My favorite winter activity is definitely ice skating. I learned as a little kid and have just always loved it so much. Every winter break, I’d look forward to the local rink having “holiday hours” that allowed for 5 hour public skating sessions!
When I got older, I realized something I loved even more than just skating at the regular local rink - skating, outdoors, in the city (New York City, that is) at Christmas time.
I’ve gone every year (Except 2020) and it was a tradition that started in college; my sister and I used to meet up every year and go ice skating at Bryant Park and get Mac and cheese at their restaurant - back then it was called Celsius - it was a pop up restaurant as part of the Bryant Park pop up winter village. But Celsius has since been closed and transformed into “The Lodge” which has a medley of food and drinks you can get. It’s like a cafeteria almost; no waiters, no waitresses, self-service - but also no walls. So, it’s cold. There’s heaters but they really don’t do the trick tbh.
All around Bryant Park, the Winter Village is set up, and it’s one of my favorite Christmas things it’s so cute. There’s lots of little shops great for unique, quirky holiday gifts, and food/drink set ups as well. There’s chairs and seating in various spots, but depending on time/day of the week it could be tricky to find openings.
Personally for eating, I would recommend the “Fever Tree Porch” , I’ve eaten there the last couple years, and we ate their this year! It’s still outside, but they have a wait staff and guarantee you seating. There are heaters that sort of do the job, but not quite.
Most years I’ve gotten the Mac and cheese (of course), but this year it tasted sooo much better. Definitely an upgrade! So I highly recommend.
I also got their fries, they were good but cold, but it’s probably because it was 40 degrees out so they inevitably cooled down quickly, so that was understandable I wasn't mad.
Bryant Park always was (and still is!) completely free to skate with bring your own skates. While it used to be walk-up, now a days, you have to pre-register online.
Skate rentals will cost you, but if you have your own skates it’s still completely free. There are locker-rentals to pay for but it’s not too expensive. I even actually noticed this year they gave out plastic bags with your skate rentals, so you carried your shoes in a plastic bag on your back. It looked pretty silly tbh but I guess it’s a good idea.
The rink itself Is a really big size, nice and big. However, they are super strict about not letting you take photos on the ice.
In the past, they were too and would always skate up to you and yell at you if you did. We’ve gotten away with sneaky pics in the past (pre-covid times by asking someone watching on the side to take a pic of us, or just by sneaking in a selfie) so it’s not impossible. However, from like 2017-2019 they were really lax with it, and photos were allowed and no one yelled at you - I was openly allowed to make boomerangs and videos. However this year, it looks like they went back to being strict, but of course we snuck some selfies.
So, if you go next year who knows what it could be; they seem to alternate with photos being okay or banned.
This year, masks were required on the ice even though it is outdoors and even if you are vaccinated (no one checked though).
(my boyfriend stood off ice to get this lol)
If you’re looking to go, I definitely recommend going on a weekday afternoon!
We went on a Tuesday at 2:20pm and it was the most empty I’ve ever seen it.
Going on a weekday night is definitely more crowded, and going on a weekend day or night is really, crazy, incredibly crowded so I would definitely recommend avoiding that time. They also have a skate cam available on their website so you can check out what ice looks like ahead of time!
Overall, Bryant Park is always fun, inexpensive, and it’s cute to walk around the winter villages.
On this year’s Ice skating day, my boyfriend and I also finally did something else we’ve surprisingly never done : Rockefeller Center.
Now Rockefeller Center ice rink is obviously more iconic (as the big tree is right there and 30 Rock / NBC building itself) but it is much, much smaller than Bryant Park.
This one isn’t free. The cost will vary depending on how close to Christmas you go and time of day. So, again, definitely recommend early December morning weekday as it’ll be the cheapest and least crowded.
They do do a good job of crowd control though, as each timed entry has a colored sticker, so it’s limited to a certain amount of people, and they will announce what time each colored sticker must depart the ice.
Overall, you have about an hour’s worth to skate (they give you like an hour twenty minutes but it’s definitely to account for the 10 minutes waiting on line + putting on skates, and 10 minutes for the Zamboni to clear the ice).
Here, you don’t have to wear your mask outdoors (inside, you do, but off the rink you can be mask free if you choose).
Most importantly though, you can take as many pictures as you’d like. In fact, I even saw the rink patrol employees taking pictures of families at the families request. So, you can do your whole photoshoot here.
Pro tip - when they clear the ice off for the Zamboni, try to stall as much as you can so you can take a picture on the cleared ice. Yes, the rink employees will most likely tell you to “stop taking pics and get off the ice” LOL (I wasnt the only one TBH ) but it’s worth it for the awesome people-free picture… I mean:
Overall, it’s fun, it’s cute, it’s very New York City Christmas. Majority of people there were definitely from other countries so it was cool to hear different accents as well!
And when you’re done you can pop up into FAO Schwartz (overlooking the rink) and look at all the cute Christmas toys. Outside, one of the employees was dressed up like a toy soldier and he chatted with us and was soooo nice; he was awesome!
Radio City is also right around the corner, and Sak’s is on the other side (with the decorations and window displays) so it really is like Christmas Central.
TBH, I had a bit more fun at Rockefeller Center than Bryant Park this year. I think the vibe was just better, but Bryant Park I had much more space to skate.
So either way, both are a great experience! Definitely, definitely recommend if you are around during Christmas time. Both are open from November to January, I believe, so it gives you some wiggle room!
There’s other rinks in the city too, especially famously Wollman Rink in Central Park near the zoo, but even as a New Yorker I have yet to go there, so maybe that’ll be next year’s adventure! :)
My Outfit Details:
Red Coat is Kate Spade
Red Hat is Draper James
Sweater is Saylor, rented from Nuuly
Red Skirt is vintage Francesca's (no longer sold)
