A December weekend in Upper Arlington: an hour-by-hour holiday itinerary
Illuminated storefronts and bare trees on a cold December evening in Upper Arlington
Two and a half days built around 40-degree afternoons, a 5.10pm sunset and exactly one big light display, with three lodging bands at the end of each night.
What December here actually gives you
Central Ohio in December averages daytime highs around 40F and overnight lows near 27F, with sunset at roughly 5.10pm in the second half of the month. Columbus records something in the region of 20 inches of snow across a full winter, most of it in January and February, so a December weekend is far more likely to be grey and damp than white. Plan for cold rain, budget for one genuinely raw afternoon, and treat any snow as a bonus rather than the point of the trip.
That combination shapes the itinerary. Outdoor plans go in the middle of the day, between about 10am and 3pm. The evening is for indoor warmth or for lights, which are the one thing the short day improves — a display that opens at 5pm is fully dark by the time you arrive. The other December fact worth knowing is that Upper Arlington's own commercial strips are small and quiet: Tremont Center, the Mallway and Kingsdale close early, so evening energy comes from Grandview, the Short North and German Village.
Friday, 4pm to 10pm: arrive slow
Check in by four and walk, not drive, for the first hour. The Mallway on Arlington Avenue is the closest thing the city has to an old-fashioned commercial block and it strings lights along the storefronts and through Mallway Park. Upper Arlington also runs a community tree-lighting evening in early December — the date moves year to year, so check the city's parks and recreation calendar rather than assuming. If it lands on your Friday, go: it is a genuinely local event, heavy on high-school choirs, and it takes 40 minutes.
At six, drive five minutes to Tremont Center. Huffman's Market has been the neighbourhood grocer here for generations and does sandwiches and prepared food if you want an easy first night; the Goodie Shop next door is a doughnut institution but keeps daytime hours, so make it a Saturday plan instead. For a proper dinner, West Lane Avenue is the reliable strip, with sit-down places in the $25 to $40 per head range. Be back by nine. Saturday starts early and December mornings resist getting out of bed.
Saturday, 8am to 1pm: doughnuts, a cold walk and a market
Start at the Goodie Shop at Tremont Center by 8.30. It is a small counter operation, it sells out of the good things, and a box of six costs less than a hotel breakfast. Take them to Northam Park or Fancyburg Park and eat in the car if the wind is up. Then walk 40 minutes somewhere with structure to look at: Smith Nature Park's short trails, or the ravine streets off Cambridge Boulevard, where 1920s Tudor Revival houses with steep slate roofs look considerably better in bare-branch December than in July.
At 11, drive to Griggs Reservoir Park on Riverside Drive for twenty minutes on the water's edge. In a cold snap the shallow margins ice over and the herons stand on it, which is worth the numb fingers. Then warm up at the Giant Eagle Market District at Kingsdale, an unlikely but genuinely good indoor hour with a large prepared-food hall, or at Whole Foods on West Lane Avenue. Buy lunch there rather than sitting down somewhere: you want the afternoon and the wallet intact for the light display.
Saturday, 1pm to 6pm: pick one light display, not three
Columbus offers two major seasonal displays and trying to do both in a weekend is a mistake. The Columbus Zoo and Aquarium in Powell, about 25 minutes northwest of Upper Arlington, runs Wildlights from mid-November into early January across the whole zoo footprint — huge, cold, walkable and best for families with children under twelve. Franklin Park Conservatory, 20 minutes east, runs Conservatory Aglow in its glasshouses and gardens, which is warmer, shorter, more design-led and better with teenagers or adults. Both use timed tickets that sell out on December weekends; book online days ahead and verify dates and prices with each venue.
Whichever you choose, arrive for the earliest evening entry rather than 7pm. Crowds thin, parking is closer and the transition from dusk to full dark inside the display is the best part. If you have children who need to move, add an hour of open skate beforehand: the seasonal outdoor rink at Columbus Commons downtown and the year-round Chiller rinks in Dublin and elsewhere both take walk-ups, though session times vary and skate rental is extra. Confirm the schedule with the operator on the day.
