question entirely, as long as you're at the keyboard at 11 a.m. a week out.

Once you're inside, rides cost extra. Most attractions take one $4.50 ticket per person. The Ferris wheel and Gorilla Trek take two, or $9. The Endangered Species Carousel, the Lionel Train Adventure kiddie train and a holiday VR experience round out the ride list.

The 3:30 gap

From November 19 through January 3, the zoo runs on two shifts. Daytime gates open at 10 a.m., buildings and the Farm-in-the-Zoo close at 3 p.m., and the gates close at 3:30. They reopen at 4:30 p.m. for ZooLights and close again at 9.

The Conservatory at 2391 N. Stockton Drive fills that hour on Wednesday through Sunday. It's open until 4:30 p.m. Entry is free, but every visit needs a timed-entry ticket, and you should arrive no more than 30 minutes after your ticket's start time. The Lincoln Park Conservancy suggests a $10 donation for adults and $5 for children, on a pay-what-you-can basis. Food and open drinks aren't allowed inside, so finish your hot chocolate before you go in.

You can reserve on the Lincoln Park Conservancy's reservations page. An afternoon flower-show slot that ends near 4:30 leads straight into ZooLights' opening hour. Pair a 3:30 Conservatory ticket with an early ZooLights entry time and you get the greenhouse warmth first and the lights right after.

Nights with a reason to pick them

Most nights look alike: more than 3 million LED lights powered by wind energy, a light tunnel on the Main Mall, and a narrated light show on the South Lawn. A few nights add something more.

Fridays and Saturdays bring live ice carving. Sundays through December 21 bring strolling carolers. If your weekend can only fit one night, those details can decide it.

Tuesday, November 24 is the Sensory-Friendly Night. Blinking and moving lights are held static or slowed way down, and music is softened or turned off. Tickets are $7 per person.

Sunday, December 6 is the busiest day on the neighborhood calendar. At the zoo, the Chris White Trio plays its tribute to Vince Guaraldi's A Charlie Brown Christmas in several shows. The matinee in the Pepper Family Wildlife Center includes Santa and Snoopy, a hot chocolate and cookie bar, and entry to ZooLights. The kid-friendly evening show is at Café Brauer, and a new 18+ evening show runs this year for adults.

That same afternoon, from 1 to 4 p.m., the Lincoln Park Chamber of Commerce runs its Clark Street Cookie Crawl on Clark between Fullerton and Diversey. Tickets get you a cookie or treat at each of 12 neighborhood stops, plus hot chocolate, carolers, photos with Santa and an ice sculpture along the route. General admission is $30, and groups of four or more save $5 per ticket. The 21+ boozy ticket is $45 and adds three drinks. Tickets are sold only in advance, with none on the day. You can find them on the Chamber's Cookie Crawl page. If you plan it well, you can walk off a dozen cookies on Clark before an evening jazz set at Café Brauer.

Thursday, December 10 is Adults Night Out: Sugar and Spice. It's a 21+ party from 6:30 to 10 p.m. with a DJ, animal chats, caricatures, and unlimited carousel and Ferris wheel rides. Tickets start at $20.

Before December 24, families with Santa on the list should check the dates. Santa is at the zoo through December 23, in the Pepper Family Wildlife Center, which is decorated as the North Pole for the season.

New Year's Eve runs the normal 4:30 to 9 p.m. hours with an hourly countdown, so younger kids can ring in the new year early. Saturday, January 2 is new this season: New Year's ReZoolutions, from 2 to 4 p.m., with yoga, sound meditation, nonalcoholic drink samples for guests 21 and over, and ZooLights access before it opens to the public. Tickets have been available since November 9.

On any night, Levy, the zoo's hospitality partner, runs a holiday pop-up bar with fire pits for s'mores, plus a waffle station, conchas, sweet nachos, mozzarella sticks and pizza bagels. The Light Lounge at Foreman Pavilion has glowing furniture, light toys for kids and a quieter adult corner with its own food and drinks.

Leave the car at home

The East Gate lot at 2400 N. Cannon Drive, entered from Fullerton Parkway, is free for the first half hour. After that it costs $35 to $45 per day. It takes no cash and has no attendant at the exit. Even the lowest parking rate costs more than one $20 walk-up ticket, and five times the cheapest advance ticket.

The other options are easy for anyone in the neighborhood. The 22, 36, 151 and 156 buses stop along the zoo's western edge. The Brown and Purple Lines stop at Armitage and the Red Line at Fullerton, each about a mile west. Bike racks sit near the East, West, North and Café Brauer gates. Rideshare pickups and drop-offs go to the West Gate, near Stockton Drive and Webster Avenue. Zoo members get discounted or free parking depending on their level, along with two to eight free Fixed Date ZooLights tickets.

The free Monday tickets for November 23 come out on November 16 at 11 a.m. Central, so set that reminder now.

If you love having the zoo and the Conservatory within walking distance and you're thinking about what your next Lincoln Park home could look like, from a rental near Stockton Drive to a first purchase on a side street off Clark, Quentin Green and The Green Team would be glad to help you think it through. Let's Connect.