Cape May MAC has posted the 2026 property lists for the Christmas Candlelight House Tour. Across the three Saturdays, 25 homes, inns, churches and public buildings take part. Seven of them open all three nights. The other 18 open on one or two nights only. A December 12 ticket gets you inside Cape May Convention Hall and The Queen Victoria, and a December 19 ticket gets you into The Wilbraham Mansion. No single night includes all three.
The basics haven't changed from 2025. Each tour runs 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. Adult tickets are $45 and tickets for children ages 3 to 12 are $30, the same prices MAC charged last year. The format hasn't changed either. It is a self-guided walk through a three-quarter-square-mile area of the Historic District, and it is MAC's largest fundraiser of the year. What makes each night different is the list of properties on it.
Seven Doors Open Every Night
Seven properties appear on all three Saturday lists.
- The Emlen Physick Estate
- The Angel of the Sea
- The Bedford Inn
- The Mainstay Inn
- Historic Macedonia Baptist Church
- The J. Stratton Ware House
- 931 Beach Guest House
The Physick Estate is also where every ticket holder has to stop first. MAC hands out maps and wristbands from its Hill House business office at 1048 Washington Street. Pickup hours are 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on the Friday before each tour and 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. on the Saturday of the tour. You need both before you can walk the route.
These seven stops are the same whichever night you choose. The other 18 are what make one Saturday different from the next.
What Changes From Saturday to Saturday
Four properties open on two of the three nights. The Mason Cottage opens December 5 and 12. The Episcopal Church of the Advent and Madison Resorts open December 5 and 19. Cape May Presbyterian Church opens December 12 and 19. The rest open on a single night, as the table below shows.
| Saturday | Total stops | Only on this night |
|---|---|---|
| December 5 | 14 | The Abbey, Cape May Stage, Franklin's Key, 721 Franklin |
| December 12 | 13 | Cape May Convention Hall, The Queen Victoria, Cape Island Baptist Church, The Kurtz Residence |
| December 19 | 16 | The Wilbraham Mansion, Cape May United Methodist Church, The Humphrey Hughes House, The Judson Bennett House, The Ruthe Anderson House, 25 Ocean Street |
December 19 has the most stops at 16, and 6 of them open on no other night. That is the highest count on any Saturday of properties you can't see later. If you've done the tour in past years and want to see the most places you haven't been inside, the last Saturday has the most of them.
December 12 includes two of the town's public and commercial buildings. Cape May Convention Hall opens only that night, and so does The Queen Victoria. It is also the smallest list, with 13 stops. A smaller list means more time at each door within the same three hours.
December 5 pairs a theater with private homes. Cape May Stage opens alongside The Abbey, Franklin's Key and 721 Franklin, and none of those four appears on another night's list.
A couple can pick two Saturdays and avoid most repeats. December 5 and December 19 together cover 21 of the 25 properties. The four they miss are the December 12-only stops: Convention Hall, The Queen Victoria, Cape Island Baptist Church and the Kurtz Residence. In that combination, only the seven every-night stops plus the Church of the Advent and Madison Resorts would repeat.
Planning a Walk With No Trolley
How the tour gets you between stops is a holdover from earlier years. MAC's 2026 dinner-package listing says "trolley shuttles will not be offered as in years past." Instead, an express shuttle runs between the Physick Estate and the one or two farthest stops on the route. That arrangement isn't new. MAC's October 2025 release described the same express shuttle and noted it had run that way in 2024.
So you spend most of the night on foot. MAC says most properties sit within a 20-minute walk of each other in the Historic District, and some are only a few minutes apart. Its advice for the evening is comfortable walking shoes and layers. Last year's release also suggested bringing a flashlight.
Because the route changes each Saturday, the walk changes too. Here is a practical order for the night:
- Pick up your wristband and map on Friday, between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., so you can mark your route before Saturday.
- Visit the night-only properties first. On December 19, that's six stops you won't get another chance at this year.
- Leave the seven every-night stops, including the Physick Estate, for later in the evening. If the clock runs out, you can see them on another Saturday.
- Take the express shuttle to the farthest point. If you start at the Physick Estate, ride out and walk back toward the center.
