From art fairs and wine dinners to light shows and city traditions, discover the best things to do in NYC November, a season of warmth, wonder, and quiet celebration.
November in New York carries a quiet sort of magic. The air turns crisp, the city glows softer, and the rhythm slows just enough for us to notice the shift. Golden leaves fading into twinkling lights, the scent of roasted chestnuts mingling with espresso steam.
It is the in-between month—where the essence of Halloween lingers and the holiday season hums softly in the distance. The pace of the city steadies; mornings feel gentler, evenings stretch longer, and familiar streets take on a cinematic glow. There is beauty in the contrast—the stillness of bare trees against glowing shop windows, the warmth of a café after the chill of an early sunset.
November invites us to pause and rediscover the city in its quieter moments. From art fairs and wine dinners to immersive light shows and cherished traditions, here is what to experience this November in New York City.
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Featured Events
Chef Samuel-Drake Jones’ Family Dinner
📍 Location: Hudson Local, 653 11th Avenue — Hell’s Kitchen, Manhattan | Date: November 5, 2025 | Time: 6:30 – 9:30 PM
At Hudson Local, Brooklyn-based Chef Samuel-Drake Jones invites guests to the table for something far deeper than dinner. Family Dinner is a night built from memory—a menu inspired by the meal he wishes he could have shared with his late parents.
Born in Paris to a French mother and English father, Jones moved to London after his mother’s passing and later to California, where his culinary story began before finding its rhythm in New York. This dinner, timed to his mother’s birthday month and Family Stories Month, threads those memories together through flavor—a reflection of heritage, longing, and home.
The five-course menu unfolds like a memoir: gougères filled with steak tartare, English cheddar croquettes, shiitake mushroom ravioli, seared Caraflex cabbage with tomato curry and gooseberry pico, rib eye with potato gratin and black garlic bordelaise, and a blue raspberry and tonka bean twist on Eton Mess. Each course is paired with wines curated by sommelier Lacey Rozinsky, creating an experience as intimate as it is indulgent—one that lingers long after the final bite.
Reservations: Tock
Circoloco Halloween 2025
📍 Location: Brooklyn Storehouse, 293 Assembly Road, Brooklyn | Date: November 1, 2025 | Time: 10 PM – 6 AM
Few nights capture New York’s after-dark allure quite like Circoloco, the Ibiza-born phenomenon that turns Brooklyn into a symphony of shadow, light, and sound. Beneath the industrial glow of the skyline, the air hums with anticipation as thousands move to the rhythm of Carlita, Seth Troxler, and Marco Carola—their sets unfolding like a pulse that builds through the night.
Fog curls around the lights, basslines blur into dawn, and for a few suspended hours, time feels elastic. It is both a party and a ritual—Halloween’s final breath before the city exhales into November.
Tickets: Circoloco
Pumpkin Smash
📍 Location: Hudson River Park, Manhattan | Date: November 1, 2025 | Time: 12 PM – 3 PM
Trade trick-or-treating for something unexpectedly delightful. Hudson River Park’s Pumpkin Smash returns with its annual invitation to bring your post-Halloween pumpkins and turn them into compost-ready confetti. Armed with bats, hammers, and shovels, visitors channel their inner child in the name of sustainability, laughter echoing against the river breeze.
It is a strangely satisfying afternoon—fragments flying, autumn air crisp with the scent of pumpkin—all set against sweeping waterfront views and the city’s quiet November light.
More details: Hudson River Park
The Great New York State Model Train Fair
📍 Location: New York State Fairgrounds | Date: November 1–2, 2025 | Time: 10 AM – 5 PM
Celebrating its 50th year, this nostalgic tradition invites enthusiasts and families to step inside a world of intricate design and imagination. More than 25 detailed layouts wind through the exhibition floor, each one a tiny masterpiece in motion, surrounded by 300 vendor displays filled with collectibles, tools, and timeless curiosities.
