Ever since watching ‘Home Alone 2: Lost in New York’ (and being an avid Christmas lover) I have wanted to travel to New York City around Christmas. I recently had the opportunity to travel to NYC in December to live out this dream. I booked the trip back in July so I had months to think about all the things I wanted to do and all the places I wanted to see. I knew this trip would take a lot of planning as I wanted to see all the main attractions in NYC and we were only there for four days.
My first step was to make a list of everything I wanted to do and see while I was in New York so that I could plan the most time and cost effective way to do and see everything I wanted in four short days. I knew that I wanted to see the Statue of Liberty, the Empire State Building, Top of the Rock Observation Deck and the 9/11 Memorial and Museum. During my search, I found the most cost effective way to see this many attractions was to get a sight seeing pass. I ended up purchasing our sight seeing passes through CityPASS as they offered all of the attractions we wanted at the cheapest price. Our pass included 6 attractions and cost $170.98 + HST and the tickets were right on my phone.
Day 1: Thursday
We flew in early to LaGuardia Airport landing at 8:00 a.m. Thankfully we skipped baggage as we only packed carry-ons and went directly to getting an Uber and getting out of the airport. It was a short wait before our Uber showed up and we were on our way. Since we landed at rush hour our Uber was subject to rate inflation so make sure to keep that in mind when booking your flight! If you’re looking to save a couple buck here and there definitely consider flying in at a later time. Our first stop was our hotel to check our luggage since it was too early to check in. I booked the Roosevelt Hotel located at 45 E 45th Street. I chose this hotel, as it was centrally located for all of the activities we wanted to do.
After checking our luggage we were on our way out to Battery Park to see the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. We arrived at Battery Park around 9:30 a.m. so there wasn’t much of a line and because I had purchased a CityPASS we didn’t have to wait in the ticket lineup. You must clear a security checkpoint before boarding the ferry. Ferry’s run approximately every 30-45 minutes so there isn’t much of a wait. Once you’re on the ferry the first stop is the Statue of Liberty. You will be able to get off the ferry to explore and take pictures. Because the ferry’s run so frequently you can spend just about as much time as you’d like. There is also an audio tour that is offered which I believe lasts approximately 45 minutes and gives you a full history of the Statue of Liberty. After exploring the Statue of Liberty and taking some pictures we were off to Ellis Island. Ellis Island operated as one of the busiest immigration inspection stations in the United States from 1892 until 1954. Ellis Island offers a guided and a self-guided (audio) tour or you can just walk around exploring yourself. Before coming to Ellis Island I didn’t know much about the history or why it was there so having the opportunity to explore the museum and the grounds were really incredible.
By 11:00 a.m. we were ready to head back to Battery Park and find some lunch as I’d been up for 9 hours already. Prior to coming to New York I had done quite a bit of research and followed many different blogs to figure out where the best places to eat were. So for lunch I knew we had to hit up Shake Shack. There is a Shake Shack located right in Battery Park, which was extremely convenient. I ordered a ‘Shack Burger’ and fries with a chocolate shake. I definitely recommend getting a shake, as it was one of the best milkshakes I’d ever had. It was pretty busy while we were there but it didn’t take too long for our food to come. Now, I’m not normally a fan of crinkle cut fries but these were hands down the best crinkle cut fries I’d ever had! The entire meal was extremely good and exactly what I need to keep on.
Once we were finished at the Shake Shack we headed out to the Brooklyn Bridge. The Brooklyn Bridge is about a 20-minute walk from Battery Park or you can hop in a cab or an uber and it’ll only take about 5 minutes. We had decided to walk because we didn’t want to overspend on transportation while we were in New York. The Brooklyn Bridge has a footpath for pedestrians and cyclists, which runs overtop of the cars. We walked the Brooklyn Bridge for a bit and snapped some pictures and then were off to our next destination.
We walked about 15 minutes to our next destination, 9/11 Memorial and Museum. Again, this was apart of our CityPASS so we didn’t have to worry about waiting in line to buy tickets. I highly recommend taking the time to explore this museum. Out of all of the museums we went to during our trip to New York this was by far my favorite one. I was surprised to see how much original pieces of the building they were able to salvage for the museum. Now when 9/11 happened I was only 10 years old but I remember exactly what I was doing and where I was when news had broken that planes had crashed into the twin towers. There was a lot of stuff that I saw that took me right back to that day but there was also a lot that I either didn’t see or didn’t remember. After walking through the museum and attending the memorial we had decided to head back to the hotel and finally check in. We hopped in an uber and went back to the hotel. By this time I had been up for 14 hours, walked approximately 10 kilometers and was ready to take a break.
