Festivals and events in New York: Cheap NYC activities
Huzzah! Find hundreds of great events in New York in our ever-updated list of inexpensive things to do. We’ve compiled concerts, parties, festivals, comedy and theater shows, tastings and more that won’t be a strain on your wallet.
RECOMMENDED: Full list of cheap things to do in NYC
Slipper Room
This cabaret-style venue commits itself curtain and soul to the nouveau burlesque scene, so if you stumble across a pile of pasties and glitter on the Lower East Side, you're probably somewhere nearby.
Nom Wah Tea Parlor
New York's first dim sum house opened in 1920 on a rough crook of gang-riddled Doyers Street. But the bakery and tea shop, at least, had a sweet reputation: Its almond cookies and moon cakes were legendary. Over its near century in business, ownership of the parlor has remained among the restaurant family to preserve its traditions. Back in 2010, the stalwart was refreshed with a new interior (vintage lamps, framed archival photographs) and remodeled menu showcasing made-to-order plates rather than dim sum en masse. Nom Wah is completely unlike the chaotic banquet halls that dominate Chinatown's dim sum scene. Instead, the dining room is much more charming and welcoming, from the checkered tablecloths over Art Deco tables to the couples huddled beneath old posters of a glam Chinese movie star. The food, too, stands apart; the dim sum here tastes fresher and is more affordable than the competition. Try the ultra-fluffy oversize roasted-pork bun, the flaky fried crepe egg roll and the tender stuffed eggplant filled with a spiced shrimp-and-squid mixture. Plus, it keeps the small plates coming long after other dim sum joints have closed their doors.
Central Park | Manhattan, NY
Everything you need to know about visiting Central Park (59th St to 110th St, NY 10023). Central Park has it all: 843 acres. Nearly 40 million annual visitors. Twenty-nine sculptures. More than 25,000 trees. The massive National Historic Landmark is located smack-dab in the middle of Manhattan, and it is home to everything from an ice-skating rink to a swimming pool and hosts events like the New York City Marathon and outdoor SummerStage concerts. You could spend days in the park without seeing everything, and it’s open year-round with activities for every season. We could go on—we haven’t even mentioned Belvedere Castle or the Metropolitan Museum of Art yet—but you should really just go see it for yourself. Spend the day on the waterLocated on the shore of The Lake at 72nd Street, the picturesque Loeb Boathouse near the equally iconic Bethesda Fountain has been the setting of plenty of NYC movies, and for good reason. But it’s not just a pretty place: There are water sports right there in the middle of Manhattan. Head there to rent a rowboat or take a gondola tour, or just sit at the outdoor bar and sip a cocktail while watching everyone else struggle with their oars. See a show at sunsetYes, Shakespeare in the Park is found in this park. The essential free outdoor show is having a prolific 2017, with the much-discussed Julius Caesar and A Midsummer Night’s Dream in July. Yes, you have to line up at the crack of dawn to get tickets to the Public Theater’s productions at
Chelsea Market | New York, NY
Everything you need to know about visiting Chelsea Market (75 Ninth Ave, New York, NY 10011). The former home of the National Biscuit Company is a hot spot for foodies and shopping addicts. Primarily known for its wide-range of eateries, Chelsea Market is hands-down one of New York’s most notable food halls boasting more than 35 vendors. Whether you’ve got a hankering for a steaming-hot cup of lobster bisque, perfectly aged cheese or a strong and smooth shot of espresso, Chelsea Market has you covered. Aside from finger-lickin’ fare and sweet merchandise, the attraction offers historical charms such as the market’s iconic fountain, which was crafted using discarded drill bits and exposed pipe from the former Nabisco factory. The grub: Mexican food lovers, rejoice! Chelsea Market is home to one of the best taco joints in the city: Los Tacos No.1. Next time you’re craving crepes, hit Bar Suzette for its French onion soup-inspired creation or opt for a sweet, Nutella and fruit-filled pancake. Seafood worshippers will go nuts inside The Lobster Place—a wholesale and retail fish market, which serves fresh and prepared meals like lobster roll and sushi. When you need to oblige your sweet tooth, hit the pint-sized Doughnuttery stand for mouth-watering bite-sized desserts. (You can watch the doughnuts come fresh off the conveyor belt and choose your own toppings.) The market also reps great restaurants like a rustic, classy spot called The Tippler. The shops: Chelsea Market i
The High Line | New York, NY
