New York City's status as a tourist's mecca is due to the remarkable subjectivity of its global appeal. If you asked 50 folks packed in a subway car when the best time to visit New York City is, you'd likely get 47 different answers. Why? Because that car represents a cross-section of the city's populace at any given time, consisting broadly of natives, residents and tourists, each with particularized opinions on NYC's "musts," and, correspondingly, the best visiting times to experience them. There are times to visit that are not only distinctly, authentically NYC, but also objectively captivating to any visitor.
Late May boasts the year's best NYC weather, reason enough to make it a best visiting time. The weather is sunny and warm, but there's a breeziness that guarantees comfort throughout your day's activities and inspires the most ambitious exploration. NYC is one of the world's best walking cities, with some of the world's most famous parks.
Moreover, the tourist crowds that flock every summer have not yet arrived, a happy circumstance that complements the city's special appeal in those weeks: the streets are fancy-free and conducive to day-long mobility; the most coveted tickets and reservations, usually booked solid, are suddenly open and available; and, finally, discounted rates and special deals abound, inviting you to indulge sans guilt in a little more of everything that NYC's May gifts you.
October is a transformative month in NYC in several ways that elevate the month to a best visiting time. For one, October is seasonally transformative; with each passing day, you can actually see and feel the ushering in of autumn. Almost overnight, the city's trees simultaneously burst into radiant fall hues, and the streets and parks in turn take on a rustic glow usually reserved to small country towns. The weather is fresh and crisp with a warming sun beckoning you outside for NYC's classic October pastimes like pumpkin-picking and fall shopping.
As the baseball playoffs kick off in early October, with the beloved Yanks an annual fixture, NYC's seasonal transformation inevitably brings with it an exhilarating, contagious baseball fever. Finally, October bows out with a Halloween bang like only NYC could bring it; the city is yet again transformed by the annual Village Halloween Parade, a costumed city-spanning spectacle of untold proportions.
The city begins to buzz with giddy anticipation in early December, reaching full-blown intoxicating festive momentum by mid-month; it's as if, try to imagine, the entire city gleefully comes down with an annual case of the most powerful strain of the holiday spirits--and it doesn't want to be cured. Every facet of the city comes together in the most delicious sensory-overloading winter wonderland: yummy, cozy smells of chestnuts roasting, pine trees, and campfires waft through the streets; Christmas lights, trees, presents, and decorations imbue every building, storefront, and avenue with a magical celebratory glow; and the happiest sounds of holiday songs and laughter provide the city's soundtrack.
