Time to Start Planning for Thanksgiving 2025

With fall officially underway, our thoughts trend toward the upcoming holidays. But while you’re spending time thinking about where you’ll spend those cherished family holidays this year, it might pay to start planning ahead for next year, especially if you plan to head to New York City.

The city is home to a time-honored Thanksgiving tradition, the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, which has happened every November since 1924 when the famous department store hosted what was then deemed a Christmas Parade. Today, the parade is an iconic symbol of the Thanksgiving holiday, and draws enormous crowds to see the spectacular floats, balloons and entertainment that course through the streets of Manhattan.

Throngs of visitors crowd the streets to catch a passing glimpse of the displays, but savvy travelers head to one of the hotels along the trade route to scope out a room where they can relax and witness the spectacle in comfort and style. The Ritz-Carlton New York, Central Park has the perfect solution for families, as long as they are willing to plan ahead.

The hotel has special packages for rooms along the parade route offering unparalleled views, along with non-parade view rooms that still get you right next to the action on the big day. Guests who book the premier and suites for the occasion also receive an exclusive private brunch following the parade, and guests who book the Specialty Suite Package get additional perks like room credits and luxury airport transfers.

While the non-parade view rooms usually don’t sell out until four to six months before the holiday, rooms with a bird’s-eye view of the parade route tend to sell out up to a year in advance, so now is the time to start planning if you want to spend next Thanksgiving in the heart of the action.

Parade fun aside, New York City is home to plenty of iconic landmarks like the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island, the Empire State Building, Central Park and the 9/11 Memorial Museum, along with newer attractions like Edge Observation Deck at Hudson Yards. Without having to do all the cooking and cleaning for a big holiday meal, you and the family will have plenty of time for relaxing and checking out the sites, making it a Thanksgiving to remember.