St. Patrick’s Day Parade NYC: Date, Route and Best Spots

Get ready to see the St. Patrick's Day Parade in New York 2025, an event celebrating its 264th edition this year. It's one of the city's most beloved traditions, and you can be part of it. On that day «everyone's Irish,» as the event's slogan goes.

Celebrating the Patron Saint of Ireland is a big deal here. Remember that generations ago thousands of Irish immigrants arrived in the city. They're part of New York's DNA.

Had you noticed that St. Patrick's Cathedral, the most important Catholic church in New York, is dedicated to the patron saint of Ireland? That fact alone tells you how important the Irish community is in New York.

When is the St. Patrick's Day Parade in New York 2025?

On Monday, March 17, 2025, between 11:00 am and 4:40 pm, the St. Patrick's Day Parade will take over Fifth Avenue in Manhattan.

The parade route along Fifth Avenue

The St. Patrick's Day Parade kicks off at 11 am on Fifth Avenue at 44th Street, right in Midtown Manhattan.

From there it heads north and wraps up around 4:30 pm at 79th Street in the Upper East Side, near the American Irish Historical Society building.

More than 150,000 people will march, and up to 2 million spectators are expected to turn out.

Will the parade be canceled because of bad weather?

The St. Patrick's Day Parade has never been canceled for bad weather. As the saying goes, it happens rain, hail, or shine.

Where to watch the St. Patrick's Day Parade in Manhattan

Anywhere along Fifth Avenue works for enjoying the parade. But if you want to be as close to the action as possible, you need to get there early.

Crowds tend to gather between 44th and 59th Streets, so for a more relaxed view it's smart to position yourself farther north on Fifth Avenue.

For example, an excellent spot to watch the parade go by is the steps of the Metropolitan Museum of Art (the Met).

History of the St. Patrick's Day Parade

The St. Patrick's Day Parade is one of New York's oldest traditions. Did you know it's the oldest and largest St. Patrick's Day parade in the world?

New York City's first parade was held in 1762, 14 years before the U.S. Declaration of Independence! (If you want to learn more about the founding of the United States, visit the historic sites in Philadelphia.)

The New York St. Patrick's Day Parade is run entirely by volunteers, many of them of Irish descent whose families have taken part for several generations.

Around 200,000 people march each year, plus the million or so who come out annually to watch and soak up the Irish experience in New York.

You can find more information about the event on its official website.

The St. Patrick's Day party in the Financial District

The St. Patrick's Day celebration in Manhattan isn't limited to the big parade on Fifth Avenue. In 2025, Stone Street in the Financial District turns into an Irish street festival.

Stone Street is a tiny colonial street near Wall Street, tucked away among the skyscrapers that surround it. It's a time capsule that will transport you straight to Ireland!

Picture it: outdoor bars pouring Guinness and green beer, plenty of good food, all to the sound of live DJs, traditional bagpipes, and Irish bands.

If you're spending St. Patrick's Day in Manhattan, don't miss the Stone Street festival!

• When? Saturday, March 15 and Monday, March 17, from noon to 10 PM. The party keeps going inside the bars much later.
• Where? The Stone Street historic district, steps from Wall Street.
• How to get there? Take the 2 or 3 subway lines to Wall Street, the 4 or 5 to Bowling Green, or the J or Z to Broad Street.

Celebrating at New York's Irish pubs

Besides the parade and the St. Paddy's festival on Stone Street ☘️, people pack into the Irish pubs to celebrate.

It's a chaotic day, with lots of very happy people shouting and stumbling through the streets.

One good idea is to hit the pubs the night before the parade. They'll be full of people waiting for St. Patrick's Day to arrive.

There are plenty of Irish pubs in New York. Here are a few that might count as the most authentic, the roughest around the edges, the most Irish:

• McSorley's Old Ale House in the East Village (15 E 7th St)
• Playwright Irish Pub in Midtown Manhattan (27 W 35th St)
• The Dead Rabbit in the Financial District (30 Water St)
• Peter McManus Cafe in Chelsea (152 7th Ave)
• P.J. Clarke's at any of its locations