The best things to do for Valentine’s Day in NYC

Smoke Jazz Club proves that New York City's golden age of jazz is still swinging. For Valentine's Day, the club is hosting a series of soulful performances featuring renowned vocalist Mary Stallings from February 12-16.  

Stallings will take the stage with a top-tier trio featuring pianist Aaron Goldberg, bassist Peter Washington, and drummer Joe Farnsworth. Book a Valentine's date there in Smoke's candlelit dining room for a classic supper club experience.

If you're looking for a thrilling event, the annual Cupid's Undie Run will surely deliver.

Dashing through the streets in your skivvies is not only a rowdy, raucous sprint, it also raises tons of money for the Children's Tumor Foundation.

The shenanigans begin at The DL (95 Delancey St.) in the Lower East Side, where participants meet before the one-mile race. This year's event is on Saturday, February 8. Registration for Cupid’s Undie Run only sets you back $40! Register here.

Upgrade the typical bouquet of flowers to add tickets to a botanical garden full of spectacular flowers. The Orchid Show at The New York Botanical Garden exhibits thousands of species of beautiful blossoming orchids, and this year it will whisk you to Mexico into a paradise of tropical beauty.

Your ticket will get you daytime access to The Orchid Show, plus all the rest of NYBG's outdoor gardens and collections. If you want to visit after dark, check out Orchid Nights where you can admire the flowers under the twinkling lights of the conservatory with music in the background and a cocktail in hand. Orchid Nights make for a perfect date night!

The show runs from February 15 through April 27, 2025.

If you're the kind of person who likes a grand gesture to show your love, this might be the grandest one yet. You can proclaim your love with a surprise proposal, a wedding, or a vow renewal ceremony in Times Square on Valentine's Day, February 14, 2025. 

This annual tradition hosted by the Times Square Alliance welcomes local lovers—and sweethearts from across the world—to the iconic Red Steps for the special occasion. If you want to get in on Love in Times Square, you've got to apply in advance here. 

It's said that beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but at this one-of-a-kind matchmaking show, suitors use the scent of smell to make a match. Smells Like Love, an interactive matchmaking show, will debut on Saturday, February 15 at Caveat on the Lower East Side. It's hosted by Emma Vernon, a comedian and matchmaker turned perfume expert. 

Think of Smells Like Love as a twist on the classic dating game. With each round, the stakes grow higher—and the smells stronger—as contestants vie for a shot at love, all based on how they smell and what smells appeal to them. One eligible single will take a seat on stage, and a wall will divide them from three suitors. In front of a live audience, they'll answer questions based on their own aromas and how they smell things. 

Don't worry, even if you're not on stage, you'll get to smell a lot of stuff, too, as part of a research-backed smell-and-tell.

Lewis Carroll's trippy Alice in Wonderland books have inspired many theatrical spectacles, but Company XIV's seductive Queen of Hearts is a singular sexcess: a transporting fusion of haute burlesque, circus, dance and song. Your fall down the glamorous rabbit hole begins upon entering the troupe's louche Bushwick lair, where scantily clad server-performers slink about in flattering red lighting.

A cursory knowledge of the source material will help you make sense of the show’s three-act cavalcade of Alice-inspired routines, as our blue-haired heroine embarks on an NC-17 coming-of-age journey under the guidance of the White Rabbit.

The show runs on weekends this winter and spring.

Cherry Pitz and Handsome Brad return with their night of scripted burlesque (subtitled "The Home for Wayward Girls and Fallen Women"), held monthly on Lower East Side. This production sees the crew once again bringing a fun theme to the stage. 

For Valentine's weekend, the show focuses on the ladies of Disney. The show's on Thursday, February 13 at The Slipper Room. Tickets always go fast for Hotsy Totsy Burlesque shows, so hurry up if you want to go.

Drop by Times Square to celebrate the love of strangers all day on Valentine's Day, February 14, 2025. 

This annual tradition hosted by the Times Square Alliance welcomes local lovers—and sweethearts from across the world—to the iconic Red Steps for the special occasion. Expect to see weddings, surprise proposals, and vow renewals. 

Looking for a low-key date where you can laugh out loud? Try a round of bumper cars on ice at Bank of America Winter Village at Bryant Park. 

The program is open from 2pm to 10pm on Sundays through Fridays and 9:20am to 5:20pm on Saturdays. Given the popularity of the destination, we suggest you buy tickets in advance of your visit right here.

Think pink at Watermark, the classic American restaurant on Pier 15 by the Seaport, which 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.

For a truly sweet date night, Museum of Ice Cream is the place. Ice cream is at the center of this 20,000-square-foot museum that'll make the cold treat even more fun (who knew it'd even be possible?). Across 13 multi-sensory installations, visitors can interact with fun elements like a three-story indoor slide and the all-pink Celestial Subway.

Even better: The sweet treats along the way. Yes, we're talking about unlimited ice cream throughout the museum. For adults, check out some fun themed cocktails as well.