We got into our hotel room and rested for about an hour before it was time to get ready and head back out. I had booked tickets to go see The Radio City Rockettes Christmas Spectacular. We ended up grabbing a quick bite to eat before heading to the show. The Rockettes performance is approximately an hour and a half and definitely a show you don’t want to miss! After the performance we headed back out to check out Times Square. After walking around Times Square for a bit we decided to head back to the hotel and get a good nights sleep.
Day 2: Friday
Unfortunately, we woke up Friday morning to rain. I had known ahead of time that they were calling for rain but I was hopeful that it wouldn’t last the whole day. Because of the rain thought it was pretty foggy which meant we needed to re-arrange our day a bit. I had originally planned on going to the Empire State Building but because of the weather we wouldn’t have been able to see anything so we decided to hit a museum instead. But first, we decided to hit up an early lunch. Thanks to another food blog I knew I wanted to go to Mexicue for some tacos. We started our walk to Mexicue and got there shortly after it opened. We ordered the chips and salsa to start (be careful, it’s spicy!) and I had ordered a lobster taco and a shrimp taco while my fiancé had ordered the pulled pork tacos. Everything we ordered was extremely fresh and delicious. I will definitely be returning the next time in New York!
After finishing up our lunch the rain had started to come down harder so we decided to attempt the subway. I had checked out the subway map and it seemed pretty self-explanatory. We each bought a metro card and hopped on the 6 train heading up town. We got off at 77th street and walked a couple blocks to the Metropolitan Museum. I was pretty proud of myself for managing to get us to 77th street using the subway, as I had never done anything like this before.
We explored the Metropolitan Museum for a good portion of the afternoon. I suggest planning for at least a couple hours at the museum. The museum is quite large and has a lot to see so you’ll definitely want to spend a few hours there.
After spending some time at the Met and waiting out the rain we headed on to our next destination, the American Museum of Natural History. We decided to walk through Central Park to get there quicker. When we got to the museum there was a pretty big line so we decided to leave and come back on Sunday. We jumped on the B train and headed back to 47-50 Street. We walked back to the hotel and rested up before heading out again.
Thanks to another blog, I came across a place that made the incredible looking lobster rolls, Luke’s Lobster. Luckily, this place was closed to the New Amsterdam Theatre where we were going later that evening. This place was actually pretty hard to locate at first because it’s actually on the second floor in a food court at 8th and 44th street. There were quite a few different options in the food court to choose from. I went to Luke’s Lobster and ordered the lobster roll and their lobster and corn chowder. The soup was pretty cook but the lobster roll was definitely the highlight of the meal. The roll had massive chunks of lobster with the perfect amount of garlic butter and the bun toasted to perfection.
After finishing our meal we walked around Times Square for a bit and then headed to New Amsterdam Theatre to watch the production of Aladdin. This was my first production so I was definitely a bit nervous about whether I was going to enjoy it or not. I was absolutely blown away by this production. Every part of the production was put together carefully and the genie was especially funny and filled any voids that were happening due to costume or set changes. This production kept my interest through the entire two and a half hours. All of the actors and actresses were absolutely incredible and extremely incredible. This will definitely be the first of many more productions. After the production was over we walked around Times Square for a bit before returning to our room for the night.
Day 3: Saturday
Thankfully, the weather on Saturday was much better than the day before. We had gotten up early in order to make it to the Empire State Building as early as possible in order to try and beat the rush. We grabbed some Starbucks and were on our way. The Empire State Building was about a 15-minute walk from our hotel, which wasn’t too bad as we got to take in the scenes on our way there. When we got there we quickly scanned our CityPASS and were on our way up. We managed to catch the first elevator, which brings you up to the 80th floor. On this floor is the ‘Dear to Dream Exhibit’ and where you get in line for the elevator up to the 86th floor. The line up for the elevator was already pretty long so we opted to take the stairs. We quickly made our way up the stairs to the 86th floor where we walked out onto the observation deck. Now you can chose to pay extra to go up to the observation deck on the 102nd floor but I felt I was up high enough already. It was a really incredible view from the 86th floor overlooking all of New York City. After we took in the sights from the 86th floor we began to make our way down the building. Saturday was a busy day for us as we had quite a number of places we wanted to see that day.
After the Empire State Building we walked up to Rockefeller Center where the famous Rockefeller Christmas Tree is. The Rockefeller Christmas tree is actually the sole reason I wanted to visit NYC at Christmas time. I had first seen the tree in ‘Home Alone 2: Lost in New York’ and fell in love with it just as Kevin McAllister did. I probably stopped by the tree at least 4 times during my time in New York. After enjoying the tree we decided to head up to the Top of Rock Observation Deck to get another view of New York. We quickly made our way up to the Breezeway to take in the view and snap some pictures. After enjoying the view we made the decision to head up to the 70th floor open-air deck. It was already a pretty windy day but was much windier from the 70th floor, which didn’t exactly calm my nerves. We only spent a short time on the 70th floor before we headed back down.
