NYC events in January 2025

During the typically bleak post–New Year’s Eve concert lull, Winter Jazzfest promises a bright spot on the city’s calendar. Expect to hear more than 100 groups from around the world. Now in its 21st year, the annual event showcases new talent performing a broad spectrum of musical styles all under the banner of jazz. 

This year's fest runs Thursday, January 9, 2025 to Wednesday, January 15, 2025, with immense "Marathon" events in Manhattan on Friday, January 10 and in Brooklyn on Saturday, January 11.

Buy advance tickets at the official festival website. A two-day marathon pass costs $155-$265, or $85 per day if bought separately. You can also purchase tickets for individual shows, which start at $30.

The idea of climbing into your swimsuit when it’s freezing outside might not sound appealing, but hear us out. These winter spas in NYC make it worth it to brave the cold (briefly) in your swimwear.

With Scandinavian-inspired ethos and design, The Winter Pool House at The Rockaway Hotel and the Winter Spa at The William Vale will help you get into the Nordic hygge spirit for a relaxing escape.

Sing it with us: Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow.

When the first real snow falls in NYC, pretend you’re a kid again and go sledding. Some of the best NYC parks (in all five boroughs) offer great hills for thrill seekers. Check out our guide to find a hill near you.

It's going to be a pup paw-ty at Meet the Breeds, the nation's largest canine extravaganza held in New York City this month. At the event, meet and play with more than 1,000 dogs while learning about responsible pet care. 

All are invited to the event hosted by the American Kennel Club on the weekend of January 25-26, 2024 at the Javits Center in Manhattan. Tickets cost $35 for adults and $10 for kids (use promo code MEET for $5 off). 

Expect to learn about 100 breeds of dogs and determine which might be the best type for your lifestyle, from Affenpinschers to Yorkshire Terriers and everything in between. You'll learn about each breed's country of origin, as well as historical purpose and function. Plus, get a chance to discover new breeds and talk to breed experts. 

In the 1950 film masterpiece Sunset Boulevard, Hollywood glamour is a dead-end street. Stalled there with no one coming to find her—except perhaps to use her car—is Norma Desmond: a former silent-screen goddess who is now all but forgotten. Secluded and deluded, she haunts her own house and plots her grand return to the pictures; blinded by the spotlight in her mind, she is unaware that what she imagines to be a hungry audience out there in the dark is really just the dark. 

There's a reason Chamber Magic has remained a staple in NYC's magic scene for more than two decades: It dazzles, show after show, with tricks that'll still leave you awestruck days later. 

The charming Steve Cohen, billed as the Millionaires’ Magician, conjures high-class parlor magic in the marble-columned Madison Room at the swank Lotte New York Palace. Dress to be impressed (cocktail attire is required); tickets start at $125, with an option to pay more for meet-and-greet time and extra tricks with Cohen after the show. If you've come to see a classic-style magic act, you get what you pay for.

Sporting a tuxedo and bright rust hair, the magician delivers routines that he has buffed to a patent-leather gleam: In addition to his signature act—"Think-a-Drink," involving a kettle that pours liquids by request—highlights include a lulu of levitation trick and a card-trick finale that leaves you feeling like, well, a million bucks.

Think pink at Watermark, the classic American restaurant on Pier 15 by the Seaport, is turning into an immersive pink wonderland this month. It's just in time for the peak of New York winter and for Valentine's Day celebrations.

The 10,000 square-foot outdoor bar and restaurant will be lit up in pink hues and be decorated with red flowers, heart installations and mesmerizing twinkling lights. Pink Pier will be open from January 10 until mid-April.

The Anne Frank House is one of the most popular sites in Europe. A museum dedicated to Frank and her Jewish family, the destination served as a hiding place for the Franks and others during World War II, as they were hiding from the Nazis.

For the first-time ever, the nonprofit organization behind the museum will bring its work to New York City in partnership with the Center for Jewish History in Manhattan, together debuting “Anne Frank The Exhibition,” a full-scale recreation of the annex, complete with the furniture pieces that adorned the space during Frank’s years in hiding.

The new exhibit will be mounted at the Center for Jewish History at 15 West 16h Street by Fifth Avenue in Union Square. The production will run from January 27, 2025—International Holocaust Remembrance Day—through April 30, 2025.

The Algonquin Round Table was a famous literary movement, but it was also an actual round table inside midtown’s Algonquin Hotel. Now, after a six-month restoration, the original round table is back at The Algonquin Hotel, Autograph Collection—and you can go visit it.

More than a century ago, the Algonquin played host to literary juggernauts such as Dorothy Parker, Franklin Adams, Robert Benchley, Edna Ferber, Harold Ross, Robert Sherwood, Alexander Woollcott and more. The group, who called themselves "The Vicious Circle," met for lunch at the hotel's round table. Now once again, the newly refurbished table is playing host to the city's tastemakers. 

You can find the round table inside the hotel at The Round Table Restaurant. Look for the table (round, of course) with the tall blue booth that curves around it. You can practically envision the literary greats who packed into the seats around it.

The Winter Village at Bryant Park is back in all its holiday glory. On the grounds you can peruse more than 180 shopping and food kiosks—all at one of the best NYC parks. Expect loads of handmade, unique and New York City-specific gifts for your family and friends. Work up an appetite at the 17,000-square-foot ice-skating rink and then fill up at the rinkside pop-up restaurant called The Lodge for festive cocktails and hearty food.

The clothes we put on our bodies every day don't just keep us warm or covered or in fashion. They also say something. Clothing conveys meaning—sometimes in direct ways like "I'm mourning" and sometimes in indirect ways like "screw the status quo." 

A new exhibit titled "Real Clothes, Real Lives: 200 Years of What Women Wore" at the New-York Historical Society digs into how clothing has played a crucial role in the lives of everyday women. The exhibit, on view through June 22, 2025, explores how women have influenced, adapted and defied societal expectations through clothing. See a wide array of women's clothing, from a Depression-era house dress to a psychedelic micro mini to an Abercrombie & Fitch wool suit from 1917. Unlike most other women's fashion exhibitions, there's not a ball gown in sight, and that's exactly what makes this show so special. 

When you think of Franz Kafka, there are a few words that likely come to mind: Lonely, tortured, isolated. But this depiction doesn’t actually tell the full story of Kafka, a new exhibit at The Morgan Library & Museum argues. Yes, the Czech writer known for his surrealist literary masterpieces like The Metamorphosis, did have a difficult life before dying at the age of 40 from tuberculosis.

But he was also known to be funny, a brilliant love letter writer, a good friend, and even a playful spirit. In fact, many of the solo photos we see of Kafka were really photos with other people who have been cut out of the scene over the years, Sal Robinson, curator at The Morgan explained during a tour of the new exhibit. The show, simply titled "Franz Kafka," is now on view through April 13, 2025.