Peak Season
September - December
It may sound strange, a New York City vacation may be best planned for autumn (not summer). Fall is the city’s peak season. The leaves are an attractive yellow and orange and the weather stays at an acceptable temperature (say, sweater or light jacket weather). There’s something romantic about this time in New York and hotels know this, which is why you should expect to pay the highest prices during the autumn.
Off-Season
January - April
New York City travel during the winter can be either a freezing nightmare or quite mild and tolerable. And there’s no predicting which way it will go. Generally, there’s one massive everything-comes-to-a-halt snowstorm every year. And if you come during the off-season, you’ll be lucky to avoid it. Find hotel prices at their cheapest during the cold weather months, but at the same time some of New York’s pleasures—are hard to appreciate.
Shoulder Season
May - August
The weather during late spring and early summer can be quite tolerable New York City travel, but as the summer drones on, the humidity picks up and by August, the air is heavy and moist and uncomfortable. For that reason, the city empties out in August, as New Yorkers flee to the coastal climates of the Hamptons on Long Island. The good news is there are fewer lines and the sidewalks aren’t as clogged. Your only enemy will be the oppressive humidity.