New York City may still be sweating through September, but Rockefeller Center is already putting winter on ice.
The iconic Rink at Rockefeller Center returns for its 2026–2027 season on October 10, officially signaling that fall is over, holiday season is approaching and New Yorkers should probably start locating their gloves. The rink, a New York institution since 1936, is celebrating its 90th anniversary this year.
And because apparently skating around Rockefeller Center wasn’t glamorous enough already, the 90th season comes with some upgrades.
A new Skate House will debut, while the rink’s VIP experience gets a serious glow-up with a heated VIP lounge where skaters can warm up with hot drinks and snacks. VIP tickets also include priority entry, a 60-minute skating session and complimentary skate rentals.
Translation: You can now fall on the ice in style and then immediately recover somewhere warm.
For everyone else, general skating tickets start at $22, while VIP tickets start at $131. Sessions last 60 minutes, and tickets are already on sale. The rink’s entrance is located on the rink level via 49th Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues.
Of course, the real attraction is the setting. Skating beneath the towering Rockefeller Center buildings, with the Prometheus statue looming nearby, is about as quintessentially New York City as an activity gets. And once the famous Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree arrives later in the season, the whole scene goes from charming to aggressively cinematic.
The rink originally opened on Christmas Day in 1936 and has since become one of the city’s most recognizable winter traditions. More than 250,000 skaters visit annually.
So grab your skates—or at least your dignity.
Rockefeller Center’s ice rink opens October 10, and winter in NYC is officially back on the schedule.
