December in NEW YORK ARM1357

It's the most wonderful time of year in this most wonderful city

You don’t have to have seen well-known Christmas films such as Miracle on 34th Street and Home Alone 2 to know that New York is famous for its festive atmosphere. From al fresco skating rinks to towering light-strung trees, opulent store window displays to all-out Christmas concerts, the thrilling American city is full of holiday joy throughout the whole month of December. Whether you visit in the run-up to the big day or are there for the 25th itself, you’re in for a holiday to remember. Just keep your fingers crossed for snow.

Breathtaking Christmas trees

Start with what is one of the most famous Christmas tree displays in the world, at Rockefeller Center – the 25m-tall Norway spruce dazzles with lights and is topped with a 400kg Swarovski star covered in millions of crystals. But there are plenty of other impressive displays in the city. In the Financial District, a skyscraping bauble-studded tree is set outside the creamy columns of the New York Stock Exchange. Another, in front of the triumphal arch at Washington Square Park, is a meeting place for carolling on Christmas Eve. Many of the city’s top museums, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art and American Museum of Natural History, have illuminated installations too.

Holiday shopping capital