VISTING NEW YORK CITY FOR THE HOLIDAYS
Hard core bucket list moment: Who among us hasn’t dreamed of visiting New York City from the time after the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade through the New Year? We took our two nieces to NYC to visit our son Seth, who is a junior at NYU. The main goal of our trip was to get them excited about college, to expose them to one of the greatest cities in the world, and to give them an experience of a lifetime. When we visited on the first weekend in December 2025, they were in 7th and 8th grades. Little legs for 25,000 steps a day! But they did it. We just had to be a little more planned out than normal.
WHERE WE STAYED IN NEW YORK CITY DURING THE HOLIDAYS
It’s extremely expensive this weekend - and all before Christmas. Many told us the first weekend in December is the busiest weekend of the year - so we ended up staying in Long Island City, Queens at Boro Hotel. We were in a 2 bedroom, 2 balcony room with a view of Manhattan - it was glorious. Now if you visited in March it would cost between $350-$400 a night for this configuration. Our stay was about double that. Yeah.
The location was excellent - as we hopped on a subway train that took us under the river and right to Rockefeller Plaza, Times Square, and Central Park. Super easy and fast.
BEST SPOTS TO VISIT IN NEW YORK CITY DURING THE HOLIDAYS
Macy’s Herald Square: the building looks amazing at night, there’s a holiday market in front and on the lower level of the store.
5th Avenue: Saks has awesome decorations, Bergdorf Goodman’s had windows we loved as well.
Christmas Markets: Bryant Park is the biggest one, it has an ice rink and it’s great to walk around. Union Square is more compact, but also quite nice. A lot of the markets are run by the same company and have the same vendors so there’s really no need to go to all of them.
Rockefeller Plaza: You want to see the tree. You will see the tree. Don’t sleep on the fact that there’s a lower level of restaurants and coffee shops and a great couple of spots to see the lower level ice rink. Everyone’s outside - not too many people were inside.
FAO Schwarz: The line is crazy to get in here, and it’s not as cool as the old store that was by the Apple Store on 5th Avenue, and yet. It’s Christmas. New York. How do you not? We lined up at 8:30am on a Sunday, store opened at 9am, there’s a cute ceremony at the front entrance, we got in the store at 9:25. IF you have a couple people in your group, you might want someone to get in the check-out line, as that took me another half hour because the store was so busy!
OTHER NEW YORK CITY TOURIST SPOTS WE VISITED
Statue of Liberty via the Staten Island Ferry: we took the ferry because it was free and you get great views of the Statue.
One World Trade Center: Going to the observation deck costs $49, but we bought tickets via Groupon and it was just $23. Well worth it - amazing views. You can skip the $20 iPad that has info on the buildings - just use google maps.
9/11 Memorial: The South Pool was being repaired but the North Pool had the endless waterfall flowing - this is so moving, it’s a must stop every time I visit NYC.
Times Square: Go at night and again during the day.
TKTS Half-Price Tickets to Broadway: even on this weekend the nieces and my sister got 50% off tickets to see Beetlejuice on Broadway. Half to buy in person - but you can see what they have online.
Strand Bookstore: Kids are blown away by this massive store - it’s so cool. Great gifts, great kids books, worth a visit.
SOHO: Just wandering around and shopping.
PLACES TO EAT
With kids, I really recommend planning out where you intend to eat. Getting food before you start the day is key, planning a lunch spot and dinner spot helps too, otherwise you get stuck in tourist hell with no real good options. We ate 3pm dinner Saturday at Carnegie Diner, which was fiiiine, but we needed to get food and we didn’t plan our day well.
Scarr’s Pizza: I’ve never had a better slice. You can make a reservation and dine in - my wife doesn’t like eating her slices in the street.
Utopia Bagels: there’s a location in LIC which was quite convenient for us, also a couple NYC spots.
Tompkins Square Bagels: Another favorite of mine.
GETTING AROUND NEW YORK DURING THE HOLIDAYS
We did the Subway. You tap and pay with your phone - and you can use your phone to pay for other riders AFTER you pay for yourself the first time. The bank has to approve your first payment, and then you can tap in others. You may need to go into your Wallet settings on your iPhone to allow Express Transit tapping - pick which credit card you want to use, and you don’t have to use Face ID to approve the transaction. TIPS via MTA online here. Each ride is $2.90.
