New York City Thanksgiving Vacation 2023

FLIGHTS TO AND FROM NEW YORK CITY FROM DENVER

We used a combination of points + Southwest credits (from late/delayed flights) + 1 Companion Pass to fly from Denver to Laguardia. If you are on the fence about going for the Southwest Companion Pass… here’s all the info you need. We earned it in 2018 and have earned it every year since. It saves us thousands of dollars ever year!

BONUS: Southwest uses terminal B at Laguardia, which underwent a massive renovation – so this terminal is fantastic! And I love flying into and out of Laguardia because it’s only a 30 minute taxi into the city!

TIP: Sit on the left side (window on left) for the best views flying into NYC! We even saw the Statue of Liberty!

DENVER AIRPORT, CLEAR, CAPITAL ONE LOUNGE

DENVER airport Wednesday before Thanksgiving was amazingly smooth. There was no line at all for TSA PreCheck OR for CLEAR. We zipped through in about 2 minutes.

The Capital One lounge is located in Denver airport’s terminal A, near gate 34. We have unlimited access to this lounge with the Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card. This card gives you PLUS 2 guests access.

If your home airport is Denver, Dallas or Dulles… and you fly 1 time a year, the Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card should absolutely be in your wallet! These lounges are incredible. The food was fantastic. The drinks are all included. The seating was super comfy and there were lots of places to charge your devices. The restrooms were spotless and they are individual rooms (not shared) which I LOVE!

WHERE WE STAYED

SpringHill Suites New York Manhattan/Times Square South, 1 night
Used our 35K free night certificate from the Marriott Bonvoy Boundless® card + 15K additional Marriott points and $3.50 for taxes/fees
Cash rate: Nearly $500/night

QUICK REVIEW: We got in around 10:30 at night, so we didn’t spend much time at this hotel. The location is very central. Breakfast is included in the morning and there is a huge breakfast room so no issues with seating. It’s your standard free breakfast buffet you find at this style hotel.
Elevators are definitely an issue. Luckily we were on the 2nd floor so we were okay to take the stairs.
Rooms are small (New York), bathroom is small. Bathroom had shower curtain which is my least favorite thing in hotel bathroom.

Park Hyatt New York City, 2 nights
Used 45K Hyatt points/night + $0
Cash rate: Over $1800/night!
We transferred Chase Ultimate reward points to Hyatt to book this stay.

QUICK REVIEW: We were in a standard King room with city view. Where this room shines is the bathroom. WOW! It is huge for New York. A soaking tub. A walk in shower with a rainfall showered and a regular shower head. DOUBLE sinks. And this room has tons of closet space.

The other area this hotels shines is the rooftop indoor pool. It is the perfect way to have some NYC downtime. We absolutely loved the large pool, jacuzzi & steam room. The ladies locker room is lovely and stocked with razors if you forgot yours (I did ;).

Tip: Also, the pool area has bottled water available if you need to grab a few extra waters.

Thompson Central Park New York, 1 night
Used 29K Hyatt points/night + $0
Cash rate: $668/night
We transferred Chase Ultimate reward points to Hyatt to book this stay.

QUICK REVIEW: We were upgraded to a King studio suite – huge for New York City standards. The bathroom was also large, but nowhere as nice as the Park Hyatt New York bathroom. The service at this hotel was incredible (completely OUTSHINED Park Hyatt, seriously!) but the hard product is simply not as nice as Park Hyatt. Fantastic location. But man… the street noise is REAL. Windows don’t do a great job of keeping that NYC noise out.

WHAT WE DID IN NYC

Honestly, this trip was incredible. We were able to splurge on tons of activities since we didn’t pay out of pocket for our hotels or flights.

The Christmas Spectacular with the Rockettes at Radio City Music Hall is just a must do. I loved every second of it.

Tip: Seats in the mezzanine were staggered really well, so I think the view would be great from any row.

Back to the Future, the Musical – Honestly, there aren’t a ton of great options for tween boys right now on Broadway. {We are potter heads, but for some reason, my son didn’t want to see that show}
And I’m so glad we chose Back to the Future. My son (12, huge 80s fan) loved every minute of it. For me, it wasn’t my favorite musical because I didn’t know any of the music. But I still loved it and so glad we went. Very FUN!

Tip: Look at TodayTix for discounted tickets.
Tip: Check Find Experiences by Hyatt for discounted tickets Broadway tickets and to earn Hyatt points.
Tip: Many NYC theaters are TINY (including this one), so every seat is generally pretty good.

MoMA (Museum of Modern Art) – This was a great way to spend a few hours. We went when they first opened and didn’t have any issues with crowds at all. I love that you buy your ticket ahead and it’s good for the whole day. I’m terrible with timed entries, so I really prefer this.

TIP: If you have a Capital One card, you can get a 6 month free Cultivist membership which allows you access to many museums, including this one. You simply need to enroll here. We spent about 2 hours here. It’s a great art museum. Did my 12 year old get bored, yes. Was he a good sport, yes. 🙂

Go Hybrid NYC pedicab tour – Highly recommended by Points for Family travel. Absolutely LOVED this tour. It’s mostly in Central Park. It’s super fun & engaging, you’ll learn a lot, you’ll see lots of movie scene spots, you’ll get lots of fantastic family photos. We LOVED it. We lucked out with weather. It was mid 50s. If it is going to be under 50 degrees, you need to really bundle up or reschedule for warmer day. Book via his Facebook page. A+++++

Wollman Ice Skating Rink – Literally the picture perfect place to ice skate. My son loves ice skating and this rink was great because it’s very large. And there’s lots of seating for those of us that don’t want to skate. It was super easy to buy tickets the morning of. Highly recommend!

Winter Village at Bryant Park – A great place to walk around and look at all of the holiday stalls selling every food you can imagine and lots of fun shopping.

Tip: The Porch cafe in Bryant Park is a great outside cafe for a cocktail as you sit under the holiday lights and soak in Bryant Park.

WHERE WE ATE

Oh my goodness… we lucked out with AMAZING food on this trip!

L’Adresse American Bistro, Bryant Park area – Made a lunch reservation. Was not expecting to love this so much but WOW, everything we had was incredible. Bluefin Tuna Crudo, Poke Bowl with Tuna, and even the Caesar Salad were 5/5!

Sushilab Rooftop – Lunch reservation. Adorable spot! Great service. The Washugyu Beef roll and yellowtail nigiri were our favs. Highly recommend!

Angelo’s Coal Fired Pizza – Delicious. Sauce is my thing. The sauce was fantastic.

Souvlaki GR – Wow, what a great find. Walked in to this pace for lunch and only had to wait 10 minutes (it was like 2pm!) This Greek restaurant is TINY (near Park Hyatt & Thompson Central Park). But the food was fantastic and great service. This was my son’s favorite restaurant of the trip.

Saar Indian Bistro – Dinner reservation here. Highly recommend. But would advise ordering “mild” NOT medium 😉 Food was amazing. Absolutely delicious. Service was fantastic.

WAS THANKSGIVING WEEKEND CRAZY IN NEW YORK CITY?

I was a bit apprehensive about booking NYC over such a busy weekend. But the only thing crazy were the hotel prices. And since we were using points, this didn’t affect us. On past NYC visits, we spent a lot of time at Chelsea Market, High Line, have done Top of the Rock, etc. So this trip was truly about soaking in the holidays. And eating. 😉

If you would like more information on how we earn so many Chase points (that we can transfer to Hyatt and Southwest), you can find all the details here.

By using points for our hotels and flights, we saved over $5K on this New York City magical holiday weekend!