NYC Christmas Window Decor
 

Is there any type of tour or rideshare that takes you around NYC to view the various retail store windows during the Christmas holiday?

Im sure there are limo rides and bus tours, but I know there are some vintage car tours that are probably cooler if you can find them. Lots of the ones I just found are not going anymore it appears. Open top sounds fun, but dress warm.

Maybe go for one of those horse-drawn wagons.

I did a quick search on Google using "tours nyc holiday store windows" as the criteria and came up with quite a few possibles but almost all are walking tours. I won't list them here as there are a number of them and you can do the search and view the details at your leisure.

There is a tour by a limo company: https://www.alliedlimo.com/new-york-...ays-limo-tour/

There is one by a tour bus company: https://newyorktours.onboardtours.co...y-lights-tour/ (note: the description on Google is a bit out of date as it mentions Lord & Taylor which closed up a few years ago.)

I can't imagine a driving tour, you would probably be barely moving at times. But they don't close off the streets, no. I don't know what you mean about a rideshare that takes you around to look at windows. Rideshare means Uber to me, and they don't do tours. Can you hire one to do that on your own? Would be a lot of work, you'd have to first book a ride and find a driver and ask them. Rather potluck if you ask me. Most people just walk around.

You can't really see store windows from a bus window, anyway, there are mobs of people in front of them and you are a bit high up. There is a bus that goes down Fifth Ave though, I was on it once during that period and it took forever, but that would be DIY. But you could easily do that to check it out, if you wanted. Basically, buses M1-M4 go down Fifth Avenue, you can pick them up from Central Park and downward. M4 goes the farthest, down to about 32nd St before it turns around to go north (which is up Madison). No buses go north on Fifth.

I am a big fan of department store holiday windows... but for me anyway you need to be on foot if you want to catch photos, hear music etc. I'm no expert on NYC but fairly sure this is univerally good advice. Drive-bys sitting in traffic don't really do the trick.

I've only been to NYC twice over the holidays but have seen a lot of the department store, jeweler, and other shop windows. I can't fathom doing that in a vehicle. The draw is the animation, the music, the glitz, the humor, the details. No way you could appreciate any of that from a car/van/bus. Plus it would have to keep moving in the traffic so you certainly wouldn't be able to see much . . . or stopped dead in traffic where there's nothing to see.

Just walk (on your own) -- that's what everyone else will be doing.

And sadly there aren't as many windows to see as there used to be with several of the previous destinations no longer in business..

agreed. The only display windows I see (or have ever seen, for that matter dating back to the 60's are those right near Rockefeller Center) - never actually looked further afoot. These days it may be only Saks 5th Ave that has displays...

The Macy's window displays are always popular.

Years ago, the best windows were Saks and Lord and Taylor which sadly is no longer in business but there also used to be windows at either Bendel or Bergdorf but I haven't been north on 5th Avenue beyond 53rd St in years so not sure if either or both are stil in existence. I don't recall that Bloomingdale's windows were all that great either.

Thanks for the feedback!! Other than Macy's, Rock Center and Saks, are there any other store window displays or areas of the city that need to be added to the list? How about hotel lobby displays?

Cannot really say anything about hotel lobby displays but I am sure that there are holiday displays in other parts of the city than mid-Manhattan. For several years we lived in Brooklyn Heights and there was always a tree on the Brooklyn Heights promenade which faces lower Manhattan. There is a large Menorah outside the Plaza Hotel, 5th and 59th Street, which is lit every. night for the 8 nights of Hanukkah as well as another large Menorah that is lit every night in Brooklyn at Grand Army Plaza.

(Not what you are asking, but…) Whenever I visit NYC over the holidays, I always plan to go to the Metropolitan Museum of Art to spend some time with the marvelous tree and Neapolitan baroque crèche.

https://www.metmuseum.org/exhibition...baroque-creche

On the other side of Central Park is the Museum of Natural History and its origami tree.

2023 info: https://www.amnh.org/exhibitions/origami-holiday-tree

Patience and Fortitude, the lions in front of the 42nd Street library facing Fifth Avenue, I expect will be dressed for the holidays with large green wreath « necklaces. »

2023: https://www.nypl.org/press/wreaths-r...s-iconic-lions

I can't think of any others (perhaps Bloomingdales - 59th St/Lexington Av), Bergdorf Goodman - 5th Av/ 58th St might have some special window displays), Other stores along 5th Av from 59th St southward might do their own decorating but none might be considered 'notable' enough to be famous like Macy's, Saks and the now closed Lord & Taylor). If anything else comes to mind I'll pass it along.

Oh yes, I forgot about the tree in the Met. Always love to visit the Met that time of year just to see it.

Further afield is the annual Christmas exhibit at the NY Botanical Garden in the Bronx. The Metro-North train from Grand Central stops across from the Botanical Gardens. The annual Holiday Train Show with miniature railroads in the Conservatory is special.

Not a holiday store window however.

Gucci had the most adorable cats in costumes last year or the year before.....

But yes, sadly many of the stores with the.best windows are gone.