The best indoor activities in NYC

The clothes we put on our bodies every day don't just keep us warm or covered or in fashion. They also say something. Clothing conveys meaning—sometimes in direct ways like "I'm mourning" and sometimes in indirect ways like "screw the status quo." 

A new exhibit titled "Real Clothes, Real Lives: 200 Years of What Women Wore" at the New-York Historical Society digs into how clothing has played a crucial role in the lives of everyday women. The exhibit, on view through June 22, 2025, explores how women have influenced, adapted and defied societal expectations through clothing. See a wide array of women's clothing, from a Depression-era house dress to a psychedelic micro mini to an Abercrombie & Fitch wool suit from in 1917. Unlike most other women's fashion exhibitions, there's not a ball gown in sight, and that's exactly what makes this show so special. 

Carreau Club, the nation’s first pétanque bar, has added an indoor location to its ranks with more space to get your game on while sipping a drink.

The indoor venue at Brooklyn's Industry City makes for great night out with a full bar, craft beer, wine and cocktails, plus a small deli counter. For the uninitiated, pétanque (pronounced puh-TONK) is a bocce-ball style French boules sport gaining popularity in the U.S., starting here in NYC. 

Treat yourself like royalty at one of NYC’s best spots for afternoon tea, complete with fancy sandwiches, decadent scones, lavish surroundings and a caffeine jolt. From the elegant Grand Salon at the Baccarat Hotel to the park views at Mandarin Oriental, these special tea services will make you cozy no matter the weather.

Boasting 18 miles of books, the Strand maintains a mammoth collection of more than 2 million volumes. The store is made all the more daunting by its chaotic, towering shelves and meandering paths. Reviewer discounts are in the basement, while rare volumes lurk upstairs.

If you spend enough time here you can find just about anything, from that out-of-print Victorian book on manners to the kitschiest of sci-fi pulp. Browsing this massive collection of books and tchotchkes will keep you busy indoors.

Need a laugh? The Second City—the renowned comedy club with locations in Chicago and Toronto—is now open in Brooklyn, and you will definitely laugh out loud there.

Some of the funniest names in comedy got their start at Second City. Just a few Second City alumni include: Bill Murray, Eugene Levy, Catherine O'Hara, Amber Ruffin, Keegan-Michael Key, Chris Farley, Tina Fey, Stephen Colbert, and Aidy Bryant. You might just see the next comedy star on this stage.

The venue offers sketch shows and improv performances, along with a great restaurant and no drink minimums in a beautiful venue. Tickets start at $39.

This "crazy mini-golf course" and entertainment complex straight from London offers three nine-hole golf courses across 23,000 square feet under 20-foot-high ceilings. For those new to the game, "crazy golf" is a British spin on mini-golf, but it's for a 21-and-over audience since craft cocktails are served by caddies on the course. In addition to the cocktails, the course offers a little more edge — think wild routes, obstacles, windmills and more.

At Swingers NoMad, expect six cocktail bars with signature classic cocktails from London and D.C., as well as 12 cocktails created specifically for NYC, private rooms you can rent, an opulent clubhouse and four gourmet street food vendors—Sauce Pizzeria, Miznon, Fonda and Mah Ze Dahr Bakery.

Occupying 11-and-a-half acres of Central Park, the Met is the ideal unpleasant-weather diversion and surprisingly easy to negotiate.

Visit the ground floor's north wing to view the collection of Egyptian art and the glass-walled atrium housing the Temple of Dendur, overlooking a reflective pool. Two halls in the southern wing house Greek and Roman art. Turning west brings you to the Arts of Africa, Oceania and the Americas collection; the American Wing houses the Charles Engelhard Court. Now more a sculpture court than an interior garden, it houses large-scale 19th-century works in bronze and marble.

You could spend days exploring, but a few hours on a rainy afternoon will do.

Live like Monica, Chandler, Ross, Rachel, Joey and Phoebe at The FRIENDS Experience: The One in New York City. It's basically an immersive museum celebrating the '90s sitcom. You'll get to walk through rooms that look exactly like the ones on the TV show.

