What does one adult pay for an evening on the ice at Downtown Park followed by a walk through Garden d'Lights? In December 2026 the answer can be $17 or $34, depending on the date.
The difference comes from how the Bellevue Downtown Ice Rink and the Bellevue Botanical Garden each set their prices for the season. This year both organizations put their lowest prices in the same short stretch of early December, and the rink raised its rate for winter break. Because of that, Bellevue's holiday season splits into a cheap fortnight and an expensive one.
The rink added a cheap night and raised its busiest weeks
The Bellevue Downtown Ice Rink, presented by Symetra and produced by the Bellevue Downtown Association, opened its 29th season at Downtown Park on November 13. It stays open daily through January 18, 2027, including Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's Day. The BDA describes a fully covered venue with more than 9,000 square feet of real ice that draws over 45,000 skaters a season.
The BDA's season announcement calls one thing new for 2026–27: "Cheapskate Mondays," with $12 admission on select Mondays, skate rental included. The Bellevue Beacon lists those Mondays as November 16 through December 14 and January 4 through 11. November 16 has already passed. That leaves six $12 Mondays: November 23 and 30, December 7 and 14, and January 4 and 11.
Here is the rest of the price sheet on the rink's admission page, skate rental included in every tier:
- Tuesday through Thursday: $16
- Friday through Sunday: $22, a rate that also covers November 25 and Thanksgiving Day
- Winter break, December 18 through January 3: $24 every day of the week, Mondays included
The winter-break tier is where this season costs more. The BDA's 2025 season announcement listed $22 for weekends and holidays, so the peak rate is up $2. The season pass was $169 last season and is $189 now. At the $16 midweek price, the pass pays for itself on roughly the twelfth visit.
The BDA also says walk-up admission is limited and suggests buying tickets in advance.
Garden d'Lights put its discount in the same two weeks
Across town at 12001 Main Street, Garden d'Lights opens its 32nd year on Saturday, November 28. Over half a million lights shaped into plants, birds, animals and waterfalls fill the Bellevue Botanical Garden.
General admission is $10 for ages 11 and older, and children 10 and under are always free. The garden's discount arrives as "special $5 nights" on Monday through Thursday of the first two weeks, November 30 to December 3 and December 7 to 10.
Those are the same weeks the rink is running $12 Mondays. On November 30 and December 7, both discounts land on the same night.
The cheaper nights are also shorter. On a $5 night, last entry is 8 p.m. and the lights go off at 8:30. On general admission nights, last entry is 9 p.m. and lights out is 9:30. Tuesday, December 8 falls in the discount week and is the garden's sensory-friendly night. All the lights stay on, there is no live music, and attendance is capped at 200 guests per half-hour. Tickets are required.
The run is a little longer this year, too. The City of Bellevue's 2025 announcement listed November 29 through December 31. The 2026 run starts a day earlier and continues through Sunday, January 3, 2027. It stays open on Christmas Eve, New Year's Eve and New Year's Day and closes on Christmas Day. The garden doesn't raise its price for those added January nights. At the rink, the same dates fall in the $24 tier.
What one adult pays, night by night
Put the two price sheets on one calendar and the pattern is easy to see. The figures below are for one adult doing a rink session and Garden d'Lights on the same date.
| Date | Rink | Garden d'Lights | Evening total |
|---|---|---|---|
| Monday, Nov. 30 or Dec. 7 | $12 | $5 | $17 |
| Tue.–Thu., Dec. 1–3 or Dec. 8–10 | $16 | $5 | $21 |
| Saturday, Dec. 5 | $22 | $10 | $32 |
| Monday, Dec. 14 | $12 | $10 | $22 |
| Saturday, Dec. 19 | $24 | $10 | $34 |
| Christmas Day | $24 | Closed | $24, rink only |
| Saturday, Jan. 2 | $24 | $10 | $34 |
From the start of December through the 10th, an adult pays somewhere between $17 and $21 for both outings on any Monday through Thursday. From December 18 through January 3, every night the garden is open costs $34. A family whose kids are 10 or younger skips the garden admission for them, so the rink becomes the bigger share of the bill. That shifts the advantage even more toward the $12 Mondays.
The rink is also the only one of the two that is open on December 25. A skate is the one ticketed choice on this calendar for that day.
The free nights fill in the expensive weekends
Two of Bellevue's best-known holiday traditions cost nothing, and both fall on nights when the ticketed ones are at their priciest.
Snowflake Lane opens its 22nd season on Friday, November 27, the day after Thanksgiving. It runs every night at 7 p.m. through Thursday, December 24, along the route between Bellevue Square and Lincoln Square from NE 4th Street to NE 8th Street. According to the Bellevue Beacon, nearly 180 characters appear each night, most of the dancers and performers are students, and parking is free in Bellevue Collection garages. The Bellevue Collection puts the 28-night season at close to 400,000 guests, with more than 55 snow machines running nightly.
The rink sits one block south of Bellevue Square, at NE 1st Street and 100th Avenue NE. So on November 30, December 7 or December 14, a $12 skate and the free 7 p.m. parade make a full downtown evening for $12 a person.
Holiday Barn Lighting at Kelsey Creek Farm, 410 130th Place SE, takes place on Saturday, December 5, from 5 to 6:30 p.m. Admission, parking and many activities are free, though tickets for some activities are sold on-site. The evening includes carols, sheep dressed in lights, a visit from Santa and a countdown to the barn lights. It is also the one night a year visitors can go inside the barn to watch the animals eat dinner. That Saturday the rink charges its $22 weekend rate and Garden d'Lights is on general admission. The barn lighting is the free option on an otherwise full-price weekend.
November 27 is the most crowded night on the calendar
Several of the season's openers fall on the Friday after Thanksgiving. Snowflake Lane's first parade starts at 7 p.m. After it, the Wintergarden Tree Lighting at Bellevue Place has Santa counting down to a 30-foot tree, with music, cocoa and cookies. That evening, KidsQuest Children's Museum is also holding its Nutcracker Gingerbread Workshop from 5 to 7 p.m., with excerpts performed by Flight Feathers Ballet. Tickets are $52 per individual, covering a gingerbread house and the performance, $16 for each additional guest, or $450 for a VIP table of up to 10. The rink is on its $22 weekend rate that night, and Garden d'Lights opens the following evening.
The weeks right after that opener hold the most programming in downtown Bellevue's season. The Bellevue Collection lists school choirs and orchestras performing at Bellevue Square Center Court on December 1 through 4 and December 7 through 11. Its "Season of Celebrations," a 20-foot immersive display about celebrations around the world, runs December 3 through 24. Those dates fall almost entirely within the rink's $12 Mondays and the garden's $5 weeknights.
January keeps the rink and its cheap Mondays
Garden d'Lights shuts off after January 3 and Snowflake Lane ends on Christmas Eve, but the rink keeps going. Starting January 4, prices drop back from the winter-break tier, and two more $12 Mondays fall on January 4 and January 11. The season closes on Monday, January 18, 2027.
A lot of Bellevue's holiday calendar comes down to which side of December 18 a date falls on. That is the kind of local timing Nick Loveless follows all year, from which weekends get crowded downtown to which streets stay quiet when Snowflake Lane is running. If you're considering a move within Bellevue and want to know how a particular block feels in December, Work With Nick.
