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New York: New York City – Statue of Liberty & Ellis Island
🗽 Living on the Doorstep and Not Bothering to Look
There’s a peculiar kind of stupidity that comes with living near something famous. You think, “Oh, I’ll get round to that,” and then five years pass and you haven’t. It’s a very British trait, I suspect — we do it at home all the time. Half of London has never been to the Tower of London. I once lived two streets from the Tate Modern for three years and went exactly once, and only then because someone was visiting from out of town. So when we ended up living in Westchester County, just outside White Plains in New York, and still hadn’t made it to the Statue of Liberty after five years, I suppose I shouldn’t have been surprised. Ashamed, yes. Surprised, no.
The thing is, it wasn’t as if we’d been avoiding the old girl entirely. We’d seen her from Battery Park down in Lower Manhattan — that triangular sliver of green at the very southern tip of the island, where the Hudson and East Rivers do their awkward merging act. We’d clocked her from the New Jersey side of the Hudson too, which, let’s be honest, is not quite the same as making the effort. We’d even sailed right past her on the Staten Island Ferry, which for years was famously free and one of the great unsung experiences of New York — a proper working ferry that happened to offer one of the finest views on the Eastern Seaboard, with commuters eating their lunch and ignoring the whole thing entirely. But we had never, not once, actually set foot on Liberty Island. It was, as the Americans like to say, time to fix that.
⛴️ Getting to Liberty Island
Both Liberty Island and Ellis Island fall under the care of the National Park Service, which is the American federal agency responsible for looking after the country’s national parks, monuments and historic sites — a job they’ve been doing, remarkably well on the whole, since 1916. Entry to the islands themselves is free, which is rather decent of them, though as with most things in life, the tricky part is getting there.
The boats that ferry visitors across the water are operated by Statue City Cruises, and they depart from two points: Battery Park in Lower Manhattan, and Liberty State Park across the water in New Jersey, which opened as a state park in 1976 on the site of a former rail terminal that had once processed millions of immigrants in the early twentieth century. A general admission ticket covers the boat ride to both Liberty and Ellis Islands and includes an audio tour, which is actually rather good and worth doing properly rather than fast-forwarding through like a podcast you’re only half-listening to. If you want to go up into the pedestal of the statue itself, or take a “behind the scenes” tour of Ellis Island — which gives you access to areas not normally open to the public — those cost a bit extra and need to be booked separately.
We visited in the middle of July, which is, without question, the absolute peak of tourist season in New York. Five million people visit the Statue of Liberty every year, making it one of the most visited attractions in the entire United States, so turning up and hoping for the best in July is not a strategy I’d recommend to anyone who values their sanity or their ankles. We booked our tickets online well in advance — and I mean well in advance, not the night before. I also had my eye on the heat, because a New York July is not the gentle warmth of an English summer. It is a wall of humid, suffocating heat that makes the Tube in August feel positively refreshing by comparison. With that in mind, I booked us on to the very first ferry of the morning. You only need to book your outbound departure time, which is handy — once you’re on the islands, you can hop on any returning ferry that suits you, which gives you a bit of flexibility.
One thing worth knowing: there is proper, serious security at the ferry terminals, much like an airport, and they mean business. Don’t rock up thirty seconds before departure and expect to sail through. We made sure we arrived with plenty of time to spare, got to the front of the security queue, and were on the boat early enough to bag decent seats — which, as any seasoned traveller knows, is half the battle.
🌊 Pulling Away from the Dock
Once we were on board and moving, it was one of those moments that makes all the planning worthwhile. As the ferry pulled away from Battery Park and headed out into New York Harbour, the Lower Manhattan skyline opened up behind us in a way that you simply cannot get from the street. The jagged cluster of towers — from the old art deco giants like the Woolworth Building, completed in 1913 and once the tallest building in the world, to the gleaming One World Trade Centre, which topped out in 2014 and stands at exactly 1,776 feet as a rather pointed bit of symbolism — spread itself out like a postcard that no one had bothered to tell us we were standing inside. It was, to use a technical term, rather spectacular.
