The Year the Parade Turns One Hundred
The smell hits you before the sound does. Somewhere between 77th Street and the park, the November air carries a mix of roasted chestnuts, exhaust fumes, and something like caramel. Then the drumline starts — muffled at first, then loud enough to feel in your chest. This is Thanksgiving morning in New York, and in 2026, it happens to be the 100th Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.
Thanksgiving falls on Thursday, November 26, 2026. It’s the start of a four-day weekend that most Americans spend eating too much, watching football, and arguing about whether to go shopping at 5 AM on Friday. If you’re visiting the US for the first time, this is about as American as it gets.
Centennial Parade: What Actually Changes
The Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade has run since 1924, with a few gaps during World War II. 2026 marks the 100th parade — not the 100th year, because they skipped 1942-1944. Macy’s has been talking up the centennial for a while, promising new balloons alongside the classics.
The parade route starts at Central Park West and 77th Street, heads south to Columbus Circle, then turns onto 6th Avenue and ends at Herald Square (34th Street) where the Macy’s flagship store is. The broadcast begins at 8:30 AM EST on NBC, but if you’re watching in person, you’ll want to be in position by 7 AM at the latest. The good spots along Central Park West fill up earlier than you’d think — some people arrive at 6.
A few things worth knowing: the side streets off 6th Avenue tend to be less packed than the Central Park West stretch, but the trade-off is you’re farther from the start, where the balloons are freshest and the handlers are still in formation. By the time everything reaches Herald Square, it’s a controlled chaos of floats, performers, and confetti.
The balloon inflation the day before is honestly the better event if you have kids — or if you just want to see a five-story Snoopy lying on its side. It typically happens from noon to 6 PM near the American Museum of Natural History on the Upper West Side. No tickets required, but the line to enter the viewing area can stretch several blocks by early afternoon.
The Meal Itself
Thanksgiving dinner is the main event for most Americans, even the ones who pretend they’re only in it for the parade. The standard spread: roast turkey, gravy, stuffing (or dressing, depending on where you are), cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes with marshmallows on top (this is a real thing), green bean casserole, and pumpkin pie. Every family has their own additions and strong opinions about all of them.
If you’re a traveler without a dinner invitation, plenty of restaurants serve Thanksgiving menus. In New York, options range from prix fixe dinners at places like Daniel on the Upper East Side (somewhere north of $250 per person, last I checked) to more accessible spots like The Smith, which has done a three-course menu in the $75-80 range. Harlem’s Melba’s does a Southern-inflected prix fixe that’s been popular for years.
Outside New York, most mid-range hotels in major cities offer some version of a Thanksgiving buffet. The quality varies. If you’re in the South — Atlanta, Nashville, New Orleans — the food tends to be better because Thanksgiving overlaps heavily with what Southerners eat anyway.
One thing travelers don’t always realize: Thanksgiving Day itself is quiet. Most businesses are closed. The streets in residential neighborhoods are empty. If you’re not watching the parade or eating dinner, there isn’t much to do besides walk around and enjoy how weirdly still an American city can be.
Football on the Couch
The NFL plays three games on Thanksgiving, and watching them is as much a part of the holiday as the turkey. The Detroit Lions and Dallas Cowboys always host — that’s a tradition going back to the 1930s and 1960s respectively. The third game is a prime-time matchup that rotates.
You don’t need to care about football to appreciate the ritual. In most households, the TV is on in the background from noon onwards, someone’s uncle is getting too loud about a bad call, and the whole thing blends into the general atmosphere of eating leftovers on the couch.
If you actually want to attend a game, tickets for Thanksgiving Day NFL games are expensive and sell out fast. The Cowboys game at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas is the splashiest — the stadium itself is worth seeing. But expect to pay a premium.
Black Friday: November 27
The day after Thanksgiving is Black Friday, which has evolved from a single frantic shopping day into a week-long (sometimes month-long) sales event. Most major retailers — Amazon, Walmart, Best Buy — now start their deals the week before Thanksgiving and run them through Cyber Monday.
That said, the actual Black Friday experience — lining up outside a store at 4 AM, rushing through doors when they open — still exists, though it’s mellowed compared to the chaos of ten years ago. The real doorbuster deals are increasingly online.
For electronics, Best Buy remains the go-to for TVs, laptops, and headphones. Department stores like Macy’s discount fashion and home goods. Outlet malls — Woodbury Common north of NYC, Citadel Outlets near LA — get genuinely packed.
If the physical shopping scene isn’t your thing, Cyber Monday (November 30) is the online equivalent. Same deals, no lines, no parking lots.
Getting There Without Losing Your Mind
Thanksgiving week is the busiest travel period in the United States. Full stop. The Wednesday before Thanksgiving is consistently one of the most-traveled days of the year, and the Sunday after isn’t much better.
Some practical notes:
Flights: Book as early as possible. Prices for domestic flights spike dramatically in November. Flying on Thanksgiving Day itself is actually one of the cheaper and less crowded options — most people have already arrived. International visitors should book flights to the US well in advance through services like Trip.com or CheapOAir.
Driving: If you’re renting a car, I-95 along the East Coast and I-405 in Los Angeles become parking lots on Wednesday evening. Not exaggerating. Leave early Tuesday or accept a slow Wednesday. Europcar and similar services are fine for rentals, but book ahead — inventory thins out.
Weather: Late November weather varies wildly by region. New York and Chicago will be cold — mid-30s to 40s Fahrenheit (1-5°C). Southern cities are milder. If you’re heading to the Macy’s Parade, bring serious layers. You’ll be standing outside for hours.
Airports: TSA wait times at major hubs (JFK, LAX, O’Hare, Atlanta) can exceed an hour during the holiday rush. Give yourself extra buffer. Phone signal at the airport will be terrible because everyone is calling their families.
Beyond Thursday
The long weekend has a rhythm to it. Thursday is the feast. Friday is shopping (or recovering). Saturday and Sunday are for whatever’s left — and in many cities, that means the start of the Christmas season.
New York lights the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree the week after Thanksgiving. Chicago’s Magnificent Mile gets its holiday lights. San Francisco’s Union Square puts up its tree and ice rink. If you time your trip to span the whole weekend, you catch the transition from autumn to holiday season, which has its own particular energy.
For day trips, GetYourGuide and KLOOK list activities in most major US cities — walking tours, museum passes, that sort of thing. November isn’t peak tourist season for most American attractions, so you’ll deal with smaller crowds at places like the Smithsonian or the Getty.
If You Get Invited to Someone’s House
This is the best-case scenario for a traveler. Americans take Thanksgiving hospitality seriously, and getting invited to someone’s home dinner is worth more than any restaurant prix fixe.
Bring something. Wine is safe. A dessert is better — pie from a local bakery, not grocery store. If you can cook something from your home country, even better. The host will tell you not to bring anything. Bring something anyway.
Dinner is usually mid-afternoon, 2-4 PM, not evening. Arrive on time. The turkey has been in the oven since morning, and timing the sides is stressful enough without late guests. You’ll eat too much. Everyone does. That’s the point.
On the drive back to wherever you’re staying, the radio will be playing Christmas music already. The leftovers will last until Sunday.