New York

• New Year's Eve in Times Square · Jan 1-7 · holiday

  A million people in pens from morning, hotels at peak rates, the rest of the city quietly partying.

• NYC Restaurant Week · Jan 22 – Feb 4 · festival

  Fixed-price tasting menus at hundreds of restaurants - January's perk; bookings open weeks ahead.

• Chinese New Year · Feb 12 – Feb 25 · festival

  The spring festival - lion dances, red lanterns and family reunions; the calendar’s biggest celebration and busiest travel week.

• St Patrick's Day Parade · Mar 12-18 · holiday

  Fifth Avenue's parade has run since 1762 - pubs heaving from 10am, the city in green.

• Eid al-Fitr · Mar 19-25 · religious

  The joyful close of Ramadan - new clothes, feasting and visiting; one of the warmest, busiest weeks of the year.

• Tribeca Film Festival · Apr 23 – May 6 · festival

  Premieres and Q&As across downtown for ten days - co-founded by De Niro after 9/11.

• Independence Day · Jun 18 – Jun 8 · holiday

  Macy's fireworks over the East River - a million spectators on Brooklyn and Manhattan piers.

• NYC Pride · Jun 25-Jul 1 · festival

  Manhattan's biggest single day - the Stonewall block in particular packed wall-to-wall, two million attendees.

• July heat & humidity · Jul 9 – Jul 29 · holiday

  Subway platforms hit 100°F; locals flee to Long Island. Air-conditioned museums become refuges.

• US Open Tennis · Aug 27 – Aug 9 · sport

  Two weeks of late-summer tennis in Queens - outer-borough hotels tight, Manhattan buzzy at night.

• Village Halloween Parade · Oct 29-Nov 4 · festival

  Sixth Avenue's open-to-all Halloween parade - costumes welcome, two million spectators.

• NYC Marathon · Oct 29-Nov 4 · sport

  Five boroughs, 50,000 runners - the entire city out on the sidewalk; the Verrazano start a sight to see.

• Diwali · Nov 5-11 · festival

  The festival of lights - rows of diyas, fireworks and sweets; the brightest, most celebratory week of the Hindu year.

• Thanksgiving · Nov 26-Dec 2 · holiday

  Macy's parade draws millions but locals leave - the city is unusually empty mid-week, then peaks again Friday.

• Christmas in NYC · Dec 10 – Dec 31 · religious

  Rockefeller tree, Fifth Avenue windows, ice skating at Bryant Park - beautiful, crowded, ferociously expensive.

a reason to go mixed worth knowing about