🗽 Lady Liberty Up Close
There’s something slightly misleading about the Statue of Liberty from a distance — she looks almost manageable, like a rather fancy ornament you might find on someone’s mantelpiece. But as the ferry closed in and she began to fill the frame properly, it became clear just how enormous and genuinely magnificent she really is. The robed figure is modelled on Libertas, the Roman goddess of freedom, which feels appropriately grand for something standing 93 metres tall from ground to torch.
We got lucky with the weather — a proper bluebird day, the kind where the sky is that almost offensively vivid shade of blue that makes every photograph look suspiciously like a postcard. The cameras came out immediately, naturally. The island itself was originally called Bedloe’s Island — named after a Walloon merchant who owned it in the 1600s — before being officially renamed Liberty Island by an Act of Congress in 1956.
Stepping off the ferry and collecting our audio tour headsets, the first thing that hit us — and I mean properly hit us, like walking into a lamppost — was just how enormous she is. You think you know what to expect. You’ve seen the photos a thousand times. You haven’t. Standing there on Liberty Island with Lady Liberty looming above you, all 305 feet and 6 inches of her from the base of the pedestal to the tip of that torch, your brain simply refuses to process the scale properly. The statue herself, pedestal aside, stands 111 feet 6 inches tall, has a waistline of 35 feet — which puts her firmly beyond any clothing range I’m aware of — and wears a size 879 sandal. Each foot is 25 feet long. I wear a size 10. I found this oddly comforting.
She’s not light either. The whole structure comes in at around 225 tons — roughly 204,100 kilograms — which is worth bearing in mind the next time someone describes something as “built like a statue.” They weren’t wrong.
We made straight for the museum before the crowds had fully gathered their wits, which turned out to be an excellent decision. The museum, opened in 2019 inside the pedestal itself, is genuinely fascinating — not in that polite, dutiful way you say things are fascinating when they aren’t, but actually absorbing. It tells the full story of how this extraordinary thing came to exist at all.
The whole idea began with a French political thinker named Édouard de Laboulaye, who in 1865 proposed that France should gift America a statue to mark the Union’s victory in the Civil War and the abolition of slavery. He also had one eye on his own country — Napoleon III was making a thorough nuisance of himself at the time, and Laboulaye felt that a monument to liberty across the Atlantic might nudge the French public toward demanding a bit more of it at home.
The commission to design and build the thing went to French sculptor Auguste Bartholdi, who took on the job with the kind of ambition that makes you tired just reading about it. The statue was assembled in some 350 individual pieces, packed into 214 crates, and shipped across the Atlantic. Bartholdi had serious help — including one Gustave Eiffel, who would later make his own mark on the Paris skyline, and whose internal iron framework gave Liberty her structure and her spine. The team worked for nine years to get it done. The statue was completed in 1884.
There’s a story most people think they know about the Statue of Liberty, and like most stories people think they know, it turns out to be not quite right. The popular version goes that the French government gave Lady Liberty to America as a grand diplomatic gesture. Lovely idea. Completely wrong.
The truth is rather more interesting, and considerably more chaotic.
The whole thing started with Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi, who in the early 1870s had a grand vision for a colossal statue to stand at the entrance to the Suez Canal in Egypt — which had only just opened in 1869 after ten years of backbreaking construction and had caused quite the international sensation. Bartholdi pitched his idea to the Egyptian authorities with considerable enthusiasm. The Egyptians, perhaps wisely, said no thank you. So Bartholdi did what any determined Frenchman would do — he found someone else to flog it to.
America, as it happened, was rather keen. New York, Boston and Philadelphia all put their hands up, which tells you something about civic pride in the 1870s. New York eventually won out, but here’s the bit that tends to surprise people: neither the French nor the American governments stumped up a single official franc or dollar. The whole thing was privately funded, on both sides of the Atlantic, entirely through public donations. The French raised money for the statue itself; the Americans were responsible for the pedestal. Of the $102,000 raised for construction, more than eighty per cent came in one-dollar contributions from ordinary people — which is either heartwarming or absolutely exhausting to think about, depending on your disposition.
