New York's Christmas spirit endures
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(CNN) -- The elaborate window displays, the horse-drawn carriages, the skaters in Central Park. The towering spruce at Rockefeller Center.
Whatever you think of it 11 months out of the year, there's no place in America that captures the holiday magic quite like New York City.
"It's the shops. It's the lights. It's just the fact that the entire city really becomes decorated like a big holiday package," said Pauline Frommer, a native New Yorker and travel adviser for Priceline.com.
In an ordinary year, Big Apple-bound tourists might need a bit of angelic intervention to snag an affordable hotel room during December.
But that's not necessarily so this year, given a downturn in tourism after September 11 that led to lower rates and higher availability.
Hotel rates in New York have dropped from an average of $250 per night to around $150, Frommer said.
"We're seeing prices like we haven't seen in years here in terms of hotel rates."
Lower rates are just one factor making this an ideal time to visit New York, said Tim Zagat, chairman of the NYC & Company tourism organization and co-founder and publisher of Zagat Survey.
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"I think people are really feeling kind of generous and good and glad to see other people," he said, describing an "incredible spirit" the exists in the city now.
"If you were in New York, you would feel it."
The city seems a little less crowded, too, said New York magazine Executive Editor John Homans, meaning visitors might not have to worry as much about the throngs of shoppers packing Fifth Avenue.
And salespeople, restaurateurs, even doormen at swanky nightclubs will be delighted to see you.
"It's much easier to get past the velvet rope, because people are just happy to have your business," Homans said.
If you decide to descend on the city in December, you won't have to look hard for holiday activities, be it simple store-window gazing, mingling with Santa at Macy's or frolicking at FAO Schwarz.
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There's also the wealth of holiday performances, the Radio City Christmas Spectacular among them, for which tickets are still available.
Keep an eye out for some lesser-known gems, too. Frommer, for example, suggested the National Chorale Messiah Sing-in at Lincoln Center on December 20, where everyone gets to join in on the Handel action. Or check out the St. Cecilia Chorus' Singing Christmas Tree at South Street Seaport, not far from Ground Zero.
If you want to explore some other New York attractions -- the Empire State Building, for example -- it's business as usual there, too.
"All of the things people think of as New York, with one sole exception, are there," Zagat said, "and, in some ways, they're more accessible."
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