United States / New York & the Northeast / New York CityNew York City
Skyline, Statue of Liberty and Broadway
The city most Indian visitors start with, and where the non-stop flights from Delhi land: the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island by ferry, Times Square, Central Park, the Metropolitan Museum, the 9/11 Memorial, the Brooklyn Bridge and the view from the Empire State Building or Top of the Rock. The subway runs all night and takes a contactless card or phone. Vegetarian food is everywhere: Jackson Heights in Queens and "Curry Hill" on Lexington Avenue are the Indian quarters, and the Ganesh Temple in Flushing (Hindu Temple Society of North America) has a busy canteen.
Highlights
- Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island ferry
- Times Square at night
- Central Park walk or bike ride
- Metropolitan Museum of Art
- 9/11 Memorial and One World Observatory
- Walk the Brooklyn Bridge to DUMBO
- A Broadway show
- Top of the Rock or the Empire State Building
- Thalis and chaat in Jackson Heights
Things to do
- Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island ferryMorning · 5h
- Central Park walk: Bethesda Terrace to Bow BridgeMorning · 2h 30m
- Metropolitan Museum of ArtAfternoon · 3h
- 9/11 Memorial and MuseumMorning · 2h 30m
- Walk the Brooklyn Bridge to DUMBOAfternoon · 2h
- Times Square and a Broadway showEvening · 3h 30m
- Top of the Rock at sunsetEvening · 1h 30m
- Dinner in Jackson HeightsEvening · 2h
- Museum of Modern Art (MoMA)Afternoon · 2h 30m
- American Museum of Natural HistoryMorning · 3h
- High Line, Chelsea Market and Hudson YardsAfternoon · 2h 30m
- Grand Central, the New York Public Library and Bryant ParkMorning · 1h 30m
- Greenwich Village and SoHo walkAfternoon · 2h 30m
- Ganesh Temple in Flushing and its canteenMorning · 2h
Tours & tickets
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When to go
Best time: April – June, September – early December
Heads up
Holiday Season Crowds
From Thanksgiving to New Year, Rockefeller Center's tree, the store windows and the shows draw huge crowds, and hotel prices peak; the week of Christmas to New Year is the dearest of the year.
- New Year's Eve ball drop, Times Square · 31 Dec — The ball drops at midnight before a million people. Viewing pens open in the afternoon and close early, with no toilets and no re-entry; hotels round Times Square charge their year's top prices. Fireworks also go up over Central Park and the harbour.
- Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade · 26 Nov — Giant balloons down Central Park West and Sixth Avenue on Thanksgiving morning; the night before, the balloons are inflated by the Natural History Museum. Thanksgiving weekend is the busiest travel weekend of the year: flights and trains are full and dear.
- Independence Day (Fourth of July) — Fireworks across the country: Macy's over the East River in New York, on the National Mall in Washington (with the parade on Constitution Avenue), and the Boston Pops on the Esplanade. A national holiday: parks and beaches are crowded and the holiday week's flights dear.
- Diwali in New York and New Jersey · 8 Nov — Diwali (8 November in 2026) has been a New York City public-school holiday since 2024, with a Diwali celebration in Times Square in the weeks round it; Akshardham at Robbinsville, the Edison and Iselin temples and Houston's mandirs hold Annakut and fireworks. Flights from India are dearest around the holiday.
- India Day Parade, New York — The largest Indian Independence Day parade outside India, down Madison Avenue on a Sunday in mid-August, with floats, film stars and a fair.
- New England autumn colours — The maples turn from late September in northern New England to mid-October near Boston and the Hudson Valley, later in New York City. Weekend rooms in the countryside sell out; drive on weekdays if you can.