Fundraising on the American side was, frankly, a bit of a shambles for a while. The arm and torch were shipped over early and displayed at the 1876 Philadelphia Exposition to drum up interest. The head was exhibited at the 1878 Paris World’s Fair. The remaining pieces were eventually brought to New York and displayed in Madison Square Park — impressive, certainly, but the money still wasn’t coming in fast enough.
That’s when Joseph Pulitzer, the newspaper proprietor whose name now graces America’s most prestigious journalism prize, decided to get involved. He used the considerable reach of his publication to shame, cajole and inspire the public into donating — and it worked.
After the museum, we headed outside to follow the circular trail that rings the island — the audio guide doing a decent job of pointing out where to stop and what to look at. And it has to be said, wandering around the grounds of Liberty Island with the Statue looming overhead from different angles was genuinely impressive. Every turn gave you a completely different perspective on her — sometimes dramatic, sometimes almost intimate. Not bad for something that’s been standing there since 1886.
Ninety minutes on Liberty Island turned out to be just about right — enough time to do the thing properly without your feet staging a formal protest. We handed back the audio equipment, which I always feel slightly guilty about, as if I’ve borrowed a neighbour’s lawnmower and kept it longer than I should have, and joined the queue for the short ferry hop across to Ellis Island. No faffing about. Just a straightforward shuffle onto the next boat and we were off.
🚢 The Island of Hope and Tears
Between 1892 and 1924, Ellis Island was the beating heart of American immigration — the busiest and largest processing station in the country. Over those thirty-two years, more than twelve million immigrants passed through its doors, which when you think about it is roughly equivalent to the entire population of London today shuffling through a single building in New Jersey. The inspection process took somewhere between three and seven hours on average, which doesn’t sound too bad until you consider that most of these people had just spent weeks crammed into the lower decks of a steamship crossing the Atlantic, surviving on whatever they’d brought with them and presumably trying not to think too hard about what lay ahead.
For the overwhelming majority, Ellis Island lived up to its nickname — the Island of Hope. It was the first solid ground beneath their feet on the way to a new life. For others, considerably less fortunate, it earned its darker name — the Island of Tears — where families were split apart and individuals were turned back, sometimes after travelling thousands of miles on nothing but nerve and savings.
Most immigrants arrived through New York Harbour, though Boston, Philadelphia, Baltimore, San Francisco and New Orleans all handled their share. First and second class passengers, interestingly, were inspected aboard ship and largely waved through — the logic being that anyone who could afford a decent ticket was unlikely to become a burden on the state. Which tells you rather a lot about how the world worked then. Steerage passengers, however, got Ellis Island in full.
🏛️ The Great Hall — Where Futures Were Decided in Seconds
The centrepiece of Ellis Island was the Registry Room, better known as the Great Hall — a vast, vaulted space that processed more human hope and anxiety per square foot than almost anywhere else on earth. This was where every arriving immigrant faced the moment of truth: a rapid medical inspection that would determine whether their dream of a new life in America was about to begin, or end before it had started.
The doctors who worked there developed what can only be described as a remarkable — and slightly unnerving — skill. By 1916, a trained physician could reportedly identify dozens of conditions, ranging from anaemia to the eye infection trachoma, in the time it takes to pour a cup of tea. They called it the “six-second physical,” which sounds impossibly brief, but when you’re processing thousands of people a day, you get very good very quickly, or the queue never moves.
Ellis Island earned its rather grim nickname — the “Island of Tears” — though in truth, the name was somewhat misleading. The overwhelming majority of immigrants were treated with courtesy and respect, and after just a few hours on the island, were free to walk out and begin their American lives. Only around two percent were ever turned away. The main grounds for exclusion were either a diagnosis of a contagious disease that posed a genuine risk to public health, or a legal inspector’s judgement that the individual was likely to become a burden on the state or had entered into an illegal pre-arranged labour contract.
