Last December I was invited out to New York City for a work trip, and so I took the opportunity to bring along my mom and sisters! We decided to pack as MUCH as we possibly could into our short 2 day trip, and we think we nailed the perfect Christmas in New York ? I wanted to share our itinerary with all of you because to this day, we talk about how amazing our time was and how it might just be our favorite trip ever. We made sure to maximize our time there & planned out our activities to be in the same areas so it would make sense logistically. Let’s get into it!
Where we stayed… 11 Howard
This hotel was super nice & cute! I love the little bar coffee shop & multiple workspaces. We stayed here only because it was close to my work event, so if I came back I might stay somewhere more uptown closer to the action.
Transportation: We walked, Ubered, or used the Subway for everything on this trip! The Apple Maps app is super helpful when it comes to the subway, highly recommend trying it out!
DAY ONE in NYC:
-8:30AM: Land in NYC. Uber to Hotel.
-9:30AM: Drop bags off at Hotel
-10:30/11:00AM: Arrive via Subway to Central Park: Walk through Central Park & see Wollman Rink
-Walk to Apple Fifth Ave.
-Walk down and see luxury shops + decor on 5th Avenue.
- Visit Bergdorf Goodmans- 7th floor has cute ornaments, LV suitcase building, see inside Coach display, etc.
-Walk to Rockefeller Center
- FAO Scwartz for JellyCats
- Glacé Marshmallow hot chocolate.
- Ralph’s coffee truck!
-1:10PM: walk to find ice skating sign in and get skates ⛸️
-1:30-2:30PM: Ice Skating Reservations @ Rockefeller Center *WE LOVED THIS! was worth the $$*
-Walk to Bryant Park Winter Village (10 min walk), to look around the shops!
-Walk to Times Square (5 min walk)
-3:30PM: Subway back to hotel
-4/4:15PM: Hotel check-in.
-4:30-6PM: Quick change for Rockettes Christmas show. Order quick room service dinner
-6PM: Uber to Radio City Music Hall
-7PM: Doors open for Rockettes. Go in early for photos and see the decor!
-8PM: Rockettes Show
-Quick stop to see Rockefeller Tree again at nighttime.
-35 minute Uber back to hotel. Get sleep for early morning tomorrow!
Okay… I know it seems crazy that I time block everything out lol… but trust me it works! Here’s to day 2…
DAY TWO in NYC:
6AM: wake up + get ready.
7:00AM: leave hotel: Subway or walk to the Statue of Liberty Staten Island Ferry. We took the free ferry ride to the island to see Lady Lib along the way, then just got right off and back on the boat going back! My mom really wanted to see this, so we made the time to go on this ride! It was quite foggy in the morning so this would probably be more pretty in the afternoon or sunset.
-Shopping in SOHO & breakfast:
- NYON Store (cute sign, souvenirs)
- Breakfast: Citizens of Soho Breakfast
-11:00AM – Julia go to hotel to get ready for Work Event. I was at event this afternoon, but in the meantime my family went to the 9/11 Memorial & the Empire State Building. Also would highly recommend fitting Ralph’s Coffee in somewhere this day!!
-4PM: Meet at hotel, Uber to the airport & head home!!
Obviously this second day was filled with my work event so you could definitely fit a ton more holiday themed things in on this day again if you wish! Hope this helped you plan a little bit of your trip out!!
