NYC Among 'Most Christmassy' Cities In Nation, Study Says

NEW YORK, NY — The giant Rockefeller Center Christmas tree and the elaborate Fifth Avenue window displays aren't for nothing. New York City is the one of the 10 "most Christmassy" towns in America, according to the travel business website Travel Market Report.

The list cites the window displays and the famous Rockefeller tree, with its 30,000 lights, as sources of New York's Christmas spirit. There's also Santa Claus at Macy's, ice skating at Bryant Park and Central Park, and the holiday markets in Bryant Park and Grand Central Terminal.

"New York is a fast-paced, mile-a-minute city, but life seems to slow down a little around the holidays — at least long enough for you to get into the Christmas spirit," Travel Market Report writes.

New York and Las Vegas are the only two big cities on the list, which doesn't rank its chosen towns in any particular order.

Among the other winners is Rhinebeck, N.Y., a town of about 7,500 people located in Dutchess County, less than two hours from Manhattan by train.

Home to actor Paul Rudd and singer Natalie Merchant, Rhinebeck hosts an annual celebration of Sinterklaas, a Dutch festival that fetes "a fourth-century Bishop with a long, white beard who happened to love children."

Want to get out of New York for the holidays? Check out the other eight "most Christmassy" towns on Travel Market Report's list.

(Lead image: The Rockefeller Center Christmas tree is pictured after it was lit on Nov. 29. Photo by Theo Wargo/Getty Images)