The Great New York State Model Train Fair—the largest in New York—honors craftsmanship and the quiet joy of building something beautiful, piece by piece. Complete with a miniature train ride for kids, it feels like stepping into a storybook—proof that sometimes the smallest worlds hold the most enduring
Tickets: Model Train Fair
Halloween Holdovers
Black Lagoon Pop-Up at Someday Bar
📍 Location: Someday Bar, 364 Atlantic Avenue — Boerum Hill, Brooklyn | Date: Through November 2, 2025
Halloween meets high drama at Black Lagoon, where flickering candlelight, crimson cocktails, and low, pulsing beats fill the room with after-dark allure. Someday Bar becomes a shadowy retreat of absinthe-tinged air and miso-spiked margaritas—a darkly glamorous hideaway where every detail feels intentional.
The energy is moody yet magnetic, a fleeting moment between seasons when Brooklyn’s edge meets a touch of the theatrical. It is one final night to stay in the glow of autumn before the city turns toward its softer light.
Make reservations: Someday Bar
Spirits – An Immersive Tale of Fright & Woe
📍 Location: Carmine’s, 200 West 44th Street — Midtown West, Manhattan | Date: Through November 8, 2025 | Time: 10 PM
Step into Lou Zar’s Speakeasy, where velvet drapes, candlelight, and whispers of mystery set the stage. Spirits unfolds like a ghostly cabaret—a haunting story of fame, fate, and the echoes that refuse to fade.
As jazz filters through the air and cocktails arrive in delicate glassware, guests move through the room not as spectators but as characters within the tale. Each table hides a clue, every shadow a secret. It is part séance, part performance, and entirely transportive—the kind of night that lingers long after the curtain falls.
Tickets: Spirits NYC
Madame Morbid’s Trolley Tours
📍 Location: 510 Driggs Avenue & North 9th Street — Williamsburg, Brooklyn | Date: Through November 9, 2025
Brooklyn’s haunted history rolls again as Madame Morbid’s Victorian trolley sets out after dark. Inside, velvet seats creak softly and lanterns flicker while the guide’s voice drifts through tales of séances, scandals, and spirits that once walked these cobblestone streets.
Each turn feels like a step back in time—past theaters said to be cursed, through neighborhoods layered with old secrets. It is history wrapped in mystery, told with charm and a wink, and a quietly thrilling way to close the season.
Tickets: Madame Morbid
Citywide Celebrations
TCS New York City Marathon
📍 Location: Five Boroughs | Date: November 2, 2025
Every November, tens of thousands of runners from around the world take to the streets for the TCS New York City Marathon—a moving love letter to the city’s endurance and spirit. From Staten Island to Central Park, each mile reveals a story: neighborhoods rising in chorus, strangers cheering for strangers, and the unmistakable electricity of New York at its most united.
It is more than a race; it is a celebration of resilience, community, and the unbreakable heart of the city itself.
More details: NYC Marathon
Go deeper: The BKLS Guide to the TCS New York City Marathon
Azure Day Party — NYC Marathon After Party
📍 Location: Arlo Williamsburg Rooftop, 96 Wythe Avenue — Williamsburg, Brooklyn | Date: November 2, 2025 | Time: 3 PM – 10 PM
When the last runner crosses the finish line, the city exhales—and the celebration rises high above the skyline. The Azure Day Party gathers house-music lovers and locals alike for an afternoon suspended between sunlight and sound. Panoramic views stretch across the river, cocktails gleam in the late-day glow, and the energy feels effortlessly Brooklyn—vibrant, magnetic, and lingering long after the music fades.
Tickets: Azure Day Party
Oíche Shamhna: An Irish Halloween
📍 Location: Irish Arts Center, 553 West 51st Street — Hell’s Kitchen, Manhattan | Date: November 2, 2025 | Time: 10:30 AM – 2:30 PM
The Irish Arts Center brings Celtic folklore to life in Manhattan with Oíche Shamhna—a celebration where ancient Irish Samhain traditions meet the color and rhythm of Día de los Muertos. The day unfolds through dance, multilingual storytelling, and hands-on crafts for children, creating a lively blend of myth, music, and memory.
