SantaCon NYC 2026: Complete Guide, Map, Tickets & Route

SantaCon is New York's most divisive Saturday. If your group wants costumes, packed bars and an excuse to be ridiculous before noon, it's a great day out. If you want a quiet drink, a short line or a seat, it isn't, and no amount of planning changes that.

SantaCon NYC 2026 is Saturday, December 12, from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., in Midtown Manhattan. This is our complete guide and map to the day. The starting point and bar list haven't been released yet. They come out during event week, and we'll add them to the map and this guide as soon as they do.

Until then, the guide covers everything you can settle now: buying the right wristband, picking it up early, where to eat before a 9 a.m. start, how to get home and how to plan the day. If you'd rather steer clear of the whole thing, there's a section for that too.

Our pick for a first visit: Go for three or four hours with friends. Eat a real breakfast first, choose two or three bars close together once the list is out, and leave while it's still fun.

The map covers early wristband pickup, food and transport. The official bars and starting point will be added when the organizer releases them. Food and transit pins are our own picks, not event venues.

Nobody knows the 2026 route yet. The organizer keeps the bar list under wraps until event week, then sends it to ticket holders first and posts it on the official venue list page. Any site naming a start point or bars before then is recycling an old year.

We'll add the bars and the start point to the map above as soon as they're out.

Buy from santacon-nyc.com, which sends you to an Eventbrite listing titled "SANTACON 2026: NYC's Official Santacon!" by HO HO HOLDINGS. That's the event this guide covers. The older santacon.nyc site still shows up in searches, but 2026 updates are being posted at santacon-nyc.com.

Other promoters sell their own Santa bar crawls on the same day. Those tickets won't get you into this event's bars, so make sure everyone in the group buys from the same listing.

What the wristband gets you. Entry to the partner bars, and that's it. Drinks, food and tips are on you, and a wristband doesn't move you past a line. Wristbands run $15–$30 depending on when you buy, and there are no refunds, so settle the group's plan before anyone pays.

New management this year. SantaCon NYC is now run by HO HO HOLDINGS, and the organizer says the previous president is no longer involved in any way. The change follows federal wire fraud charges filed earlier this year against the former organizer, who allegedly diverted charity proceeds. The 2026 listing says proceeds will be donated to NYC charities but doesn't name them or say how much.

View official wristbands

When the list comes out. Pick two or three bars within a few blocks of each other and check which ones hand out wristbands. Give the group one exact address to meet at, plus a second bar to regroup at if the first is full. "Meet in Midtown" won't survive 10 a.m.

SantaCon starts at 9 a.m. and Midtown's slice shops don't open until 10 or later, so breakfast needs its own plan. These are our picks for useful locations and easy meals. None of them is an event venue. For more breakfast options, see our NYC bagels guide.

Midtown's three big hubs are all on the map. The trick with each is saying exactly where you'll meet.

Don't plan on drinking on the train. Open alcohol is never allowed on the subway or PATH. The LIRR and Metro-North normally allow it, but in most recent years the MTA has banned alcohol on trains and platforms for SantaCon weekend, and NJ TRANSIT has banned all drinks, water included. Nothing has been announced for 2026 yet. Expect something similar and check your railroad during event week.

If you're drinking, take the train, a taxi or a rideshare home. Set the pickup a block away from the bar door.

The best plan is one the group can still follow after everyone starts arriving at different times. Here's how we'd run the Saturday. Nobody needs to hit every stop for the day to count.

• Dress in layers. You'll be cold in line and hot inside. Wear shoes you can stand in all day, and skip anything you can't get out of quickly in a bar bathroom.
• Bring the basics. Physical ID, your ticket confirmation, a charged phone, a battery pack, a card and some cash. Don't count on a coat check.
• Split up big groups. Twelve Santas can't get into the same packed bar at once. Break into fours and pick a time and place to regroup.
• Stay where it's working. Every move means another line for the door, the bar and the bathroom. If the room is good, there's no prize for leaving.
• Use the bathroom before you leave a bar. The next one may not let you in just for that.
• Keep drinks inside. Open containers on the street are illegal, and the suit doesn't change that.
• Set a leaving time before you start. It's the easiest way to end the day on a good note.
• Ask ahead about access. If stairs or long stretches of standing are a problem, call the bars you're considering about entrances, seating and restrooms once the list is out.

If you're in the city on December 12 and want no part of it, you don't have to rearrange your whole day. The event is in Midtown from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., and the crowds gather at the participating bars and on the blocks around them.

Once the bar list is out, check it against your dinner, hotel and show. If a reservation sits next door to a listed bar, add travel time or ask the restaurant what its plan is for the day. Keep theater and attraction bookings. Just get to the area early.

The simplest move is to spend the afternoon somewhere else: a museum, a long lunch downtown or uptown, or a neighborhood well away from Midtown. Skip the idea of trading SantaCon for the Midtown holiday sights, though. Those are packed on a December Saturday with or without Santas.

For a holiday plan that isn't a bar crawl, try these:

• Best Christmas bars and holiday pop-ups in NYC, for a festive drink at your own pace
• Best Christmas shows in NYC, for an evening built around a performance
• Best Christmas markets in NYC, for shopping and a walk
• Best ice skating rinks in NYC, for something active
• Where to see Santa in NYC, for the kids' version of the day