Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade

What it is

The Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade runs every Thanksgiving morning along a 2.5 mile route that starts at West 77th Street and Central Park West, turns at Columbus Circle onto Central Park South and heads down to Macy's Herald Square at 34th Street. Watching costs nothing. The move most visitors miss is the night before, when the giant balloons are inflated on the streets around the American Museum of Natural History and the public can walk through the inflation zone for free.

What to expect

Barriers go up early and the good stretches fill before sunrise. Central Park West between 75th and 61st gives the longest view of the balloons at full height, and the Herald Square end is closed to the general public because that is where the television broadcast happens. Expect cold, expect to stand for hours, and expect no re-entry once a block is full. The balloon inflation on Thanksgiving Eve is the calmer, warmer and far more photogenic half of the tradition.

Getting there

For the parade route take the 1 to 79th Street or the B and C to 81st Street, Museum of Natural History, and walk east. For the Midtown stretch use the A, C, B, D, 1 to Columbus Circle. Trains run more often than usual that morning and streets across the West Side close to traffic, so a taxi will leave you further from the route than the subway does.

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