Best NYC Christmas photo locations

Visiting NYC during Christmas time has been on my bucket list for years. I don’t know why we hadn’t done it before but last weekend we took the train from Boston to NYC to take in the sights. My husband wanted to walk around the city, eat at some good restaurants and go to a couple museums. I wanted to find and take photos of the best NYC Christmas photo spots.

Since we were only in the city for the weekend, the number of locations we could visit were somewhat limited. We missed a few things I wish we had time for, but overall, here is my list of the best NYC Christmas photo spots.

1. Rockefeller Center

Probably the most iconic of all the NYC Christmas photo spots is the tree and skating rink at Rockefeller Center. I would have loved to have photographed it at night but we were there mid morning so I did the best I could. If you go, be prepared for HUGE crowds. Hundreds of people are there, all day long, so it can be challenging to get photos of the ice skaters in front of the tree.

I don’t know if pedestrian access is always limited but there was a security fence about 10′-15′ from the edge of the viewing area.

Best time of the day for photos: Early morning is my suggestion for the best shot of the skaters. The rink opens at 8am and the security guard I spoke with said that 8am-8:30am is the best time of the day to get a good shot. Evening would be a good time too in order to get the tree lit up but then you’ll also have to compete with the crowds

Photo Tip: Bring a selfie stick in order to get a shot over everyone’s head and to capture the full rink. I stood on my tip toes and raised my camera as high over head as possible to get this shot.

2. Hudson Yards

Hudson Yards is a neighborhood and shopping mall with over a hundred stores and almost as many restaurants.

The mall is embellished with twinkling streams of golden lights, suspended Christmas trees and colorful light encrusted hot air balloons. It’s a beautiful display which makes it worth the trip.

Best time of the day for photos: Pretty much anytime of the day is good but earlier in the day if you don’t want a lot of people in your shot.

3. The Vessel

Also in Hudson Yards, across from the Mall itself, is The Vessel. My husband and I first visited this relatively new landmark shortly after it opened.

It was such a fun experience to climb to the top and take photos looking down into the vessel. I took some very “Escher like” photos. Sadly, there have been several recent suicides so the vessel is now permanently closed to the public. Even though it is no longer open to climb, it’s wrapped up with lights. There are lite trees below and a large hot air balloon makes it worth the visit.

Best time of the day for photos: Visit in the the evening to get a good photo of the vesel all lit up.

4. Bryant Park

Possibly just as popular (and crowded) as Rockefeller center is Bryant Park. Like Rockefeller Center, there is a big Christmas tree, and public skating. The Rink at Bryant Park isn’t the only attraction here. There is a Winter Village at Bryant Park where you’ll find unique vendors selling handmade gifts and tasty treats.

There is also a festive outdoor bar called The Lodge. It was so cold on the Sunday we were there that even though it was only 10am, a grand marnier hot chocolate tasted so good!

We sat and drank our spiked hot chocolate while watching the skaters until the cold became too much to handle.

Best time of the day for photos: Similar to Rockefeller center, my suggestion is to arrive early in the day.

5 .Macy’s

What store is more iconic around the holidays than the New York City Macy’s? The view of this entrance is where the Macy’s famous Thanksgiving Parade is televised so I included it on my list.

The multiple entrances are all decorated with lights and wreaths.

The store windows are magical for children with animated north pole scenes.

Bears looked to be the theme this year!

Best time of the day for photos: Early in the day if you want to beat the crowds but dawn or dusk is best to get photos of the windows without street reflections.

6. Radio City

Radio City is the home of the famous Rockettes. The Christmas shows sell out months in advance but put Radio City on your list for a great Christmas photo. There is a huge tree over the entrance that changes colors.

Best time of the day for photos: This corner get extremely crowded so you need to go early (by 8am) if you want to get a photo without buses, cars, and lines of ticket holders blocking the view of the entrance. Go after dark if you want to get a photo of the lights.

7. NYC Library

The New York Public Library made my list of the Best NYC Christmas photo spots, mainly because it is such a beautiful NYC landmark. Wreaths with red bows adorn the windows and doors and the architecture is so beautiful.

