Take a Day Trip from Charlotte to NYC at Christmas

Christmas is our family’s all-time favorite holiday, my oldest daughter starts planning decorations as early as August! So when she called me in October and proposed a day trip from Charlotte to NYC just to see the Christmas decorations, I couldn’t help but laugh out loud.

It sounded insane! Was this really a thing?! She assured me it was and pitched it like a challenge.

“MOM. I dare you. Let’s do this!” We love all things Christmas and I couldn’t imagine anything more fun than to spend a day like that with my daughter.

Once I took a closer look at options, the pieces fell into place.

Yes, for sure it is possible to do a round-trip day trip to NYC. What better time to try it than during the Christmas season when the city is dressed to the nines?

Here is everything you need to know to plan your own whirlwind adventure for the Christmas season. Learn what we’d do again, the mistakes we made, and how I suggest you do it even better!

Optional: A Christmas Travel Tag Mission

We believe that having a fun theme to our trip makes our family adventures so much more fun. We play Travel Tag as often as we can.

Our NYC at Christmas visit was inspired by the movie Elf, starring Will Ferrell. One of our favorite family Christmas movies of all time. Signature moments from that movie definitely guided our itinerary for the day.

You could also use the classic Miracle on 34th Street as your inspiration.

Choose your favorite scenes from the movie and try and recreate them with your family.

Want to steal all of our Elf-inspired ideas? You can check out my full Elf itinerary here.

How to Get from Charlotte to NYC and Back in 1 Day

Yes, it’s possible to fly from Charlotte to New York and come back all in one day for a fun Christmas-season trip.

With a little bit of planning and a lot of caffeine, you can totally make this work. It helps if you can sleep on planes.

Our biggest mistake was not planning enough time for the long walk from the car to the gate once you’re at the Charlotte airport. I recommend that you pad your schedule with enough time in case you have any delays.

Our Travel Timeline: CLT – NYC

• 4:30 am: Pull out of our driveway
• 5 am: Arrive at the airport and park
• 5:30 am: Checked through security, walked through airport, arrive at gate
• 5:40 am: Board plane (We cut this WAY too close, we almost didn’t make it! Adjust your arrival time accordingly.)
• 6:00 am: Departure
• 8:00 am: Landed in NYC
• 8:25 am: Off the plane and into the terminal, walk to the AirTrain
• 8:50 am: Transfer to the Long Island Rail Road (LIRR)
• 9:30 am: Exited Grand Central Station, fully arrived in Manhattan and ready to play

Our Travel Timeline: NYC – CLT

• 2:40 pm: Arrived at Penn Station, walk to Long Island Rail Road (LIRR)
• 3:18 pm: Transfer to AirTrain at Jamaica Station
• 3:45 pm: Arrived at TSA PreCheck at JFK airport
• 4:15 pm: Through security with time to stop for dinner before heading to the gate
• 8:29 pm: Scheduled airplane departure, but our flight was significantly delayed
• 10:46 pm: Scheduled flight arrival time but we didn’t actually arrive until 12:12 am

Because of our flight delays, we didn’t get back to our car in the parking ramp until 12:31 am. We pulled back into our driveway at 1:02 am.

This timeline gave us 5 solid hours in New York.

We could have spent a little more time there, but we were exhausted from all of the walking in the wintery weather. We headed back to the airport really early on purpose because it felt like it would be more relaxing to have dinner there, knowing we wouldn’t miss our flight.

If we had known how much our flight was going to be delayed, we might have pushed it, but my biggest concern was rush hour in New York. I didn’t want that to delay us from getting to the airport.

What to See in NYC at Christmas

New York City is huge, and every square inch seems to be decorated for Christmas. If you only have a few limited hours for a day trip, it is really important that you apply our One Thing Rule and decide what is the most important thing for you to see during your day before you even head to the airport.

I strongly recommend that you head directly to your One Thing first, or as early as you can, because the day is going to pass by quicker than you think.

For our day trip, our One Thing was seeing the Rockefeller Center tree. We knew that as long as we got to see that, the rest of the day was just frosting on the cake.

Rockefeller Center Tree

If you plan to see the Rockefeller Center tree, I recommend that you head directly there first thing. It gets very crowded as the day goes on.

It was just a quick walk from Grand Central Station to Rockefeller Center.

We arrived at around 9:35 am and were lucky: there were hardly any people when we first spotted the tree. We were able to get pictures in front of the tree without too many people around us.

But by the time we left, just 30 minutes later, it was already starting to get crowded.

St. Patrick’s Cathedral

Once you’re finished visiting the Christmas tree, it is a very easy walk to go over to St. Patrick’s Cathedral and see the church all decorated for the holiday.

As a Catholic family, visiting this stunning cathedral was a really meaningful moment of our Christmas visit.

We took a few moments to light some candles for the family members who couldn’t be with us for our special adventure.

It’s also a nice way to get out of the cold for a few minutes and warm up before you head back out into the wintery weather.

