New York City goes all out in many regards. We kill it on the food game, we completely dominate the bar scene, and we also rock out when it comes to having the most extravagant Christmas trees.

Now that most of these trees are lit, it's time to get out there and check them out.

You're not a superhuman though. You couldn't possibly visit every single tree this city has ignited for the holiday season; there are just far too many of them.

So what should you do? How should you handle this inundation of holiday cheer?

Well, we thought we'd offer a helpful hand by organizing the Christmas trees in this city into a definitive ranking, from most stunning to least, of trees you absolutely need to visit. 

Check out our ranking of ornately decorated NYC Christmas trees below.

---

1. Rockefeller Center (45 Rockefeller Plaza)

Some people will tell you the Christmas tree at Rockefeller Center is overrated. 

We are not those people. 

We're every bit as stunned and enchanted by the Christmas Tree at Rockefeller Center as folklore suggests we'd be. The tree is 100-feet tall. When it's illuminated, lighting up the entire surrounding blocks, it's quite the sight to behold.

[anad]

It's adorned with 45,000 LED Christmas lights, topped with a 550-pound star, and surrounded by toy soldiers, illuminated angles, and plenty of skaters on the jovial ice rink. 

We don't recommend you skate there, it'd be so much less expensive to skate anywhere else, but it's still nice to watch the skaters for a minute or two.

What we're most into about the Rockefeller Tree? Well, probably its benefactors' goodwill. Every year the timber of the tree's trunk is brought down, milled, treated, and made into lumber that's used for Habitat for Humanity's home building.

---

2. Metropolitan Museum of Art (1000 5th Avenue)

The Metropolitan Museum of Art is a sight to behold any time of year. It’s one of the most famed art museums in the world, and it’s decorated with more than two million works of art.

If you're looking for an excuse to visit, the holiday season is definitely the best time. Why? Well, because of that absolutely intricate, jolly tree of course. The nativity scene at the Christmas Tree and Neapolitan Braoque Crèche at the Met is insanely comprehensive.

The whole thing is a vivid eighteenth-century Neapolitan Nativity scene. It’s got a huge candlelit spruce, silk-robed angels, and more than 200 crèche figures. We told you it was ornate.

The whole installation’s been displayed every year for the last 40 years. It’s a good thing the lifelike figures are smaller than actual people, or we’d basically expect them to spring to life. It’s also a very beloved NYC holiday tradition, so if you’re at all intrigued, get your tickets here.

---

3. South Street Seaport (19 Fulton Street)

The Christmas tree at South Street Seaport is absolutely massive. It's a 60-foot tall Norwegian Spruce, and it's garnished with a six-foot tall star and its top. The entire thing is breathtakingly decorous, and dazzlingly massive.

The theme of South Street Seaport's holiday tree is "Constellation." it's hung with ornaments depicting the tools sailors of the Old World used to traverse the globe.

[anad2]

Plus, a visit to the South Street Seaport Christmas tree also affords the opportunity to visit the Seaport Holiday Market. It's got a compilation of unique local artisanal foods and goods, with 10 boutique-style vendors lining its cobblestones.

They sell apparel, jewelry, decorative goods, local foods, and more. So when you head to South Street Seaport this holiday season, you'll be able to accomplish more than just gaping at that giant tree.

---

4. New York Public Library (476 5th Avenue)

Of course we're impressed by the size of this opulent tree, but what impresses us more is how literary this tree is.

The tree is framed in the archway of the library's Astor Hall, and surrounded by holiday-themed first edition books. Being surrounded by all those first-edition books would be very impressive for a scholar, so you can imagine how much more impressive it is for a tree.

Of course, this tree does have a one-up on all the other trees: it lives in the New York Public Library.

It's got such impressive works as Charles Dickens' personal, annotated copy of A Christmas Carol. It's also got merry holiday writings by James Joyce, Jack Kerouac, and Maurice Sendak. We weren't lying when we said it was impressive.

,

5. Bryant Park's Winter Village (42nd Street and 5th Avenue)

The tree at Bryant Park's Winter Village is worth visiting not just because it's a giant, festive, entirely pretty tree, but because it's right beside that free admission ice rink we love, and all those holiday shops and food vendors.

[anad]

So grab someone you love, or maybe someone you just like, and bring them out to the Bank of America Winter Village. That way, when you're finished gaping at the tree, you'll be able to twirl around that skating rink, and maybe even munch on some wafles from Wafles and Dinges.

---

6. Charles A. Dana Discovery Center (110 Street and Lenox Avenue)

We're way into this tree because it's situated in the middle of the Harlem Meer. Who wouldn't want to gaze into a really pretty body, and see all those bright, celebratory holiday lights reflecting back?

Also, the Harlem Meer is the second largest body of water in the Park, and definitely worth visiting in its own right. When there's a brilliantly shining tree in the middle of it, it's even more gorgeous. 

Plus, it's situated in a really beautiful, unhurried part of the park. It's surrounded by a canopy of trees, and on a clear night, an actual view of the stars.

This part of the city is one of the most lovely oases in our concrete riddled city. We have a sneaky suspicion the air is actually cleaner up there, and a terrific example of what makes Central Park so magical. Hitting up this tree at sunset is the move. 

---

7. Park Avenue Christmas Trees (Park Avenue from 54th to 97th Streets)

It's a shame for these 104 beautiful fir trees to fall all the way at the bottom of this list because they're definitely part of what makes this city so magical during the holidays.

It falls at the bottom of the list though, because these trees are all so scattered. They're not contained in one brilliant shining tree in the center of some part of the city.

[anad2]

Still, strolling up (or down) Park Avenue during the holiday season is pretty breathtaking. It also doesn't hurt that these trees have been illuminated for the past 70 years to pay homage for all the men and women who died in World War II.

Pretty and meaningful? Well, that's almost too much to take.

Check out 7 Once-in-a-Lifetime Things You Can Still Do This December in NYC. 

[Feature Image Courtesy Instagram]