Everything you need to know about visiting the High Line (New York, NY). In a city famously known as a concrete jungle with crowded streets, astronomical property rates and few green spaces, the High Line is a key example of New York’s willingness to transform, adapt and innovate. Why is it called the High Line?The 1.45 mile-long park, which first opened in 2009, was originally created entirely on an abandoned elevated train track, snaking above the otherwise industrial West Side neighborhoods (Meatpacking, Chelsea, Hudson Yards). Today millions clamour for the dazzling views of the Hudson River, downtown New York’s skyline and, for some voyeurs, the guest rooms at the Standard Hotel. Artists, who were already flocking to Chelsea’s gallery scene, have found an appreciative audience with massive murals, abstract sculptures and a few performance pieces cropping up around and within view of the park. Recently one of the city’s most distinguished cultural institutions The Whitney Museum of American Art recently moved within view of The High Line. When should I go?The spot is most popular during the warm months. While the flowers and plants–a selection that is mostly indigenous to the region–are in bloom, the wood lounge chairs are coveted. Sunset is also a very popular time, so, if you can, try for a morning or afternoon walk. Can I eat and drink there?Yes! Something about the smell of fresh greenery makes treats from artisanal vendors selling ice cream and original sodas tas
City Treehouse
The Splash! area in the playroom is by far the coolest. Kids can get their hands wet in a shallow multitiered water table that lets them build a dam or use sprinklers. If your tots want to avoid being doused with H2O, they can escape to the two-story treehouse. It features see-through floors and a secret cave illuminated by hundreds of tiny, twinkling fiber-optic lights. Other offerings include a wide selection of classes and playgroups. Ages 3 months to 7 years.
Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre
NYC's unbeatable comedy bastion moved its Chelsea HQ to Hell's Kitchen in late 2017. Expect the same steady lineup of bonkers improv, sketch and solo shows every night from young and veteran performers.
Children's Museum of Manhattan
This one’s for the little guys: Many of CMOM’s exhibits are geared to tots ages six and under, including a Dora the Explorer play area. But with five floors of exhibits, there’s fun for big kids, too. The museum also hosts traveling exhibits.
New York Public Library, Stephen A. Schwarzman Building
RECOMMENDED: Full guide to New York Public Library, Stephen A. Schwarzman Building The century-old main branch of the NYPL is about as regal a setting for reading—either on your laptop or those old dusty things called books—as you’ll find in the city. Two massive Tennessee-marble lions, dubbed Patience and Fortitude, flank the main portal and have become the institution’s mascots. Once inside, check out the cavernous Rose Main Reading Room, spanning almost 300 feet and outfitted with chandeliers and stunning ceiling murals. Though it’s a classy setting in most instances, it’s also where Bill Murray uttered, “Are you, Alice, menstruating right now?” and “Back off, man, I’m a scientist” in Ghostbusters. Free guided tours (at 11am and 2pm) stop at Rose Main Reading Room and the Bill Blass Public Catalog Room, which offers free internet access. Lectures, author readings and special exhibitions are definitely worth checking out.
Museum of Modern Art (MoMA)
Considering the MoMA’s reputation for having one of the world’s finest collections of art from the 18th century through today, it’s no surprise that around nearly every corner of the venerated museum is a seminal piece by an artist trumpeted in art history or coveted by contemporary collectors. During the height of tourist season, around Christmas and again in late spring and summer, expect a shoving-match just to catch a momentary glance at Van Gogh’s Starry Night or Picasso’s Les Demoiselles d’Avignon. Special exhibitions, including retrospectives of masters like surrealist René Magritte and large installations like the blockbuster Rain Room, have enough draw that some people will wait for hours just for the one exhibit. Meanwhile, no matter the time of year or temporary display, cash-strapped New Yorkers come in droves at the end of the work-week for free friday nights (4pm-8pm). If you really want to experience the museum and all it has to offer go on a weekday and buy your all-inclusive ticket online ($25). You’ll skip the line and find yourself unencumbered as you stop to contemplate the meaning of time in front of Salvador Dali’s melted-clock painting The Persistance of Memory or checking out the movie times in the attached theater.
