When looking up best cities in America to visit at Christmas time, NYC appears near the top of every list. I'd been to New York on two occasions, but the first time was a high school show choir trip, and the second was a whirlwind 10-12 hours between a flight landing in the morning and a bus leaving at night, so I'd always wanted to go back and do it properly. December seemed like a great time to bundle it with the holiday experience.
I had already crossed off a few things on my prior visits. I'd seen Phantom on Broadway, visited Times Square and Central Park, gone to the top of the Empire State Building, and taken a boat tour that went past many of the famous sights including the Statue of Liberty.
Empire State Building was packed, but it's worth doing once.
This time the theme was Christmas and shows, and my friend Jackie and I packed a lot into three days.
Day 1
Rockefeller Center, St Patrick's Cathedral, Saks 5th Ave, FAO Schwarz, Times Square, & Cursed Child
Luckily Jackie arrived a day earlier than I did, so when I arrived at our Air BnB in Jersey City around 10 AM after a flight, local bus, train, and walking combo, the place was available for me to settle in and get ready. I had been pretty shocked by the prices of ANY hotels in NYC - even the lower end chains and ones outside of the Manhatten tourist spots were hundreds of dollars per night. That's how we settled on sharing a bed in a New Jersey Air BnB, which was fine. The whole basement was just for guests - ourselves and two people in the other bedroom - and had a living area as well with couches and a coffee maker.
It was only a 12 minute walk from our place to the PATH station at Journal Square, which is how we commuted into NYC each day. It was a bit of a pain to get home late every night, especially since we had evening shows to attend, but totally worth it for the savings.
We got distracted as soon as we exited the subway by a bar called The Elgin with pretty Christmas decorations, so we stopped in for a drink before continuing on to Rockefeller Center and its iconic tree. Unless you're paying $40 to ice skate, this is a spot to spend five minutes, tops. There's barely space to push your way to the front for a photo.
The good news is that Rockefeller Center is right across from Saks 5th Avenue, where you can peruse the famous shop windows decorated for the holidays. I was also very excited about the holographic escalators inside.
St. Patrick's Cathedral is right next door to Saks which makes a convenient loop.
We popped into FAO Schwarz toy store, which had workers dressed as toy soldiers out front, then went into Rockefeller Center itself which I was extra hyped for as a 30 Rock fan. On the down side, their gift shop featured like every NBC show EXCEPT 30 Rock?! Booo.
We had dinner at a vegan restaurant off of Times Square called P.S. Kitchen, then walked through a little Christmas market a block away we had seen.
During my prior visits to Times Square, the only big store I had actually been inside was Toys R Us (RIP), so this time we went to check out the M&M store. The highlight here was the ability to fill your own bags with a variety of M&Ms, including some not found in the wild, which Jackie and I brought into our play later to eat. While caramel cold brew and dark chocolate pretzel were both solid, my mind was blown by frosty vanilla. I'll need this cake frosting flavored M&M in regular stores stat, thanks.
Our next stop was Lillie's Victorian Establishment, which was totally worthwhile just to see the Christmas decorations. It was packed in there, so we had to stand for a bit before nabbing a barstool. Service wasn't great either, but I enjoyed my drinks, and it was just gorgeous inside. The crazy amount of garlands, angels, polar bears, penguins, lights, and more inside this already pretty room made it a great festive experience.
Our show on night 1 was Harry Potter & the Cursed Child at the Lyric Theatre. The theater itself is beautiful with red carpeting, a blue moon and star dome, and Christmas decorations, plus there was a photo op area with banners for the four houses.
While I did not care for this play when I read it (put it in the category of ridiculous fan-fiction), it was amazing onstage. The special effects were spectacular, like a real magic show. Between people disappearing by getting sucked into the Ministry phone booth or bookcases to reappearing through fireplaces or in previously empty beds, fire shooting from wands, the entire stage looking like it wobbled whenever the Time Turner was used, or the terrifying dementors floating through the theater, it was enough to forgive the chaotic story and bad attempts at accents.
We stopped at a streetside pizza joint for slices on the way to the train and were home at 12:30 AM.
Day 2
High tea, Central Park, Bryant Park Winter Village, & Radio City Christmas Spectacular
Our first stop on day two was the Upper East Side for me to live out my Gossip Girl fantasies. Unfortunately, I flew basic economy, which forced me to choose one coat and one pair of shoes for the whole weekend (plus wear two bulky sweaters on the plane just to be able to change clothes each day), so my wardrobe was not exactly up to Blair Waldorf standards.
