Winter is NYC’s most underrated season, blamed for being cold, dark and dreary when it’s really bursting with activities for all types of travelers.
After the Times Square Ball drops on January 1, visitor numbers fall, making it easier to score coveted seats to shows, land restaurant reservations at the city’s hottest tables and snag deals on hotel rooms (check out Hotel Week – it lasts for a month).
Sure, you might contend with frosty temps through March, but that’s when the city’s sprawling museums and steamy spas come in handy. So don’t let the naysayers keep you away. Here’s the ultimate list of must-do activities that make New York a winter wonderland.
1. Ice-skate in the shadow of city landmarks
NYC is loaded with rinks beloved by everyone from figure-skating pros to rail-clutching novices. In Midtown, glide beneath the gold statue of Prometheus at Rockefeller Center ($38 and up, including skates), cruise below Billionaires’ Row at Central Park’s Wollman Rink ($22 and up, including skates) or zoom around Bryant Park (free, skate rental starts at $15).
For those who prefer views of Lower Manhattan, race around the Ice Rink at South Street Seaport for city panoramas (free, plus $23 for skates) or head to Roebling Rink at Brooklyn Bridge Park to zoom beneath its namesake bridge and ogle FiDi’s skyline from afar ($10, plus $17 for skates). Visit all these spots during weekday hours to avoid large crowds.
2. Spend the day indoors at museums
When the weather outside is frightful, devote your time to the city’s 150-plus museums. You’ll never get bored at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the largest museum in the Americas. Keep your visit on theme by searching for William James Glackens’s Central Park, Winter (Gallery 772) and Emanuel Leutze’s icy Washington Crossing the Delaware (Gallery 760).
Skip a couple blocks north to pretend you’re in snow-covered Austria at the Neue Galerie – a collection of Austrian-German paintings from 1890–1940 filling a sumptuous 1914 Carrère and Hastings mansion. Vienna-style coffee house Cafe Sabarsky, located on the first floor, serves steamy dishes like goulash soup to ward off the cold.
If you’re fighting winter blues, stop by the Whitney Museum of American Art. Painter Ed Clark’s Winter Bitch (Floor 7) shares your sorrow – and a trip to the museum’s Frenchette Bakery outpost will cheer you right up. For those craving summer weather, visit the butterfly-packed vivarium at the American Museum of Natural History. The room is kept at a balmy 80°F – exactly how the winged wonders like it.
3. Uncover NYC’s wild side in its parks and open spaces
Fight off cabin fever by exploring NYC’s public parks and waterways. When NYC gets 6 inches or more of snow cover (a rarity in recent years), Central Park lets New Yorkers sled down Cedar Hill (around East 76th and 79th Streets) and build snow people across the expanse of Sheep Meadow. Even when there isn’t enough snowfall, it’s worth wandering the park’s 843 manicured acres to spy local fauna. Circle the Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Reservoir and you’ll likely spot mallard ducks; trek through the North Woods’ barren-branch forest to hunt for red-tailed hawks and raccoons.
Detour: You’ll spot more wild winter residents on Classic Harbor Line’s Urban Naturalist Tour, a nearly 3-hour cruise led by a knowledgeable guide in a heated 1920s-style commuter yacht ($124/adult, $86/child). Tours embark from Chelsea Piers, sailing past iconic city landmarks like the Statue of Liberty and onto Swinburne and Hoffman Islands – two winter crash pads for harbor seals.
4. Eat and drink heartily at hygge restaurants and bars
Thanks to Restaurant Week (mid-January to mid-February), winter is a budget-friendly time to sample NYC’s food scene. You’ll find affordable prix-fixe menus at hundreds of participating restaurants across all five boroughs, with some three-course meals costing no more than $30 – an absolute steal by NYC standards.
Great deals aside, a culinary winter quest should prioritize snuggly hot spots. Try French wine-and-diner Buvette, with its warm lighting and wood accents, or Tiny’s and the Bar Upstairs, a candle-lit three-story townhouse. It’s all about warm soups at swivel-stool kosher king B&H Dairy – be it borscht or matzo ball. And if you’re in Brooklyn, head to low-lit Long Island Bar, where guests squish into 1950s-style booths for cheese curds and smoky cocktails (try the rye-based Erin).
5. Warm up inside a spa
When temperatures drop below freezing, warm up in one of the sweat boxes around town. It’s worth taking the frigid ferry ride from Lower Manhattan to Governors Island for QC NY – a sleek multifloor complex with saunas, steam rooms and heated outdoor pools overlooking Lower Manhattan (starting at $98). For something cheaper, try Bathhouse (from $45), with locations in Flatiron and Williamsburg – a flirty scene where young professionals mingle in swimsuits. The Russian and Turkish Baths ($60), established in 1892, is a soupçon of essential NYC: on any given day, you might find fresh-faced actors, Orthodox Jewish grandpas, adventurous couples and everyone in between hopping from sauna to cold plunge to the tiny restaurant-kitchen serving Eastern European comfort food. If you’re skittish about nudity, skip the women- and men-only hours when lots of folks strip down to their birthday suits. Come with a swimsuit or don a pair of provided cotton shorts during co-ed hours.
