Times Square

Times Square: Louder Than You Expect, Better Than You Fear

Times Square is the intersection of Seventh Avenue and Broadway between 42nd and 47th Streets. That is not a large area. The billboards are seven stories tall and there are around 330,000 people passing through on a busy day. It is the most visited tourist destination in the United States by raw numbers, which partly explains why experienced New Yorkers avoid it entirely and first-time visitors feel they have to see it.

Both responses are wrong. Times Square is worth an hour of your time, more if you have specific reasons to be there.

What Times Square Actually Is

The neon and digital signage is the reason to go. The screens cover the full facades of buildings and have been doing so in various forms since the early 1900s. The specific visual experience of standing in the center of the square at night, surrounded on all sides by illuminated advertisements running up the full height of buildings, is genuinely unlike anything else. It is garish, commercial, and American in the specific way that Las Vegas is American, which is to say unashamedly itself.

The TKTS booth at the southern end of Father Duffy Square sells same-day Broadway tickets at 20-50% discount. Prices vary by show and demand. The red staircase above the booth is a good vantage point for the square. Lines at the booth are longest in the early afternoon and shortest in the last 30 minutes before curtain.

The TKTS app lets you check availability and pricing before you arrive. The booth also sells next-day matinee tickets, which is useful if you want a specific show and cannot wait for the day-of queue.

Broadway Shows

Around 40 theatres constitute Broadway, most clustered within a 10-block radius of Times Square. The distinction between Broadway and off-Broadway is not geography but seat count: Broadway houses have 500 seats or more. A full-price orchestra ticket for a major musical runs $120-250. Rush tickets (released day-of through each theatre’s lottery system via apps like TodayTix or the official app) can run $30-50 and are worth trying for any show you want to see.

Hamilton, The Lion King, Chicago, and Wicked are the consistent sell-outs. Straight plays, revivals, and new productions typically have more availability and are often as good or better than the branded spectacles. The TKTS discount is less useful for the shows everyone wants to see because those shows rarely need discounting.

Eating Without Getting Robbed

Times Square restaurants are consistently 30-40% more expensive than the same caliber of restaurant elsewhere in Manhattan. The tourist-facing establishments along Broadway and 42nd Street are the worst offenders. There are better options within a short walk.

The Bryant Park area six blocks south has better food options at reasonable prices. Eleven Madison Park’s bar program and the food hall at Hudson Yards (a $15 cab ride west) offer more distinctive alternatives. For a quick lunch, the Gotham West Market on 11th Avenue has reliable vendors.

If you need to eat near Times Square specifically, Sardi’s on West 44th Street has been feeding the theater district since 1927, the caricatures of celebrities covering the walls are worth seeing, and the prices reflect its history rather than its tourist footprint.

Getting to and from the Theatre District

Times Square is served by the A/C/E, N/Q/R/W, 1/2/3, 7, and S subway lines. That is most of the system. Getting there from anywhere in Manhattan takes under 20 minutes. Getting a cab out of Times Square after a 10 PM show discharge is difficult; the subway is faster and more reliable than fighting for a car.

The pedestrian plaza between 44th and 47th Streets on Broadway is a result of a 2009 experiment where the city closed those blocks to vehicles. The experiment became permanent. The tables and chairs in the plaza are public and free; sitting down does not require buying anything.

What Is Actually Nearby

The Museum of Modern Art is six blocks north on 53rd Street. Admission is $25; free on Fridays from 5:30-9 PM. The collection includes works by Picasso, Matisse, van Gogh, and the permanent contemporary galleries. The sculpture garden is worth a separate visit.

Grand Central Terminal is 10 blocks east. It is not a tourist attraction in the conventional sense but walking through it at rush hour, standing on the balcony overlooking the main concourse, is an experience specific to New York.

The New York Public Library main branch on Fifth Avenue at 42nd Street is one of the best Beaux-Arts buildings in the country and completely free to enter. The Rose Main Reading Room on the third floor has a painted ceiling 52 feet high and runs the full length of a city block.

The Actual Advice

Go at night when the signs are at full brightness. Stand in the center of the square and look in all directions. Take your photograph. Walk through to the TKTS booth and check what is available. If a show appeals, buy a ticket. If not, spend the saved money on dinner elsewhere.

Avoid the M&M World, Ripley’s Believe It or Not, and the themed restaurants. None of them require your presence. The costumed characters in the pedestrian plaza will take a photograph with you and then ask for a tip; whether you engage with them is your business.