Right now, this season.

New York rebuilds itself four times a year. The same block that was sticky and smoke-blue in August becomes a tunnel of plane-tree leaves in October, a string of fairy-lit windows in December, and a cherry-pink hallway every April. Tourists tend to visit Manhattan as if it were a single place; locals know there are at least four cities here, and most of the best things to do in NYC are tied tightly to which one you're standing in.

Spring (mid-March to early June)

Spring in NYC is short, dramatic, and worth planning around. The cherry blossom window at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden — peaking late April — is the city's quietest set piece, and the Sakura Matsuri weekend is an underrated way to spend a Saturday. Central Park's magnolias bloom a week earlier than the cherries and almost no one talks about them. Rooftops reopen, outdoor dining stops being a survival exercise, Governors Island opens its season on May 1, and the Open Streets program turns whole stretches of Brooklyn and Queens back into public living rooms on weekends.

Summer (June through August)

Summer is when the city's free programming is at its peak: SummerStage and Bryant Park's outdoor film series, free kayaking on the Hudson, the symphony in Central Park, Smorgasburg on the Williamsburg waterfront every Saturday, and rooftop pool day-passes that turn Manhattan hotels into beach clubs. The best moves in July and August lean toward water — Coney Island and Rockaway Beach on the A and Q trains, ferry rides to Governors Island, the public pools (Astoria Park is the standout), and the swimming-hole energy at McCarren and Hamilton Fish. Plan around heat: brunch outdoors before noon, dinner inside, drinks on a rooftop after 8.

Fall (September through November)

Fall is, by a wide margin, the best season in New York. The temperature stops trying to kill you, the light gets cinematic, and every neighborhood develops a slightly more confident posture. The New York Film Festival runs through October at Lincoln Center; the Halloween Parade in the Village is still one of the city's most genuinely strange traditions; Open House New York (mid-October) unlocks buildings you otherwise can't get into. Upstate is an hour away by Metro-North for the foliage, but Inwood Hill Park and Wave Hill in the Bronx do the same trick without leaving the city.

Winter (December through early March)

Winter sorts visitors from residents fast. The holiday windows on Fifth Avenue, the tree at Rockefeller, and the Bryant Park rink are the obvious entries, and they are obvious for a reason. The smarter winter moves are inside: jazz nights at Smalls and the Vanguard, a long lunch at one of the old Italian rooms, museum afternoons (the Frick reopened, the Met is at its best when it's snowing outside), and the Lunar New Year parades in Manhattan, Sunset Park, and Flushing across late January and February. Layer aggressively, build itineraries that include at least one warm room every 90 minutes, and remember that February in NYC has some of the best restaurant availability of the entire year.

Switch seasons below to see what's open, on, or in bloom right now — and what to start watching for next.