Orchard Road Christmas light-up returns with Marvel installation, giant Merli and expanded carnival

SINGAPORE – The annual Christmas light-up returns to Orchard Road with new attractions, including a Marvel-themed installation, LEGO Santa’s Toy Factory and a bigger carnival. Tourists can also enjoy a new pass offering hotel discounts, shopping and dining vouchers.

Now in its 43rd year, the festive tradition kicks off on Nov 17, 2026, and ends on Jan 3, 2027, under the theme “Season of Golden Joy”. 

A 3.1km stretch of Orchard Road – from Tanglin Road to Dhoby Ghaut – will be illuminated with vine-inspired decorations featuring Christmas trees and mistletoe motifs in three shades of gold.

Visitors can experience the light-up across three zones: Zone 1 around Tanglin, Zone 2 around the Orchard Road-Bideford Road junction, and Zone 3 stretching from the Somerset and Cairnhill road junctions towards Dhoby Ghaut.

The light-up will also feature a towering arch that spans the street, welcoming shoppers into the heart of the festive celebrations.

Marvel’s Avengers: Doomsday experience

Anchoring the plaza at Ngee Ann City is a 13m-tall Christmas tree inside an immersive Avengers: Doomsday installation. 

Ahead of the movie’s release in December, fans can step into the world of their favourite superheroes, with characters from the Avengers, X-Men and Fantastic Four brought to life through figures – including a life-size Doctor Doom – alongside experiential booths and photo opportunities. 

Visitors can also collect stamps along a Marvel Christmas trail or present movie ticket stubs to redeem exclusive Avengers: Doomsday premiums. 

LEGO Santa’s Toy Factory

Right alongside the village, LEGO will debut Singapore’s first Santa’s Toy Factory.

Designed as an interactive festive playground, the attraction invites children aged four to 12 to take on hands-on workshop tasks with a personalised Factory Mission Badge. They can decorate LEGO festive treats at Gingerbread’s Bakery, sort bricks at Santa’s Sorting Station, and fulfil orders at Yeti’s Order Station. 

Those who successfully complete the missions will receive a free LEGO Make & Take mini-build and a voucher. 

Families can also look forward to scheduled appearances by the LEGO Santa mascot and Santa’s Holiday Gift Drop, where lucky participants stand a chance to take home LEGO sets worth up to $200.

The Great Christmas Village, spread across Ngee Ann City and Shaw House, will feature an expanded line-up of 50 carnival game booths, rides and activity stations – including a whimsical water ride called the River Duck Ride where children can float along a track aboard colourful duck boats – as well as local and international food and beverage pop-ups such as CHAGEE and Birds of Paradise.

Festive photo spots

Adding to the festive atmosphere, five designated photo installations will be placed at key locations across the three zones, giving visitors more opportunities to capture memories.

Visitors can also pose with The Golden Christmas Tree outside Mandarin Gallery, while the romantic Meet Me Under The Mistletoe installation stands outside Ngee Ann City.

Further along Orchard Road, the Gateway to Golden Joy and A Golden Christmas Moment installations outside ION Orchard are complemented by an accessible Mini Arch for festive snapshots.

At Shaw House, visitors can walk up the beautifully illuminated Steps of Golden Joy.

Giant Christmas Merli

Also adding to the festive atmosphere is a glowing, 6.2m-tall inflatable Christmas Merli perched on the garden rooftop of Shaw House.

Orchard Road Business Association (ORBA) chairman Mark Shaw said the installation is intended to create “an element of surprise for visitors and pave the way for more large-scale installations along Orchard Road in the near future”.

New Orchard Road Tourist Pass

International travellers can also benefit from the inaugural Orchard Road Tourist Pass, which offers $60 in vouchers, $30 worth of Kiztopia carnival credits and an exclusive foldable tote. 

Tourists can qualify for the pass by either booking a stay of at least three nights at one of five participating hotels using Mastercard – COMO Metropolitan Singapore, Goodwood Park Hotel, Mercure Singapore on Stevens, Novotel Singapore on Stevens and Shangri-La Singapore – or spending $1,000 at participating establishments.

The celebrations also include the Great Christmas Eve Street Party on Dec 24, headlined by Benjamin Kheng, who will lead the crowd in the countdown to midnight alongside performers DJ Tinc, Maia Lee, Sambiesta and Waymakers.

Beyond the festivities, the event will continue its sustainability efforts by recycling, reusing and repurposing festive decorations from previous years, including donating last year’s lights to the animal-assisted learning charity EQUAL. 

ORBA will extend the celebrations to the wider community by organising open-top bus tours for migrant workers and festive gatherings at Fei Yue Active Ageing Centres. It will also raise funds for more than 300 social service programmes supported by Community Chest. 

“Christmas is a time for people to come together. This year, Orchard Road’s Great Christmas Village will be bigger and brighter, with a festive programme for families, visitors and travellers from around the world to enjoy,” said Shaw.