Photo opportunities abound. There’s a chance to pose with the “Pivot” couch, a backdrop that looks like the Vegas chapel, and a photo opp with Phoebe’s grandma’s taxi. You can even pose on top of Pat the Dog, snap a photo with the giant poking device and take a selfie in Monica’s apartment. Using high-quality cameras, staff take photos at each spot, which you can purchase at the end. But staff will also take free photos with your cell phone if you ask. 

It's not just a selfie museum, though. There's a fascinating display featuring the show's costume designer Debra McGuire where you'll learn about her sartorial choices for each character. Another exhibit spotlights artist Burton Morris, whose Pop art pieces decorate Central Perk. Other display cases feature set designs, signed scripts, props and costumes.  

Visiting BonBon - A Swedish Candy Co feels like visiting Wonkaville. You'll find plenty of gummy candies, chocolates, and licorice, which you can scoop into a pink bag for your very own pick-and-mix. All the candies are imported from Sweden and some (like the Swedish fish) are even made exclusively for BonBon. 

There are four BonBon locations around NYC—in the Lower East Side, Williamsburg, Upper East Side, and in the Columbia Street Waterfront District near Red Hook in Brooklyn.

These sweet treats will brighten up any gloomy day.

The House of Cannabis (a.k.a. THC NYC) is a new weed museum in Soho. While the museum boasts plenty of mind-bending multi-sensory bells and whistles, it also showcases art, highlights science and confronts the social justice issues baked into cannabis prosecution.

Don't miss: The Euphorium, a massive spinning record you can sit or lay on while listening to music, from The Doors to Santana. With the room's impressive light show and hazy vibes, it's like a merry-go-round for adults.  

There are other venues to perfect your swing away from the elements in New York, but this West Side complex doesn't require membership: Casual golfers can whack a few balls when the mood takes them from one of the 52 stalls over four floors. The simulators allow you to compete in over 55 virtual championship courses while supping on pizza and tacos at Water Hazard, the on-site restaurant.

NYC is a film lover’s dream town. Whether you want something flashy and new or a classic from another era, there’s bound to be something you love—and that applies to choice of movie and venue.

Theaters across town include dine-in options, old-school classics and indie film palaces.

Get your game on at a board game cafe near Union Square.

Filled with 500 games, Hex & Co.'s latest location is now open just south of Union Square at 801 Broadway (Broadway and East 11th in Greenwich Village) and ready for gamers of all fandoms. 

This is the third location for Hex & Co., joining fellow board game cafes in the Upper West Side and Upper East Side. It also joins sister stores The Uncommons in Greenwich Village and The Brooklyn Strategist in Carroll Gardens.

The new cafe is the first with a true private room, perfect for parties of all kinds. Visitors can choose from more than 500 games on the venue's massive game wall, everything from Taboo and Risk to Catan and Ticket to Ride. 

Wild Captives, the nation’s first female- and LGBTQ-owned archery studio, is now open. It's a place where everyone can "be their own superhero." The studio in Brooklyn’s Industry City offers empowering and fun hour-long introduction to archery classes every weekend for $45/person. 

Each intro class includes a chance to learn about different parts of the bow and safety requirements. After the lesson, each participant gets a chance to shoot the bow trying to pop a balloon pinned onto the bullseye. Intro-to-archery classes are available each Friday, Saturday and Sunday, bookable online for anyone over age 12.

With more than 22,000 square feet of bouldering and climbing walls to scale, even Spider-Man wouldn't get bored here. Introductory classes are offered several times a day for aspiring Peter Parkers.

Practice your triple axels before you hit the city's A-list rinks at this indoor facility, which offers dozens of weekly skating classes, as well as daily open sessions. There's also the added benefit of having a second, smaller area for spillover. The additional rink—made of synthetic material—gives grizzled adult leaguers a place to practice their hockey stops while you enjoy your leisurely laps.