Two percent sounds small. But with over twelve million people passing through between 1892 and 1954, that still amounted to a very great deal of shattered hopes.
🎧 Exploring Ellis Island
Most people do the self-guided audio tour of Ellis Island, and that is exactly what we did. You can hire a private guide if you want, but honestly, the audio tour is perfectly good and lets you potter around at your own pace, which suits me just fine.
The tour begins in the Registry Room — and rather fittingly so, because this vast, vaulted space was where everything began for the millions of immigrants who passed through Ellis Island between 1892 and 1954. At its peak, in the early years of the twentieth century, inspectors were processing up to five thousand people a day in this single room. Just let that sink in for a moment. The ceiling, with its elegant Guastavino tile vaulting, was added after a munitions explosion in 1916 damaged the original structure — though most people walking beneath it have absolutely no idea, which seems a shame.
From the Registry Room, the tour moves you through a series of rooms lined with display panels that tell the stories of the immigrants themselves — where they came from, what they hoped for, and what actually happened to them. The focus falls particularly on the roughly two per cent of arrivals who were not given immediate entry into the United States. Those found to be ill could be detained in the island’s substantial hospital complex, a sprawling set of buildings that handled everything from measles to tuberculosis. Those considered a legal liability — whatever that meant on any given day — had their cases heard in an actual court that sat right there on the island. For most people, America was the dream. For a small but significant few, Ellis Island was where that dream stalled, sometimes permanently.
But Ellis Island wasn’t just about individual stories of people clutching their suitcases and hoping for the best. There was a second strand to the tour that stepped back and looked at the broader sweep of it all — how immigration actually shaped America, and crucially, how different groups were received once they got there. And the answer, as you might expect, wasn’t always particularly flattering. Some were welcomed. Others, considerably less so. It was honest, uncomfortable in places, and all the better for it.
Planning your visit to Liberty & Ellis Islands
🗽 Statue of Liberty
| 📍 Location | Liberty Island, New York Harbor, New York, NY 10004 | 🕖 Opening Times | Daily, 9:00 AM – 6:30 PM (closed Thanksgiving & Christmas Day) |
| 🌐 Website | nps.gov/stli | 📞 Phone | +1 212-363-3200 |
| 🛒 Tickets | statuecitycruises.com or call 1-877-523-9849 | ⚠️ Note | Statue City Cruises is the ONLY authorised ferry operator |
🚢 Getting There — Ferry Departure Points
| From New York (Manhattan) | From New Jersey |
|---|---|
| Battery Park, Lower Manhattan — Castle Clinton ticket booth | Liberty State Park, 1 Audrey Zapp Drive, Jersey City, NJ |
| First ferry: 9:00 AM / Last ferry from mainland: 5:00 PM | Hudson-Bergen Light Rail to Liberty State Park station |
| Subway: Line 1 to South Ferry; Lines 4/5 to Bowling Green; R/W to Whitehall St | NJ Turnpike Exit 14-B, follow signs; paid parking available |
| Bus: M5, M15, M20 to South Ferry |
🎟️ Ferry Ticket Prices (includes both islands & museums)
| Adult (13+) | Child (4–12) | Senior (62+) | Under 4 | Pedestal Access | Crown Access |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| $25.50 | $16.50 | $22.50 | Free | +$0.30 | +$0.30 |
ℹ️ All tickets include round-trip ferry, Liberty Island, Ellis Island, Statue of Liberty Museum, and audio tour. Pedestal and Crown tickets are limited — book well in advance. Crown access requires climbing 354 steps; minimum height 4ft (1.2m).
