14 Places to Visit in New York in Winter Holidays

New York City is one of the best cities in the world! People visit here from all over the world. The city remains crowded with tourists throughout the year but Winter holidays have their own significance attracting the most and keeping New York streets packed for three to four weeks!

The weather during this season is cold and averages a maximum of 7℃ (44 F) and a minimum of 0℃ (32 F). Sometimes it can go down to -15℃ (5 F). So, if you are not carrying warm clothes to handle the weather, you might want to stay in your hotel room or buy some new ones! 

From the second week of December to New Year is the most happening time in this place. You can do lots of stuff like visiting attractions, shopping, enjoying the snow, partying, boozing, spending late nights at Times Square, ice skating, and many more! 

Its Christmas in New York!

During the holidays, the city is full of spark, energy, enthusiasm, and love! You will find all the stores decorated with beautiful fancy lights attracting the tourists! Most of the main attractions of the city are present in midtown Manhattan. It is possible that these days you may not get a space on the sidewalk and you have to walk on the road which is a bit dangerous too because of 🚖s!  I have visited three times around the holidays and each time I had an amazing experience! I just love walking in the streets of New York during the cold! If you are lucky, you will get a chance to enjoy the snowfall during your visit in the holidays!

The following are my favorite places in Manhattan during the Holiday season...

The one and only Times Square!

Located in the center of the midtown, Times Square is the "heart" of the city! This is everyone's first visited place on a trip to New York! This is the most lively place that never sleeps! Taking a picture on the stairs at Father Duffy Square and appearing on live TV streams is the dream of everyone!

Times Square, New York

If you are feeling cold, there are a couple of Starbucks coffee shops near Times Square where you can redeem your warmth with your favorite customized coffee! In case you are hungry, quick cheap and the best solution is to step into the McDonald's and get your beloved meals in almost no money!!

A snap with your Favorite Character

At Times Square, you will see lots of people in your favorite cartoon or comic book character's costumes. You can get a beautiful photo with them in just a few bucks and show off it to your friends and family! 😈

Photo with Mickey and Friends at Times Square

The Disney Store

So, now you are charged with an awesome coffee or a delicious burger, you have the energy to spend another couple of hours (if you love Disney) in the famous Disney Store. This place is full of beautiful gifts for your loving kids! You can get lots of Disney soft toys figures, beautiful princesses dress, toys, clothes, souvenirs, bags, and more stuff! Even if you are not planning to buy anything, you should visit the store at least to see the beautiful decorations of the holidays! I purchased a soft toy for my little cousin's sister!

Disney Store

The castle at Disney Store

Times Square Ball Drop

Once in a lifetime, you should see this event that happens on every New Year's Eve! The ball is located in Times Square and the event starts at 6 pm in the evening. If you want to be a part of the live audience, then you must visit as early as possible. If you are late, you will not get a place to stand near Times Square. The ball drop starts at 11:59 pm local time and it takes 60 seconds to descend 141 ft (43 m) to enter into the New Year! In the meantime, you can enjoy a lot of other events happening around you to keep your New Year spirit alive!

Watch the New Year 2019 Ball Drop at Times Square!

This place is highly crowded and sometimes people would wear adult diapers to hold on their Pee! You should carry some snacks and water or any other drinks with you to keep yourself hydrated!

Times Square Street Performers

There are multiple local groups of people performing in the streets of Times Square! It includes group dancing, amazing stunts, magic shows. It is very common on holidays. You will definitely find at least one group showing their skills nearby! They earn money by collecting the change from the spectators. If you find it entertaining, you should donate some! 

Check out this amazing performance below!

Rockefeller Center is the next Stop!

Named after John D. Rockefeller Jr. in the 1930s, Rockefeller Center with beautiful building - Rockefeller Plaza, Ice Skating Rink, and the "world-famous", one of the largest Christmas trees is the next most visited attraction in New York! The beautiful decorations in the area will attract you like a magnet and force you to visit this place. It is possible that you might not get a space to stand properly on Christmas Eve!

30 Rockefeller Plaza

It is 65 floors building in the center of the Rockefeller Center adding an enormous beauty to the place. The architecture of the building is memorizing and will stay with your memories forever! You must pay a visit to the famous "Top of the Rock" observation deck on the terrace of the 65th floor to see the Manhattan with your naked eyes! It is a bit colder up there so make sure you cover yourself properly.

30 Rockefeller Plaza on Christmas

If you want to sip a drink while watching the whole city, Bar SixtyFive is the best destination for you! You can reach the bar from the main building. I would suggest you to must visit this bar even if you are not planning to buy anything! Just go at the top, see the outside view, take some pictures and come back!

You can also hire a guide to know more about the history of this place! The guide will take you for the building tour and explain all the paintings and sculptures in detail. 

The Ice Skating Rink

Just in front of the Rockefeller Plaza and in the center of Rockefeller Center, you will see lots of tourists enjoying the fun of ice skating! Ice Skating rink just adds beauty to this place. You can also participate in the fun by paying a little cost for it! During summers, you can see lots of events happening in the rink area like - music shows, election-related events, and temporary open roof restaurants! There is a center masterpiece in the place - a statue of Paul Manship's Prometheus gives the royal effect to your skating experience!  