It is a spirited cultural gathering that bridges two worlds, honoring how different traditions mark the same tender threshold between seasons.
Tickets: Irish Arts Center
Food, Wine + Spirits
Peloponnesian Wine Dinner
📍 Location: Nerina, 33 Berry Street — Williamsburg, Brooklyn | Date: November 5, 2025 | Time: 7 PM
Journey to Greece for one night without leaving Brooklyn. At Nerina, the Peloponnesian Wine Dinner celebrates the soul of Greek winemaking—small-production bottles from sun-kissed vineyards paired with seasonal dishes that tell a story of land, heritage, and time.
Each course reveals a new facet of the Peloponnese: crisp whites from Mantinia, deep reds from Nemea, and a finale as memorable as it is sweet—a pour of luscious Mavrodaphne. It’s not simply a dinner; it’s a guided escape through Greek terroir, led by a team who pours with both knowledge and heart.
Make reservations: Nerina
Go deeper: Inside Nerina’s Greek Wine Classes
Amber Georgia Wine Fair
📍 Location: Industry City, 268 36th Street — Sunset Park, Brooklyn | Date: November 8, 2025 | Time: 11 AM – 5 PM
More than 30 winemakers from the Republic of Georgia gather at Amber Georgia, a celebration of the world’s oldest wine culture. The afternoon unfolds in stories and pours — qvevri-aged amber wines glowing in the glass, ancient clay vessels on display, and the hum of conversation connecting centuries of heritage to the present moment.
It is an immersive taste of Georgia’s soul—a reminder that wine, at its best, is history you can hold.
Tickets: Amber Georgia
NY Cider Festival
📍 Location: City Winery, 25 11th Avenue — Chelsea, Manhattan | Date: November 15, 2025 | Time: 12 PM
Sip your way through the state’s finest ciders at the NY Cider Festival—from crisp and floral to rich and spiced. Hosted at City Winery, the afternoon pairs small-batch pours with artisan cheeses, lively conversation, and a palpable sense of community.
Meet the makers, learn the stories behind each orchard, and taste how New York’s apples continue to shape a thriving craft tradition. It is an afternoon meant to savor slowly—glass by glass, story by story.
Tickets: NY Cider Festival
New York Bartender Week
📍 Location: Various Venues | Date: November 17–23, 2025
A toast to the people behind the bar—the artists, storytellers, and alchemists who shape the city’s spirit one pour at a time. New York Bartender Week honors the craft and culture of the city’s vibrant cocktail scene through curated menus, intimate events, and creative collaborations that spotlight local distillers and timeless techniques.
It’s a week that celebrates not just the drinks, but the people who make New York’s nights unforgettable.
Read next: The Best Bars to Try Right Now
More details: Bartender Week
Art, Culture + Exhibits
The Other Art Fair Brooklyn
📍 Location: ZeroSpace, 337-345 Butler Street — Gowanus, Brooklyn | Date: November 6–9, 2025
Art lovers will find their muse at The Other Art Fair, where 130 independent artists transform ZeroSpace into a living gallery of color, sound, and conversation. Curated by Saatchi Art, the fair invites guests to meet the artists behind the work—to listen, to linger, and to collect pieces that speak personally rather than predictably.
Here, originality replaces exclusivity, and the spirit of New York’s creative scene feels close enough to touch.
Tickets: The Other Art Fair
Studio Museum in Harlem Reopening
📍 Location: 144 West 125th Street — Harlem, Manhattan | Date: November 15, 2025
After years of anticipation, the Studio Museum in Harlem reopens its doors in a striking new 82,000-square-foot home—a space designed to honor the past while shaping the future of Black art and culture.
The inaugural exhibitions pay tribute to sculptor Tom Lloyd and to the museum’s founding mission: to champion the creativity, innovation, and enduring legacy of artists of African descent. Beyond the walls, the reopening marks more than a milestone. It is a homecoming, a celebration of vision and resilience that has been decades in the making.
