The holiday windows are the one Christmas thing in this city that costs nothing, needs no ticket, and doesn't require you to stand in a queue for two hours. They're also easier to do badly than people expect. Most visitors wander Fifth Avenue on a Saturday afternoon in the third week of December, see four windows through the back of someone's coat, and give up.
Here's how we'd do it from down here. Go on a weekday, go after dark, and walk them south to north in one line so you're never doubling back. The whole route is about a mile and a half, and an hour is enough unless you stop for something warm.
Windows generally go up between mid and late November and stay up through the end of December, and Macy's has kept its displays up to January 1 in past years. Individual unveiling dates move around each season, so check the store before you make a special trip for one in particular. Nothing here needs a reservation.
Getting up there from us is simple. Fulton Street station is about a 3-minute walk from our door, and it puts you at 34th Street in roughly a quarter of an hour, which is where the walk starts.