Every December, someone in your group chat asks the same question: what is the best way to see the holiday lights in Minneapolis without freezing, driving, or fighting over the aux cord? The answer boards right here at the Charles S. Pillsbury Mansion. Minneapolis Trolley Tours’ Naughty or Nice holiday light rides depart from inside the Pillsbury Club — which means your Christmas lights trolley ride begins in a 1914 English Gothic Revival landmark, not a parking lot.

Naughty or Nice: two holiday lights trolley rides

The Nice ride (from $30) is the all-ages version: a 1.25-hour heated trolley tour of the city’s most extravagant displays, with a holiday market stop at the club, special child pricing, and a running vote where riders judge the best-decorated homes. The Naughty ride (from $75) is strictly 21+ and unapologetically BYOB — you pregame in the mansion, carry your drinks straight onto the trolley, and roll through the Twin Cities holiday lights with the music up. Same twinkle, very different energy.

Why boarding at a mansion beats a parking lot

Other BYOB holiday lights trolleys in town check you in at a downtown bar — which sounds festive until you’re dragging a cooler down an icy sidewalk and waiting for your ride in a lot. Here, the boarding lounge is the mansion itself. You arrive at the house Hewitt & Brown built for the flour fortune, warm up with the crowd inside, browse the holiday market, and step directly onto the heated trolley when it pulls up the drive. If you’ve read about where Minneapolis Trolley Tours depart from, you already know the club doubles as the trolley’s home station all year.

The best holiday lights in Minneapolis, from a warm seat

The route changes as the season’s best displays do, weaving through the neighborhoods that take December personally — grand old avenues, lake-adjacent blocks, and the over-the-top houses that make the local news. Meet Minneapolis keeps a running guide to the city’s seasonal happenings, and the Minneapolis Park & Recreation Board parks and parkways supply some of the prettiest backdrops of the ride. If you’re building a bigger winter itinerary, Explore Minnesota is the state’s official trip-planning source.

Make a whole evening of it

The ride is the centerpiece, but the mansion rewards lingering. Come early or stay late for a speakeasy-style night at the Pillsbury Club, with themed drinks poured in rooms the Pillsburys once called home. Turning it into a getaway? Book a room at 300 Clifton, the Eugene J. Carpenter Mansion bed & breakfast a few minutes away in Loring Park, or settle in longer at Oakland’s on 9th, downtown’s furnished extended-stay studios.

December dates sell out early — the trolley is small, the city is big, and everyone wants the same weekends. Reserve your Naughty or Nice holiday light ride now and spend the season glowing.