More details: Studio Museum in Harlem
Impact: The End of the Age of Dinosaurs
📍 Location: American Museum of Natural History, 200 Central Park West — Upper West Side, Manhattan | Date: Opens November 17, 2025
Travel 66 million years back in time at the American Museum of Natural History, where the new exhibition Impact: The End of the Age of Dinosaurs brings Earth’s most dramatic turning point to life. Life-sized models, rare fossils, and sweeping projections trace the story of the asteroid that ended the dinosaurs’ reign—and forever altered the planet’s course.
Both awe-inspiring and quietly sobering, the exhibition draws a line between ancient extinction and our own fragile present—reminding us how easily worlds can change.
Tickets: AMNH
ARTE MUSEUM: An Immersive Media Art Exhibition
📍 Location: 61 Chelsea Piers — Chelsea, Manhattan | Date: Through November 30, 2025
Lose yourself in ARTE MUSEUM, where light, scent, and sound converge to form a surreal landscape of eternal nature. Each room unfolds like a dream—luminous waterfalls shimmer across walls, mist drifts through glowing forests, and ambient compositions by Young-gyu Jang pulse softly in the background.
Every detail is intentional, from the scent that lingers in the air to the shifting color of the light. It is an experience that invites stillness and awe, a reminder of how art can both quiet and awaken the senses. End your visit with tea at the adjoining café, where serenity meets design before you step back into the city.
Tickets: ARTE MUSEUM
Holiday Magic + Winter Lights
Santa’s Secret
📍 Location: Secret Venue [Revealed Upon Ticketing] | Date: November 13 – December 31, 2025
Hidden behind an unmarked door lies Santa’s Secret, an immersive world where art, performance, and holiday revelry intertwine. Guests wander through glittering installations, sip inventive cocktails, and drift between rooms that feel equal parts spectacle and secret.
It is a playful escape for the season—a place where mischief meets magic, and every corner glows with the spirit of celebration.
Tickets: Santa’s Secret
Lightscape at Brooklyn Botanic Garden
📍 Location: Brooklyn Botanic Garden, 990 Washington Avenue — Prospect Heights, Brooklyn | Date: November 21, 2025 – January 4, 2026
Stroll through a glowing dreamscape at Lightscape, where the Brooklyn Botanic Garden transforms into a luminous trail of art, sound, and winter wonder. Each turn reveals something new—arches that shimmer, pathways that glitter underfoot, and installations that wash the garden in color and quiet awe.
Now in its fifth year, Lightscape remains one of New York’s most beloved winter rituals—best experienced slowly, with mittens in hand, cocoa in tow, and someone you love beside you.
Tickets: Lightscape
Go deeper: Our Visit to Lightscape at Brooklyn Botanic Garden
Bronx Zoo Holiday Lights
📍 Location: Bronx Zoo, 2300 Southern Boulevard — Bronx | Date: November 21, 2025 – January 4, 2026
Millions of lights. Hundreds of illuminated animals. Endless wonder. The Bronx Zoo’s Holiday Lights return to transform the park into a glowing dreamscape of color, movement, and delight. Lantern trails wind through the trees as larger-than-life creatures shimmer against the night sky, and the laughter of families mingles with the distant call of wildlife.
Warm drinks in hand, visitors pause for snow-tube slides, live entertainment, and sweet winter treats between exhibits. It is a festive escape that bridges nostalgia and discovery—a luminous reminder of why the holidays in New York feel like nowhere else.
Tickets: Bronx Zoo Holiday Lights
Saks Fifth Avenue Holiday Light Show
📍 Location: 611 Fifth Avenue — Midtown, Manhattan | Date: November 24, 2025
A quintessential New York tradition, the Saks Fifth Avenue Light Show once again transforms Midtown into a symphony of light and music. As the first sparkle of the season dances across the iconic façade, crowds gather along Fifth Avenue, their faces illuminated by the shimmer of color and sound.
