Hanukkah in Miami Guide

Last reviewed: November 1, 2026. Sources for this page are listed in its fact sheet.

Short answer first. Hanukkah in 2026 begins at sundown on Friday, December 4 and ends at nightfall on Saturday, December 12. Miami marks it the way Miami marks everything: outdoors, after dark, in short sleeves. One public menorah lighting is already confirmed with a time and an address, the Doral lighting on Sunday, December 6, and most synagogue and Chabad center lightings publish their times in late November, so this guide gives you the confirmed events, the night by night frame to hang them on, and the exact places to check as the rest announce. Book the hotel now; Hanukkah's first night is also Art Basel's opening day, and that weekend is the tightest of the Miami year.

A lit hanukkiah, the nine branched menorah at the center of the eight nights. Stock photo: Pexels.

The eight nights, day by day

The dates below are the Hebrew calendar dates for 5787, from Hebcal: the festival runs from 25 Kislev to 2 Tevet. Because a Jewish festival day begins the evening before, the first candle is lit on Friday evening, December 4, and the eighth and last candle on Friday evening, December 11.

Night 1, Friday, December 4. The first candle is lit before sundown, ahead of the Shabbat candles, because the night is also the start of Shabbat. In Miami it is also the first public day of Art Basel, so a family splitting its loyalties can do the fair by day and the lighting before dark. Our Art Week fair planner maps that weekend.

Night 2, Saturday, December 5. The second candle is lit at nightfall, after Shabbat ends. This is the night community celebrations favor, once the Sabbath restrictions lift at dark.

Night 3, Sunday, December 6. The confirmed public lighting of the season so far: Miami International Mall in Doral hosts a menorah lighting from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m., near the Crocs store, led by Rabbi Avrohom Brashevitzky of the Chabad Jewish Center of Doral, with music and treats, free and open to the public. The mall is at 1455 NW 107th Avenue, Doral, which makes it the natural lighting for families staying near the airport or in Doral itself.

Nights 4 to 7, Monday, December 7 to Thursday, December 10. The midweek nights are when individual Chabad centers, synagogues, and Jewish community centers across Miami-Dade hold their own lightings, concerts, and latke events. As of November 1, most of those 2026 times are not yet published; they land through November on each center's own site and on the Greater Miami Jewish Federation's community calendar at jewishmiami.org. Pick your neighborhood first, then check its center.

Night 8, Friday, December 11. The eighth candle is lit before sundown, again ahead of the Shabbat candles. All nine branches of the hanukkiah, including the helper candle, burn together on the last night.

Saturday, December 12. The festival ends at nightfall. The holiday season does not: the two events below carry the week after it.

Two December dates after the festival

Kosher Food and Wine Miami, Wednesday, December 16. WIZO's kosher food and wine night returns to the JW Marriott Miami Turnberry in Aventura on December 16, 2026, listed on the Jewish Federation's community calendar with more than 400 kosher wines and dishes from 40 culinary presenters. It is a ticketed charity evening, and it is the food event of Miami's Jewish December. Confirm ticket details on the Federation calendar listing before you plan around it.

Matisyahu at the Miami Beach Bandshell, Saturday, December 19. A week after the festival closes, Matisyahu brings his Festival of Light tour to the open air Bandshell at 7275 Collins Avenue in North Beach on Saturday, December 19, 2026, at 7:30 p.m., with doors at 6:30 p.m. It is his third consecutive December at the Bandshell and the tour's 21st year. The show is billed as a holiday season concert, not a Hanukkah night event, and tickets are sold through the Bandshell's own site; resale listings showed conflicting prices when checked, so buy from the venue and check the price there.

Where do you eat, and where do you stay?

Visitors who keep kosher usually base themselves where the kosher kitchens cluster: Aventura, Miami Beach, and Surfside and Bal Harbour, all of which support a kosher table without a cross county drive for every meal. Latkes and sufganiyot, the jelly filled doughnuts of the festival, appear on bakery counters across those neighborhoods through the eight nights. If you are here for the lightings rather than the table, the base question is simpler: Doral and the airport area for the December 6 lighting, North Beach for the Bandshell, and South Beach only if you are deliberately stacking Hanukkah onto Art Basel week, in which case book early and expect Art Week rates.

Check Miami hotel prices for Hanukkah week on Expedia

Our Bal Harbour and Surfside guide covers the northern base, the hotels hub compares the rest, and the Christmas in Miami guide covers the lights season that runs alongside Hanukkah all month, including Zoo Lights and the NightGarden, which make easy family nights between lightings.

Double decker tour bus. Photo: Abhishek Navlakha, Pexels.

Frequently asked questions

When is Hanukkah in 2026?
It begins at sundown on Friday, December 4, 2026 and ends at nightfall on Saturday, December 12, 2026. The first candle is lit on the evening of December 4, before the Shabbat candles.

Where is a public menorah lighting in Miami in 2026?
The confirmed one at publication is at Miami International Mall in Doral on Sunday, December 6, from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m., free and open to the public. More lightings across Miami-Dade announce through November on congregation and Chabad center sites and on the Federation calendar at jewishmiami.org.

Does Hanukkah overlap Art Basel?
Yes, in 2026 the first night, Friday, December 4, is Art Basel's first public day, and the festival's first weekend is Art Week's peak. Hotels price accordingly; book the room when you book the fair tickets.

What should a visitor do on the midweek nights?
Check the calendar of the Chabad center or synagogue nearest your hotel in late November, and fill the other evenings with the December lights season: Zoo Lights, the NightGarden at Fairchild, and Luminosa all run through Hanukkah week and are covered in our Christmas in Miami guide.

Keep planning

December in full is in Miami in December, the lights are in the Christmas in Miami guide, the same weekend's other giant is in the Art Week fair planner, and the month closes with the New Year's Eve guide.