About · Truckee, CA
Truckee’s community map of Halloween houses and Christmas lights
Truckee Lights is a free map of the best decorated houses in Truckee, California, added by neighbors. Right now it’s Truckee Frights: find the spookiest Halloween houses and plan a trick-or-treat route. Right now it’s Truckee Lights: find the brightest Christmas lights and plan a holiday light tour.
The story
It started in the winter of 2024 as a simple map of Christmas lights in Truckee, so families could find the best-lit houses without driving every street in the snow. Neighbors added a few dozen houses that first season.
In 2026 it came back rebuilt, with two seasons. In the fall it’s Truckee Frights, for Halloween houses, haunted yards, and trick-or-treat streets. After Halloween it becomes Truckee Lights, for Christmas lights and holiday light tours.
How it works
- Add a house in seconds. Tap Add a house and search for the address, or tap the spot on the map and confirm the pin. No account needed.
- Browse the map or the list. Tap a pin to see the house and its photos, then get directions.
- Share the photos. Anyone can add a few photos of a house. They appear after a quick review.
- A fresh map each season. Halloween and Christmas each start a new map, so every pin is current.
The map covers Truckee and nearby: Donner Lake, Tahoe Donner, Glenshire, Northstar, Serene Lakes, Tahoe City, and Kings Beach.
Questions
Is Truckee Lights free?
Yes. The map is free to use and free to add to. It is a volunteer community project with no ads.
Do I need an account to add a house?
No. There is no sign-up, and we never ask for your name, email, or phone number. A quick, automatic bot check keeps spam out.
Which houses can I add?
Any decorated house in the Truckee area, including Donner Lake, Tahoe Donner, Glenshire, Northstar, Serene Lakes, Tahoe City, and Kings Beach. It can be your own house or one you enjoyed driving past. Each address appears once per season.
When do the Halloween and Christmas maps run?
In the fall the site is Truckee Frights, a map of Halloween houses for trick-or-treating. After Halloween it becomes Truckee Lights, a map of Christmas lights for a holiday light tour. Each season starts a fresh map.
How do photos work?
Anyone can add a few photos of a house on the map. Photos stay hidden until a volunteer reviews them, and location data is removed from each photo before it is stored.
How do I remove my house from the map?
Open a short removal request on GitHub with the street address and we will take it down. You only need a free GitHub account. Please do not include your name or other personal details. Request a removal
What data does the site keep?
The map stores the street address and map location of each house, and any photos that pass review. Your browser gets an anonymous session so we can limit spam, and it remembers the last season you saw so the colors load right. There are no ads and no tracking or analytics scripts. The map itself is provided by Google Maps.
Who runs it, and can I help?
Truckee Lights is run by volunteers in Truckee, and the code is open source under the MIT license. Bug reports, ideas, and pull requests are welcome. See the code on GitHub
Truckee sits on the ancestral homeland of the Washoe (Wašiw) people.