The essential tree
Rockefeller Center
The tree above the skating rink is the great public symbol of Christmas in New York. Arrive early in the morning or later at night for a little more room to take it in, then look upward at the Art Deco towers.
CHRISTMAS IN NEW YORK
The BON TON Seasonal Guide
Christmas in New York
Great trees, gilded rooms, theatrical windows, and the city at its most luminous.
At Christmas, New York becomes more fully itself. Fifth Avenue glitters. Hotel lobbies turn ceremonial. Trees rise beneath Gothic arches and Beaux Arts ceilings. Even familiar streets seem to have dressed for an entrance.
This is our New York Christmas: grand, sentimental, a little extravagant, and best discovered on foot with time for champagne, cake, and one more window.
A seasonal traditionDates, access, reservations, and displays change each year. Use this as your route, then confirm the details directly before setting out.
The grand procession
Christmas on Fifth Avenue
Begin after dark and let the avenue provide the theatre. The pleasure lies in the procession: one facade, one window, one illuminated block after another.
A New York must
Bergdorf Goodman
The city’s most imaginative holiday windows, composed with wit, fantasy, craftsmanship, and glorious excess. Continue inside for the Christmas shop and the particular glamour that Bergdorf’s still knows how to conjure.
Saks Fifth Avenue
Directly across from Rockefeller Center, the windows and decorated facade form part of the classic Midtown Christmas tableau. The presentation changes, which is precisely part of the fun.
St. Patrick’s Cathedral
Step away from the electric spectacle and into Gothic arches, candlelight, and the cathedral’s Christmas crèche. It gives the avenue a needed moment of reverence.
Fifth Avenue After Dark
Walk from Bergdorf Goodman south toward Rockefeller Center, noticing the jewelers, department stores, landmark facades, and changing seasonal installations along the way.
Gilded rooms and winter cocktails
The Grand Hotels
The Plaza Hotel
See the decorations, take afternoon tea beneath The Palm Court’s stained-glass dome, or order champagne and caviar at The Champagne Bar overlooking the Pulitzer Fountain. Christmas here feels ceremonial and delightfully unapologetic.
Lotte New York Palace
The courtyard tree framed by the historic Villard Houses is one of Midtown’s loveliest Christmas scenes. Stay for cocktails in the Gold Room, rare champagne at Rarities, or breakfast within the ornate Villard interiors.
Beloved year after year
New York Christmas Traditions
The Met Christmas Tree & Crèche
A magnificent tree surrounded by an eighteenth-century Neapolitan Nativity, with angels and cherubs suspended among its branches. One of the city’s most beautiful unions of art, faith, and Christmas wonder.
NYBG Holiday Train Show
Model trains travel through a botanical New York built from bark, leaves, seeds, and branches. Familiar landmarks become feats of natural craftsmanship beneath the glass of the Enid A. Haupt Conservatory.
Radio City Christmas Spectacular
Rockettes, precision, spectacle, and unabashed nostalgia beneath Radio City’s Art Deco arches. It remains one of those New York traditions worth surrendering to completely.
Macy’s Herald Square
The animated windows and Santaland belong to the city’s shared Christmas memory. Go for the tradition and the scale, then continue toward the Empire State Building lights.
Dyker Heights
Brooklyn’s exuberant counterpoint to Fifth Avenue: entire houses covered in lights, figures, garlands, and neighborhood bravado. It is excessive, joyful, and unlike anywhere else.
Below the avenue
A Downtown Christmas
Downtown Christmas has a more neighborly scale: a tree beneath the arch, brownstone windows, candlelit restaurants, and familiar streets made festive.
Washington Square Park
The tree beneath the marble arch is one of the city’s most romantic seasonal sights. Come at dusk, when the lights begin to glow and the park becomes its own Christmas gathering place.
Richaud Petite Bakery
Warm the walk with a baguette, croissant, or pastry from this tiny French-rooted bakery on Perry Street, then wander through the West Village’s decorated townhouses.
Fraunces Tavern
For old beams, American history, and the feeling of Christmas in an earlier New York. Its historic rooms make an atmospheric ending to a day downtown.
Gifts, skating, and warm cups
The Holiday Markets
Choose one or two rather than attempting them all. Each gives a different version of the city at Christmas.
Bryant Park Winter Village
Holiday shops, skating, food, and the New York Public Library rising behind it all. Most magical after dark, when the park becomes a compact city of lights.
Grand Central Holiday Fair
An indoor makers’ market within one of New York’s greatest buildings. Pair it with the celestial ceiling, the Whispering Gallery, and a drink beneath the station’s chandeliers.
Union Square Holiday Market
A downtown maze of makers, ornaments, gifts, and seasonal food. Continue through Greenwich Village or north toward the shops around Flatiron.
Three ways through the season
A Perfect Christmas Day in New York
Trees, Windows & Champagne
Begin at the Lotte New York Palace courtyard, step into St. Patrick’s Cathedral, see Rockefeller Center, walk Fifth Avenue to Bergdorf Goodman, and finish with champagne at The Plaza.
The Met to Fifth Avenue
Start with the Christmas tree and crèche at The Met, cross through Central Park, admire Bergdorf’s windows, and settle into The Palm Court for tea.
Markets, the Arch & Dinner
Browse Union Square, walk to Washington Square’s tree, collect something warm from Richaud Petite Bakery, and end the evening at Fraunces Tavern.
Dress warmly, look up, and leave room for something wonderful.
Holiday dates, performances, displays, hours, and access change each season. Please confirm directly before visiting.