Best, Worst Thanksgiving Travel Times For NYC

NEW YORK, NY — Aside from picking which pie to eat after dinner, one of the toughest Thanksgiving decisions can be when to leave for your chosen holiday gathering. You're on your own when it comes to dessert, but Google Maps has some advice for timing your trip this year.

For those heading out of the city, the early bird gets the worm. Google's traffic data says 4 a.m. on Wednesday, Nov. 22 is the best time to leave New York ahead of the Nov. 23 holiday.

Wait 12 extra hours, though, and you might have a long wait in the Lincoln Tunnel. Pre-Thanksgiving traffic peaks the evening before the holiday, making 4 p.m. on Wednesday the worst time to leave.

For those coming into the city for the holiday, Google says 4 a.m. Friday, Nov. 24, will be the best time to leave. If you wait, don't wait too long — 3 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 26, will be the worst time to head out, Google says.

There's also a big traffic spike midday on Thursday, right after the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, Google's data shows. And if you're going to a suburban mall for some Black Friday shopping, traffic that morning will be about the same as the usual Friday commute by car.

Google also looked at what people across the country search for online during Thanksgiving. Searches for "ham shop" spike the day before Thanksgiving, while "tree farm" spikes the day after as people start thinking about Christmas. Searches for "outlet mall" and "electronics store" also increase on Black Friday.

In New York, a uniquely high number of people search for "sports card store" on Thanksgiving. Maybe it's the football games.

Check out Google's full breakdown of Thanksgiving data here.

(Traffic crawls on the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway in Brooklyn. Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images)