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I can’t tell you how many times we’ve traveled to New York however never during Christmas time. This year we decided to hop on a plane and check out the Big Apple with its holiday spirit.
If you’ve never been to New York city during Christmas time, I have to tell you, it’s probably one of the top destinations in the world during this time of year . . . you can’t help but get into the holiday spirit. Our trip started on a Sunday and we came back on Christmas Eve, with plenty of time for tours, shopping and theatre.
Below is our itinerary that you might use if you decide to invade the big apple next Christmas!
Sunday:
We booked our tickets online with Priceline and got a decent round trip fare – our flight was out of SFO non-stop to New York’s Kennedy airport 3:30PM. We expected to pay the $25 baggage fee, but come on Delta, a charge for exit row seats? Our 757 was a pretty smooth ride, we touched down at 11:30 PM. Checking the weather ahead of time, it was going to be in the low 30’s so instead of waiting for a cab, we arranged for a limo – check around for rates, ours was last minute so it was $98.00 – compared to our ride back to the airport for $63.00
We stayed at the Hilton Times Square; the front desk person was nice to upgrade us with a killer view of the square. It was about 12:30AM but we were in the city that “never” dies, so we hit the street, found a Starbucks open and walked around Times Square.
Monday:
Today, we slept in a bit as we had nothing planned for our first day. We did quite a bit of walking, ended up having lunch at the Times Square Hard Rock Café. The booze was good, Salmon was overcooked, and service was slow.
We walked up a few blocks (the blocks are long) to the Empire State Building. The lines moved quickly, we were in and out of the Empire in about 45 minutes. Next stop was the largest store in the world – Macy’s on 34th Street. We spent a little time in Macy’s knowing, we would return to do some shopping since they go 24/7 the last week before Christmas.
Next we purchased our 3-day pass on the local “Hop on Hop off” bus. This is a very convenient way to see the city; you can stop and take the tours you want with no time pressure. We did a tour of Manhattan, stopping off for dinner at Red Lobster. They we’re able to get us in fairly quickly, service was great, however, another overcooked Salmon. After dinner we went back to Macy’s to do some serious shopping.
Tuesday:
Today we started out by finding a cool bakery next to Starbucks that had some awesome goodies. From there our plan was to get on the hop on bus and go to Ground Zero. It took some time to get there since the tour bus makes a lot of stops; however the tour guides are very informative. We made it to the center where you get your pass to enter, however we didn’t realize we also needed a reservation. Thanks to our IPhone, we logged on made our reservation for the next day at 1PM. It was getting to be lunch time, so we went to a British Pub called “The Full Shilling” in the finance district close to Wall Street. Lunch was good, I highly recommend the Fish & Chips.
We were thinking about a night time cruise to see the city, however, we decided instead to take the Staten Island Ferry, which takes you close to the Statue of Liberty and offers some great views for picture taking since it was a clear day.
For the evening, we had tickets to Radio City Music Hall to see the Rockettes Spectacular Christmas show. They only perform during Christmas time in New York – it was a great show for all ages. The venue holds 6,000 and it was completely sold out.
Wednesday:
Today, we had a 1Pm pass to visit Ground Zero memorial. We started out early and wanted to take a tour of Wall Street, however we found out they stopped letting you see the floor unless you’re invited by your broker. Oh, well, maybe next time. Yes, we did get a picture of the Bull, and went for a quick lunch at J&R Café. A large internet café, serving up a great lunch, your favorite coffee drinks, quiche, soups, sandwiches etc.
From there we checked in at the Ground Zero location to get our passes. All I can say is, I’m glad we went; it certainly can be an emotional experience.
After leaving the memorial, we decided to take some time and walk the Brooklyn Bridge and grab some pictures.
Next, we hopped on our tour bus, and went to our next stop the United Nations Building. Luckily, they weren’t in session, so we were able to see all the rooms. It was a great education – much thanks to Selena our guide.
This evening, we saw Daniel Radcliffe (Harry Potter) in “How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying” – he did a fabulous job, dancing and singing. He was supported by John Larroquette from the TV series Night Court. It was a great show that we didn’t plan on seeing, however was able to get same day tickets.
