In Italian
Some cities offer their best in specific seasons, on the contrary other ones are able to thrill, for different reasons, in every moment of the year.
New York is one of these. It’s fantastic in Fall thanks to its climate and the foliage colors of Central Park, beautiful and thrilling in Spring, lively, even more welcoming and hot in Summer, when it allows to tourists and locals to walk on the Pier quays and to enjoy the retro charm of the outdoor movies. And then it’s magic in Winter, above all with Christmas lights and atmosphere.
Christmas in New York
It is very cold in this period of the year, and yet the view of an electric blue sky that in Winter contrasts with the snow-white of the snow covering the city it’s priceless and difficultly has equals.
Try to think about it after a snowfall, like suspended in time, with the sounds shaded and the Christmas lights shining, reflected on the snow-covered blanket, even more intensely.
Christmastime in New York, known as The Holidays, starts the day after the Thanksgiving, with the lighting of the Christmas Tree – The Tree, even 23 meters high – in Rockefeller Center.
Christmas in New York: Rockefeller Center Tree
Then it’s impossible not to enjoy a walk on the Holiday Walk, the stretch of the Fifth Avenue going from the 39th as far as the 59th Street: the stores windows of Saks, Bergdorf Goodman and Henri Bendel are lighted and decorated with amazing Nativity reproductions or domestic winter scenes.
This period of the year, besides that one of my beloved foliage, is really one of the best for a tour to the city, thanks to the possibility of finding very good offers for the flights towards New York, too.
A journey to New York in Winter, precisely at Christmas, cannot be defined complete if you don’t watch the Radio City Christmas Spectacular: it is a musical taking place every year, usually from November until the beginning of January, from the remote 1933, in the Radio City Music Hall.
Taking part into the show is a full-scale Christmas tradition for the New Yorkers and not only because it allows to admire the very good performers of the legendary ball group of Radio City Rockettes.
Actually, it is possible to book also a special guided tour to admire the art deco of the insides, matching rococo ornaments with chromate and aluminium inserts. And to discover the backstage and have a look close at the greatest theater in the whole United States.
Christmas in New York: decorations near Radio City Music Hall
The New York Botanical Garden, extended over 250 acres in the Bronx Park, is inspired to Royal Botanic Gardens in London and it’s the greatest public park in the city, besides to be a real “museum of nature”.
Walking among lakes, grass tracks, preservation areas, greenhouses, collections of plants and a forest dating back to the periods prior the first colons, you risk really to lose the sense of time. It’s really difficult to get again the contact with reality and realize to be physically in the heart of Bronx.
But there’s more: at the New York Botanical Garden actually courses, exhibitions and events take place, including the beloved Holiday Train Show (about until the middle of January). During this event little models of trains go around New York City icons, like the Empire State Building or the Rockefeller Center, realized by acorns, branches and small branches.
Christmas in New York: windows store decorated in their holiday best in the 5th Ave
The cold cannot certainly prevent to go up to the Top of the Rock, the panoramic observatory on the 70th floor of the GE Building skyscraper in Midtown.
From here you can enjoy a priceless view of New York and in perspective looking southwards, first of the Empire State Building and immediately after of the really new Freedom Tower.
A view made even more amazing by the clear sky of the coldest and sunniest winter days or by the thousands of lights swallowed and soft by the night haze. Since it is one of the most visited attractions of the city, above all in the periods of large crowd – like Christmastime precisely – it is advisable to book in advance the tickets for the ascent, to avoid lines often too long.
Christmas in New York: the wonderful view by the Top of the Rock Observatory
How to renounce to the savor, the pleasure and the warm of a hot chocolate while outside the Mercury column marks an only figure temperature?
New York is a perfect city to satisfy this desire, thanks to the presence of several cafés making the cakes and the hot chocolate an art.
One of the distinctive places is the Sabarsky Café, an elegant Viennese style location, covered inside with oak panels. Cakes are delicious, the hot and creamy chocolate is served with the inevitable cream. But it’s also possible to choose a German beer or to drink some wine.
Christmas in new York: break at the Sabasrky Café (ph. Credits yelp.com)
What do you say? Was I able to convince you?
If you find a flight offer consistent with your needs, don’t miss the chance to discover the city under a unique and wonderful aspect, to spend your first, magic and unforgettable Christmas in New York.
Traveling to the United States
