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Photo by Jakub Hałun, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

Best time to visit New York

United States · North America

All twelve months scored on daily temperature, rainfall, humidity and holiday crowding.

The year in New York

Tap a month for its page

  1. New York in January: avoid
  2. New York in February: ok
  3. New York in March: ok
  4. New York in April: sweet spot
  5. New York in May: sweet spot
  6. New York in June: sweet spot
  7. New York in July: good, busy
  8. New York in August: sweet spot
  9. New York in September: sweet spot
  10. New York in October: sweet spot
  11. New York in November: ok
  12. New York in December: ok
  • Sweet spot
  • Good
  • OK
  • Avoid
  • Busy
Go in Apr, May, Jun, Aug, Sep or Oct — these months score within a whisker of each other; in May, 21C max, 11 rainy days. Jul is the next best.
  • Prices thereExpensive, about 100% of the US
  • MoneyUnited states dollar
  • PlugsType A and B, 120 V
  • DrivingOn the right

Things to do in New York

  • Statue of Liberty One of the most famous and iconic landmarks in the USA, if not the world.
  • Empire State Building Skyscraper located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, USA
  • One World Trade Center Main building of the rebuilt World Trade Center complex in Lower Manhattan, New York City
  • Central Park Public park at the center of Manhattan in New York City, New York, United States
  • Chrysler Building Building in New York City
  • New York Stock Exchange American stock exchange
  • Brooklyn Bridge Bridge in New York City, crossing the East River

Tours and tickets in New York

Each site opens on its own search: choose your dates there. A few open on their home page, where you type the place too. Links marked Ad pay us a commission if you book, at no extra cost to you; most pay nothing, and what a site pays never decides whether it is listed or where. How we rank

Sights and their lines from Wikivoyage (Manhattan/Financial District), licensed CC BY-SA 4.0, and Wikidata; in order of how often each one's Wikipedia article was read on phones in the last 12 months.

New York in pictures

Statue of Liberty
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Christian David, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Empire State Building
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Sam Valadi, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

One World Trade Center
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Pedro Szekely from Los Angeles, USA, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Central Park
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Ed Yourdon from New York City, USA, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

New York Stock Exchange
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chensiyuan, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Month by month

MonthMax °CRain days HumiditySun h/day VerdictWhy
Jan 4° 8d 68% 6.1h avoid bitter cold: 4C daily max
Feb 6° 8d 70% 6.8h ok 6C max, 8 rainy days
Mar 10° 10d 66% 8.1h ok 10C max, 10 rainy days
Apr 16° 9d 66% 8.7h sweet spot 16C max, 9 rainy days
May 21° 11d 70% 9.8h sweet spot 21C max, 11 rainy days
Jun 27° 8d 69% 11.2h sweet spot 27C max, 8 rainy days
Jul 30° 8d 73% 11.6h goodbusy holidays: US: Independence Day
Aug 28° 9d 74% 10.8h sweet spot 28C max, 9 rainy days
Sep 25° 8d 75% 9.0h sweet spot 25C max, 8 rainy days
Oct 19° 8d 74% 7.8h sweet spot 19C max, 8 rainy days
Nov 12° 7d 69% 7.1h ok 12C max, 7 rainy days
Dec 6° 9d 72% 5.7h ok 6C max, 9 rainy days

Rain days are the days with at least 1 mm of rain, as a weather station counts them.

Weather read at Lower Manhattan: ten years of ERA5 and ERA5-Land reanalysis, through Open-Meteo's open data.

A busy month is a crowded one, not a bad one — usually it is crowded because the weather is good. It is flagged rather than scored down, and crowds alone never make a month “avoid”: that is reserved for weather worth skipping.

Big events in New York

  • New York City Marathon expected 7 Nov 2027
    A marathon through New York's five boroughs, finishing in Central Park.

Dates from each event's own site, which can change them: check there before you book. Expect the town busier while they run.

How busy it gets

About as busy all year round.

Then and now

New York's October days now average 19.2°C, 2.0°C warmer than in 1981–1990. 5 of 12 months are clearly warmer.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
1981–902.1°4.9°9.2°14.7°20.4°25.3°28.2°26.8°23.1°17.1°11.6°5.4°
2017–264.2°6.1°10.4°16.0°21.2°26.8°29.9°28.3°24.6°19.2°11.9°6.3°
Change+2.1°+1.1°+1.2°+1.3°+0.8°+1.5°+1.7°+1.4°+1.5°+2.0°+0.3°+0.9°

The average daily high, month by month, for the nearest ERA5 grid cell. Bold is a clear change; grey is within the ordinary spread between years. Every destination, ranked.

