New York City itinerary: 5 days for a first trip
A 5-day NYC Christmas itinerary, one part of the city at a time: the Bryant Park rink, the Saks light show and the Rockefeller tree late at night; the Union Square market, Macy's windows and the Rockettes; Grand Central's holiday fair, then the Bronx for the train show and the zoo's lights; Brooklyn from Atlantic Avenue to Lightscape and Dyker Heights; and a last day of Bergdorf's windows, the Nutcracker and the Columbus Circle market.
Go in December, before Christmas Eve, when the markets, windows and light trails all run at once. It's one of the sample trips inside the Wanderjoy app, so you can open this exact plan on your iPhone with code NYC3 and change anything.
The whole plan on one map
One color per day. Pick a day to see just its route.
How a plan looks in the app
A New York City trip being revealed in Wanderjoy, pin by pin.
Day by day
Day 1Bryant Park · Midtown · Rockefeller Plaza
Bryant Park Winter Village Rink3:30 PM
Saks Fifth Avenue Light Show5:30 PM
Watch from the west side of Fifth outside the cathedral, where the full building fits in frame.
Rockefeller Center Tree at Night10:30 PM
Between 17:00 and 21:00 the plaza is barely walkable; at 22:30 you can stand in front of it alone.
Day 2Union Square · Herald Square · Midtown
Union Square Holiday Market12:00 PM
Macy's Christmas Windows3:00 PM
Six animated windows on the Broadway side, unveiled in the third week of November and running through the first week of January.
Radio City Christmas Spectacular7:00 PM
Day 3Vanderbilt Hall · Southern Boulevard
Grand Central Holiday Fair11:00 AM
Quietest before 12:00, and it is 90 seconds from the Metro-North platform you want next.
Holiday Train Show at NYBG2:00 PM
Model trains running through 190 New York landmarks built entirely from bark, seeds and twigs, inside a 1902 glasshouse.
Bronx Zoo Holiday Lights6:00 PM
A ten-minute walk south from the Botanical Garden gate, so the two pair on one day.
Day 4Cobble Hill · Prospect Heights · Dyker Heights
Sahadi's Atlantic Avenue Holiday Larder11:30 AM
December is its busiest month — arrive before 12:00 or you will wait 30 minutes for halva.
Brooklyn Botanic Garden Lightscape4:30 PM
Dyker Heights Christmas Lights7:30 PM
Twenty or so blocks of houses that spend five figures each on displays, concentrated between 11th and 13th Avenues and 83rd to 86th.
Day 5Midtown · David H. Koch Theater · Columbus Circle
Holiday Windows at Bergdorf Goodman10:30 AM
The Nutcracker at the Koch Theater1:00 PM
Columbus Circle Holiday Market5:00 PM
Four minutes' walk from the theater, with food stalls at the park end.
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Get this trip on a map in the app
Install Wanderjoy and import trip code NYC3: this exact plan opens in the app, ready to change.
On a computer? Open the trip page for a QR code to scan with your iPhone.
Questions
- How do I open this New York City plan in Wanderjoy?
- Install Wanderjoy, then import trip code NYC3. The same 5-day plan opens in the app with every stop on the map, and you can change it from there.
- Can I change the plan?
- Yes. Add, edit or reorder stops, switch days around, and keep trip notes next to the plan.
- Can Wanderjoy make a different New York City plan for me?
- Yes. Give Wanderjoy your dates and how you like to travel, and it drafts a day-by-day New York City itinerary on a map for you.
