NYC- Macy's Thanksgiving day parade
 

are there hotels along the parade route?
Where is the best place to see the parade from?
melissa

Your TV.

Agree with watching from the comfort of a warm cozy hotel room on TV.

If you must watch it in person, watch it from the Upper West Side.

That way you'll beat the crowds to Thanksgiving dinner by at least an hour.

There are not many hotels along the route - and even those don;t have many rooms with parade views (most rooms are either facing the wrong way or two high up). For parade view rooms the price that day is enormous - many are taken by groups or companies who order in brunches - and I would very much doubt if there are any left at this late time.

(Someone asked this question on another board a couple of months ago and the several large hotels I tried were fully booked - with room rates up to $1000 for parade views.)

To see something without being trampled you're better watching the beginning on the upper west side (less crowded and you don;t have to arrive at 6am) and then going back to your hotel to watch the arrival of Santa on TV.

I think there's a breakfast at Foley's Fish House in the Renaissance that has nice views. You'd just pay through the nose for the meal and could stay anywhere.

I just booked a Thanksgiving package at the Hotel Giraffe that includes a brunch for an additional $120 pp at a private dining room (seats 75) at the Hard Rock Cafe on Broadway in Times Square. It's on the second or third floor with big windows that look out at the parade. The brunch starts at 8:30 and lasts until noon. I'm wondering what time I should expect to see the parade passing by the window.

I seem to recall that the parade actually starts around 9, so you might start seeing the parade by 9:30 or so.

The Renaissance Hotel is on Broadway, as arethe Marriott Marquis, the W Times Square, and the Doubletree Times Square. If you had a room very high up, the Hilton Times Square might have a view, but it wouldn't be a good one. Of course the best view would probably be from a Broadway-facing room at the Trump World Hotel, which is right at Columbus Circle. You might also see it from some rooms of the Mandarin Oriental. If you want one of these rooms, expect to pay about $700 per night or more. I'm not kidding. Plus, I'd give it about a 99% chance that most Broadway-facing rooms were sold out about a year ago.

Doug - On Thanksgiving any room in those hotels with a veiw will be way more than $700 - you'd have trouble getting any room - with or without view on a regular day for that.

(Just checked - the Mandarin Oriental Park View rooms - which MAY WELL be too high to see anything of the parade - start at over $1200 per night with tax.)