Union Hall
Upstairs in this bi-level bar, boozers chomp miniburgers and nip at microbrews like Sixpoint in the gentlemen’s-club–style anteroom (decorated with Soviet-era globes, paintings of fez-capped men, fireplaces)—before battling it out on the clay bocce courts. Downstairs, spectators are treated to a rotating roster of live talent, such as blaring bands, comedians and a monthly science night.
Children's Museum of the Arts
The CMA's 10,000-square-foot home has more than enough room to house its 2,000-piece collection of international children's art, including a huge center gallery to display it in. Artists lead workshops in classrooms, studios or media lab—that has a sound station, clay bar and video-making equipment. Kids can work their bodies as well as their minds on the museum's second floor, where they'll find interactive art displays and a ball pit.
AuH20 Thriftique
After graduating from NYU in 2006, Milwaukee native Kate Goldwater opened this funky shop, featuring a curated selection of vintage and thrift clothing ($5–$25) and accessories ($3–$30) that are easy on the eyes and the wallet. Most pieces inside are $30 or less and her finds are perfectly on-trend, which means you’ll find plenty of ’80s and ’90s pieces right now.
Club Cumming
The eternally puckish actor Alan Cumming and promoter-provocateur Daniel Nardicio took over the former Eastern Bloc bar in 2017 and reimagined it as a cabaret, comedy and party hub that evokes of the golden era of NYC downtown nightlife. Celebrities occasionally pop in—such as Paul McCartney, Emma Stone and Vanessa Williams—but the club is its own star: a cheeky-decadent quasiqueer hangout with with a frisky, welcoming vibe and risqué murals by Cumming's husband, Grant Shaffer. Mondays are a sexy-geeky Broadway open-mic night with pianist Lance Horne; Fridays and Saturdays, hosted by the charming and charismatic trans singer Daphne Always, feature dance music and go-go boys. The tradition of downtown nightclub performance is rich but endangered, and Club Cumming is the East Village's best new addition in years: an oasis of creativity and community that draws from traditions of the past but is resolutely planted in the present.
Sunny’s
This unassuming wharfside tavern has been passed down in the Balzano family since 1890. On weekends, the bar buzzes with middle-aged and new-generation bohemians (the latter distinguished by their PBR cans), and the odd salty dog (canines, not sailors). Despite the nautical feel, you’re more likely to hear bossa nova or bluegrass than sea chanties warbling from the speakers.
Fat Cat
They don’t make ‘em like this any more (probably because Health and Safety would shut ‘em down). West Village hangout the Fat Cat is a basement bar and pool hall where the sofas are scruffy, the drinks are cheap and the ambience is jovial. There’s live jazz every night, and Fridays have formidable Brooklyn soul singer Naomi Shelton playing a residency with her Gospel Queens. Closing time is 4AM.
Buffalo Exchange
Want cash back without having to charge up a storm on your credit card? Bring your unwanted garb to the East Village outpost of this popular buy-sell-trade clothing shop and leave with padded pockets. The best part is that they won’t turn up their noses at Forever 21—all brands are welcome. Score a pair of 7 for All Mankind jeans for $25, current-season Manolo Blahniks for $250 or unload some designer goods for major dough.
Fairway Market
Food shoppers flock from all over town to stock up at this beloved local supermarket chain. The six NYC locations—Harlem, UWS, UES, Kips Bay, Red Hook and Douglaston—offer the type of everyman prices you won't see at Whole Foods, but the quality is still top-notch. You'll find all the basics, plus excellent speciality departments with international cheeses, imported foods, kosher items and more. A walk-in cold room (jackets provided!) at the Harlem market is packed with meats and a decent beer selection, and there is a popular café and steakhouse on the second floor of the UWS store.
Full Circle Bar
This Skee-Ball-themed bar in Williamsburg is a haven for kitschy, nostalgia-driven boozing. The beer offerings skew cheap and cheerful, with five standard taps supplemented by 40 canned brews kept in ice-filled coolers behind the bar. Divey decor reflects the owners' commitment to the game—the bar is constructed from old "Brewskee" ball machine parts, and a TV up front plays a live feed of the action on the three ramps in the back ($1 per game) while a $4 beer-and-hot-dog combo serves as the snack of champions.
