New York City is a multicultural hub with dozens of museums, hundreds of parks and millions of people. The number of potential things to see and do can feel overwhelming, but NY1 has you covered with some of the highlights taking place this weekend across the five boroughs.

Bumper Cars at Bryant Park

  • Open through Feb. 28, 2026
  • Bryant Park, Manhattan
  • More information here

Bumper Cars on Ice are back at Bryant Park’s Winter Village.

The parks says the activity is for ages 7 and up, and recommends reserving a time slot in advance.

Create a Vision Board or Junk Journal

  • Sunday, Jan. 11 from 10:30 a.m. to noon
  • Greenbelt Nature Center, Staten Island
  • More information here

NYC Parks invites residents to come craft a vision board or start a junk journal to kick off 2026.

Vision boards are a collage of the goals and experiences you hope to achieve in the new year, while a junk journal is a creative way to organize your memories by collecting scraps from events and activities. Catalogs, calendars, junk mail and other craft materials will be provided.

‘Paper Jane: 250 Years of Austen’

  • Open through Feb. 14, 2026
  • The Grolier Club, Manhattan
  • More information here

An exhibition celebrating the 250th anniversary of the birth of Jane Austen, “Paper Jane: 250 Years of Austen” includes a “kaleidoscopic mix of 110 objects,” organized chronologically at 50-year intervals. 

The timeline moves from 1825 to 2025, and includes “rare first editions, manuscripts, popular reprintings, movie posters, illustrations and theater playbills,” among other items.

(Spectrum News NY1/Roger Clark)

‘The Future Was Then: The Changing Face of Fascist Italy’

  • Open through Feb. 26
  • The Poster House, Manhattan
  • More information here

An exhibition at The Poster House explores how the fascist government of Italy under Benito Mussolini influenced the art of the period.

The exhibit features 75 pieces that chronicle Mussolini’s regime, and focuses on “the often blurred line between propaganda and art.”

NYBG Holiday Train Show

  • Open through Jan. 11
  • New York Botanical Garden, the Bronx
  • More information here

This is the last weekend to catch the New York Botanical Garden’s annual Holiday Train Show, which returned for its 34th year. Visitors have the opportunity to see nearly 200 replicas of New York City landmarks — all created from plant parts.

Toy trains wrap around recreations of the city’s skyscrapers and other recognizable icons. The garden runs both day and night availabilities, with seasonal food and drink offerings as well.

Holiday Train Show at Grand Central

  • Open through February 2026
  • Grand Central Terminal, Manhattan
  • More information here

Another train show for the holiday season, the New York Transit Museum at Grand Central’s offering is smaller than what’s on display at the New York Botanical Garden, but no tickets are required.

The exhibit features model trains running through a 34-foot-long display — departing from a miniature Grand Central and passing by other iconic New York City landmarks like the Brooklyn Bridge and the Empire State Building. The Transit Museum’s collection of model trains includes Metro-North, Polar Express and vintage subway train sets.

The Great Borough Bake-Off

  • Open through Jan. 19, 2026
  • Museum of the City of New York, Manhattan
  • More information here

Professional and amateur bakers alike have created gingerbread versions of city sights like brownstones, bridges, bodegas and ballparks.

The competition includes bakers from all five boroughs, with each asked to make something that represents their community. Multiple prizes will be awarded by a panel of judges, and attendees can vote on a “People’s Choice” award of their own.

‘FAREwell, MetroCard’

  • Now open
  • New York Transit Museum, Brooklyn
  • More information here

After more than three decades in use, the MetroCard is retiring. A new exhibit at the New York Transit Museum invites visitors to learn about its history, including its debut in 1994, the technology behind it and its lasting legacy.

At Chelsea Market in Manhattan, art made from MetroCards is hanging on the walls near the Ninth Avenue entrance, including framed creations of cats, the five boroughs and a school bus.

‘Monet and Venice’

  • Open through Feb. 1, 2026
  • Brooklyn Museum
  • More information here

“Monet and Venice” is New York’s largest museum show dedicated to impressionist painter Claude Monet in more than 25 years, according to the Brooklyn Museum, and features more than 100 artworks.

The museum says it’s the first exhibition to focus on Monet’s paintings of Venice. Curators say it’s an “underexplored chapter in the artist’s late career” after he once claimed the city was “too beautiful to be painted.”

‘Urban Stomp’

  • Open through February 2026
  • Museum of the City of New York, Manhattan
  • More information here

An exhibit at the Museum of the City of New York, “Urban Stomp: Dreams & Defiance on the Dance Floor,” guides visitors through a rich history of social dances born, shaped or popularized in the city.

There are around 30 video tutorials teaching the steps of dance styles like the foxtrot, Lindy Hop, salsa, hip-hop, breaking, hustle and vogue, with related cultural artifacts on display.

Ice Skating in Manhattan

  • Open through March 2026
  • Rockefeller Center, Manhattan
  • Wollman Rink, Central Park
  • Rockefeller tickets here
  • Wollman tickets here

Ice skating is open for the season at The Rink at Rockefeller Center and at Wollman Rink in Central Park.

Rockefeller Center’s website calls skating on its rink of the city’s “quintessential winter activities.”

Street Food City

  • Open Thursdays to Sundays from noon to 6 p.m.
  • Museum of Food and Drink, Brooklyn
  • More information here

A new exhibit at the Museum of Food and Drink (MOFAD) in Brooklyn is dedicated to the city’s smallest food businesses and the immigrant entrepreneurs who have shaped the city’s flavor and culture.

Organizers say Street Food City “traces the challenges faced by street food entrepreneurs of the past to today’s fight for vendor rights.” The exhibit’s curator, Catherine Piccoli, and MOFAD president Nazli Parvizi also joined NY1 to discuss the exhibit.

Purchase tickets here.

‘Empire Skate of Mind’

  • Open daily until April 12, 2026
  • Brooklyn Children’s Museum
  • More information here

The Brooklyn Children’s Museum has transformed its rooftop terrace into a retro rink described by organizers as a nod to the Empire Roller Rink that lasted in Brooklyn from the 1940s until 2007.

Tickets are required for the all-ages celebration. Skates, helmets and wrist guards are provided.

Studio Museum in Harlem

  • Open daily 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.
  • 144 West 125th St., Manhattan
  • More information here

The Studio Museum in Harlem has reopened after being closed for nearly eight years.

The museum, which is dedicated to presenting and collecting the work of Black artists, returns with a variety of exhibits on display.

(Spectrum News NY1/Roger Clark)

‘Impact: The End of the Age of Dinosaurs’

  • Now open
  • American Museum of Natural History, Manhattan
  • More information here

A new exhibit at the American Museum of Natural History looks at the impact of the asteroid strike that wiped out the dinosaurs 66 million years ago.

The exhibition also explores how the Earth recovered from the event, including how it paved the way for new species.

(Spectrum News NY1/Roger Clark)

‘Encounters in the Milky Way’

  • Now open
  • American Museum of Natural History, Manhattan
  • More information here

“Encounters in the Milky Way” is a new show at the Hayden Planetarium that gives visitors a “front-row seat to spectacular moments in our solar system’s past and future.”

Narrated by Pedro Pascal, the show takes viewers through the paths of stars, comets and other interstellar debris. It’s part of the Rose Center for Earth and Space’s celebration of 25 years since its opening.