What's Open on Christmas Day in NYC 2026: Museums, the Subway, the Tree
Christmas 2026 is Friday, December 25. The big museums and the Statue of Liberty are closed. The ferry runs, Bryant Park's rink is open, and so is the Empire State Building.
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Christmas 2026 is Friday, December 25, and the big museums are closed. The Met, MoMA, the American Museum of Natural History, the Guggenheim, the Bronx Zoo and the Statue of Liberty all shut for the day.
What’s open: the Bryant Park rink, the Empire State Building, the Staten Island Ferry, and every free thing outdoors. Christmas morning is one of the quietest mornings Manhattan gets all year. Use it.
The short answer
Closed on Christmas Day:
- The Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the Met Cloisters
- MoMA, and MoMA PS1 in Queens
- The American Museum of Natural History
- The Guggenheim
- The Bronx Zoo, and Holiday Lights with it
- The Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island
Open on Christmas Day:
- The Staten Island Ferry, free, all day, on its weekend schedule
- Bryant Park’s Winter Village: the rink, and the holiday shops, which open daily, holidays included
- The Empire State Building, which is open 365 days a year
- The subway, on a Sunday schedule, with no B or W train
Museums on Christmas Day
The Met is closed. Its holiday closures are Thanksgiving, December 25, January 1 and the first Monday in May, and it’s also closed every Wednesday. The Met Cloisters closes on Christmas too. Go on Thursday the 24th or Saturday the 26th instead. Our guide to how long to spend at the Met will help you fit it in.
MoMA is closed. MoMA is open every day except Thanksgiving and Christmas. MoMA PS1 in Long Island City closes as well.
The American Museum of Natural History is closed. Christmas and Thanksgiving are the only two days a year it closes.
The Guggenheim is closed. It hasn’t posted its Christmas Eve hours for 2026.
We couldn’t confirm Christmas hours for the Whitney or the smaller museums. Check their own sites before you go.
The Statue of Liberty and the free ferry
The Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island close on December 25. It’s one of two days a year they shut, with Thanksgiving.
The Staten Island Ferry runs. It runs 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, and it’s free. On Christmas it follows the weekend schedule. The 25-minute ride passes the statue both ways. Don’t buy a “ferry ticket” from anyone near the terminal: there’s no such thing. Our Staten Island Ferry guide explains.
Getting around on Christmas Day
The subway runs on a Sunday schedule. The MTA’s current timetables list Christmas Day as a Sunday schedule, which means longer waits between trains, and the B and W trains don’t run at all. The MTA usually confirms its holiday service in December. Last year Christmas Eve ran a regular weekday schedule. New to it? Read the NYC subway for first timers.
What to do on Christmas Day
Early morning: the Rockefeller Center tree. Go before 9am, when the plaza is at its quietest. The tree is up from the lighting on December 2 until mid-January. Rockefeller Center hasn’t posted this season’s daily lighting hours yet. Our tree lighting guide has where to stand.
Late morning: the windows. The Fifth Avenue windows stay up through Christmas, and the sidewalks are empty compared with any other day that month. Our holiday windows walking route does it in one direction.
Afternoon: Bryant Park. The Winter Village rink is open daily all season, 8am to midnight from November 19 to January 3. Bryant Park hasn’t posted separate rink or shop hours for Christmas Day. Admission to the rink is free, and so is skating if you bring your own skates. The holiday shops are open daily, holidays included. Our ice skating guide compares it with the other rinks, and our NYC Christmas markets guide has the shops.
Evening: the Empire State Building or Dyker Heights. The Empire State Building is open every day of the year; hours change by season, so check esbnyc.com. Or take the D train to Brooklyn for the Dyker Heights Christmas lights. They’re free. Walk 84th Street between 11th and 12th Avenue first.
What we couldn’t confirm yet
These haven’t posted Christmas Day plans for 2026. Check before you go:
- The Christmas Spectacular at Radio City. It runs November 4 to January 4; our Christmas Spectacular guide has the rest.
- The Holiday Train Show at the New York Botanical Garden and Lightscape at Brooklyn Botanic Garden
- Wollman Rink in Central Park
- The MTA’s holiday service announcement, usually out in December
Bronx Zoo Holiday Lights doesn’t run on December 24 or 25 this year. Its December nights pick up again on the 26th. Our holiday light shows guide has every date.
Christmas dinner
Book now. Restaurants that open on Christmas Day fill up weeks ahead, and plenty close. Chinatown is the classic New York move, and many restaurants there stay open. If you haven’t booked by mid-December, plan a late lunch somewhere casual.
The rest of the season
- Things to do in NYC in December 2026
- Rockefeller Center tree lighting 2026
- NYC holiday light shows 2026
- What’s open on Thanksgiving in NYC 2026
- New Year’s Eve in Times Square 2026
Questions about anything in this guide? Reach MUSEENYC at museenyc.art@gmail.com or @museenyc on Instagram.
The city doesn’t close for Christmas. Knowing what does → museenyc.com