🏛️ Ellis Island
| 📍 Location | Ellis Island, New York Harbor, Jersey City, NJ 07305 | 🕖 Opening Times | Daily, 9:00 AM – 6:30 PM (closed Thanksgiving & Christmas Day) |
| 🌐 Website | nps.gov/elis | 📞 Phone | +1 212-363-3200 |
| 🛒 Tickets | statuecitycruises.com or call 1-877-523-9849 | ⚠️ Note | Accessed by ferry only — no separate entry fee for the museum |
🚢 Getting There — Ferry Only
| From New York (Manhattan) | From New Jersey |
|---|---|
| Battery Park, Lower Manhattan | Liberty State Park, Jersey City |
| Subway: Line 1 to South Ferry; Lines 4/5 to Bowling Green; R/W to Whitehall St | Hudson-Bergen Light Rail to Liberty State Park station |
| Last mainland ferry: 5:00 PM — last ferry from Ellis Island: 7:00 PM | To see both islands comfortably, board before 1:00 PM |
🎟️ Entry Fees
| Museum Entry | Hard Hat Tour (adults) | Ranger Tours | Audio Tour |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free (included with ferry ticket) | +$50 | Free | Included |
ℹ️ Ellis Island is a single stop on the same ferry route as the Statue of Liberty. A combined visit to both islands takes approximately 3–5 hours. The last ferry from Ellis Island departs at 7:00 PM.
Ferry schedules vary seasonally. Always check current times and book tickets in advance at statuecitycruises.com. Prices are set by Statue City Cruises/NPS and subject to change.
Visiting New York City
✈️ Getting There
By Air
New York is served by three major airports. John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK), in the borough of Queens, handles the majority of transatlantic flights and is the largest of the three. Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR) is situated in New Jersey, just across the Hudson, and is a popular and often cheaper alternative. LaGuardia Airport (LGA) is the closest to Midtown Manhattan but handles primarily domestic routes.
All international visitors will pass through US Customs and Border Protection on arrival, regardless of which airport they land at. Be prepared for queues and have your documentation ready.
Entry Requirements & ESTA
Most visitors from countries participating in the US Visa Waiver Programme — including the UK, most of Europe, Australia, and New Zealand — do not need a full visa for stays of up to 90 days, but they do need an approved Electronic System for Travel Authorization (ESTA) before travelling. The ESTA costs $40.27 and is valid for two years or until your passport expires, whichever is sooner. It must be secured at least 72 hours before departure. Apply only through the official US government website to avoid third-party scam sites that charge inflated fees.
Ensure your passport is valid for at least six months beyond your intended date of departure from the US. If you have previously visited certain countries — Cuba after January 2021, for example — you may not be eligible for ESTA and will need to apply for a B-2 tourist visa instead.
Getting from the Airport into the City
From JFK, the AirTrain connects to the subway system (the A line or the Jamaica Station hub for the Long Island Rail Road), giving you a relatively affordable route into Manhattan. Uber, Lyft, and licensed yellow taxis are widely available. Yellow taxis charge a flat fare from JFK to Manhattan.
From Newark, an AirTrain connects to Newark Penn Station, where you can board NJ Transit trains into Manhattan’s Penn Station.
From LaGuardia, there is no direct rail link; buses connect to the subway network, and rideshare apps are the most convenient option.
Be cautious of unofficial “taxi” drivers who approach you inside the arrivals hall. Always use the official taxi rank outside or book a rideshare through the app directly.
🚇 Getting Around
The Subway
The subway is the backbone of the city and the fastest, most affordable way to get around. It runs 24 hours a day, seven days a week — one of very few urban rail systems in the world to do so. Lines are identified by letters and numbers, and whilst the map can look daunting at first, the system is logical once you understand that express trains skip stops and local trains stop at every station.
The old MetroCard swipe system has now been phased out. The city has fully transitioned to OMNY (One Metro New York), a contactless tap-and-pay system. Simply tap your contactless credit or debit card, smartphone, or smartwatch on the reader at the turnstile. If you prefer, you can also purchase a physical OMNY card from vending machines in any subway station. A single fare costs $3, and there is a weekly fare cap — once you have paid for 12 trips in a seven-day period, additional rides are free for the remainder of that week. Children under 44 inches (roughly 112 cm) tall travel for free.
Note that if you are using an overseas bank card, your bank may occasionally flag the first transaction as suspicious. It is worth taking a short test ride when you first arrive to verify your card works smoothly.
