The date and the clock
ZooLights runs Nov. 20, 2026 through Jan. 3, 2027 at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo in Washington. Gates open at 5 p.m. Closing time is 9 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 8 p.m. on Sunday. Last entry falls 30 minutes before close, so the last admittance on a Sunday is 7:30 p.m.
Those hours set the length of the visit. A 7 p.m. arrival gives two hours on a Saturday and one on a Sunday.
The ticket carries a time
General admission is $10. The Zoo’s Terms of Sale bind each order to the stated visitors, date and time. Children 3 and older need a ticket. Children 2 and under enter free. The Zoo asks each party to enter together so staff can scan the group in one pass.
The Zoo states that tickets and parking passes tend to sell out, and asks visitors to buy both early.
Parking is a second purchase
A ZooLights Parking Pass costs $30 bought in advance and $40 on the day of the visit. The Zoo publishes the $10 saving for a pass bought online at least a day ahead.
At the gate a driver shows the pass or buys one from the attendant. Payment takes a credit card (American Express, Discover, Mastercard, Visa), Google Pay or Apple Pay. The Zoo accepts no cash. Parking spots sell out on busy nights.
Drivers enter at 3001 Connecticut Ave. NW. The Zoo bars visitor cars from Beach Drive. Visitors on foot use the main gate or the Harvard Street Bridge entrance.
The 48-hour exchange wall
ZooLights tickets are nonrefundable. The Zoo allows exchanges up to 48 hours before the event date, subject to availability, and does not guarantee one. Parking Passes carry the same terms, exchange online, and take no exchange inside 48 hours of the scheduled visit. Daytime and Member Parking Passes do not work for ZooLights.
Members exchange free or purchased Member Night tickets by email to the Zoo, also up to 48 hours before the original date. A membership reserves up to six free tickets for the two Member Nights.
Choose the night
Member Nights run Tuesday, Dec. 8 and Wednesday, Dec. 9, 5 to 9 p.m., with last entry at 8:30 p.m. Each membership holds up to six free tickets, and extra tickets cost $10 each. Members get after-hours access to selected animal houses.
Adults-Only Night runs Wednesday, Dec. 16, 5 to 9 p.m., at $19 a ticket for guests 21 and older, with one adult beverage included.
On other nights the animal houses stay closed and most outdoor animals rest. Animal lanterns run through ocean, desert, grassland, rainforest and polar habitats.
December adds dated programming. Carolers cross the grounds on Dec. 5, 12, 19 and 26, each night in the dress of a different decade. Holiday film-and-music trivia runs 60 minutes in two 30-minute segments in the Visitor Center Auditorium on Dec. 6, 13, 20, 21 and 22.
Add-ons at the gate
The winter maze, the National Zoo Choo Choo and the Conservation Carousel cost $6 each. Festive glasses cost $3, or $1 with an in-park attraction. Staff sell these on site, so they stay outside the advance order.
Groups and buses
A group order starts at 50 tickets. The Zoo books group nights first come, first served and publishes the open nights as a dated list. Bus parking costs $120 a bus, with a limit of two buses and 120 riders per order. Buses arrive between 5 and 7 p.m.
Book the room near a station
The Zoo sits north of the National Mall. Its main pedestrian entrance stands about halfway between the Woodley Park-Zoo/Adams Morgan and Cleveland Park stations, each about half a mile away. The walk from Woodley Park runs uphill, and the Zoo directs visitors with mobility issues to Cleveland Park.
A party booking 10 rooms or more sends one request through hotelhuddle. Submission costs nothing, the request reaches 50 or more hotels in the destination, and hotels return rate quotes in 24 to 72 hours. Hotels pay the platform’s commission on an accepted booking, and the guest pays no fee on top of the rate.
Two questions belong in writing with any shortlisted property: the walk time to 3001 Connecticut Ave. NW, and the last date the room cancels free of charge. The ticket freezes 48 hours out, so the room rate needs room to move after that date.