Is Christmas in New York worth it?

[anddeepbreathandsigh]

Looking to take the family away at Christmas and thinking of New York. Two adults and two older teens, no little ones.

Has anyone been?
Was it good?
Expensive?
Too cold?
Upper east, midtown, or the village?

Any thoughts or recommendations would be helpful.

I lived in New York for a few years. It was brilliant, but my god it’s expensive! So be prepared to spend a lot, even if you try to do it on a tighter budget. Christmas isn’t the best time to go, it’ll likely be very cold and it’s miserable to sightsee if it’s freezing. Does it have to be then? It’s so much nicer there in Spring or Autumn.

We’ve been to New York a few times so have done all the big ticket visits a few times, so just thinking whether Christmas would be any good as something different. I think maybe the icy winds make me discount it

We’ve had a very tough Christmas in 2025 so looking for a major upbeat distraction. Maybe the Caribbean is better

I've never experienced cold like NY in December. It actually hurt.

This. I’ve been there at Christmas but with New Yorkers. It is magical skating at Rockefeller Centre and Tiffany’s FAO Schwartz at Christmas but apart from that not much different to eg London.

It's much of a muchness. It's cold and busy. It's nicer to visit in the spring when everything is blooming (after US spring break) - it's less busy and the weather is lovely.

It's very nice to have a sunny break in the middle of a UK winter. Even if it's not particularly hot the sun just lifts the mood.

Christmas in NYC is amazing - ice skating, the tree, the Rockettes etc etc. It is freezing but as long as you dress appropriately, then you’ll have a great time.

Caribbean 100%. We had the best Xmas ever just gone and have rebooked for this December.

It wouldnt be my first pick.

Skiing maybe...
South Africa Cape Town and some bush drives with teens could be excellent.
Theres a lot to do ziplining down canyons nice beaches abseil off table mountain
Garden route (which is vineyards byt pleasant even if not drinking ... my fave was the place that has organic wine and uses ducks!)

Or carribean or
An nice AI in Dubai /Egypt if thats your thing....

We went 2 years ago with kids for Christmas. It was awful. New York has really gone downhill in general - very dirty, lots of drugs around and people hassling you. I used to LOVE New York and have been loads with work and mates etc just not since covid, and was really sad about it.

Prices wild (the first hotel we'd booked at £500 a night was so disgusting we couldn't stay there - had to trade to another at £1800 a night). Service really bad everywhere we went. The queues were insane, you couldn't get close enough to even see the tree at Rockefeller centre. I'm pretty organized so had booked ages in advance for things like ice skating in Central Park (which was lovely), but even things like going to FAO Schwartz was a 90 min queue. The subway has gone downhill and was so gross I didn't want to take the kids on it so we got cabs which was crazy expensive and slooooooow with terrible traffic.

To be fair it does depend what your New York vibe is. We were with kids so wanted to show them the sights. If you're cool hanging in the 'real' NYC - maybe hanging round Brooklyn, I'm sure you'd get decent service etc but then you could be in London.

In general I'd say you won't get a magical christmassy experience in New York. For something more magical I'd say try for Vienna or Prague... lots of fairy lights and christmassy loveliness. Or something totally different like the Caribbean.

Or if you want Christmassy and snowy you could do ski like someone else mentioned. Just over the border into Canada there is a club med which is good for ski and fun vibes

What island? I was thinking St Lucia

Thanks for the replies everyone. I just want the family to be away from the UK and distracted and hopefully have fun and Caribbean might be the better option. We’ve inherited quite a bit due to run of awful bereavements so happy to chuck money at this to do some healing.

We’ve done NYC for Christmas and it was nice - but we only stayed 22nd-26th them did a road trip for a week.
As pp said, it was freezing but you can dress for that.

It depends on what kind of things you’re in to but I like a city break and being away for Christmas - may I suggest you look at Iceland/Norway/Switzerland? Cold, snow, spas, skiing, darkness, cosy vibes and about as far away from a traditional UK Christmas as you can get. I’ve enjoyed all of these places (not a warm Christmas person at all).

I would absolutely go to Barbados over New York. NYC in mid winter is so cold!! You’d have a much nicer visit there in the spring. I’ve had Christmas in Barbados and it was incredible. Rum punch on the beach and lobster on Christmas Day! I’d do it again in a heartbeat if my PIL didn’t guilt trip us every year.