Buses
MTA buses cover areas of the city not well served by the subway and use the same OMNY tap-and-pay system. They are a good option for crosstown journeys in Manhattan, where the subway’s north-south orientation can be less convenient.
Taxis & Rideshares
Yellow taxis are iconic and plentiful in Manhattan. Uber and Lyft are widely used and often convenient, particularly late at night or when travelling with luggage. Avoid pedicabs (cycle rickshaws) unless you agree a fixed price in advance — they are notorious for charging tourists eye-watering amounts.
Walking & Cycling
Manhattan’s grid layout makes it one of the most walkable cities in the world. Many neighbourhoods are best explored on foot. Citi Bike, the city’s dockless bike-share scheme, is popular and relatively affordable, particularly for short hops between neighbourhoods.
Cars
Hiring a car in the city is not recommended. Traffic congestion is severe, parking is expensive and scarce, and the subway and walking will get you where you need to go more quickly and cheaply. Consider a car only if you are planning to venture outside the city limits.
🏙️ Neighbourhoods to Explore
Manhattan offers an enormous variety of experiences within a relatively compact area. Midtown is home to many of the city’s most iconic landmarks — Times Square, the Empire State Building, Rockefeller Center, Grand Central Terminal, and the Museum of Modern Art. It is central, well-connected, and a natural base for first-time visitors.
The High Line, a repurposed elevated railway turned public park, runs through Chelsea on the west side, connecting to Hudson Yards at one end and the Meatpacking District at the other. Chelsea is also a hub for contemporary art galleries.
Greenwich Village and the West Village retain a bohemian character, with tree-lined streets, independent cafés, and a rich literary and artistic history. SoHo is known for its cast-iron architecture and high-end shopping. Tribeca, once an industrial area colonised by artists, is now one of the most exclusive neighbourhoods in the city.
Downtown’s Financial District contains Wall Street, the 9/11 Memorial and Museum, and the Oculus — the striking transit hub and shopping centre near the World Trade Center site.
Uptown, Central Park divides the Upper West Side from the Upper East Side. The latter is home to Museum Mile, a stretch of Fifth Avenue that includes the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Guggenheim, the Frick Collection, and several others. Harlem, to the north, has a vibrant cultural identity rooted in African-American history and is well worth a visit.
Brooklyn’s neighbourhoods are increasingly popular with visitors. Williamsburg has a thriving food and nightlife scene. DUMBO (Down Under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass) offers spectacular views of the Brooklyn Bridge and Manhattan skyline. Brooklyn Heights is one of the city’s most elegant residential areas.
Best Time to Visit New York City
🌸 Spring (March – May)
Spring is widely regarded as one of the most delightful times to visit New York City. Temperatures climb gradually from around 7°C in March to a pleasant 20°C by May, and the city shakes off its winter coat with a burst of colour. Central Park’s cherry blossoms typically peak in early April, drawing photographers and picnickers alike, while the High Line transforms into a ribbon of wildflowers and grasses above the streetscape.
Crowds are manageable in March and early April before the Easter holiday surge, making it an ideal window to visit popular museums such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art or the Museum of Modern Art without the queues of summer. Hotel prices sit at a mid-range level — higher than winter, but far below the summer peak.
Rainfall is fairly consistent throughout spring, so a compact umbrella is wise. The weather can be unpredictable: a warm 18°C afternoon can be followed by a sharp drop at dusk, so layering is essential. Outdoor festivals begin to reappear — the Tribeca Film Festival typically runs in late April or May — and restaurant terraces start to fill up, giving the city an energised, sociable atmosphere.
What to pack: Lightweight layers including a cardigan and a light waterproof jacket, comfortable walking shoes, a compact umbrella, jeans or chinos, a couple of smart-casual tops for evenings out, and a light scarf for cooler mornings and evenings.
☀️ Summer (June – August)
Summer is New York City’s busiest and hottest season. Temperatures regularly reach 28–33°C, with high humidity making the heat feel more intense, particularly in July and August. The city buzzes with energy: outdoor cinemas, free Shakespeare in the Park at the Delacorte Theatre, rooftop bars in full swing, and street festivals nearly every weekend. Coney Island and the Rockaway Beach become popular escapes for New Yorkers and tourists alike.
