To ask for your New York at Christmas recommendations

[FizzyPink]

So as we really don't want to be going to Greece in July and we couldn't cancel for free at this point we've swapped to 5 days in New York the week before Christmas.

I know there's still a risk that things won't be open as they were before so we won't be booking anything for a while but I'm keen to pull together a bit of a loose itinerary and some ideas of what we want to see.

I've got all the big Christmas events such as the Rockettes show and ice skating but what else should we do? Any advice or recommendations for a first visit? We're staying at the Districkt hotel which is near to Times Square/Madame Tussauds. Any restaurant recommendations would be great as well. We're two late 20s adults, no kids and love food but nothing overly pretentious.

Also DP is keen to visit Brooklyn but what should we specifically see there or is it just a case of wandering around?

TIA!

If you go to Brooklyn at Christmastime you can see the amazing lights in Dyker Heights - they really do go all out decorating houses and front gardens in this neighbourhood, they're amazing to see - a really nice festive activity that you don't need to book, so totally flexible if you're worried about commiting to things at this stage :)

There are bus tours that you can join, but in my experience it's nice just to wander freely. It's a little bit of a walk from the nearest subway station, but not excessive - or you could get an Uber, the fare is under 10 dollars, I think I remember (we looked into it as an option).

I personally would not book any trip abroad this year. If we hit a second peak you're buggered!

This year? How do you know there still won’t be quarantine on entry

We loved Bryant Park (not far from Times Square) as a place to sit, drink coffee and watch the world go by. Might be different in winter but in September it was great, free classes in all sorts of random stuff, coffee stands and cafes, even a gin stand if I remember rightly! Plus the New York public library is right next door which not only has some stunning rooms and ceiling murals, but also the original Winnie the Pooh, Piglet, Eeyore and Tigger toys that the stories were written about.

Russian Tea Room. Met Cloisters. New York Public Library. If you have children, cocoa at the reindeer lounge. Grand holiday bazaar. Chinese lantern festival. Chinatown for all the food.

It will be cold and snowy!

The state of NYC and America in general at the moment wouldn’t make me want to make any plans involving them until at least Christmas 2021 I don’t think. (Plus I’m not going there will Trump is president anyway).
Why is very one booking holidays like this? We have no idea what’s going to happen in the next 6-12 months. Just wait!

Well yes of course there may well be restrictions and we may not even be able to go but having already paid a lot of money towards a holiday this summer our options were either to lose £400 by cancelling, risk having to go and be subject to restrictions while there or rebook an alternative trip which is what we’ve done along with saving ourselves £500 from our original trip

Take warm clothes.it can be bloody freezing at that time.

What's the deal on the rebooking if you still can't go?

I would suggest contacting the travel company to rebook the rebooking. Further NYC was and remains the worst hit place in the US and with Trumps stance on Covid nothing would make me travel there for at least a year and my parents and siblings live in the US.

Didn’t you have insurance to cover you for the cancelled summer break?

In Brooklyn (though you’ll need to get a cab to it) there is an amazing BBQ place called HomeTown BBQ. I think it’s ranked second in the world and isn’t poncey (far from it). We absolutely loved it there - the food was outstanding (try the chipotle mac n cheese)

Dyker Heights lights tour, Central Park, Bryant Park is lovely to stop for a hot chocolate. The Rockettes are wonderful. The walk over the Brooklyn Bridge is nice and DUMBO is nice for a wander. It can be very chilly and take comfortable shoes.

Yes we had insurance but insurance companies don’t pay out just because you don’t fancy going because there may be restrictions. We were supposed to be going to Greece at the end of July which may well be able to go ahead but DP hasn’t been able to work for the last 8 weeks so he can’t be taking off another 10 days in the middle of summer.

If we can’t go at Christmas we’ll just rebook for next year. As I understand it we can do this but may have to pay a rebooking fee which is fine

Williamsburg (Brooklyn) is great-think East London with cool little boutiques & loads of nice food & drink. Also the Wythe Hotel there has a bar with amazing views of Manhattan.
Soho is good for shopping & upmarket food.
The walk across Brooklyn bridge towards Manhattan is one of the favourite things we did. From there we walked to 9/11 museum(recommend) then to China Town & Little Italy. China Town I'd not bother with but LI was really cute at Christmas.
My tip would be if you want to do a tall building do it as soon as weather is right. When we went we took it for granted that weather would remain clear but then it rained so we missed the chance.
I didn't like Times Swuare or the department stores-too busy for me.
Christmas in NYC is amazing. Hope you can go OP! 🌉

Try and go for the thanksgiving day parade (if you haven't already booked)
Sachs 5th Ave is beautifully decorated at Xmas, and if you do go for thanksgiving Macey's black Friday sale really is a proper Sale.
We went in 2017, and returned 2019 (I'm glad we got a proper holiday towards the end of last year)
But we ended up not eating out much as the prices had really soared in the last 2 years!

Just remembered, it snowed heavily while we were there last December, take a good warm coat and comfy footwaer, you see more if you walk or travel by bus.

I used to live in New York and Christmas is such an incredible time to visit, all of the window displays and giant Christmas trees feel so magical. I’m very jealous!

Food/drinks-
-Paulie Gees does the BEST pizza slices
-NoMad bar has a Christmas pop up where they do festive cocktails which are amazing
-21 club for burgers

• there’s an Italian restaurant in the west village called Don Angie which is incredible

-Queens night market

Activities-
-Chelsea market and the high line walk is one of my fave places year round
-FAO Schwartz (the toy shop in the movie Big) is so magical to walk round at Christmas with all of the decorations
-The tenement museum is fascinating, it’s all about NYs immigrant history and is such an interesting insight to how the working class lived during the 1900s
-Union square has a holiday market full of food stalls etc which is really nice

• I’m not one for ballet but the New York City ballet show of the nutcracker is so beautiful and festive

-The botanical gardens in the bronx have a really cool holiday train show, something a bit different but it’s so cool -Lumino city, a giant light festival

Make sure to pack comfortable shoes and warm clothes! I know everyone says it but it really is freezing and there is a LOT of walking. Download the citymapper app and get a 7 day metro pass- the subway is IMO the most confusing underground systems in the world but citymapper is great for telling you exactly what train you need and being able to use the subway gives you so much more freedom than having to rely on cabs, and means you get to see much more of the city. If you’re a foodie do research and make a list of places you want to eat when you get there- there’s so much choice and it’s easy to miss lots of the hidden gems (which is a shame because it’s such a great city for food!)

Wow, that was a long one! Can you tell it’s one of my favourite cities?!

We went for Christmas 2018. It's an amazing place to be at Christmas. I would definitely say walk everywhere. Some of the best things we saw we fell on by walking around. Some of my favourite things were a boat trip down the Hudson & we had our christmas day meal at the Rockafellar centre. The food was amazing and we really enjoyed over looking the ice. Definitely book before you leave because it gets crazy busy.

Lol

The big red bus tour is a must. You can just hop on and hop off to see all of the sights.

Yes we had insurance but insurance companies don’t pay out just because you don’t fancy going because there may be restrictions
No but they pay out because Trump won’t let you in the country!

Oh wow these are brilliant suggestions, thank you all so much! So good to have actual recommendations rather than what ranks highly on tripadvisor!