NYC in January

Former New Yorker here, now DC based. We usually hit Broadway 3 or 4 times a year, but have never visited in early January. That may be a possibility in 2024, but my only options look like either Jan 2-4 or Jan 9-11. Planning on doing the usual: seeing at least a couple of shows, nice dinners, some museums, etc etc. For those of you familiar with NYC and Times Square around that time, is either one a better choice shortly after the usual NYE madness? Or is it pretty much a tossup in terms of holiday crowds (or hopefully lack of) and TS cleanup post-NYE? Thanks in advance for any first-hand advice. 

All the tourists get out of dodge right after NYE.  I think either one is safe. 

The New Year's Eve madness is over the next day. The streets are swept overnight, the barricades are removed and everything is back to normal by Sunrise on the 1st.

I might lean towards Jan 9-11. While Times Square may not be crowded on the 2nd, I wonder if hotel rates may still be a little elevated to capture the tourists who decide to stay over an extra day or two and ticket prices a little elevated for the same reason. You don't have to worry about that going 9-11..

I live just outside the city but decided to spend 3 nights in the city just to get away. I was there Jan 3-6 2023. The hotels were a really good buy and was able to have my pick of just about any shows. This week I have to be in the city and the hotel I stayed in last time is almost triple the price.

 

JasonC3 said: "TarHeelAlan:

You may already have this in mind, but as someone who also visits a lot in January, the January hotel rates fluctuate quite a bit. So I do my best booking well out and then check periodically as those rates get calibrated based on updated occupancy projections. I've often see additional drops of $50/night or more only a week or two out."

Thanks. Yes, I'm very much aware of this, and routinely check and double-check for updated prices on existing bookings up until the last possible day no matter where in the world or when we're staying. Our visit in August has already seen several price drops, and I've rebooked each time. I anticipate seeing some further softening of prices as we get closer to January, although the current prices are already pretty close to rock bottom for our hotel of choice. 

 

yyys said: "We did it this past January (first weekend) and it's definitely less crowded and we won lots of lotteries and not a lot of people rushing at shows. We'll probably do it again next year."

Good to know about your experience with the lotteries and rush. Given that we're looking at mid-week I would hope we might even stand a better chance. Other than Merrily we don't have any sure things that we want to buy at the moment, so if we can snag 1-2 shows that way it would make for a nice (relatively) inexpensive trip.

 

Thanks to everyone for your advice. We decided to go up Jan 2-4. Picked up 4th row center balcony seats on TodayTix for the Jan 3 Merrily matinee at a decent discount compared to performances on other days. Will likely decide on any other show(s) based on availability from the usual discount/lottery/rush suspects as we get closer. Grabbed an excellent hotel rate at a really nice hotel in TS, too. All good, so long as there's no blizzard!