Travel Guide | Christmas in New York City
Coop and I have always talked (and dreamt!) about doing an actual Christmas in New York City. Maybe someday we will actually make that happen once our kids are a little older, BUT when we were chatting about where we wanted to do our babymoon, Coop immediately suggested New York City before Christmas! I am so glad he made the suggestion because I honestly don’t think we could have asked for a better last trip just the two of us 🥰 Christmas time in NewYork City was magical and it measured up to every expectation I could have had. I highly recommend adding a trip to the city during Christmas time to your list - a true bucket list item in my book!
Okay, let’s get to it! I am recapping our entire trip itinerary below if any of you ever plan to take a trip during December to the Big Apple. I will just go ahead and say that it is BUSY and it can be extremely crowded in the touristy spots- so just something to keep in mind when you are thinking about booking. Obviously we knew that going in, so it wasn’t a huge shocker, but definitely something to consider, especially if you plan to travel with your family!
Where We Stayed
We ended up snagging a really good Black Friday deal at the Le Meridien Central Park hotel. Our stay ended up being 20% off with the Black Friday deal through Marriot, so I highly recommend either booking your stay well in advanced or waiting for their Black Friday sale! Hotels in general are super expensive during this time of year especially in NYC, so definitely something to keep in mind when you are planning your stay. We weren’t in our hotel a ton anyways, but it was seriously a GREAT location for us to get basically anywhere. I would highly recommend checking out this hotel.
Day 1
We flew out of Kansas City on a Thursday morning and got to our hotel late afternoon. I will say it took much longer getting into the city than it did leaving, so just something else to keep in mind! With traffic it took us about an hour via Uber to get to our hotel. Once we got checked into our hotel, we bundled up and wandered to find something to eat that was near our hotel! We stumbled upon the cutest little spot, All & Sundry, where we grabbed a quick bite to eat to hold us over until dinner. Highly recommend this spot for a quick drink or some lunch if you are staying by Central Park. Super cute spot!
After our late lunch, we freshened up and ventured out to experience the ultimate German Christmas bar of my dreams - Rolf’s. We tried for an entire MONTH to make a reservation there, but had no luck. In my opinion, unless you plan months in advance, you are better off going and just waiting in line to get a drink at the bar. We only waited for about 45 minutes in line and to me, it was worth it 😂 If you don’t have a reservation, you have to find standing room by the bar, but once that clears out as people leave, we ended up snagging a great spot by the front window. All I have to say is the pictures don’t do it justice, there is not a spot on the ceiling or walls that isn’t covered by Christmas decorations! I highly recommend checking this spot out if you can.
After Rolf’s we found our way to a recommended NYC Pizza spot from my friend @jetsetwithjasmine. She is a NYC local and seriously has the BEST recommendations. I highly suggest you give her a follow on Instagram if you ever plan to visit NYC - especially during Christmas time. For dinner, we ended up at one of the oldest coal oven pizza spots in the city called Lombardi’s Pizza. If you ever go here, just know that it is cash only!
Day 2
If you know me at all you know I can’t travel to a city without taking some Pure Barre 😜 So on Friday morning, I started out my morning by taking a Pure Barre class at their Central Park location - S/O to Rita for an amazing class. After that, Coop and I grabbed some coffee and walked around Central Park. Our hotel was seriously two blocks from Central Park - so very ideal if you want to be in that area of the city. There was also a really cute coffee shop called Café Serafina right by our hotel that we grabbed coffee and pastries at every morning - highly suggest!
After our walk, we headed to brunch at a spot that came highly recommended from quite a few of you called Jack’s Wife Freda. We really enjoyed it and there are a few locations throughout the city, so definitely check to see if there is one near where you are generally going to be at - a wonderful brunch spot. A quick side note, we hardly had any reservations all weekend. So just be prepared to have a little bit of a wait, but all in all, we got into spots within 10-15 minutes! I would make reservations if you can, but if you are having a hard time making reservations, I wouldn’t sweat it. Most places got us in no problem after just a little bit of a wait!
Once we were done with brunch, we made our way to the Twin Towers Ground Zero 9/11 Memorial. We didn’t take an official tour of the museum but the memorial pools are a must-see . After a morning of loose plans, we made our way back to our hotel to freshen up for an early dinner before my first ever Broadway show experience. Before making our way to dinner, we did head down to check out the Rockefeller tree. Please know that this area is just literally insane 😂 There is no way around it, but it is a Zoo. We did see a live proposal though, and that was super sweet!
We ended up eating dinner at hole in the wall Italian restaurant called Briciola Hell’s Kitchen NYC. HIGHLY RECOMMEND. 10/10. It was SO GOOD. This space is fairly small and you are seated at this long community table alongside complete strangers - so if that bugs you, I just wanted to give that heads up! I thought it was such a unique experience and made it even better! It made me feel like we were eating a meal back in Italy.