Food-lovers can spend hours browsing the specialty stores in Chelsea's renovated Nabisco factory. Grab a coffee and take your sweet time while enjoying the perks of market shopping all under one roof. Check out fresh catches at the Lobster Place, browse a good range of vino at Chelsea Wine Vault, and pick up Italian cooking staples at Buon Italia.

If the rain lets up, you're in prime position to enjoy the High Line without the crowds.

New York City may be a bagel town, but another circular breakfast treat begs to be eaten right now. COPS, a beloved Canadian doughnut company with three shops in Toronto, has made its debut in the West Village.

With its high-quality, handmade doughnuts and artful designs, this shop is unlike any other in the city right now. Like its counterparts across the border, expect unique weekly offerings drawing on classic and inventive flavors. Find it at 10 Morton Street.

The two-level Soho space stocks a range of literary fiction, nonfiction, rare books and collectibles. Leisurely browsing is often rewarded by finding something you never knew you wanted. It's a peaceful spot for solo relaxation in the plentiful seating, or for meeting friends over coffee or wine in the cafe. Board games such as Trivial Pursuit Book Lover's Edition are available to play.

Only 15 minutes from midtown, the Museum of the Moving Image is one of the city’s most dynamic institutions. Rubbing elbows with Kaufman Astoria Studios, it includes a three-story extension that features a state-of-the-art 267-seat cinema and expanded gallery spaces.

Meanwhile, the museum’s “Behind the Screen” exhibit examines every step of the filmmaking process, with artifacts from more than 1,000 different productions, and 14 classic (playable!) video games, including Asteroids, Ms. Pac-Man and Space Invaders.

Some might assume that sky-high imbibing is an outdoor affair, but it’s always rooftop season in NYC. Even during rain, wind and lower temperatures, we simply swap the sunshine and frozen drinks for fireplaces and hot cocktails while still soaking up the skyline view. So grab a sweater and set your sights on the stars at the best cooler weather rooftops with retractable roofs and cozy indoor tables.

Dinner and a movie sounds good, right? But what happens if you get soaked on your way from the restaurant to the picture house and proceed to catch pneumonia in the arctic AC? Thankfully, now you can get fine food while you watch a flick. Try this Williamsburg spot for a fab menu and programming that skews to new indie releases and retro gems.

Channel-surfing getting you nowhere? Then head to this pop-culture nirvana, which contains an archive of more than 150,000 radio and TV programs. Just head to the fourth-floor library and search the database for your favorite episode of I Love Lucy, Seinfeld or Desperate Housewives, then turn on, tune in and veg out at your assigned console.

Even when the weather isn't ideal, ARTECHOUSE always dazzles with cool immersive exhibitions. 

ARTECHOUSE is located inside an old boiler room at Chelsea Market, so you can grab a bite to eat after you check out this trippy digital art.

The library at ICP houses back issues of photography magazines and thousands of biographical and photographic files. Photojournalism is an important part of the center's program, which also includes contemporary photos and video. The two floors of exhibition space often showcase retrospectives devoted to single artists.

The first-ever Ghirardelli Chocolate & Ice Cream Shop in New York makes has made its decadent debut at the Empire State Building. This beloved brand currently operates 16 sweets shops across the nation, mostly in California, and this store will be its northeast debut.

The Empire State Building shop has quickly become a go-to spot for milkshakes, brownies, chocolate-covered strawberries, hot fudge sundaes, and, of course, those classic foil-wrapped chocolate squares.

It's the perfect spot to hide out and forget about the weather for a while.

The rain will keep you off the space-themed miniature golf course, but there are plenty of other colorful hands-on exhibits to explore for kids of all ages.

Based on the theory that water brings health, this Noho mainstay is outfitted with a popular water lounge that boasts subterranean pools, saunas, steam rooms and a three-and-a-half-story waterfall.

Enjoy the serenity of the 15,000-square-foot paradise while getting a Coconut Paradise Manicure.