The trade-off is significant congestion. Hotels charge peak rates, queues at major attractions such as the Statue of Liberty and the Empire State Building stretch long, and the pavements in Midtown can feel suffocating in the midday heat. Booking well in advance and planning sightseeing for early morning or evening helps considerably.
Despite the crowds, summer has an infectious vitality. The 4th of July fireworks over the East River are spectacular, and the city’s parks host free concerts and events almost continuously. New York Pride in late June brings a celebratory, welcoming atmosphere to the streets.
What to pack: Breathable cotton or linen clothing, shorts and lightweight trousers, a hat and sunglasses, high-SPF sunscreen, a reusable water bottle, a light cardigan or layer for heavily air-conditioned restaurants and museums, and comfortable sandals alongside a pair of trainers for longer walks.
🍂 Autumn (September – November)
Autumn is arguably the finest season in New York City and is consistently the top pick among seasoned travellers. September brings warm, settled weather — often lingering in the low-to-mid 20s°C — without the oppressive humidity of summer. As October arrives, the temperature cools to a comfortable 14–18°C and the foliage in Central Park, Riverside Park, and Prospect Park turns to spectacular shades of amber, russet, and gold.
The city returns from its summer pace to full cultural gear. Broadway’s new season launches in September, galleries open major autumn exhibitions, and New York Fashion Week draws the industry’s eye in early September. The New York Film Festival runs through October. Restaurant Week (which actually spans several weeks) offers prix-fixe menus at some of the city’s finest establishments.
Halloween on 31st October is taken seriously here: the Greenwich Village Halloween Parade is one of the most theatrical events in the city’s calendar. Thanksgiving weekend in late November is festive and memorable — the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade is a spectacle — though it does bring a surge of domestic visitors and raised prices.
What to pack: A mid-weight jacket or trench coat, knitwear and jumpers, smart-casual layers, ankle boots or sturdy walking shoes, a light scarf, jeans and trousers, and a compact umbrella for November showers.
❄️ Winter (December – February)
Winter in New York City is cold, but it is also deeply atmospheric. December is one of the most magical months: the Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree draws millions, ice-skating rinks open in Central Park and Bryant Park, and the shop windows along Fifth Avenue are dressed in elaborate festive displays. The seasonal markets — particularly those in Union Square and Columbus Circle — add a European flair to the city’s streets.
Temperatures average 0–5°C in January and February, with occasional snowfall that, when fresh, gives the city a cinematic beauty. Wind chill can make it feel considerably colder, especially in open areas such as the Brooklyn Bridge or along the Hudson River waterfront. After the holiday rush, January and February are among the quietest months for tourism, which means shorter queues, lower hotel prices, and a more authentic sense of everyday New York life.
February brings New York Restaurant Week again, and the city’s world-class indoor attractions — the American Museum of Natural History, the Guggenheim, Lincoln Center — are all the more inviting when the cold drives you inside. Valentine’s Day sees the city at its most romantically charged.
What to pack: A warm, wind-resistant coat (ideally down or wool), thermal underlayers, chunky knitwear, a hat, gloves, and a scarf, waterproof boots with grip for potential icy pavements, thick socks, and smart layers for evenings at the theatre or a fine-dining restaurant.
🗽 Overall Best Time to Visit
If there is one season that stands above the rest, it is autumn — specifically late September through to late October. The weather is reliably comfortable, the city is alive with cultural events and culinary offers, and the foliage transforms Central Park into something truly breathtaking. Crowds are thinner than summer, prices are more reasonable than December, and the light — that particular low, golden autumn light — flatters the city’s skyline and brownstone streets in a way no other season can match. For those seeking a balance of comfort, atmosphere, value, and beauty, autumn in New York City is simply unbeatable.
