Be through the gates of Central Park by seven. Once the clocks go back on the first Sunday of November, that is about sunrise, and for the next hour the paths are yours, bar the runners and the dog walkers. Few months in New York City suit a walker better. Highs of around 12°C keep you moving without overheating, and the park's trees often hold their colour into the first half of the month.
Start in the Ramble, a knot of paths and streams under the trees, then push north into the North Woods, the park's largest woodland, and come back down past the Reservoir. The Central Park Conservancy's fall guide has a foliage tracker showing where the colour is holding, so check it the night before and plan the loop around it. Wear shoes that keep water out. November brings around nine wet days, and wet leaves on stone steps are treacherous.
Save the windows for after dark. It comes early, with sunset before five all month and nearer half past four by the end. The holiday displays usually go up in the week or so before Thanksgiving. Start at Macy's on Herald Square and walk up Sixth Avenue to Bryant Park, where the Winter Village opens in late October and the rink charges nothing for admission. Cut through to Fifth Avenue and head north to Saks at 50th Street, where a light show plays across the facade from around Thanksgiving, and on to Bergdorf Goodman at 58th, whose windows lean more to art than to Santa. Herald Square to Bergdorf is well over a mile. On a weekday evening you can stop at the glass. On a weekend you will do it at a crawl.
Thanksgiving falls on the fourth Thursday. On the Wednesday afternoon the parade balloons are inflated on the streets beside the American Museum of Natural History, between West 77th and West 81st, and the public can file past on a one-way route that starts at a checkpoint on West 72nd Street and Columbus Avenue. It is slow. Go anyway, and check the official times first.
Next morning the parade leaves West 77th Street and Central Park West, runs down to Columbus Circle, along Central Park South and down Sixth Avenue to Herald Square. The west side of Central Park West is packed well before dawn, so bring gloves for a long wait. Sixth Avenue has more room anywhere from 59th Street down to 38th. Below that, the four blocks to 34th are kept for the television broadcast, and all you would see from there is the back of a camera platform.