Are people who FaceTime while walking down the street literally insane?

New York City Restaurant Week is among the five boroughs’ best food holidays. Traditionally, New Yorkers (and a few lucky tourists) clear their dining schedules and make reservations at the city’s best special occasion spots, high-profile newcomers and all-time favorite restaurants for deals unseen the rest of the year. Hundreds of destinations participate citywide, with menu prices below their typical tabs. (This winter's price tiers are set at $30, $45 and $60 price tiers for two- and three-course specials during Restaurant Week Winter 2026.)

The campaign will run from Tuesday, January 20 to Thursday, February 12, 2026. That's nearly a month to choose from oodles of NYC classics and recent culinary additions. Don't feel like thumbing through 600-plus restaurants? Check out our top picks here.

It’s a bonafide holiday for theatergoers when NYC Broadway Week rolls around. Broadway Week in NYC is a ticket deal offered twice a year by Broadway producers and the municipal marketing bureau New York City Tourism + Conventions. From January 20 through February 12 this year, it lets you buy two tickets to Broadway shows for the price of one—including the best Broadway shows and many Tony Award winners. The program is designed to stimulate sales during weeks when Broadway attendance traditionally dips, so everybody wins: The productions get full houses, and savvy audiences get cheap Broadway tickets.

The most popular shows sell out fast, so the earlier you buy your seats, the better chance you have of seeing your first choices. Visit the Broadway Week website to buy tickets and peruse the list of participating shows. Aim for 10am on the first day if you can, and make sure your accounts are up to date on Telecharge and Ticketmaster are up to date to make the process as fast as possible. You’ll need to use a special code to get the discount; the Broadway Week website has FAQ guidelines on exactly how to enter your discount code with each ticket vendor.

NYC Tourism + Conventions has officially opened sales for NYC Must-See Week as part of the broader NYC Winter Outing 2026 and the headline offer is simple and tough to beat: you can score two-for-one tickets to nearly 80 of the city’s top museums, attractions, tours and performing arts venues.

The savings window runs from January 20 through February 12, giving you a three-week excuse to finally cross a few things off your “one day” list, without paying full freight. The list includes things like Empire State Building Observatory views, Jazz at Lincoln Center shows, Yankee Stadium tours, Carnegie Hall concerts and cultural heavy-hitters like the Metropolitan Opera and the Museum of the Moving Image, all suddenly twice as tempting when you’re only paying for one ticket.

For Must-See Week, the range of participating spots is impressively broad, including both big-name attractions and niche finds. (Alice Austen House Museum on Staten Island, Mercer Labs in Lower Manhattan or Like a Local Tours are underrated favorites, but even classic splurges like the rink at Rockefeller Center and QC NY’s spa experience get a rare moment of financial mercy.)

On your way to the cottage, you might want to make a quick pit stop in Washington Square Park for sightseeing reasons, because February sees a Heated Rivalry lookalike contest play out there.

That's right, this is your chance to encounter a genuine hockey hunk or as close as the laws of genetics and gym training allow. Starting at 2pm, the gentlemen who think they look like brooding Russian Ilya Rozanov (also known as Connor Storrie) or shy Shane Hollander (aka Hudson Williams) have the chance to make the crowd swoon. The prize ($50 in cash) is less an incentive than a cheeky wink at our parasocial relationship with both the characters and the actors, but it all boils down to Sunday in the park with hot men.

There’s no official judging panel or trophy, not even an erstwhile Stanley Cup. Instead, this is peak NYC participatory theatre. To RSVP, click here.

On a cold winter day in 1921, artist Man Ray placed some of his glass equipment on top of an unexposed sheet of photographic paper he found among the prints in his developing tray. This "mistake" produced something the artist would later dub a "rayograph," and was essentially a photo taken without a camera. The works' transformative nature led the Dada poet Tristan Tzara to describe rayographs as capturing the moments "when objects dream," and you can see those pieces on display at the Met for one more week, through Sunday, February 1.

Drawing from the collections of The Met and more than 50 U.S. and international lenders, the presentation will include more than 60 rayographs and 100 paintings, objects, prints, drawings, films and photographs to highlight the central role of the rayograph in Man Ray’s  practice. The exhibition is made in part with the Lens Media Lab, Yale University, under the direction of Paul Messier and with photography conservators and curators.

Iconic objects and experimental works will be on display, as well as three newly restored films made by Man Ray. The exhibit is included with entry to The Met on Fifth Avenue.

A wide variety of documentaries, narrative films and shorts awaits you at this packed festival. The 35th edition of the New York Jewish Film Festival will run from January 14 through 28 at Film at Lincoln Center, showcasing nearly 30 films via both in-person and virtual offerings that explore the Jewish experience around the world. Among this year's powerful titles: The First Lady, a daring profile on pioneering trans activist Efrat Tilma; Charles Grodin: Rebel with a Cause, a documentary on the life of the titular comedy mainstay and social activist; and Orna and Ella, Tomer Heymann’s portrait of the two women behind the landmark Tel Aviv restaurant. 

For one final week, you can see The Brooklyn Museum's  "Monet and Venice," an exhibition that aims to display Claude Monet's Venetian paintings. On until Sunday, February 1, 2026, this will mark the first dedicated exploration of Monet's luminous Venetian works since their debut in 1912.

The exhibition places Monet's Venice works in context with other select paintings from key moments throughout his career. Also expect paintings by artists such as Canaletto, John Singer Sargent, J. M. W. Turner and Pierre-Auguste Renoir to create further dialogue.

The exhibit will offer further engagement through immersive elements, including an original symphonic score inspired by the artist’s Venice paintings by the Brooklyn Museum’s Composer in Residence, Niles Luther. This sonic experience was created with the purpose to capture the Venetian landscapes Monet was painting. Once visitors make it to the fifth floor, they'll be greeted by a large scale visual immersive that conjures Venice’s unique atmosphere. This unique visual and aural experience sets the tone for the journey.

What makes you a New Yorker? Thanks to Project Luz and The Noguchi Museum, you can explore that very inquiry with a free Spanish-language image making workshop, held at the LIC museum on Sunday mornings from January 18 through March 8. Open to adults (16 and older), the class will take inspiration from the Noguchi’s New York exhibition, letting participants document their daily NYC experiences through photography, "capturing both the familiar and unseen aspects of the city." Two sessions will take participants beyond the museum walls for off-site field trips; you just need to bring your smartphone camera and a notebook. 

Have a musical tot on your hands? We've got just the thing. Macaroni KID Brooklyn NW has teamed up with Time Out Market New York, Dumbo, to present another free concert with the one and only Suzi Shelton.

Suzi Shelton, who will perform on Saturday, January 31, creates music that inspires children to sing, dance, and explore. Using props like books and egg shakers, plus appearances from her special friends, Grey Squirrel and Cinnamon Bear, these concerts will have your little ones dancing, clapping and singing along with a kids' entertainment superstar. 

The concert is free and open to the public. Doors open at 10am and the show starts at 10:15am. Designated stroller parking will be provided upon entry. Register for your free spot here.