Things to Do in NYC in December 2026

December 2026 in New York starts with the Rockefeller Center tree lighting, expected on Wednesday, December 2, and ends with the ball drop in Times Square on Thursday, December 31. In between: Hanukkah from sundown on Friday, December 4, four holiday markets, the Fifth Avenue windows and the Dyker Heights lights.

The trick to December is timing. The same walk is magic on a Tuesday night in early December and a crush on a Saturday before Christmas. Here’s the month, and how to get the good version of it.

The big dates, December 2026

• All month: the Bryant Park Winter Village, with a free-admission rink and the best market in the city. The shops run to January 3.
• Wednesday, December 2: the Rockefeller Center tree lighting, expected. Our tree lighting guide explains why you should watch on TV and see the tree the next morning.
• Early December: the Columbus Circle market opens. Last year it opened December 2. All four markets are in our Christmas markets guide.
• Friday, December 4 to Saturday, December 12: Hanukkah. Giant menorahs are lit each night at Grand Army Plaza in Manhattan, at Fifth Avenue and 59th Street, and at Grand Army Plaza in Brooklyn. Check lighting times, which shift around Shabbat.
• All month: the Dyker Heights Christmas lights. The best display in the city, free. Our Dyker Heights guide has the blocks and the subway.
• All month: the holiday windows on Fifth Avenue and the Saks light show. Our holiday windows route does them in one direction.
• Through January 4: the Christmas Spectacular at Radio City. Ticketed, and weekday matinees are the easiest seats to get.
• Thursday, December 31: New Year’s Eve. Our Times Square New Year’s Eve guide is honest about the ball drop, and has better ways to ring in 2027.

Things to do in NYC in December

Walk the windows after dark

The best free evening of the year. Macy’s to Bergdorf Goodman, the Saks light show, the tree and St. Patrick’s, in about two miles. Go on a weeknight, after 5pm, before December 15.

See the tree at 7am

The tree is lit from 5am, and at 7am on a weekday the plaza is nearly empty. It’s the single best tip for December in New York.

Pick one market and do it right

Bryant Park if you only do one: shops, food, and free skating with your own skates. Union Square for serious gift shopping. Grand Central if it’s freezing. Our markets guide has the dates.

Take the subway to Dyker Heights

A weeknight in the first half of the month, the D train to 79 St, and 84th Street between 11th and 12th Avenue. Free, and nothing in Manhattan comes close.

Find somewhere warm

December is for rooms: the New York Public Library, the Ford Foundation garden, Grand Central’s main concourse, and museums on their free nights. Our free and pay-what-you-wish museums guide has every one.

Christmas Eve and Christmas Day

• Book ahead. Restaurants that are open on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day fill up. Chinatown is the classic move on Christmas Day, and plenty of restaurants there stay open.
• Museums: most close on Christmas Day. Check before you plan around one.
• Everything outdoors still works. The tree, the windows, the lights and the parks are all there, and Christmas morning in Manhattan is one of the quietest mornings of the year.
• The markets: Union Square and Grand Central close for the season on Christmas Eve. Bryant Park and Columbus Circle stay open into the new year, with shorter hours around the holidays.

The week between Christmas and New Year’s

The busiest week of the year. Fifth Avenue, Rockefeller Center and Times Square are at capacity from morning to night. If you’re here that week:

• Go early. Everything famous before 10am.
• Go outer borough. Brooklyn, Queens and the parks are far calmer.
• Skip Midtown on weekend afternoons entirely.

The weather, and what to pack

Cold. Expect highs around the 40s°F, nights below freezing, wind funneling down the avenues, and sometimes snow. The sun sets around 4:30pm.

• A warm coat, a hat and gloves. Non-negotiable for anything at night.
• Warm, waterproof shoes. Slush at the corners is a December tradition nobody likes.
• Layers you can take off, because every store, museum and subway car is heated to tropical.

What to skip in December

• Any Saturday on Fifth Avenue in the 50s. Police end up directing foot traffic.
• The tree lighting in person. Watch it on TV and go the next morning.
• Times Square on New Year’s Eve, unless it’s genuinely a life goal. Read our New Year’s Eve guide first.
• SantaCon, usually the second Saturday of December, if you don’t want to share every bar in Midtown and the East Village with thousands of drunk Santas.

Plan the rest of your trip

• Here in November too? Things to do in NYC in November 2026.
• Bathrooms, which matter more in December: our NYC public bathroom guide.
• Where to stay: where to stay in NYC, by the kind of trip you are taking.
• Where to eat: cheap eats in NYC, or the full food section.
• The views: the best views in NYC.

Check before you go

• The tree lighting date and time, from Rockefeller Center
• Hanukkah menorah lighting times
• Market and museum holiday hours around Christmas and New Year’s
• Subway service changes on New Year’s Eve
• The weather, and then dress for ten degrees colder

Questions about anything in this guide? Reach MUSEENYC at museenyc.art@gmail.com or @museenyc on Instagram.

The best month to be in New York after dark → museenyc.com