New York City City Guide

When to visit New York City

If it's first-class international events and gallery openings you're after, the question is when not to go. Despite the fantastic atmosphere around Christmas/Hanukkah and the New Year, the weather can be gaspingly chilly. In summer the prices rise and the tourist numbers soar. It can also be oppressively hot. Aim for spring (March-June) and fall (September-November).

Weather

Weather in New York City

Generally the nicest and most temperate time to visit New York is from mid-September to mid-November, along with all of May and early June. Unfortunately, as these months are popular with tourists, hotel prices are scaled accordingly. Long periods of wet weather are common in November and April, with freezing rain and often snow from December to February. In summer, humidity reigns supreme to make a unique, quintessentially New York kind of soupy heat that drives everyone to despair. This is perhaps the time to explore further afield and leave the city to its temper.

Events in New York City

Hardly a week goes by without a special event taking place in New York. In fact, there are some 50 officially recognised parades each year, along with more than 400 street fairs. Times Square's New Year's Eve festivities are probably the most famous in the world; less popular is the 5 mile (8km) midnight run in Central Park. On 5 January, thousands of children wander up Fifth Ave, in a cavalcade of sheep, camels and donkeys, for the Three Kings Parade. The St Patrick's Day Parade down Fifth Ave on 17 March has been held every year for 200 years.

In May the Tribeca Film Festival, co-organised by Robert DeNiro, kicks off, while in mid-June head for Fifth Ave between 44th and 86th Sts for the salsa sounds of the Puerto Rican Day Parade. The JVC Jazz Festival is also held in June, as is the Mermaid Parade, for which some of the city's most glamorous residents transform the Coney Island boardwalk into a sea of sequins on the last weekend of the month.

On 4 July, Macy's sponsors an Independence Day fireworks spectacle on the East River. The city's premier black neighbourhood celebrates Harlem Week in August, and on Labor Day over one million people take part in the West Indian American Day Carnival Parade in Brooklyn, the biggest single event for the year. The New York Film Festival also takes place in September. Don't miss the Halloween Parade on October 31, when the kooks take over Sixth Ave in the West Village. Back in the straight world, Macy's Thanksgiving Parade in November is always popular, and for more festive cheer don't miss the Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree Lighting on the following Tuesday.