Is Times Square Worth Visiting? An Honest Answer

What I actually think after living near it

I get asked this question more than almost any other about New York: should I bother with Times Square, or is it a tourist trap I should skip on principle? Neither answer is honest. Times Square is not a must-see and it is not a scam - it is a functional intersection that does a few specific jobs well and almost everything else badly. Treating it as a destination in itself is where visitors go wrong, in both directions: the ones who spend a whole evening there disappointed, and the ones who refuse to set foot in it and miss a genuinely useful stop.

Here is what is factually there. Times Square sits at the crossing of Broadway and Seventh Avenue in Midtown, wrapped in some of the densest digital billboard advertising anywhere in the world - a spectacle that is worth seeing once, ideally after dark. Nearly every major Broadway theatre sits on the numbered cross streets in the low-to-mid 40s that fan out from the square, which is why it functions as the de facto gateway to Broadway even though the theatres themselves are not on Broadway avenue.

The TKTS booth on the pedestrian plaza sells same-day discounted tickets to a rotating list of shows, and it is one of the few genuinely good reasons to plan around being here at a set time. Beyond that, the square is packed with chain restaurants, souvenir shops selling the same magnets and t-shirts, and pedestrian traffic that ranks among the heaviest in the city at any hour of the day or night.

What isn’t there, no matter what the postcards suggest

What Times Square does not offer is a representative slice of New York life. Nobody who lives here spends their evenings on that plaza; it exists for visitors, costumed characters working for tips, and the billboards themselves. The restaurants immediately on or facing the square are almost uniformly a bad value - you will pay Midtown tourist prices for food that would be unremarkable anywhere else in the city, and often worse than unremarkable. And there is no version of Times Square that is quiet. Not at 7am, not on a Tuesday in January, not during a thunderstorm. The crowd density is close to constant, which is either part of the experience or the exact reason to keep your visit short, depending on your temperament.

I do not think Times Square deserves either of the two labels people reach for. It is not “unmissable” - nothing structurally interesting or historically significant happens there, and skipping it entirely costs you nothing essential about understanding New York. It is also not a trap to be avoided on principle - it has real, practical uses, and refusing to walk through it out of contrarianism is its own kind of tourist behaviour. The honest description is duller than either: it is a functional hub with three or four legitimate reasons to pass through, and it works fine as long as you go in expecting exactly that.

How I’d actually use it

If I were planning someone’s evening, I would treat Times Square as a stop, not a stay. Walk through it once, ideally at dusk when the billboards are lit but the sky still has some colour - that combination photographs and reads better than full dark. If you have Broadway tickets or want same-day ones, this is where you need to be anyway, so let the visit serve double duty. Our TKTS discount ticket guide and the Broadway lottery and rush ticket guide both cover how to get a seat without paying full box-office price, and both routes put you physically in or near the square regardless.

Beyond ticket logistics and the one billboard photo, I would not eat there and I would not linger. If you want a sit-down meal with a bit more personality and are willing to accept that it is still very much a themed, tourist-facing spot rather than a hidden gem, a meal at the Hard Rock Cafe right on Times Square at least knows what it is and delivers a consistent, kid-friendly menu, which is more than most of the square’s food options manage.

If you’d rather have someone else handle the logistics of seeing the square alongside the rest of Midtown’s highlights in one go, a private New York City tour that includes Times Square highlights folds the stop into a broader route instead of making it the whole trip.

For observation decks, Top of the Rock is a short walk away and gives you a view that actually includes Times Square’s billboards from above, which most visitors find more satisfying than standing in the crowd itself. The Empire State Building and Summit One Vanderbilt are both within easy reach too, and either makes a better use of an hour than another lap of the square.

Where to go instead, 15 minutes away

If Times Square leaves you cold - and for a lot of people it does - the fix is simple: keep walking. Fifteen minutes south and west gets you into Chelsea and the High Line, an elevated park built on old freight rail with none of the crowd-crush and considerably better food nearby; our High Line walking route lays out a full afternoon there.

Head further south into Greenwich Village and the pace changes completely - tree-lined streets, small independent restaurants, and a version of Manhattan that actually resembles how people live, covered well in our Greenwich Village walking tour. SoHo offers cast-iron architecture and better shopping than anything sold on the square, with its own walking route if you want structure.

None of these neighbourhoods require you to have skipped Times Square to enjoy them - they are simply a short walk from it, and worth building your evening around instead of the plaza itself. If you are tracking a wider Midtown itinerary, our things to do in Midtown and Times Square page groups the observation decks, theatres and nearby options in one place.

And if the whole conversation of overpriced food and displayed prices has you wondering what a New York evening actually costs once tax and tips land on the bill, our pieces on tipping in the USA and NYC sales tax on the sticker price explain why the number on the menu is never the number you pay.

Times Square: frequently asked questions

Is Times Square safe to visit?

Yes. It is one of the most heavily policed and monitored areas of New York City, precisely because of the crowds and its symbolic status. The main practical risks are pickpocketing in dense crowds and costumed characters who expect a tip for photos - agree on a price or decline before posing, not after.

What time of day is best to see Times Square?

Dusk, roughly 30 to 60 minutes before full dark, gives you the billboards lit against a sky that still has some colour, which reads better in photos than a fully black sky. Late at night the billboards are just as bright but the crowd rarely thins out - Times Square does not have a genuinely quiet hour.

Should I eat at Times Square?

Generally, no. Prices are inflated relative to quality across nearly every restaurant directly on or facing the square. If you want a themed sit-down option that at least delivers what it promises, the Hard Rock Cafe is a reasonable exception; otherwise, walk a few blocks in any direction before choosing where to eat.

Are Broadway theatres actually on Broadway?

Mostly not. Most Broadway theatres sit on the numbered side streets in the 40s around Times Square, not on Broadway avenue itself - a detail that surprises a lot of first-time visitors looking for theatre marquees while walking down Broadway proper.

How long do I need at Times Square?

Twenty to thirty minutes is enough to walk through, see the billboards, and take a photo, unless you are also collecting Broadway tickets at TKTS, in which case budget extra time for the ticket line.

Is Times Square worth visiting if I only have three days in New York?

Briefly, yes - it costs little time and gives you the billboard spectacle plus proximity to theatres and TKTS. But on a short trip, I would not let it displace time in neighbourhoods like Greenwich Village or SoHo, which give a far better sense of the city per hour spent.

Is TKTS at Times Square worth the wait?

Usually yes if you are flexible on which show you see - discounts commonly run 20 to 50 percent off a same-day ticket. If you have a specific show in mind that TKTS doesn’t carry that day, you will need to book through the box office or an official resale channel instead.