Fall for autumn in New York Favorite fall happenings

If you’re in New York City in early November and have come to run the New York City Marathon, we think you’re a veritable rock star. If you’re more like the majority of folks, you and the marathon are perhaps more of a lucky coincidence — and if that’s the case, we hope you’ll add this invigorating spectator event to your itinerary.

The iconic race-run that boasts 50,000+ finishers in 2023, takes participant athletes though all five boroughs and has a finish line near the south end of Central Park. Watch the action, root for the runners and get inspired.

Midtown Manhattan’s Bryant Park attracts 6 million visitors annually and always has a refreshing variety of goings-on going on. For example, you can attend an early-morning boot camp workout class on the Fifth Avenue Terrace, take juggling lessons on the Upper Terrace or Lawn, listen to ragtime, jazz and blues piano in the early afternoon and attend an early evening fall birding tour. 

And by all means, don’t forget to eat — food kiosks, Bryant Park Grill and Café and Southwest Porch all make your time at this popular park all the more enjoyable.

Some folks gravitate toward the scary, the spooky and the macabre. If you’re in that camp, why not delve into Archer’s thoughts on the 7 Most Haunted Places in New York? Whether you go ghost hunting at Grand Central Terminal, The Campbell Bar or The Algonquin Hotel — or head straight for the final resting place of hundreds of thousands of folks at the Woodlawn Cemetery in the Bronx — you’re sure to be in good company with interesting New York history.

If you’re in the city for Thanksgiving, how can you not go to the largest, most iconic parade there is? What started in 1924 is now a three-hour event that includes character and novelty balloons — each full-size character balloon requires 90 handlers — a Blue Sky Gallery that transforms artists’ works in to full-size balloon art, falloons (float-based balloons), balloonicles (self-powered balloon vehicles), marching bands, a myriad of performers (including actors from Broadway shows and the Radio City Music Hall Rockettes) and special guests. What a fun way to be a part of history!

Autumn in New York is no doubt a lovely time to wander the streets, window shopping and discovering all the different shopping opportunities that exist in this fabulously avant-garde city. Whether you get gloriously lost in the flagship Macy’s Herald Square — the largest department store in the U.S., with 1.25 million square feet of fashion and home retail space — or find yourself browsing along the artistically inclined streets of SoHo, the luxury-leaning sidewalks of Lexington Avenue or the über-contemporary Meatpacking District, you’ll walk away with unique finds and only-in-New-York memories.