The journey
New Year in New York — the most iconic of metropolises, experienced in winter with snow, Christmas lights and the energy of a city that never sleeps.
New York at New Year goes beyond travel: it's a collective ritual, an immersion in American pop culture, a concentration of emotions that no film or TV show can truly prepare you for. Seven days from December 30 to January 5, across Manhattan, Brooklyn and the five boroughs.
Manhattan is a canyon of skyscrapers that takes your breath away from the first moment. Times Square, with its ten-storey-high illuminated signs, is the beating heart of theatre and entertainment — the New Year countdown with the ball drop is an event that brings together millions of people from around the world. Central Park under snow is an impressionist painting: the silent paths, the frozen Bethesda Fountain, the Bow Bridge wrapped in white, the Upper West Side skyscrapers peeking above the bare trees.
The Empire State Building at sunset offers a 360-degree view over a city stretching in every direction to the ocean — the lit-up Brooklyn and Manhattan bridges, the Statue of Liberty in the distance, the Financial District skyline. The Top of the Rock at Rockefeller Center is the perfect alternative with a view of the Empire State itself.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art is a world of its own: two thousand years of art in a building that alone would justify the trip. Fifth Avenue with the Christmas displays of Saks and Tiffany, Rockefeller Center with its iconic Christmas tree and ice rink — images that become reality before your eyes.
Brooklyn, across the bridge: Dumbo with its view of Manhattan through the Brooklyn Bridge pylons, Williamsburg with murals, hipster cafés and vintage markets. Walking the Brooklyn Bridge at sunset, with Manhattan's skyscrapers lighting up one by one, is one of the most magical moments of the trip.
Ground Zero and the 9/11 Memorial: the two square pools where the Twin Towers once stood, with water falling into the void and the victims' names engraved in bronze. A place of absolute silence in the heart of the noisiest city in the world.
New York food is a journey within the journey: slice pizza at Joe's on Carmine Street, bagels from Russ & Daughters, pastrami at Katz's Delicatessen, falafel and halal food trucks, 24-hour diners with American coffee and scrambled eggs. A city where you eat well at any hour and any price.
New York in winter has a charm no other season can match: the steam rising from the manholes, yellow taxis in the snow, Christmas lights reflected in puddles, and the inexhaustible energy of eight million people living together on the same island.