The Physick Estate visit includes more than the house. In 2025, the Candlelight ticket also covered the "An Old-Fashioned Christmas" exhibit in the Carroll Gallery in the Carriage House. The exhibit features a Department 56 Dickens Village, model trains and a giant tree, and it has a drop-off spot for letters to Santa.
The Washington Inn Becomes MAC's Dinner Partner
The real change for 2026 is a dinner package. MAC has partnered with The Washington Inn on a three-course dinner of appetizer, entrée and dessert, served at 4 p.m. before the 5:30 tour. An optional wine pairing is available, and gratuity isn't included. The package was offered on December 12 and 19 only, and as of late October both dates were sold out.
With both dates already gone before November, if you're planning dinner before or after a December Saturday walk, book early.
The Washington Inn partnership also covers two of MAC's smaller holiday tours, each marked "NEW" on the Christmas in Cape May page.
- Holiday Inns Tour and Dinner, $85: an afternoon visit to three or more decorated bed and breakfast inns and private homes from 1 to 3:30 p.m., then dinner at 4. Tour-only tickets are $25 for adults and $15 for children.
- Lamplighter Christmas Walking Tour and Dinner, $95: dinner at 4, then a self-guided evening walk through decorated inns and homes from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Tour-only tickets are $35 for adults and $25 for children.
Dates for both are listed on MAC's ticket portal. If the Candlelight dinners are gone, the Lamplighter package is the closest substitute: the same 4 p.m. dinner followed by a shorter evening tour of decorated interiors.
Before December 5: The Tree Lighting on November 21
The season starts two weeks before the first Candlelight Saturday. The Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony at the Physick Estate is Saturday, November 21. A craft show opens at 4 p.m. The John Walter Community Band plays a free concert at 5:30, and Santa lights the tree at 7.
That evening, the first floor of the Physick House is open for free self-guided tours from 5 to 8 p.m. The "An Old-Fashioned Christmas" exhibit is open free from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. It's the year's only free look at the house that anchors all three Candlelight nights.
Between the Saturdays and After Them
MAC's trolley rides run during the weeks around the tour, and they leave from the Physick Estate, the Ocean Street trolley stop or, on one Saturday, the Washington Street Mall Information Booth.
- Santa's Trolley Ride, $22 adult, $15 child: Mrs. Claus leads songs and stories, and Santa joins at the Gazebo on the Physick Estate grounds. The ride starts and ends at the Physick Estate, where parking is free. The exception is the Saturday of Holiday Preview Weekend, when it leaves from the Washington Street Mall Information Booth.
- Holiday Lights Trolley Ride: a 30-minute evening ride on an open-air trolley past decorated homes. It starts at the Ocean Street trolley stop.
- Spirited Cape May Christmas Trolley Ride, $20 adult, $15 child: an evening ride with stories of past Cape May Christmases and the ghost sightings staff have recorded at the Physick House. It leaves from Ocean Street.
- All That Glitters Trolley Tour, $20 adult, $15 child: a ride about how Cape Island's late-Victorian residents celebrated the new year. It also leaves from Ocean Street.
MAC notes that these rides have limited availability, especially on weekends.
The season wraps up with a free event the day after Christmas. Classical Cape May hosts a Christmas Hymn Sing-Along on Saturday, December 26, at 4 p.m. at the Episcopal Church of the Advent, at Franklin and Washington streets. The program runs about an hour and is followed by a reception with the performers. The church is also on the December 5 and December 19 Candlelight lists, so some tour-goers will have already been inside.
Advance purchase is strongly recommended for all three Candlelight Saturdays. Tickets are sold through Cape May MAC's Candlelight House Tour page.
Inside these Historic District houses you'll see decades of restoration work: millwork, mantels, staircases and plaster that owners have kept up through many winters at the shore. Greg Davis spent more than 20 years in construction and environmental consulting before real estate, and he knows what goes into keeping a Victorian in that condition. If you own a home in Cape May's Historic District and want an honest read on how its condition and details would land with today's buyers, Greg Davis Luxury Homes is glad to walk through it with you. Schedule a Consultation.
