At 6:50 on a December morning the plaza in front of 30 Rockefeller Plaza has a tree in it and almost nobody else: a security guard, a man in a Rangers hat photographing the angels on the Channel Gardens with a real camera, and the rink being resurfaced below. The Saks windows across Fifth Avenue are lit and unwatched. Eleven hours later the same block is closed by police barriers, the sidewalk moves at the speed of the slowest stroller, and the tree is a thing you see over four hundred phones. It is the same tree. The difference is the hour, and the hour depends on how far you have to walk to reach it.
Yes, New York in December is worth the crowds, provided you stay above 59th Street or below Canal and treat Midtown as a before-8-am errand. The crush is real, but it is a rectangle: Fifth Avenue from 49th to 59th, Sixth Avenue around Radio City, and the blocks between, from mid-afternoon to about 10 pm. Everywhere else the city in December is the city with better lights. We priced these five hotels on Sept 4 across the four December Friday-to-Sunday weekends, and the three that returned a usable range ran from $560 to $3,468 a night.
The short version
- Stay above 59th Street or below Canal; the December crush is a rectangle between Fifth and Sixth from 49th to 59th, and only from mid-afternoon.
- The Conrad Downtown is the value at $560 to $996 a night, an all-suite hotel far enough from the tree to sleep.
- Christmas weekend was the cheapest of the four at every hotel that priced — the business travellers are gone and the rates follow them.
- Skip the Knickerbocker in December: a good hotel, but every trip through its front door after 3 pm is a walk across Times Square.
- Be at the tree by 7 am and the Saks windows by 7:20; by 5 pm the same block is barriers and phones.
Is New York Actually Worth It in December?
It is, for three things you cannot get in another month, and none is the tree. The first is the museums after 4:30 pm: the Met's Friday and Saturday evenings until 9 are the quietest hours in the building all year, and it closes on Wednesdays. The second is the neighborhood lights — Dyker Heights in Brooklyn, a 45-minute subway ride, does the tree better than Rockefeller does. The third is the cold, which sounds like a joke until you have walked the Brooklyn Bridge at 8 am with the East River steaming and nobody on it.
Where Should You Stay to Avoid the Crowds?
We would book The Pierre, on Fifth Avenue at 61st Street, two blocks above the line where the crush stops. It is the old kind of Fifth Avenue hotel, with a Rotunda that still looks like the 1930s, and the rooms are the old kind too: high ceilings, some small. Ask at booking for a park-facing room high up; the Fifth Avenue side above the 20th floor looks straight down Central Park, and in December with the trees bare that view is the whole city. It returned a rate on only one of our four weekends, so we have no durable range for it — check your dates.
Second is The Mark, at 77th and Madison, and it wins on being the best-run hotel in the city and a four-minute walk from the Met's side entrance. What it loses is price: typically $2,299–$3,468 a night across all four weekends, cheapest Dec 25–27 — check your dates. It was the dearest room we priced, on every weekend.
The value is Conrad New York Downtown, an all-suite hotel on North End Avenue in Battery Park City, a long way from anything with a tree in it. Every room has a separate living room, the 1 train at Chambers Street is 15 minutes to Midtown, and the neighborhood goes quiet after 7 pm, which in December is the point. Typically $560–$996 a night across all four weekends, cheapest Dec 25–27 — check your dates.
The Beekman is the other downtown answer, in the 1883 atrium building on Nassau Street, nine floors of ironwork above the lobby and the Brooklyn Bridge ten minutes away. No rates loaded for our windows — check your dates.
Skip the Knickerbocker in December, even at typically $561–$1,158 a night, cheapest Dec 25–27 — check your dates. It is a good hotel with a real rooftop at 42nd and Broadway, which means every trip through the front door between 3 pm and midnight is a walk across Times Square. In February it is a bargain. In December it is a rate that charges you in time.
The December Day, Done Right
Be at the tree by 7 am and the Saks windows by 7:20, then walk up Fifth into the park before the carriages line up at 59th. Skate at Wollman Rink at opening rather than Rockefeller, where the rink is a quarter the size and the wait an hour. Book the Radio City Christmas Spectacular for a weekday matinee and arrive 40 minutes early; the doors are the bottleneck, not the seats. Eat at 6 or 9:30, never 7:30, when every reservation in Midtown was made in October.
Getting There and Around
JFK is 50 to 75 minutes from Midtown by taxi at a flat $70 before tolls, and can be 90 on a Friday evening in December; the AirTrain to Jamaica and the LIRR to Grand Central is 45 minutes and does not care about traffic. LaGuardia is closer, 30 to 45 minutes, but has no train. If you land after 9 pm on a Friday the first night is a rate you will sleep through — a Saturday morning arrival costs one night less and loses nothing in December. Book the flight through Luxvibe's flight search; the booking, the PNR and any cancellation stay in your account alongside the hotel. You do not need a car and in December you do not want one: Midtown streets close without notice. To compare more than these five, start from the New York search.
What It Costs
Two nights at the Conrad runs about $1,120 at its cheapest weekend and $1,990 at its dearest; two at The Mark starts near $4,600. The mechanic worth keeping is what the spread showed about the calendar: Christmas weekend was the cheapest of the four at all three hotels that priced, not the most expensive. Manhattan hotel rates track business demand more than holiday demand, and the week the offices empty is the week the rooms discount. Our New York hotel roundup covers more of the Upper East Side if the Pierre is full.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is New York too crowded in December?
Midtown is, from about 3 pm to 10 pm, in the rectangle between Fifth and Sixth Avenues from 49th to 59th Street. The rest of the city is normal, and Midtown itself is empty before 8 am.
When is the best time to see the Rockefeller tree?
Before 7:30 am, when the plaza is open and nearly empty. After 11 pm works too; between 4 pm and 10 pm expect barriers and a slow shuffle.
Is Christmas week more expensive in New York?
Not at the hotels we priced — it was the cheapest of the four December weekends at all three that returned a range. Manhattan rates follow business travel, which stops for the holidays.
Do I need a car in New York in December?
No. The subway, taxis and your feet cover everything above, and street closures around Fifth Avenue make driving worse in December than in any other month.