The show let out around 10PM; from there our next stop was BB King’s famous club in Times Square. We had a drink, and then decided to go over to Dave & Busters to check out the scene – it was pretty quiet and was getting to be 1AM so we called it a day.
Thursday:
Today we started out at Starbucks for a quick bite, and then took a walk over to Rockefeller Square to the NBC studios for our scheduled tour. It was great going on the set of Saturday Night Live and the Brian Williams set among others.
For lunch we walked back to Times Square and grabbed a bite at Planet Hollywood. It was a good hearty lunch; I had a Turkey Club and their awesome Bread Pudding.
From there, we walked over and purchased same day tickets half off to see Brooke Shields perform in the musical the “Addams Family” on Friday. We spent the balance of the afternoon walking and shopping in the city.
This evening, we had awesome tickets in the second row to see one of our favorite musicals, Phantom of the Opera. It was a great performance; however we didn’t see any major difference between seeing it in San Francisco, London, Spain or now, on Broadway.
Friday:
Today, was a pretty light day, we took a 30 minute walk through Central Park. The park is beautiful any time of year, today was no exception. From Central Park, we walked up 5th Avenue, going through FAO Schwartz now Toys R Us. We did some shopping at Lloyds & Taylor, a good size department store however, nothing like the 11 floors at Macy’s. For lunch we stopped at TGI Fridays. The service wasn’t very good; you end up paying at least double for anything on the menu compared to Bay Area locations.
For our last night we found a restaurant while strolling called “Don’t Tell Mamma.” The service was a bit slow, but we had some time before our show stared. The food was good; I was tired of getting bad salmon, so I went with a chicken plate along with shrimp scampi. If you’re in the NY area, I highly recommend this restaurant, portions, were just right, they offer a pre’ fixe menu for $24 that included one of the best brownies I’ve ever had.
Our night concluded seeing Brooke Shields in The Addams Family at the Lunt Fontanne Theatre.
Saturday:
We had an early flight back at 7:10AM. . ugg, that’s getting up early. Our driver was prompt to take us to the airport. We flew American through Chicago getting exit row seats at no additional cost. Our flight touched down at SFO around noon.
It was a lot of fun to finally see New York during the holiday season. It’s truly a city that never sleeps.
If you’ve never been to New York city during Christmas time, I have to tell you, it’s probably one of the top destinations in the world during this time of year . . . you can’t help but get into the holiday spirit. Our trip started on a Sunday and we came back on Christmas Eve, with plenty of time for tours, shopping and theatre.
Below is our itinerary that you might use if you decide to invade the big apple next Christmas!
Sunday:
We booked our tickets online with Priceline and got a decent round trip fare – our flight was out of SFO non-stop to New York’s Kennedy airport 3:30PM. We expected to pay the $25 baggage fee, but come on Delta, a charge for exit row seats? Our 757 was a pretty smooth ride, we touched down at 11:30 PM. Checking the weather ahead of time, it was going to be in the low 30’s so instead of waiting for a cab, we arranged for a limo – check around for rates, ours was last minute so it was $98.00 – compared to our ride back to the airport for $63.00
We stayed at the Hilton Times Square; the front desk person was nice to upgrade us with a killer view of the square. It was about 12:30AM but we were in the city that “never” dies, so we hit the street, found a Starbucks open and walked around Times Square.
Monday:
Today, we slept in a bit as we had nothing planned for our first day. We did quite a bit of walking, ended up having lunch at the Times Square Hard Rock Café. The booze was good, Salmon was overcooked, and service was slow.
We walked up a few blocks (the blocks are long) to the Empire State Building. The lines moved quickly, we were in and out of the Empire in about 45 minutes. Next stop was the largest store in the world – Macy’s on 34th Street. We spent a little time in Macy’s knowing, we would return to do some shopping since they go 24/7 the last week before Christmas.
Next we purchased our 3-day pass on the local “Hop on Hop off” bus. This is a very convenient way to see the city; you can stop and take the tours you want with no time pressure. We did a tour of Manhattan, stopping off for dinner at Red Lobster. They we’re able to get us in fairly quickly, service was great, however, another overcooked Salmon. After dinner we went back to Macy’s to do some serious shopping.
