New York City is gearing up to celebrate its 400th year anniversary in 2024, making it the perfect year to plan a visit and fall in love with the ‘Big Apple.’ From gravity-defying photos taken on top of the Rockefeller Plaza, to a bagel or chocolate tour and even the New York Sail Grand Prix – NYC has something to satisfy every passion. To help you make the most of your trip, here’s an expertly curated must- do list from the New York City Tourism + Conventions, the official destination marketing organization and convention and visitors bureau for the five boroughs of New York City.
1. The Beam at Top of the Rock, Rockefeller Plaza, Midtown Manhattan | Ongoing Starting December 2023
You can experience a once in a lifetime opportunity to recreate the famous 1932 photograph “Lunch Atop a Skyscraper,” depicting 11 ironworkers precariously perched on a steel beam while 30 Rockefeller Plaza was under construction. Now, 91 years later, The Beam has returned to Top of the Rock for an incredible interactive photo experience that will take place on the 69th floor.
2. NYC Bagel Tours Manhattan | Ongoing
Experience some of NYC’s elite bagel shops and enjoy their finest offerings with this unique walking tour. The tour offers bagel enthusiasts an opportunity to sample a variety of bagels, cream cheeses and sandwiches, all while delving into the history of the City’s favourite carb of choice.
3. Brooklyn Chocolate Tour
Enjoy chocolates from some of the finest traditional and artisanal chocolates out of Brooklyn on this new tour. You can learn more about the history of chocolate and watch demonstrations as you explore many of the borough’s most beloved chocolate shops, including The Brooklyn Ice Cream Factory, The Chocolate Room, Raaka Chocolate and LI-Lac Chocolate.
4. Sustainable Harlem, Manhattan | Ongoing
https://www.likealocaltours.com/social-impact-tours/sustainable-harlem-tour/
Support hyper-local and community-based organizations in the historic neighborhood of Harlem with this unique and socially impactful tour. You can learn about many of the sustainable movements within Harlem and the people behind them, such as the New York Fair Trade Coalition at the Sustainable Fashion Community Center, Simone from Green, Blue Eco Care and more.
5. Food Cart Tour
Jackson Heights, Queens | Ongoing
https://www.likealocaltours.com/social-impact-tours/sustainable-harlem-tour/Explore many of the local flavors in one of the City’s most diverse neighborhoods right in the heart of Queens on a two-hour walking and tasting tour. Sample delicious favourites from around the world while Learning more about the people and organisations helping many of the City’s street vendors continue to thrive.
6. Retail Store Tours
Brooklyn & Manhattan | Ongoing
Explore the driving forces changing the retail landscape and the best of Retail innovation in this two-hour tour led by industry professionals.
7. Picasso in Fontainebleau at Museum of Modern Art Midtown Manhattan | Until February 17, 2024
Picasso in Fontainebleau examines three months in the legendary artist’s career when Picasso created an astonishingly varied body of work from July through September 1921 in the town of Fontainebleau, France. The exhibition also sees the return of four monumental works on canvas, both versions of Picasso’s “Three Musicians” and “Three Women at the Spring” and additional works he made in Fontainebleau.
8. Running for Civil Rights: The New York Pioneer Club at New-York Historical Society
Upper West Side, Manhattan | Until February 25, 2024
Running for Civil Rights will explore the origins of the New York City Marathon through the activism and innovation of the New York Road Runners and the New York Pioneer Club, two running organizations that changed long distance running in the United States. The exhibitions examine the leadership and legacy of two African American runners, Ted Corbitt (1919-2007) and Joseph Yancey (1910-1991), and their instrumental role in democratizing long distance running in the US.
9. New York Sail Grand Prix
New York Harbor | June 22–23, 2024
The international sailing competition returns to the City next summer as part of its 12-race global circuit across four continents.
10. The Harlem Renaissance and Transatlantic Modernism at The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Upper East Side, Manhattan | February 25–July 28, 2024
Coming in February 2024, this groundbreaking exhibition will feature 160 works of painting, sculpture, photography, film and ephemera exploring the comprehensive and far-reaching ways Black artists showcased everyday modern life in new Black cities throughout the 1920s–40s in Harlem and Nationwide.