After dinner we made our way closer to Times Square for our Broadway Show - Harry Potter and the Cursed Child. OH MY GOSH you guys, I was blown away. This show was spectacular. Cooper and I still talk about all the on-stage effects and how they were able to do what seemed like real Harry Potter magic on the stage - haha! It was just all around a great show and experience. A trip highlight for sure hands down. I highly recommend seeing a Broadway Show if you are able to while you are ever in NYC, especially if you are like me and have never been.
Day 3
Our third day was mainly a let’s go shopping on 5th Avenue and just explore the city type of day. We didn’t really have any “set” plans and I am thankful we built in some time during our trip to just explore. We started our morning off with some coffee at Cafe Serafina and a walk in Central Park. Once we got freshened up to hit 5th Avenue, we ended up stumbling upon the cutest spot for lunch called Maggie’s Place. Again, we didn’t have a reservation (which I would suggest making if you want to come here!) but got lucky sitting at the bar. Coop had a great cocktail and we split a really yummy app and sandwhich. Would definitely go back.
After that, we seriously just strolled up and down 5th Avenue and did some major retail therapy 😉 Even if you don’t actually buy anything, just venturing through the stores to check out all their holiday displays (inside and outside!) is so so cool.
We actually ended up just doing takeout from a restaurant nearby for dinner and enjoyed that in our PJs at our hotel 😂 We had plans to go out to Little Italy for dinner, but this pregnant gal could not hang after all that walking earlier in the day.
Also, side note, we pretty much walked everywhere or hopped on the subway to get from place-to-place. I personally do not recommend Uber-ing anywhere unless it is super crappy weather or your feet have just had enough. It is so much quicker to either walk or take the subway and significantly cheaper. We ended up just buying a seven day pass for the subway and used that all weekend long! It is pretty easy to navigate once you get the hang of it but let’s be honest, Cooper did a lot of the navigating for us.
Day 4
Sunday morning I ended up starting the day by taking one more Pure Barre class. This was the only day that it rained but we made the most of our day and hit up an amazing spot for breakfast/brunch called Bubby’s. Another brunch spot that I highly suggest you make the time for. We didn’t have a reservation and we got lucky after only waiting in line for about 20 minutes or so and got pulled from the line to be seated as every group in front of us had more than two people. It was serious luck - hah! But it would have hands down been worth any wait. SO GOOD. If you go, you definitely have to get an order of their homemade biscuits. We also got to see and walk the Brooklyn Bridge - which I know is touristy, but honestly a must-see spot. An incredible view of the city.
This was our last night in the city so we grabbed tickets to see the Rockette’s Christmas Spectacular at Radio City. I cannot suggest putting this on your list more. I am not going to lie, it made me tear up at first. It just put me even more into the Christmas spirit and will be something I will never forget! I hope we can bring our kids or even grandkids to this show one day for Christmas. After the show we walked (in the rain 😆) to dinner that was like two blocks away at La Grande Boucherie. We did have reservations for this spot, but make sure you select the correct location. Cooper had actually made a reservation for a different location but they still squeezed us in. A wonderful meal if you are wanting to do a more fancy dinner for at least one of your nights! I HIGHLY suggest the french onion soup as a starter - literally the best french onion soup I have ever had.
Day 5
Monday was our last day in the city and I am so happy we extended our trip to travel back on Monday vs. Sunday. We seriously made the most of our last morning there! We went to a bagel shop called Pick a Bagel and it was amazing! I know there are a bunch of great bagel spots, but this spot seemed to have a handful of locations across the city, came recommended by one of y’all and it did not disappoint. After our bagel run, we made our way up and around Madison Ave. to hit up Ralph’s Coffee which is located in the Ralph Lauren store right off Madison Ave. SUCH a cute spot and worth the hype. Our lattes were divine.
Before we made our way back to the hotel to head to the airport, we hit up Bryant Park to check out their winter village where they have tons of outdoor booths for shopping, unique food vendors, ice skating and so much more! It is the cutest outdoor Christmas market and I highly recommend adding it to your itinerary. There are quite a few outdoor holiday markets in the city too, but this is just the one we were able to make it to. We ended up grabbing a handful of last minute gifts. It was the perfect way to end our trip!
And before we officially said goodbye to NYC, we had to have some NYC style pizza one last time, so we hit up the famous Joe’s Pizza on our walk back to the hotel. There was a bit of a line to get a slice but wow, was it worth it. SO SO GOOD. I could have eaten an entire pizza myself - hah! Highly recommend grabbing Joe’s Pizza the next time you are ever in NYC.
And that is a wrap on our babymoon getaway! If you have any specific questions, please feel free to email me or DM me over on Instagram. I LOVE chatting with you guys. I hope you are getting excited for Christmas and I wish you nothing but the best holiday and the happiest NewYear.
With love,
~Katie