New York at the Holidays: Tree, Windows and Lights
A Midtown holiday day on foot, timed around the crowds: the library's reading room at opening, Grand Central's Holiday Fair, Bryant Park's Winter Village, the Rockefeller Center tree and rink at dusk, the Saks light show and the Fifth Avenue windows up to Bergdorf Goodman. Finish with the Rockettes at Radio City, or take the subway to the Dyker Heights lights in Brooklyn.
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December in Midtown is usually cold, with daytime highs often in the 30s and 40s °F and colder evenings, made worse by wind between the tall buildings. Sunset comes at about 4:30 pm, so the lights are on early. Rain is more common than snow, but sleet, snow and icy sidewalks happen, especially later in the month. Expect overheated shops and stations, so dress in layers you can open. These are seasonal expectations, not a forecast for your travel date; check the NWS forecast the evening before and the morning of your trip.
Admission and parking are separate. Check current conditions before departure.
A driving day from Manhattan up the Hudson Highlands: the riverside lawn at Boscobel, Main Street and the waterfront in Cold Spring, an easy loop and cliff overlook at Little Stony Point, the big daylit galleries of Dia Beacon, and an early dinner on Beacon's Main Street.
A long day up the Hudson from Midtown: Franklin Roosevelt's Springwood home and presidential library, lunch cooked by students at the Culinary Institute of America, the Gilded Age Vanderbilt Mansion above the river, Eleanor Roosevelt's Val-Kill and a late-afternoon walk across the Walkway Over the Hudson in Poughkeepsie.
A driving day from Midtown up the Hudson to the Rivertowns: the Gothic Revival mansion at Lyndhurst, lunch on Tarrytown's Main Street, the working mill and manor house at Philipsburg Manor, Washington Irving's grave and the Old Dutch Church in Sleepy Hollow, and a late-afternoon walk around Swan Lake in the Rockefeller preserve.
A long driving day from Manhattan to the far end of Long Island's North Fork: a quiet bay beach and maritime forest at Orient Beach State Park, lunch and the antique carousel on the harbor in Greenport, one unhurried winery tasting on Route 25, and pies from a Sound Avenue farm stand on the way home.
A fall-color driving day up the Palisades Interstate Parkway from Manhattan: the cliff-top view at State Line Lookout, the summit road and stone tower on Bear Mountain, a walk around Hessian Lake, the Trailside Museums & Zoo beside the Bear Mountain Bridge, the West Point Visitors Center and a quiet lake in Harriman State Park on the way home.
An apple-season day in Orange County's Warwick Valley: pick your own at Masker Orchards, lunch in Warwick village, the flat onion country of the Black Dirt region, the craft shops of Sugar Loaf, ice cream with a view at Bellvale Farms Creamery on top of Bellvale Mountain, and sunset at Greenwood Lake on the way home.