Other things to do whilst in New York City
1. Bronx Zoo
The Bronx Zoo is one of the largest metropolitan zoos in the United States, covering around 265 acres in the north of New York City. It opened in 1899 and is run by the Wildlife Conservation Society, which also manages several other zoos and aquariums across the city. The zoo is home to more than 6,000 animals from several hundred species, including big cats, gorillas, snow leopards, and Komodo dragons. Many of the enclosures are designed to reflect the natural habitats of the animals inside, with large open areas rather than small cages. It draws around 2 million visitors each year and is accessible by public transport, including a direct bus route from Manhattan. Entry prices vary depending on the time of year, and some areas within the zoo cost extra on top of the general admission fee. The zoo also carries out conservation work both on site and internationally, focusing on protecting endangered species and their natural environments.
2. New York Botanical Garden
3. 9/11 Memorial Museum
The National September 11 Memorial & Museum stands at the site of the former World Trade Centre in Lower Manhattan, New York. It opened to the public in 2014 and sits partly underground, beneath the footprints of the Twin Towers. The museum documents the events of 11 September 2001, when nearly 3,000 people were killed in co-ordinated terrorist attacks on the United States, as well as the 1993 World Trade Centre bombing. Visitors move through a series of exhibition spaces containing original artefacts, photographs, audio recordings, and personal belongings from those who died. The displays are organised to give a sense of how events unfolded on the day and to acknowledge the scale of loss felt by families, rescue workers, and communities. Outside, two large reflecting pools occupy the footprints of the towers, with the names of every victim inscribed around their edges. The site attracts millions of visitors each year and serves as both a place of remembrance and a historical record of one of the most significant events in recent American history.
4. Museum of Modern Art
The Museum of Modern Art, known as MoMA, is located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, and has been open to the public since 1929. It holds one of the largest collections of modern and contemporary art in the world, covering painting, sculpture, photography, film, design, and more. Works by artists such as Vincent van Gogh, Pablo Picasso, and Frida Kahlo are among those on permanent display. The building has been expanded and renovated several times over the decades, most recently in 2019, giving it a mix of older and newer gallery spaces. Entry is ticketed, though the museum does offer free admission at certain times. It attracts millions of visitors each year and is widely regarded as one of the most significant art museums in existence, though opinions on modern art — and on the museum’s choices — naturally vary from person to person.
5. Central Park
Central Park sits at the heart of Manhattan, covering around 840 acres of landscaped grounds in the middle of one of the world’s busiest cities. It was laid out in the 1850s and 1860s by Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux, and has been a public green space ever since. The park contains open meadows, woodland paths, a boating lake, an ice-skating rink, several playgrounds, and a zoo. On any given day it is used by a wide mix of people — joggers, families, dog walkers, tourists, and office workers on their lunch break. In summer the lawns fill up quickly, and free outdoor concerts and film screenings are common. In winter the bare trees and quieter paths give it a quite different character. It is maintained by a partnership between the city and a private conservancy, and entry is free throughout the year.
Where to stay in New York City
1. Element Times Square
During our visit to New York, we stayed in the Element hotel which is in the Hells Kitchen district. For us, it was perfectly located and was only a 5-minute walk to Times Square. It was also very close to several metro stations and the main bus terminal. We were feeling a bit stingy and cautious due to the Covid-19 pandemic so we decided to walk from Penn Station to the hotel, which only took us 10-minutes, hauling our luggage.
The room was good, we had a little kitchenette and there were pots, pans, plates and silverware, so we were self-contained. We were lucky enough to be on one of the higher floors, so we had a view. It was also possible to see the Empire State building.
Breakfast is included but nothing to write home about, but there are plenty of places to eat in the area so it was not a problem for us.
2. Yotel New York
3. Freehand Hotel
Freehand is located in the former George Washington hotel, known as the home of many artists, and it has maintained its creative spirit. It has a partnership with Bard College and many artists take an active part in designing the hotel and in shaping its cultural life. Freehand features five restaurants and bars, and elegantly designed rooms with private bathrooms. The rooms sleep up to 6 people.
It is located on Lexington Avenue and in walking distance of Union Square, Midtown and Flatiron.
More to Explore
