We just took our 3rd winter trip in the past year to NYC and these are the things I’d recommend. There’s an Instagram version of this post if you’d rather save the recommendations there. Scroll down for the convenient pinterest tiles and skip my long winded blog. I might not be the perfect travel blogger, but I’ve had so many travel blogs let me down that I feel confident after three trips these one’s still stick as good options. Panna II, Joe’s Shanghai, and the Columbus Circle Christmas Market were recommended by my friends who’ve lived in New York a few years.
Last year, I swear we looked everywhere for mulled wine with NO luck, and this year we found some in Columbus Circle, in the financial district, and it was so good at Ayza. Vendors change at the markets every year so I can’t guarantee you’ll find it. We went to a market last year and had an amazing $4 curry puff we could just not find again. The regular vendor ones just didn’t do our market find justice. My good friend Sofia, who has her new blog would like you to know via Instagram that two items on this fifteen item list, were Sofia recommends, both Cote and Decibel.
I think now that we’ve gotten more of the touristy things out of the way, our next trips will probably be different but these are activities and restaurants we enjoyed, and sometimes had good experiences multiple times.
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๐๐ฏ๐จ๐ซ๐ข๐ญ๐ ๐๐ก๐ซ๐ข๐ฌ๐ญ๐ฆ๐๐ฌ ๐๐๐ซ๐ค๐๐ญ๐ฌโฃโฃโฃ
- ๐๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต๐ณ๐ข๐ญ ๐๐ข๐ณ๐ฌ ๐๐ฐ๐ญ๐ถ๐ฎ๐ฃ๐ถ๐ด ๐๐ช๐ณ๐ค๐ญ๐ฆ ๐๐ - They have mulled wine. Found it on a blog and it was here this year too.โฃโฃ
- ๐๐ข๐ณ๐ค๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ฆ ๐๐ฐ๐ฆ๐ญ ๐ฅ๐ฆ ๐๐ต๐ณ๐ข๐ด๐ฃ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ๐จ ๐’๐ข๐ญ๐ด๐ข๐ค๐ฆ- The Tarte Flambee a Lucas fave and they had Alsace mulled white wineโฃโฃ.
- ๐๐๐ฌ๐ญ ๐๐จ๐ฎ๐ซ๐ข๐ฌ๐ญ๐ฒ ๐๐ก๐ซ๐ข๐ฌ๐ญ๐ฆ๐๐ฌ ๐๐ก๐จ๐ฐ๐ฌโฃโฃโฃ
- ๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ถ๐ต๐ค๐ณ๐ข๐ค๐ฌ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐๐ข๐ญ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ต โฃโฃ- Disclaimer, my husband and I actually have never seen a live ballet before, but we couldn’t have asked for a better experience. Note: the expensive theater champagne we bought before the show started is not allowed in the theater.โฃ
- ๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ฐ๐ค๐ฌ๐ฆ๐ต๐ต๐ฆ๐ด: Itโs geared towards kids. A badly animated Santa video that plays in between the great performances. Worth seeing at least once.โฃโฃโฃ The expensive theater champagne was allowed in the theater when we went.
- ๐๐๐ฌ๐ญ ๐๐จ๐ฎ๐ซ๐ข๐ฌ๐ญ๐ฒ ๐๐ข๐๐ฐโฃ โฃโฃ
- ๐๐ฐ๐ฑ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ฐ๐ค๐ฌ – Has one of the best views of Manhattan
- ๐๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต๐ณ๐ข๐ญ ๐๐ข๐ณ๐ฌโฃ โฃโฃ-always a favorite
- ๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ณ๐ช๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ด ๐๐ถ๐ช๐ญ๐ฅ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ- Better with Friendsย
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๐๐ฏ๐จ๐ซ๐ข๐ญ๐ ๐๐๐๐ฅ๐ฌโฃ โฃโฃ
- ๐๐ฐ๐ต๐ฆ ๐๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฏ ๐๐ต๐ฆ๐ข๐ฌ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ด๐ฆ Michelin Star KBBQ, requires a reservation. Food, drinks and service lived up to the hype.
- ๐๐ค๐ฉ๐ช๐ณ๐ข๐ฏ ๐๐ - Ramen for 1โฃโฃ- I thought $23 on a bowl of ramen with the fixings was outrageous until I ate it and then it shut me up.
- ๐๐ข๐ฏ๐ฏ๐ข ๐๐ ๐๐ข๐ณ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ฏ -there are four restaurants in this weird building, very small but great! Known for the Christmas lights that almost touch your head when seated.
- ๐๐ฐ๐ฆ’๐ด ๐๐ฉ๐ข๐ฏ๐จ๐ฉ๐ข๐ช -Soup dumplings here were recommended by several friends and did not disappoint.ย
- ๐๐น๐ค๐ฆ๐ญ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต ๐๐ถ๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐๐ฐ๐ถ๐ด๐ฆ – Was not recommended by any friends, however, was pretty comparable to Joe’s Shanghai in the soup dumpling department.
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๐๐ฏ๐จ๐ซ๐ข๐ญ๐ ๐๐จ๐๐ค๐ญ๐๐ข๐ฅ๐ฌโฃ โฃโฃ
- ๐๐ฆ๐ง๐ช๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ณ๐บ ๐๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ง๐ต๐ฐ๐ฑ- Hot Toddy here was yummy and love the atmosphere. I’m a sucker for a good rooftop bar.โฃ โฃโฃ
- ๐๐ฆ๐ค๐ช๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ญ- A cool chill sake bar. Favorite of my husband and, they have a pretty good lychee martini too.โฃโฃ
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๐๐ฏ๐จ๐ซ๐ข๐ญ๐ ๐๐๐ฌ๐ฌ๐๐ซ๐ญ ๐๐ง๐ ๐ ๐๐จ๐๐ค๐ญ๐๐ข๐ฅโฃโฃ
- ๐๐บ๐ป๐ข ๐๐ช๐ฏ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ค๐ฐ๐ญ๐ข๐ต๐ฆ ๐๐ข๐ณ- Mulled wine in a cat mug and yummy fondue. They had vegan chocolate choices. Great for a date or cocktails. โฃโฃ
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- ๐๐ฏ๐๐ด in Times Square. Guys, we bagged a normal peanut MnM’s amount of MnMs for $10.
- We got amazing deals on ๐๐ฐ๐ต๐ฆ๐ญ ๐๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ช๐จ๐ฉ๐ต the last two trips a year ago. I’m talking $150/ night in Times Square after taxes on weekend nights at 4 star hotels…BUT this year we got a better same day deal on Expedia and had very few options and high prices. A few weeks before it worked great on our trip to Texas. We decided for our next upcoming weekend trip to not take the same day booking and got good quality, low cost options booked in advanced directly the old fashioned way.
