New York City Tours to See This Holiday Season

New York City is the premier destination for the holidays. Therefore, you won't find a better time to tour the Big Apple.

Fortunately, New York City Vacation Packages is offering a variety of festive tours through the well-decorated city this holiday season.

Travelers spending Thanksgiving in New York can get a behind-the-scenes look at what goes into producing the annual Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade with a special tour of the balloon inflation staging area.

Guests will hop aboard a motorcoach in Midtown November 23 to begin a tour of the Upper West Side. After passing landmarks like Columbus Circle, the Trump International Hotel and Lincoln Center, the bus will stop at the world's largest cathedral for a tour of St. John the Divine.

From there, guests will head to the parade staging area to watch iconic balloons like Charlie Brown, Spiderman and Snoopy take shape.

Shopping

Holiday shoppers will have five chances to take part in NYCVP's Christmas Markets Shopping Tours between November 21 and December 22.

These tours hit all of the best stores and markets in New York, including the Shops at Bryant Park and the Grand Central Holiday Fair, as well as the Union Square and Columbus Circle Holiday Markets.

Visitors will spend about 90 minutes at each stop and can conveniently store their purchases as they move about the city.

Holiday Lights

Once you've got everything on knocked off of your gift list, it's time to take in New York City's renowned holiday light displays. Starting at $55 per person, the Holiday Lights Motorcoach Sightseeing Tour brings guests out of the cold so they can appreciate all of the details in Times Square, Rockefeller Center and Central Park.

The four-hour tour covers plenty of ground, features frequent stops for guests to get closer to the lights and is available November 23 through December 30.

READ MORE: Celebrate the Holidays in New York City

Even brighter and more festive displays await on the Slice of Brooklyn Christmas Lights Tour. This begins well after sunset every Sunday, Monday and Tuesday in December and takes guests to the most creatively-lit homes in Brookyln's Dyker Heights, Bay Ridge and Bensonhurst neighborhoods.

Highlights include a 15-foot-tall Santa Claus at the Polizzotto home, light displays that are synchronized to music and a multimedia presentation on the bus ride back to Manhattan. Guests will also see Lucy Spata's house, which began the tradition back in the 1980s.

NYCVP additionally offers packages for visitors who want to attend the 2017 Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree Lighting ceremony, a bucket-list activity that will take place November 29.

Travelers can contact their travel agent or visit nyctrip.com for availability, dates, prices and booking.

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