The holiday-goers are not just piling into Manhattan. At the New York Botanical Garden in the Bronx, an annual holiday train show with model rail cars whirring past miniature replicas of city landmarks — new this year, the Queensboro Bridge and the Coney Island Cyclone and Wonder Wheel — brought out a record 266,000 visitors last year, up from 165,000 in 2010.

Of course, what would New York City be without crowds? Want peace and quiet? Try the North Pole.

Gregory Holmes, 32, who was visiting last week from Nashville, said he did not come to New York for serenity. “I love big crowds of people enjoying themselves; that’s what New York is about, the hustle and bustle,” said Mr. Holmes, who was power shopping — spending more than $1,500 on clothes and shoes at stores including Macy’s, H&M and Uniqlo — in between taking in the sights. “More money is coming out of my pocket in the past three days than in the past two months.”

But even New Yorkers used to crowds are finding more visitors under foot and in the way.

Kimberly Charles, a stylist from Brooklyn, says the window displays are so beautiful that she wants to stop and look. Yet, whenever she takes five steps toward them, she finds everyone else has the same idea. In recent years, she has mostly stayed away from the windows, though she cannot completely avoid the oohing-and-ahhing window-gazers who block the sidewalks.