After all this running around we were pretty hungry so we decided to stop for lunch at Bill’s Bar and Burger located in Rockefeller Centre. The restaurant was at max capacity and all our food was prepared in a timely manner, which was great since we were starving! I enjoyed another great chocolate shake (not as great as the one at Shake Shack but delicious nevertheless) with a burger. We finished our lunch up quickly and headed back out to 5th avenue. 5th avenue is one of the most well known streets for shopping in America and is even better known for the incredible Christmas displays the stores put on. If you’re looking for something truly amazing, stop by the window display at Macy’s! They always have an incredible display for Christmas. After walking up 5th avenue taking in some well-deserved shopping therapy we returned to our hotel for a quick break before dinner.
Since we had a late lunch we ended up heading to a pub for some drinks and appetizers. This pub received some pretty good reviews on Trip Advisor; however, I wasn’t overly impressed by it. The food was mediocre but the drinks were strong. After finishing up our drinks we headed back out on the streets to explore Times Square.
Times Square was extremely overcrowded and it was extremely difficult to get in and out of stores. I’m sure it was definitely busier since we were there right before Christmas but I find it hard to imagine there is a ‘good time’ to visit Times Square. After stopping at some of the shops in Times Square we managed to get out of the crowd and really enjoy all the sights around us. This is definitely a great place to get in some people watching as there is people there from all over the world and many people dressed up as various super heroes and movie characters. After walking around Times Square for a couple hours we decided to return to the hotel so we could get a good nights sleep before our last day in New York.
Day 4: Sunday
As Sunday was our last day in New York we woke up pretty early to go have breakfast in the Upper East Side of New York. Since it was our last day we had to check our luggage with the hotel before heading out for the day. Once our luggage was checked we headed down to Grand Central Station to catch the subway to the Upper East Side. The 4, 5 or 6 train go to the Upper East Side so we hopped on the first one that pulled into the station. We took the train to 77thstreet and then walked the rest of the way to the corner of 73rd Street and 3rd Avenue where Ej’s Luncheonette is located. Looking from the outside in this diner appears to be outdated with their old school décor and retro booths. We went inside and grabbed a table before it got too busy. I had already known what I wanted thanks to their incredible Instagram page, which showcases all of their incredible options. I ordered the chocolate chip pancakes and my fiancé ordered the waffles. Our meals came pretty quick and they were exactly what I expected, chocolaty goodness. My pancakes were so massive that I definitely could have split them with my fiancé and still had leftovers! My meal came with 3 stacks of pancakes topped with a large pile of chocolate chips. I knew I definitely wouldn’t be able to finish them all but I did my best. The pancakes were fluffy and cooked to perfection. The waffles were also very fluffy with a generous topping of fresh cut strawberries and bananas. Once we finished our meal we headed out to the American Museum of Natural History.
We opted to walk through Central Park again in an effort to work off all the pancakes I had just eaten and enjoy the beautiful sunny morning we were having in New York so close to Christmas. Our walk through Central Park took roughly 20 minutes although I’m sure it took a little longer since I was walking at a slower pace. It was a beautiful day in New York and I took some time to sit in the park and just enjoy the rest of my morning. Once we finally got to the museum we headed in and made our way through the museum enjoying all of the different exhibitions. My favorite part of this museum was the space show they offered, ‘Dark Universe’. The show is approximately 25 minutes long and runs every 30 minutes. Make sure to check their website before going to confirm the times. Like the Met, you’ll definitely want to plan a couple hours to walk around and really enjoy the museum.
After we were done at the museum we hopped on another train and headed down to Washington Square Park. You can take either the B or the D train all the way down to 4th Street. We got off the train at 4th Street and made our way up to the park. The weather was still cooperating so we took some time to sit in the park and enjoy our surroundings. There were kids playing in the park, people enjoying a game of chess and even dogs enjoying the small enclosure there. After sitting in Washington Square Park for a bit we decided to head back and check out Bryant Park.
Every Christmas at Bryant Park they set up Christmas market with over a hundred shopping kiosks, food vendors and a skating rink for everyone to enjoy. We took some time to check out each of the shopping kiosks to see if there was anything we liked. There were some pretty incredible Christmas shops with decorations that had been hand crafted by the people there. Although there wasn’t any snow in New York it definitely felt like Christmas while we were walking around the market.
After we finished up at the Christmas market we headed back to our hotel, as we were completely exhausted. Had I planned things a little better I would have opted to go see another Broadway production before catching our plane back to Ottawa.
We had spent four short days running around all of New York City and managed to walk over 60 kilometers in that short time and were completely exhausted. After a much needed rest at the hotel, we grabbed and uber and made our way back to La Guardia to catch our plane home. This trip to New York was absolutely incredible and everything I had ever hoped for. I cannot wait to go back to New York City and discover more incredible places.
