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

Want to get out of the city this fall? You're in luck: Classic Harbor Line offers scenic fall foliage sails aboard gorgeous vintage vessels with a front-row seat to the changing of the seasons stretching from the Hudson River to the Palisades. Cruises run multiple times a week from October 3 through November 15.

These elegant 1920s-style yachts make the experience extra special, and you'll get to see iconic and picturesque landmarks such as the George Washington Bridge, The Met Cloisters, the Palisades and the Little Red Lighthouse.

Classic Harbor Line offers several more unique options, too, including the Fall Foliage Brunch Cruises on Saturday and Sunday mornings and an Urban Naturalist-narrated tour with expert commentary on the fascinating geology of the Palisades and the Hudson River. There's also the Grand Palisades Fall Foliage Schooner Sail if you're looking to travel largely by wind, with more time to contemplate the beautiful surroundings. Every ticket includes a complimentary beverage.

There’s no spookier way to welcome the Halloween season than to visit BloodManor, the popular 10,000-square-foot haunted house that’s actually deemed too scary for children under 14.

Visitors will confront their deepest fears as they journey through dark, sinister corridors filled with twisted characters and scares at every turn. Incorporating state-of-the-art special effects, BloodManor brings unparalleled realism to the haunting experience thanks to a terrifyingly talented team of trained actors, set designers, makeup artists and more. Expect an unprecedented level of horror and excitement that lasts 30 minutes—or, more likely, 20 minutes as you run screaming. 

BloodManor is open every weekend and some weekdays from October 2 to November 7 at 359 Broadway in downtown Manhattan. General admission starts at $50 per ticket. You can purchase tickets for a timed entry here.

Taste of Asia returns to Madison Square Park for its fifth annual celebration of New York’s AAPI culinary and cultural community on October 8. Bring your appetites, because more than 40 Asian and Asian-inspired restaurants will be on hand to pass out bites, including Sushi Noz, Atoboy, Bánh Anh Em, COQODAQ, Dhamaka, Joo Ok, KISA and Nowon, plus a special Shake Shack and COTE Korean Steakhouse collab. A new VVIP sit-down dining area offers a more intimate experience for $3,000. Hosted by Eva Chen, Prabal Gurung, Jenny Han and others, the evening benefits Apex for Youth and Madison Square Park Conservancy. It runs from 5:30 to 8:30pm.

Sofy Gallery in Chelsea opens a new group exhibit, The Weight of Normal Things, on October 1, joining painters Susan P. Martin and Patrick Earl Barnes with photographer Mara Clemente for a meditation on beauty hiding in plain sight. Curated by Luca Cantore D’Amore, the exhibition considers everyday people, places and gestures through three distinct forms of attention. Martin’s paintings blur self-portraiture and landscape, Barnes shows quietly charged urban scenes and Clemente's photographs bring the intimacy. The show kicks off the gallery’s 2026/'27 season and runs through October 24. Admission is free, with an opening reception from 6 to 9pm on October 1.

When they say dinner is a journey, they usually don't mean it quite as literally as at The Infinite Table, an immersive dining experience combining a multi-course meal with 360-degree projection, sound and scent. Its latest experience, Oaxaca: Tierra y Tiempo, transports diners through the landscapes, traditions and flavors of Oaxaca, Mexico, with the room transforming alongside each course. The experience includes a three-course lunch or five-course dinner, with both standard and vegan menus available. Seatings take place at communal tables, making the meal as much about meeting fellow diners as exploring another culture. The Infinite Table holds four seatings (noon, 2pm, 5:30pm, 8pm) each day at ARTXNYC (409 W. 14th St.) Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays from October 2 through 25.

Every Friday in October from 7 to 10pm, intimate cocktail den Foxtail (231 Hudson St.) will feel a little more seasonal. The lounge is hosting a Spooky Movie Month series in the Living Room at Arlo SoHo, where guests will settle in for an evening of horror classics and themed, discounted, film-inspired menu specials. For those who love a combo meal, there's a $19 "spooky deal" that includes a sandwich, chips and a cookie. No ticket is needed, but there is a two-item minimum per attendee. Seating is first-come, first-served, so get there early to claim your spot. The film lineup consists of The Lost Boys (Oct. 2), Donnie Darko (Oct. 9), Hereditary (Oct. 16), The Craft (Oct. 23) and The Shining (Oct. 30).

You have a few more weeks to take a fresh look at one of America’s most complicated artistic chroniclers with Thomas Hart Benton: A Picture of America in Its Entirety. It's the first solo exhibition of the artist’s work in New York in more than 10 years. Spanning five decades of Benton’s career, the free Schoelkopf Gallery exhibition brings together major paintings, rarely seen works and studies for his celebrated murals, offering a sweeping look at his depictions of American life, labor, politics, race, industry and popular culture. The show also goes Hollywood, with two studies made for the 1955 Burt Lancaster film The Kentuckian, an original movie poster and a later Beam’s Choice bottle featuring Benton’s artwork. Coinciding with Schoelkopf Gallery’s 25th anniversary and the United States Semiquincentennial, the exhibition runs through October 16.

The New York Botanical Garden is getting into the spirit of Día de los Muertos with a month-long celebration, running October 3 through November 2. Visitors can follow a trail of marigold displays, calaveras and colorful alebrijes while enjoying Mexican folk music, hands-on papel picado and silk-flower workshops along with other family programming. The festivities culminate November 1 at 2pm with a Día de los Muertos Parade featuring La Catrina, skeletons and monarch butterfly puppets, followed by Mexican folk dance performances, cumbia sonidera dancing, live music, crafts and food. On October 31 and November 2, MAZarte Dance Company will perform traditional Mexican dances throughout the Garden.

See the NYBG website for ticket options and the full schedule of events.

While we wait for a new season, The Gilded Age fans can pass the time by cosplaying as old money or new fortunes over high tea at the Plaza's Palm Court. Indulge in vicious social maneuvering with your closest friends through November 10, with bites inspired by the HBO series, including The Van Rhijn Classic (sandwich with cucumber, labneh and pickled mustard seeds), The Russell Next Door (a roast beef and cheese sandwich), Don’t Tell Mrs. Fish (sandwich of smoked salmon with crème fraîche) and Spill the Tea Cheesecake among others. There’s also a Cointreau-based cocktail called The Salon, because no high-society gossip sesh is complete without a drink. Tea is $150 per person.

Rare works by French master Pierre Soulages are coming to the Upper East Side in a new exhibition at the Lévy Gorvy Dayan gallery (19 E. 64th St.). Organized with the artist’s widow, the show features more than 20 paintings on paper, including works drawn directly from Soulages’s estate that have never been exhibited publicly. Spanning decades of work, the exhibition explores a medium he prized for its immediacy and unforgiving nature, using walnut stain, gouache, ink and improvised tools to experiment with light, texture and transparency.