Planning tip: Most spas give out towels and sandals; come prepared with a swimsuit. Bring a water bottle and remember to hydrate.
6. Celebrate the Lunar New Year
Firecrackers, silly string, dancing dragons and roughly 500,000 attendees: you’ll see them all when NYC’s AAPI community celebrates the Lunar New Year, observing the second new moon after the winter solstice. The 15-day celestial celebration – often between late January and February – culminates in a boisterous parade through Manhattan’s Chinatown, with colorful paper from confetti cannons coating the streets. Another parade kicks off in Flushing, Queens (NYC’s largest Chinatown), with an equally buoyant display of dancers and floats.
Continue the New Year festivities by chowing down traditional Chinese dishes, symbolizing good luck. Dumplings bring wealth – a good reason to stop inside Chinatown’s Deluxe Green Bo for dim sum (order a bamboo basket of pork-filled xiao long bao). If you’re hoping for prosperity, noodles do the trick; get your fill at Shu Jiao Fu Zhou on the Lower East Side. You could also ring in the holiday with something sweet, possibly a pumpkin bao bun from Golden Steamer or a cup of tofu pudding from Fong On, a Chinatown institution since 1933.
7. Go on a hot cocoa crawl
Forget Swiss Miss, NYC is hot chocolate heaven, with oodles of bakeries and cafes concocting signature cups of cacao joy. Spend a few hours traipsing around town, trying some of the best hot chocolate around. Start in SoHo at Dominique Ansel Bakery, where each cup comes with a marshmallow flower that slowly opens as it melts. Next up is Mah-Ze-Dahr in the West Village, serving classic hot cocoa topped with a toasted vanilla marshmallow. Continue the sugar binge in Gramercy with a chocolate ganache-based drink at Daily Provisions – best coupled with a maple-glazed cruller.
Detour: For more sweet tooth satisfaction, take the train to Carroll Gardens, where Brooklyn Farmacy and Soda Fountain serves a decadent marshmallow-heaped hot chocolate that makes the trek worthwhile.
8. Snag discount theater tickets
NYC’s post-holiday travel slump – when most tourists hightail it home – is fantastic for finding cheap seats to Broadway and Off-Broadway shows. Lower demand means you can usually snag last-minute tickets – even to popular Tony Award-winners you might’ve missed last season. The semi-annual Broadway Week offers 2-for-1 deals, usually from mid-January to early February, and plenty of discounts are available on apps like TodayTix and at the TKTS booth in Times Sq.
Local tip: Theater nerds shouldn’t overlook the lineup for New York City Center Encores, a series that casts big-name stage vets in reimagined musicals (tickets start at $30). For those who prefer the avant-garde, consider traveling to Bushwick for Company XIV’s Nutcracker Rouge, a bawdy, blue answer to Lincoln Center’s annual Nutcracker ballet. Shows run until February.
9. Get cozy with a fireside cocktail
Working fireplaces might be rare commodities in NYC, but there are still plenty of places to imbibe by bright flames. Go retro at McSorley’s Old Ale House (open since 1854) by sipping pints near the backroom’s blaze, or keep it contemporary at JIMMY, the ModernHaus Hotel’s panoramic rooftop bar with an indoor fireplace. Plush velvet seats inside the Bowery Hotel’s lobby lounge feel like a warm hug; order a glass of Glenfiddich to match the scent of the smoking wood. Cozier still is Black Mountain Wine House in Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn, where you can sip rich reds as logs crackle and pop.
10. Catch competitions at Madison Square Garden
Madison Square Garden (MSG) is NYC’s go-to for drama-drenched team sports. The New York Knicks shoot hoops from autumn to spring, and if you attend a match, expect to spot notable New Yorkers. Getting courtside seats to a home NBA game is a rite of passage for celebrity basketball fans, be it director Spike Lee or musician Alicia Keys. The Rangers, NYC’s hometown hockey team, also draws MSG crowds throughout winter. If you can’t nab a ticket, consider going behind the scenes – a 60-minute walking tour visits backstage areas including locker rooms where NBA and NHL players prepare for matches.
Detour: Winter’s sporting events aren’t all about humans. In February, prized pooches compete in the Westminster Dog Show, which returns to MSG and the Javits Center in 2025. Continue your canine-themed sojourn at AKC Museum of the Dog, a Midtown museum dedicated to man’s best friend.
11. See spectacles at the New York Botanical Garden
Seasonal programs at the NYBG make a solid argument for visiting the Bronx. Zip here by mid-January to catch the Holiday Train Show, a presentation with model locomotives chugging between plant-based replicas of NYC architecture. Plan your trip around Holiday Train Nights to enjoy the journey with light bites, cocktails and mocktails.
By mid-February, it’s all about orchids at an annual show showcasing thousands of species in elegant displays. Both exhibits take place inside the Enid A. Haupt Conservatory, an Italian Renaissance greenhouse that’s always warm and humid – a lovely reprieve from NYC’s cold streets.