It is the moment the city officially turns toward celebration—a timeless spectacle that captures the joy, nostalgia, and shared wonder of the holidays in New York.
More details: Saks Light Show
Go deeper: Bright Lights, Big City—New York’s Iconic Holiday Displays
Urbanspace Holiday Markets
📍 Location: Union Square, Columbus Circle, Herald Square & Macy’s Holiday Square | Date: Through January 4, 2026
New York’s favorite holiday markets return, transforming the city into a wonderland of scent, sound, and handcrafted beauty. Urbanspace’s iconic markets—from Union Square to Columbus Circle—fill the season with warmth and discovery, offering hundreds of artisans, designers, and food vendors in a swirl of light and laughter.
New this year, Macy’s Holiday Square introduces Herald Haus & Bar, an open-air lodge where you can pause between stalls for a festive drink, a warm bite, or a moment beneath the glow of the city’s holiday lights. It is an essential New York ritual—a celebration of craftsmanship, community, and the small joys that make the season feel complete.
More details: Urbanspace Holiday Markets
Thanksgiving Weekend
Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade
📍 Location: Central Park West to Herald Square | Date: November 27, 2025 | Time: 8:30 AM – 12 PM
No Thanksgiving in New York is complete without the Macy’s Parade—a grand procession of giant balloons, glittering floats, marching bands, and the kind of joy that sweeps straight through the heart of Manhattan. From Central Park West to Herald Square, the city becomes a stage for wonder as families, friends, and visitors gather to watch tradition come alive.
It is spectacle and sentiment intertwined—pure joy, New York style.
More details: Macy’s Parade
Go deeper: The BKLS Guide to Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade
The Big Shabbat Dinner
📍 Location: North Javits, 429 11th Avenue — Hudson Yard, Manhattan | Date: November 21, 2025 | Time: 6 PM – 10 PM
A record-breaking gathering of joy and unity, The Big Shabbat Dinner brings 3,000 guests together beneath one roof for an evening steeped in tradition, flavor, and connection. The long tables glow under soft light as guests share a kosher vegetarian feast prepared by renowned chefs, accompanied by music, laughter, and conversation that stretches late into the night.
It is more than a meal—it is a moment of togetherness that celebrates community, faith, and the simple beauty of gathering.
More details: The Big Shabbat Dinner
Syracuse Wine & Chocolate Festival
📍 Location: New York State Fairgrounds | Date: November 29, 2025 | Time: 1–4 PM & 5–8 PM
A decadent close to the month, the Syracuse Wine & Chocolate Festival invites guests to sip, sample, and indulge their way through a celebration of New York’s sweetest offerings. Regional wineries pour everything from bright, fruit-forward blends to deep, spiced reds, while artisan chocolatiers and local makers tempt with confections, gourmet bites, and gift-worthy treats.
It is part tasting, part tradition. A delicious beginning to the season of giving.
Tickets: Wine & Chocolate Festival
Canstruction
📍 Location: Brookfield Place, 230 Vesey Street — Battery Park, Manhattan | Date: Through November 10, 2025 | Time: 10 AM – 7 PM
Imagination meets generosity at Canstruction, New York’s annual architectural art competition, where every installation is built entirely from cans. Towers rise, arches curve, and whimsical forms take shape—all crafted by teams of architects and designers whose creativity feeds both the eye and the community.
When the exhibition ends, every can is donated to City Harvest, providing meals for thousands across the city. It is a powerful reminder that art, at its best, nourishes more than inspiration..
More details: Canstruction
Things to Do In NYC November
As the city shifts from the glow of autumn to the shimmer of the holidays, November invites a slower, more intentional kind of wonder. Wander through light displays that soften the night, discover new artists, raise a glass of cider or amber wine, and savor the warmth that lingers long after the leaves have fallen.
New York moves differently this time of year—steadier, gentler, and just as full of magic. For more ways to experience the city like a local, explore Brooklyn’s Lifestyle, your insider guide to the rhythm of New York.