The Royal Palms Shuffleboard Club
It’s the Sunshine State by way of Gowanus at this pastel-streaked Floridian playground, where shuffleboard revivalists Jonathan Schnapp and Ashley Albert have retooled lido-deck kitsch for beer-fisted millennials. At the 17,000-square-foot game hall, neck-tattooed skaters and fly girls dressed like Miley Cyrus gather over $40-an-hour rounds of biscuit and tang (shufflespeak for pucks and poles), forming a scene that’s as flamboyantly Boca as it is staunchly Brooklyn. ORDER THIS: Outfitted like Margaritaville-bound Jimmy Buffetts, bartenders serve sunny umbrella drinks inspired by alligator-belt shuffleboard greats, like the rum-and-grapefruit Christine Page Punch ($11). Better, though, is the bar’s beer list, offering a who’s who of craft suds (Smuttynose, Captain Lawrence, Left Hand). Balancing the booze, a rotating roster of food trucks (Morris Grilled Cheese, Phil’s Steaks) hawk utensil-free bites from a corner docking bay. GOOD FOR: Both veteran shufflers and court virgins. The ten swimming-pool-blue lanes are regulation-size, and there’s league play for those who actually know their cherries (scoring in the ten-point box on the last shot) from their pepperonis (all four biscuits in scoring position). If you’re less skilled with a tang, the white-clad waitstaff is quick with tips (stay out of the “kitchen,” the negative-ten-point section), demonstrations (tang claws to the ceiling, stoppers down toward the floor) and ref calls when discs veer too close to the lines. TH
Angel Street Thrift Shop
Since 1997, this upscale secondhand store has been a socially-minded bargain hunter’s haven: Proceeds from the gently used designer samples and vintage treasures benefit the Lower East Side Service Center, a non-profit that assists individuals suffering from chemical dependencies, HIV/AIDS and mental illness. Angel Street receives new merchandise several times a day through donations from individuals and corporations, meaning you’ll stumble upon one-offs like a pair of never-before-worn J. Crew gingham capri pants ($15) as well as an entire rack of Anna Sui logo tees ($6 each) direct from the supplier. If you’re redecorating your apartment, make this your first stop: The furniture selection is especially strong, and can turn up a full-size foosball table ($300), ergonomic office chairs ($40), a sturdy wood table ($80) or a Rosenthal crystal centerpiece bowl ($100). Unless you’re a masochist, don’t bother peeking in the windows before entering: Prime finds like Knoll chairs and Lambertson Truex handbags are displayed behind glass for up to two weeks before going on sale, at which point shoppers queue in the early morning to snatch them up quicker than you spotted them.
Rose Center for Earth and Space (at the American Museum of Natural History)
The American Museum of Natural History's Rose Center was founded in 2000. It is home to the Hayden Planetarium, daily Space Shows and an IMAX auditorium.
Ace Bar
No bar has a better collection of ’70s lunch boxes, and the rollicking jukebox ain’t half bad, either. This souped-up rec room offers two pool tables, skeeball, darts, pinball, arcade favorites like Big Buck Hunter, and more. The five-hour happy hour means you can rotate pitchers and pints among the 14 brews on tap. Locals are first drawn in by the clublike exterior, but stay for the chill, pool-hall atmosphere that suits both birthday bashes or a few beers between friends.
Bowery Ballroom
This is probably the best venue in the city for seeing indie bands, either those on their way up or the ones holding their own. Still, the Bowery also manages to bring in a diverse range of artists from home and abroad. Expect a clear view and bright sound from any spot. The spacious downstairs lounge is a great place to relax and socialize between (or during) sets.
Brooklyn Farmacy & Soda Fountain
If you're searching for proof that New Yorkers have been yearning for simpler times, look no further than this old-timey soda fountain. At the antique-filled apothecary—rehabbed by siblings Peter "Petey" Freeman and Gia Giasullo, with the help of reality TV show Construction Intervention—nostalgists can transport themselves to a Rockwellian universe, where sweethearts dip straws into a single egg cream and scrappy dogs lap up their master's milk shake drippings. Plus, there's an emphasis on seasonal, local ingredients—just like in the old days.
