Don’t be intimidated by visiting the Big Apple in the winter: it’s actually the perfect place to visit when it’s chilly outside! Here’s your perfect NYC winter day itinerary:
If your hotel doesn’t include breakfast (one of the things I love about The Library Hotel is that their continental breakfast & endless coffee is included in your room rate), bundle up & head out to one of NYC’s famous diners – there’s literally one on every street – for some warm eggs & bacon. Stayed in Midtown? I love the Cosmic Diner on 52nd and 8th.
After breakfast, head up to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. You can literally spend hours looking at an amazing collection of every type of art under the sun.
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Modern art more your thing? Head to the Museum of Modern Art (my personal favorite).
(C) Christina Saull – All Rights Reserved
After all that art, it’s time for lunch. If you’re visiting on a Monday, Wednesday, Friday or Saturday, it’s time to bundle up, jump on the subway & head down to the Union Square Greenmarket. The Greenmarket – one of my absolute favorite things in NYC – is a year round farmers market that features tons of vendors selling everything from produce, to cheese, to baked goods. Rather than eating lunch at one of Union Square’s many cafes, have a revolving lunch at different vendors – an empanada here, a warm donut there. Warm up a cup of the best warm apple cider in, well, the Big Apple.
(C) Christina Saull – All Rights Reserved
Winter afternoons are meant for relaxing, which means heading over to The Strand bookstore – just a few blocks from the Greenmarket – for a few hours of leisurely book perusing.
(C) Christina Saull – All Rights Reserved
(C) Christina Saull – All Rights Reserved
After you’ve had your fill of books (although lets be honest, that’s not really possible), start making your way back to the hotel to get ready for the evening. On the way back, swing by the tkts booth in Times Square, because tonight you’re hitting up the Great White Way! You can’t be too picky about the show you want to see – you’re at the mercy of what tickets are available – but that’s okay because I’ve never seen a Broadway show that was bad. If you really have a certain show in mind, check out the tkts mobile app before you get in line. If the line is insanely long, head back to the hotel to get ready for dinner & stop by the booth just before show time. There will be fewer options, but the line will be much shorter.
(C) Christina Saull – All Rights Reserved
Almost all the restaurants in the theater district do a great pre-theater menu (one of my favorites is Trattoria dell’Arte), but eat light because the real treat comes after the show when you’re headed to Junior’s for a piece of authentic New York cheesecake.
(C) Christina Saull – All Rights Reserved
New York City may not be a typical cold weather destination, but with a little advanced planning, you can have the perfect Big Apple day even in the middle of January!
I couldn’t agree more! There is something particularly magical about NYC in the winter!
I have only ever visited NY in the summertime and loved it. Is it really better during winter?
I think that depends on two things: your tolerance for cold & your agenda. If you’re from the north & deal with cold well (& have the outer ware for it), you’ll enjoy the reduced crowds. If your agenda is largely indoors – museums, the NY Public Library, seeing a few shows – you’ll be fine. However, if you’re a Floridian who wants to walk the Brooklyn Bridge, you might want to stick with the warmer months.