8 Best Winter Things to Do in New York City
New York in winter is really two different trips. December is the movie version: the tree, the windows, skaters under the skyscrapers, and more people than you thought could fit on a pavement. January and February are quieter, colder and much cheaper.
In this guide
Both are worth doing. Here are eight things that are at their best when it’s cold, plus a few honest tips for not hating the crowds.
1. See the Rockefeller Center tree
The tree goes up in November and is lit in a big televised ceremony around the start of December. It stays up until mid-January. Underneath it, the ice rink is the most famous in the world.
Here’s the thing: it’s mobbed. In December evenings, the police run one-way pedestrian lanes on the surrounding streets. Go early in the morning, around 7am, when the tree is still lit and you can actually get close. Skating at the rink is expensive and needs booking, so consider it a once-in-a-lifetime treat rather than a casual plan.
2. Skate at Bryant Park
If the Rockefeller rink is the famous one, Bryant Park is the better one. The Winter Village runs from late October to early March, and skating is free if you bring your own skates. Rentals are available for a fee.
Around the rink there’s a holiday market of glass kiosks selling gifts and food, plus a heated lodge with drinks overlooking the ice. The New York Public Library is right next door if you want to warm up in one of the most beautiful reading rooms in the world.
3. Walk the Fifth Avenue windows
The department store windows are a proper New York tradition. Saks Fifth Avenue does a light show on its facade with music every evening. Bergdorf Goodman’s windows are the most artistic, practically installations. Macy’s on 34th Street goes for nostalgia.
Walk from 59th Street down to 49th in the evening and you’ll catch most of them. It’s free. It’s also slow going in December, so be patient with the crowds.
4. The Dyker Heights Christmas lights
In a residential neighbourhood in southern Brooklyn, homeowners compete every December to out-decorate each other. The results are excessive: life-size nutcrackers, animated Santas, entire houses wrapped in thousands of bulbs.
The streets between 83rd and 86th, from 11th to 13th Avenue, are the core. Take the D train to 79th Street and walk. It’s best after dark from early December, and weekdays are calmer than weekends.
5. Central Park after a snowfall
If you get lucky with snow, drop everything and go to Central Park the next morning. Bow Bridge, the Mall with its arching elms and the area around Bethesda Fountain look completely different under a fresh layer.
Get there early before it’s trampled. Sledding happens on Pilgrim Hill near East 72nd Street, and kids show up with anything that slides. Snow isn’t guaranteed. New York gets roughly 25 to 30 inches a winter on average, and some years much less.
6. See a Broadway show for less
Winter is when Broadway gets cheaper. NYC Broadway Week, usually in late January into February, offers two-for-one tickets on lots of shows. The TKTS booth in Times Square sells same-day tickets at a discount, and the lines are shorter in the cold.
The Radio City Christmas Spectacular with the Rockettes runs from November through early January. It’s pure camp, very festive, and honestly more fun than you expect.
▶ Watch This Before You Go
7. Spend a cold day in the Met
When it’s 25F and windy, the Metropolitan Museum of Art is the best place in the city to be. Two million square feet, five thousand years of art, and you won’t get through a quarter of it.
Pick two or three sections and leave the rest. The Temple of Dendur, the Arms and Armor galleries and the Impressionists are a good first visit. Admission is pay-what-you-wish for New York State residents and students from NY, NJ and CT; everyone else pays the full price. The rooftop is closed in winter.
8. Shop the holiday markets
Beyond Bryant Park, Union Square and Columbus Circle both host holiday markets from mid-November to Christmas Eve. They’re full of local crafts, ornaments and food, and they’re good places to grab a hot drink while you walk.
Union Square is the biggest and the most fun. Columbus Circle sits at the corner of Central Park, so you can combine it with a walk through the park.
A few honest tips
Skip Times Square on New Year’s Eve. People start queueing in the morning, get penned in, and can’t leave for food or bathrooms. Watch the fireworks from Prospect Park in Brooklyn or Central Park instead.
Hotel prices peak in the weeks before Christmas and crash after New Year. If you want the city without the crowds, go in the second half of January.
Dress in layers. You’ll be outside in the cold, then inside a heated shop or subway, then out again. A coat you can unzip helps.
Plan your day in clusters so you’re not crossing the city in the cold. Rockefeller Center, the Fifth Avenue windows and Bryant Park are all within ten minutes’ walk of each other, so do them together on one evening. The Met and a morning in Central Park make an easy pair on the Upper East Side. Dyker Heights is its own trip out to Brooklyn, so give it a full evening.
And use the subway. A taxi in December traffic is slower than walking, and the trains are warm.
Common questions
When is the best time to visit New York in winter?
Early December for the festive atmosphere, or mid-January to February for the cheapest prices and smallest crowds.
When is the Rockefeller tree up?
From the lighting in early December until mid-January.
Is it worth skating at Rockefeller Center?
Once, if you budget for it. Bryant Park is free with your own skates and less crowded.
Does New York get a lot of snow?
It varies. Some winters are snowy, some barely see any. January and February are the most likely months.
What should I wear?
A warm, windproof coat, a hat, gloves, comfortable waterproof shoes and layers underneath. You’ll walk a lot.