Busy and quiet times in New York

New York experiences a wide range of weather, so visitors should prepare for variable conditions depending on the season.

Busiest
mid Jun to late Aug — Summer is a popular time for tourists with warm weather and school vacations.
mid Nov to late Dec — The holiday season attracts many visitors for shopping, decorations, and festivities.
Quieter, still good
early Apr to mid Jun — Spring offers pleasant weather and blooming attractions before the summer rush.
early Sep to mid Nov — Fall provides mild temperatures and the beautiful changing leaves, before winter sets in.

Written by a language model from the climate figures above. The month-by-month table is measured — ten years of ERA5 readings and published holiday calendars — and where the two disagree, the table is the one to believe.

What New York is like

New York (known as "The Big Apple", "NYC," and often called "New York City") is a global center for media, entertainment, art, fashion, research, finance, and trade. More on Wikivoyage

Worth seeing
Like most of the great world cities, New York has an abundance of great attractions—so many, that it would be impossible to list them all here. More on Wikivoyage
Worth doing
New York boasts an enormous number and variety of theatrical performances. More on Wikivoyage
Getting in
New York City (NYC IATA for all airports) is well connected by air with flights from almost every corner of the world. Three large airports, and several small ones, serve the region. More on Wikivoyage
Staying safe
New York is the safest large city in the United States, and its crime rate per person is lower than the national average and the crime rate of many small towns. More on Wikivoyage

From the Wikivoyage article on New York City, written by travellers and licensed CC BY-SA 4.0; the full article has far more. The numbers above are measured; this is experience.

Getting there

By rail from the airport (JFK), by light rail: AirTrain JFK.

Lines that stop at the airport's terminals, as mapped by OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL); the operators' own timetables have the times and fares.

How far New York is depends on where you set off from — the months above do not.

Like a local in New York

On arrival

  • Paying — Cards, Apple Pay and Google Pay work almost everywhere, though a few small places take cash only. Keep some $1 and $5 notes for tips; Venmo and PayPal are for locals.
  • UPI, for visitors from India — Not accepted for paying here; bring a card that works abroad.
  • Tipping — Expected: 15–20% in sit-down restaurants (18–20% is standard in New York) and 10–20% for taxi, Uber and Lyft drivers. Large groups may find it already on the bill.

Getting around New York

Tap a contactless bank card or phone at OMNY readers on the subway and buses; once you have spent $35 in the seven days from your first tap, the rest of those seven days is free. An OMNY card is the cash option.

  • Apps — Rides: Lyft, Uber. Maps: Google Maps, Apple Maps. Messages: Text messages (SMS), WhatsApp. In San Francisco, Los Angeles, Miami and some other cities you can also book a driverless Waymo in its own app.

OMNY is the contactless fare payment system for the MTA subway and bus lines. More on Wikivoyage

From the Wikivoyage article on New York City, written by travellers and licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Ferries from New York

  • Paulus Hook - Brookfield Place · about 7 min
  • Whitehall → St. George · about 25 min
  • Governors Island → East 34th Street · about 39 min
  • Belford → Brookfield Place · about 45 min
  • Pier 11 → East 34th Street · about 53 min
  • Pier 11 → East 90th Street · about 54 min
  • Atlantic Highlands → East 35th Street · about 1h 00m
  • Midtown West → Pier 11 · about 1h 08m

Crossings within 60 km, as mapped by OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL). Times are typical where the map records them.

Help

  • Emergency — 911 (any emergency).
    TravelCharika is not an emergency service: we cannot call for help or send anyone. Numbers can change; if one fails, ask someone local or your hotel.

Put together by hand from the sources listed, checked 7 October 2026. Apps, cards and rules change, so check before you rely on one.

Sources (95)

Before you go

Type A and B plugs at 120 V. Drives on the right. The currency is the United states dollar. No UK Foreign Office advice against travel. Entry rules for British travellers. Everything for United States: cost of living, languages, emergency numbers and health.

Around New York

Nearest in United States

All 107 places in United States

Nearby

Routes through here

Kind of place

New York is in United States, North America. Distances are great-circle, so a short one can still be a long way round.

Links marked Ad pay us a commission if you book through one, at no extra cost to you. That does not affect the scores on this page, which are computed from climate and holiday data before any link is built.