Best time of the day for photos: If you want to capture a full shot of the library, arrive early. Unfortunately we were walking by around noon and it was maham. There were buses and cabs in front and hundreds of tourists, clamouring to get a selfie in front of the building.

The best photo I could get was a close up of the iconic lion statue wearing a wreath.

8. 6th Ave

There are several photo worthy Christmas decorations on 6th Ave. One fun display is directly across the street from Radio City. Large red ornaments adorn a fountain and trees covered in gold lights line the plaza.

Located just beyond the red balls are giant candy canes. A metal barrier protects the display but there is a wrapped candy “bench” to sit on for a selfie or family photo.

Best time of the day for photos: Anytime of the day is good for photos at this location but expect that this location to get crowded. This image was taken around 9am on Sunday morning and I had to wait for a few minutes until the crowd moved away.

9. Fox News Tree

Just down the street from the red ornaments is the Fox News Christmas tree, flanked by two large nutcrackers and red white and blue presents. This is another popular spot for family photos. Only seconds after I got this shot, several dozen people showed up and proceeded to stand in line to get a photo in front of the tree.

Best time of the day for photos: Arrive early in the day if you want to miss the crowds or visit in the evening if you want to get a photo of the scene lit up.

10. 5th Ave

Even if you have never visited NYC you have most likely heard of 5th Ave. Fifth Ave. is the street where all the high end designer stores are located.

It is a laughable understatement to say that 5th ave. is crowded during the holidays.

There were hundreds (thousands) of tourists cramming the sidewalks which made getting any decent photos nearly impossible. We walked 5th Ave mid afternoon on a Saturday which was a big mistake.

The Louis Vuitton store, draped with a twelve story Christmas tree banner was one decent photo I was able to get.

Photo Tip: Although we didn’t get a chance to see it, Saks has a nightly Christmas light show.

Best time of the day for photos: If I was to go back, I would walk down 5th Ave. just after sunrise. The street should be nearly empty of tourists allowing for good images of both store fronts and window displays.

Bonus Photo Spot: Bergdorf Goodman window displays

One of the main drivers of wanting to visit NYC at Christmas this year was to see the Bergdorf Goodman window displays. I had read about them online and I really wanted to see them in person. For holiday 2022, Bergdorf Goodman draws back the curtain of luxury with its campaign titled “Magic in the Making.” 

Bergdorf chose seven different artists to design a window. Architects, florists, jewelers, and upholsterers, designed the windows using the tools of their trade in the most fabulous way! The art of dressmaking, paper-mâché, scrapbooking, woodcraft and more also feature in the wildly creative window scenes.

My Favorites

Every window was an incredible work of art and talent. I made a point of shooting both the full window but also some close ups.

The artist for this window used a really cool perspective in that it appears one is looking down on the display.

The details were amazing. I can’t even guess at how many hours went into creating these works of art.

This bejeweled animal menagerie window was my favorite.

Can you image all the hours and hours of time it must have taken to do all this bead work and apply those tiny mirrors?Every single thing in the window was bejeweled in some way.

Also, it’s difficult to tell the scale, but the windows are large! A person standing in front of this window would only reach about a third of the way up.

Obviously, the artist that created this window used the theme of music!

Best time of the day to photograph: Photographing the Bergdorf windows was the single location that I purposely timed.

If you visit

These windows receive so much publicity, that attempting to photograph anytime during the day or early evening, will be mobbed with people.

As a result, we arrived by taxi at 7am, just as the sun was rising. At this early hour it was still dark enough to get good photos without the street reflections and there were no tourists crowding the windows. It was just myself and a few other “professional” photographers shooting the windows at this early hour.

I hope you enjoyed reading and seeing my best NYC Christmas photo spots. I’d love to go back next year and time all my shoots.

My final piece of advice; all things considered, two days in New York at Christmas is not nearly enough time!

These travel photo blogs are fun to write and I plan to do more of them. Since I live just outside Boston I think it’s past due time that I write one for my own city.

If you enjoyed my NYC report, check out my favorite Nantucket photo spots if you plan a visit there in the near future.