Tuesday:
Today we started out by finding a cool bakery next to Starbucks that had some awesome goodies. From there our plan was to get on the hop on bus and go to Ground Zero. It took some time to get there since the tour bus makes a lot of stops; however the tour guides are very informative. We made it to the center where you get your pass to enter, however we didn’t realize we also needed a reservation. Thanks to our IPhone, we logged on made our reservation for the next day at 1PM. It was getting to be lunch time, so we went to a British Pub called “The Full Shilling” in the finance district close to Wall Street. Lunch was good, I highly recommend the Fish & Chips.
We were thinking about a night time cruise to see the city, however, we decided instead to take the Staten Island Ferry, which takes you close to the Statue of Liberty and offers some great views for picture taking since it was a clear day.
For the evening, we had tickets to Radio City Music Hall to see the Rockettes Spectacular Christmas show. They only perform during Christmas time in New York – it was a great show for all ages. The venue holds 6,000 and it was completely sold out.
Wednesday:
Today, we had a 1Pm pass to visit Ground Zero memorial. We started out early and wanted to take a tour of Wall Street, however we found out they stopped letting you see the floor unless you’re invited by your broker. Oh, well, maybe next time. Yes, we did get a picture of the Bull, and went for a quick lunch at J&R Café. A large internet café, serving up a great lunch, your favorite coffee drinks, quiche, soups, sandwiches etc.
From there we checked in at the Ground Zero location to get our passes. All I can say is, I’m glad we went; it certainly can be an emotional experience.
After leaving the memorial, we decided to take some time and walk the Brooklyn Bridge and grab some pictures.
Next, we hopped on our tour bus, and went to our next stop the United Nations Building. Luckily, they weren’t in session, so we were able to see all the rooms. It was a great education – much thanks to Selena our guide.
This evening, we saw Daniel Radcliffe (Harry Potter) in “How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying” – he did a fabulous job, dancing and singing. He was supported by John Larroquette from the TV series Night Court. It was a great show that we didn’t plan on seeing, however was able to get same day tickets.
The show let out around 10PM; from there our next stop was BB King’s famous club in Times Square. We had a drink, and then decided to go over to Dave & Busters to check out the scene – it was pretty quiet and was getting to be 1AM so we called it a day.
Thursday:
Today we started out at Starbucks for a quick bite, and then took a walk over to Rockefeller Square to the NBC studios for our scheduled tour. It was great going on the set of Saturday Night Live and the Brian Williams set among others.
For lunch we walked back to Times Square and grabbed a bite at Planet Hollywood. It was a good hearty lunch; I had a Turkey Club and their awesome Bread Pudding.
From there, we walked over and purchased same day tickets half off to see Brooke Shields perform in the musical the “Addams Family” on Friday. We spent the balance of the afternoon walking and shopping in the city.
This evening, we had awesome tickets in the second row to see one of our favorite musicals, Phantom of the Opera. It was a great performance; however we didn’t see any major difference between seeing it in San Francisco, London, Spain or now, on Broadway.
Friday:
Today, was a pretty light day, we took a 30 minute walk through Central Park. The park is beautiful any time of year, today was no exception. From Central Park, we walked up 5th Avenue, going through FAO Schwartz now Toys R Us. We did some shopping at Lloyds & Taylor, a good size department store however, nothing like the 11 floors at Macy’s. For lunch we stopped at TGI Fridays. The service wasn’t very good; you end up paying at least double for anything on the menu compared to Bay Area locations.
For our last night we found a restaurant while strolling called “Don’t Tell Mamma.” The service was a bit slow, but we had some time before our show stared. The food was good; I was tired of getting bad salmon, so I went with a chicken plate along with shrimp scampi. If you’re in the NY area, I highly recommend this restaurant, portions, were just right, they offer a pre’ fixe menu for $24 that included one of the best brownies I’ve ever had.
Our night concluded seeing Brooke Shields in The Addams Family at the Lunt Fontanne Theatre.
Saturday:
We had an early flight back at 7:10AM. . ugg, that’s getting up early. Our driver was prompt to take us to the airport. We flew American through Chicago getting exit row seats at no additional cost. Our flight touched down at SFO around noon.
It was a lot of fun to finally see New York during the holiday season. It’s truly a city that never sleeps.