Ice Skating Rink, Rockefeller Center

Giant Christmas Tree

The "most" beautiful attraction of the Rockefeller Center is the Giant Christmas tree that is placed every year in front of the Rockefeller Plaza with height up to 100 feet! With hundreds of lights, this tree attracts you to take more and more pictures and spend your whole evening in the vicinity! Other musical events are organized on the Christmas Eve. If you want to be a part of it then make sure to visit early afternoon. The wait time in the queue can go up to 4 hours! 

Christmas Tree, Rockefeller Center

You will find lots of other types of attractive decorations in the area. Christmas Eve is the best time to visit this place!

Fifth Avenue

Fifth Avenue is the bride of Manhattan during the holiday season! It is decorated so beautifully that the place is compared to a marriage function! The fascinating stores on Fifth Avenue, adds the glory to the night!

You can start from Central Park walking down towards the Rockefeller Center. In the midway, you will witness the most beautifully decorated stores next to each other!

Starting from 58th Street, there are a lot of designer stores like Louis Vuitton, Gucci, Victoria's Secret and more! While wandering in this area, you must pay a visit to Trump Tower. The building is beautifully decorated during Christmas! You can go up to 5 floors of the building and enjoy a nice cup of coffee in an inside cafe!

Trump Tower, Fifth Avenue

The next stop on Fifth Avenue is the St. Patrick's Cathedral, an amazing example of architecture and history that starts in the 1800s!

St. Patrick's Cathedral on Christmas Eve

Saks Fifth Avenue is another main attraction of the street! It is a departmental store offering a variety of clothing and fashion of different brands! The store decoration is astonishing during the holidays attracting thousands of tourists per day! You should pay a visit even if you are not planning to purchase anything.

Fifth Avenue in Holidays

Avenue of the Americas (Sixth Avenue)

You will glance at many attractive lights and decorations while walking from Times Square to Rockefeller Center or Fifth Avenue, but I would suggest you come back here after you finish Fifth Avenue! 

The opposite side of the Rockefeller Plaza on Sixth Avenue has a fountain decorated with beautiful lights on trees branches and look-alike the enlarged version of the small bulbs! This is a perfect place to get some selfies and group photos! 

Avenue of the Americas (Sixth Avenue)

Bryant Park

If you move towards downtown on Sixth Avenue, you will reach to Bryank Park on 42nd Street, behind the New York Public Library! The trees at this place are full of lights! Sometimes, a small flea market is set up during the holidays where you can purchase cheap stuff! There is a skating rink in the Bryant park waiting for you to Rock n Roll! A lot of other events are also organized at Bryant Park during the holiday season - Ice rock sculptures competitions and more! 

Bryant Park, Sixth Avenue

Ice Sculpture Contest, Bryant Park

Macy's Store - Your Shopping Destination! 

If you are planning to buy lots of gifts for your friends and family, this is the one-stop destination for you! Macy's Sixth Avenue is one of the largest departmental stores in the world offering a large variety of clothing, fashion, and other general stores items! The place is so much big that it has its own cafeteria to have refreshments! You can spend one whole day in the store without even noticing the time. During the holidays, the store provides an enormous number of items on Sale which is good when you need gifts 😉!

Macy's, New York

I had done a lot of shopping from the store - perfume sets, smartwatches, t-shirts, luggage at a very cheap price! 

A Few Beautiful Houses at Macy's

The store is so prettily decorated that it has become an attraction to visit in New York during the holiday season! 

Chelsea Market - Eating, Shopping!

On Ninth Avenue, between 15th and 16th Streets, you will find this! It is a covered flea market with lots of beautiful shops to buy clothes, souvenirs, jewelry, spices and take away food! Many restaurants are offering delicious food of different cuisines - Mexican, American, Italian, Seafood, great coffee... It is a big market lies between 9th and 10th Avenue and takes around 1-2 hours to finish the tour.

Chelsea Market, Downtown

My personal favorite shop is a book shop - Posman Books. They have a wide collection of books covering all genres and beautiful, cute stationery items. I also tried yummy Pastries and Sandwiches at Sarabeth's. 

There is an Artist's Flea market on the 10th Avenue exit side where you can buy beautiful jewelry at very reasonable prices.

Westfield World Trade Center Complex

Westfield Shopping Complex, downtown is a marvelous structure which, at a first glance, looks like multiple numbers of ribs coming out of the spine of an animal! It is also called the Oculus Building because of its dome-like shape! 

It is a shopping complex with 195 outlets, PATH train connectivity to Journal Square and MTA train connectivity to almost all types of trains! It is the main hub to the people traveling from One World Trade Center to the different parts of the city or towards the New Jersey State! 

Westfield World Trade Center

This is a gigantic and dazzling white structure from inside attracting you for the shopping! It has most of the famous brand shops for - clothing, other fashion, electronics! You will find good cafes inside offering great coffee with delicious munchies!

Westfield World Trade Complex on a Normal Day

You can spend 1-2 hours easily here without shopping for anything. The shopping mall connects the other side with the One World Trade Center and the 9/11 Memorial.

Taj Mahal Made of Sweet Corn Cans

My Conclusion

New York is full of beautiful places to visit in the holidays and enjoy the weather! Times Square and Rockefeller Center are my favorite tourist spots with much life and events happening all the time! I would love to go back again and relive these moments!

Please note that these are my favorite places to visit during the Holidays in New York City. There are many other places where you can visit in New York including - The Statue of Liberty, Central Park, American Museum of Natural History, Grand Central Station, Empire State Building, One World Trade Center, 9/11 Memorial and lots of other places! 

Please share your experiences in New York with me! And provide your valuable feedback on my current blog 😊.