Fifth Avenue Windows and Installations

For our visit, it was all about seeing as much as we could, not necessarily doing any kind of significant shopping, but you can’t go to New York at Christmas and not stop to see the glorious windows on Fifth Avenue.

Even more fun! All along the street, you’ll find Christmas installations that are just perfect for holiday photo backdrops.

The good news is heading down Fifth Avenue towards Bryant Park helps to take advantage of your step count. You’re getting where you need to go, but also seeing beautiful Christmas decorations along the way.

Bryant Park Winter Festival

The Bryant Park Winter Festival was our second highlight of the day. We spent weeks analyzing Instagram reviews of all the best things to eat at the park.

By this time, we were pretty exhausted and absolutely starving because we hadn’t stopped for food yet. I snagged a table and chairs, and my daughter was the food runner.

We enjoyed one treat at a time with little breaks in between. I would hold the table while she ran to get more food.

Empire State Building

Our last stop of the day was a visit to Macy’s, so I made sure to angle our route for a walk past the Empire State Building.

We tried to stop in the historic Fifth avenue art deco lobby, but it is no longer open for visitors. The guard at the door told me it was only for residents and workers. The only way to see it as a tourist is during the exit after an official paid-ticket observatory tour.

If you want to head inside and actually see the Empire State Building, you’ll need to buy tickets to take the elevator up to the top and tour the observatory deck.

If this is important to you, you’ll want to plan ahead and schedule more time. You can learn more about advance ticket purchases and what they include at the Empire State Building site here.

Macy’s on 34th Street

The grand finale of our day trip was a visit to Macy’s on 34th Street.

Of all the Christmas windows we saw that day, Macy’s took the grand prize.

They also had a special exhibit of the Waterford New Year’s Eve ball on display during our visit.

But of course, we had to go and find Santa. We shouldn’t have been surprised, and yet the crowds still blew us away. If you want to see Santa at Macy’s, you’ll definitely want to plan ahead and pad your schedule with lots of time.

Macy’s is a great spot for doing a little bit of shopping, and during the Christmas season, on the basement floor, they even have places for you to eat.

What to Pack

We traveled extra light with just a large backpack for each of us. Everything on our backs had to be carried with us non-stop all day long.

We purposely kept the bags nearly-empty so we’d have room to bring back goodies for our friends and family.

The most important things to make sure you bring are:

1. Cell phone battery back-up
2. Sunglasses
3. Hand sanitizer
4. Tissues
5. Lip balm

What to Wear

We don’t usually get traditional winter weather down here in Charlotte, so it was a little bit of a gamble to visit NYC in December.

We kept things casual and then planned our activities accordingly.

We each wore a pair of jeans and a cute holiday sweater. Then we layered up with a warm winter jacket, scarf, and gloves. If you’re a winter hat wearer, definitely pack it in your bag.

For the 25,000 steps we walked that day, good walking shoes were essential. We both wore sneakers. Check the weather forecast, you may need winter boots if they’re calling for snow.

What We Learned and What We’d Change

We learned a lot during this day trip. Some things we’d keep and some things we’d change. Here’s my best advice for you:

1. Definitely leave plenty of time to get between your car and airport gate when flying out of Charlotte Douglas. We cut ours close and arrived at the gate as they were already boarding, nearly missing our flight.
2. Bring snacks to eat on the plane in the morning. You won’t be hungry at 4 am but you’ll need energy for all the walking at 9:30 am. Consider building in a coffee stop at Grand Central.
3. Go straight to your One Thing. 5 hours is going to fly by.
4. If Santa at Macy’s is on your list, it should probably be your One Thing. The line tells me it will take most of your day.
5. Buy tickets in advance if you want to go inside the Empire State Building. Plan for lots of time around this activity.
6. Be prepared for flight delays. Flying the first plane out in the morning usually goes well. Flying a late plane out of JFK can be a challenge. Have an emergency Plan B in place in case you need to do a hotel stay overnight.

Was it Worth It?

Our day trip to New York at Christmastime is one of my favorite family adventures ever.

The day was long. It was exhausting. There were moments of insane stress. It took us an entire day to recover once we got home.

But I wouldn’t trade those memories for the world.

When your college-aged daughter asks you to go on an adventure, embracing a sense of whimsy and saying yes is always the right answer.

I’m so glad we did it once. For what we experienced, it was definitely worth it. However, I’m not sure I would choose the stress of a single day trip again.

When I took my younger daughter for her trip in April, we chose to spend one night to help make the trip less physically demanding.

However at Christmas time you’re facing peak season hotel prices and an additional day’s worth of food to add to the budget.

So if you’ve got the energy, you love adventure, you can handle flight delays, and you find a great deal on round-trip flights, I say go for it!

Before You Go

Before you step out the door on your trip to NYC, here are some fun ways to prepare for your adventure at home:

30 Movies to Watch Before a Trip to NYC

30 Enriching Books About NYC for Kids

Don’t Just Fly: 3 Simple Rules for More Memorable Travel

The One Question We Ask Before Every Vacation Meal