Still, we felt pretty fancy having high tea at King's Carriage House. It was very quaint and cozy, and our vegetarian platter was incredibly delicious. There was so much food for each of us between the three tiers, plus a bowl of scones and my entire teapot of cinnamon spice tea, that I was really regretting the two 7/11 taquitos I had eaten on the way to the PATH station that morning.
Central Park was just down the street, so we headed there afterwards to walk off our finger sandwiches and cakes. We stopped by Belvedere Castle, Bethesda Terrace, the Bow Bridge, and the Imagine memorial, and most excitingly, a squirrel tried to steal some souvenir magnets out of my hand.
I was very surprised by how empty the park was. There were crowds near Bethesda Terrace, but we were the only people on a few paths and had large areas to ourselves.
We hopped on a train to take us to Bryant Park next and explore their winter village. The park was completely lined with adorable shops, all with different art and handicrafts, so we spent a good hour or two checking those out. I managed to finish the majority of my Christmas shopping (with things that would fit in my one allotted personal item flying home).
There was also an ice skating rink, a huge Christmas tree, a carousel, food stalls, and a bar where we got hot holiday drinks (cider for me and mulled wine for Jackie). I've read there are a few good holiday markets around NYC, but I'm glad we chose this one.
After another vegan dinner at Beyond Sushi nearby and pre-drinks at a jampacked and very cheap dive called Johnny's Corner, we head to Radio City Music Hall for our night 2 show - Radio City Christmas Spectacular featuring the Rockettes.
I'd read mixed reviews with some people saying it was cheesy and overrated, but we really enjoyed it. Radio City itself was decked out for Christmas, and the show brought all the holiday spirit. Highlights for me were the Santas dancing with their shadows on the walls, the 3D effects like snow falling through the theater to match the projections on the walls, the figure skating pair who performed on a real ice rink they brought out, the Rockettes' line dances, and best of all, the closing nativity scene that featured real live animals, including camels! Oh, and the fact that having Delta membership got us both a free prosecco in a commemorative glass.
Day 3
World Trade Center, Brooklyn Bridge, & burlesque Nutcracker with Company XIV
After breakfast at a cafe in Jersey City our last day, we took the PATH to the World Trade Center - the closest stop to Brooklyn. Since we were already there, we went out to see the memorials. I had been to the site before, but I don't think they had finished it at that time. This was prior to the One World Trade Center being built. I liked how they turned the building foundations into fountains with the names engraved all around the edges.
There's also a very old church nearby, St. Paul's, which has a graveyard out front and looks really cool surrounded by all of the modern skyscrapers around it.
Brooklyn Bridge was up next, and I did not expect it to be such a madhouse. My God. It's a nice bridge with great views, but trying to dodge around 500 or so tourists all trying to take photos and locals trying to sell tacky merchandise made the experience somewhat unpleasant. To be fair, we were there on an unseasonably warm Saturday, so crowds were probably worse than usual.
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We stopped at a cafe when we reached Brooklyn, then called an Uber for the first time of our trip to get us the few miles we needed to go to our show location for the evening. We were a bit early, so we hopped into King's County Brewer Collective next door for beers first.
Our final show was Nutcracker Rouge, a burlesque performance by Company XIV.
Their venue, Theatre XIV, was a gothic dream. The graffiti-covered door on the street opens up into a smoky, red-lit fantasy. The main theater has rows of black loveseats and chandeliers. There are two bars, and the performers were also the ones serving drinks and seating people.
Jackie and I splurged on front row seats right next to the center aisle and had the best view of the stage.
The show was the highlight of my weekend. It was a mix of Christmas music, old 20s style numbers, and jazzy renditions of modern songs. There was ballet, aerial performers, a lounge singer host, pole dancing, contortionist work, and more circus-style cabaret entertainment.
There were two intermissions, and a girl also came around the stage with cinnamon bourbon on a platter. I truly can't say enough good things about Company XIV. Go see one of their shows if you enjoy burlesque. Immaculate vibes.
Afterwards, we had dinner at a Mexican spot, Calabries, across the street, and unfortunately I had gotten a bit too intoxicated to stay out any longer, so we made our way to the trains to head home. Since I had to be up at 4:30 AM for my flight home, this wasn't the worst thing.
Overall, I loved the NYC Christmas experience, and going in early December gave us pretty moderate weather. There will always be endless experiences to have in such a huge city, but I'm happy with the snippet that was ours.
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