Times Square: Honest Advice for First-Time Visitors

Let’s get this out of the way: Times Square is not a neighbourhood. It’s a commercial intersection dressed up in LED advertising, and New Yorkers mostly avoid it. The good news is that it’s still worth visiting, just not in the way most tourist guides suggest. Treat it as a 45-minute spectacle rather than a destination in itself, and you’ll leave with the right memories.

The junction of Broadway, Seventh Avenue, and 42nd Street has been a commercial and entertainment hub since the early 1900s. The name comes from The New York Times, which moved its headquarters here in 1905 and celebrated with a fireworks display on New Year’s Eve - the ball drop tradition that still happens every December 31st. The first electronic billboard went up shortly after, and the neighbourhood never looked back.

What’s Actually Worth Your Time

The TKTS Booth is genuinely useful. Located on the north end of Duffy Square (the pedestrian triangle at 47th Street), it sells same-day and next-day Broadway tickets at discounts of 20-50%. The booth opens at 15:00 for evening shows and at 10:00 for matinees. The queue moves reasonably quickly, usually 20-30 minutes. The discount available varies by show: brand-new hits rarely appear, but solid mid-run productions often do. You can also use the app to browse availability before joining the queue.

The High Line is 15 minutes by foot west of Times Square, starting from the 34th Street entrance at 10th Avenue. This elevated park on an old freight rail line is one of the better things New York has done to its public space in decades. Free to visit, open daily from 07:00.

Bryant Park is six blocks south and offers a genuine outdoor space that New Yorkers actually use. The lawn fills up at lunchtime with people from the surrounding office buildings. In winter the lawn becomes an ice rink. The New York Public Library building on the park’s east side has impressive Beaux-Arts interiors and free exhibitions.

What’s less worth your time: Madame Tussauds and Ripley’s Believe It or Not on 42nd Street are both expensive ($35-45 per adult) and consistently mediocre. The Hard Rock Cafe is overpriced and exists in every major city. If you want a diner experience, Ellen’s Stardust at 1650 Broadway has singing waitstaff, which is either charming or excruciating depending on your tolerance for theatrics. The food is adequate.

Getting Around

The A, C, and E subway lines stop at 42nd Street-Port Authority Bus Terminal, one block west of Times Square. The 1, 2, 3, 7, N, Q, R, and W lines stop at Times Square-42nd Street station, directly beneath the intersection. This is one of the best-served transit hubs in the city. A single subway ride costs $2.90 (2025 fare) with OMNY contactless payment; just tap your card or phone.

Taxis and rideshares in this area are slow due to constant congestion. Walk to and from wherever you’re going if your destination is within 10 blocks. The midtown street grid makes navigation simple.

Where to Eat (Not in Times Square)

The blocks immediately around Times Square are mostly tourist traps. Walk five minutes in almost any direction and the quality improves.

Joe’s Shanghai on 56th Street, a 10-minute walk north, is a reliable Chinese restaurant known for its soup dumplings (xiao long bao). Order two baskets per person as a minimum. Main dishes 15-25 USD.

Gazala’s on 9th Avenue in Hell’s Kitchen serves Israeli/Druze food including exceptional flatbreads. The hummus and fried cauliflower are very good. Cash preferred. Mains around 15-20 USD.

Bar Centrale at 324 W 46th Street is technically a members club but accepts walk-ins. It’s where Broadway performers go after shows. The cocktails are well-made and the atmosphere is genuinely what visitors imagine New York should feel like.

Where to Stay

Times Square hotels are expensive partly for location and partly because of their marketing. You’re paying for proximity to a busy intersection.

Yotel New York offers small but cleverly designed rooms with automated check-in, starting around $150-200 per night. It’s aimed at travellers who spend their time out rather than in, which describes most people in this area correctly.

The Row NYC is a reliable mid-range option at the intersection of 8th Avenue and 44th Street. The room quality is decent, the price (from around $180) is appropriate, and the location puts you a two-minute walk from the TKTS booth.

If budget is the concern, staying in Midtown East (same side of Central Park, but east of 5th Avenue) or in Brooklyn near a good subway line gives you perfectly fast access to Times Square at 30-40% lower hotel prices.

New Year’s Eve

One million people crowd into Times Square on December 31st. You can’t bring bags, you can’t leave your designated zone once the barriers close (usually by 15:00 for a midnight countdown), there are no public toilets, and temperatures in New York in late December routinely drop below freezing. The experience is what you make of it, but know what you’re signing up for before you commit to the ball drop in person.