Saturday, 6pm to 10pm: dinner where the evening exists
Upper Arlington's kitchens are family-timed and quiet by nine, so push the evening outward. Grandview Avenue is the closest option at eight minutes: Spagio has been on that strip for decades and does a proper winter menu, and there are a dozen smaller rooms within three blocks. Book by Wednesday for a December Saturday. Expect $30 to $50 a head with a drink. Park on the street or in the Grandview Yard garages, which are free or cheap in the evening.
If you want more, drive 15 minutes to the Short North, where High Street stays lit and busy until late and the December sidewalk crowd is the strongest street life in the city. It is also where you will find dessert after nine, which Upper Arlington cannot reliably supply. Skip Easton in December unless shopping is the actual goal: it is a 25-minute drive, the parking decks back up badly on the middle three weekends of the month and nothing there is specific to this trip.
Sunday, 9am to 4pm: German Village and the slow exit
Sunday is for brick. German Village, 20 minutes southeast of Upper Arlington, is a preserved 19th-century neighbourhood of brick streets and small houses built by German settlers, and it handles December better than anywhere else in the city — wreaths on every door, gas-style lamps, Schiller Park empty and quiet. Park on a side street, walk for an hour, then spend 45 minutes in the Book Loft, a 32-room bookshop in a pre-Civil-War building where the rooms get progressively stranger. Lunch at Katzinger's for a very large deli sandwich, or Schmidt's for sausage and cream puffs.
The neighbourhood also runs Village Lights, an evening of luminaries along the brick streets, usually on an early-December Sunday — check the German Village Society for the date, because if your weekend coincides you should rearrange everything around it. Otherwise, drive home via downtown for a look at the riverfront and be back in Upper Arlington by mid-afternoon. If the weather has collapsed, substitute COSI on the downtown riverfront, where adult admission runs somewhere in the mid-$20s to around $30; verify before you go.
Where to sleep, what to skip, and the practical cold-weather points
Both nights in one bed. The West Lane Avenue corridor keeps you closest to the Upper Arlington parts of this plan and typically runs $150 to $260 in December, when there is no football demand and rates soften. Grandview Yard at $140 to $220 puts you a walk from Saturday dinner, which in December is worth more than it sounds. Downtown and Short North hotels at $180 to $320 make the Sunday German Village morning easier and the Saturday night later. The Worthington, Hilliard and airport chains at $95 to $150 are fine if you accept a 20-minute drive to everything.
Three practical notes. Roads here are salted heavily and reliably; a rental car will finish the weekend filthy and that is normal. Street parking in Upper Arlington is unrestricted in most residential areas but do not block driveways during snow, when plough banks narrow the streets. And skip any plan that depends on the parks after 5pm: Upper Arlington's park facilities close at dusk, the reservoir path is unlit, and there is no evening outdoor attraction inside the city itself. The lights are all elsewhere, which is why the car matters.
Before you book
What people ask before booking Upper Arlington.
Probably not enough to matter. Columbus averages roughly 20 inches across a whole winter, with January and February taking most of it. A December weekend is likelier to bring grey skies, drizzle and highs near 40F. Pack a waterproof shell and warm boots rather than snow gear, and treat any real snowfall as luck.
Families with young children should choose Wildlights at the Columbus Zoo in Powell for scale and animals; adults and teenagers get more from Conservatory Aglow at Franklin Park Conservatory, which is indoors and warm for much of the route. Both run timed tickets that sell out on December weekends, so book several days ahead.
Very little. The Tremont Center, Mallway and Kingsdale businesses keep short Sunday hours and most kitchens in the city stop serving early. Plan Sunday dinner in Grandview Heights, the Short North or German Village, or buy prepared food from the Kingsdale Market District in the afternoon and eat at the hotel.
