Destination: Lincoln Center

?What's the price you pay for timelessness? About $1.2 billion. That's what the gleaming Diller Scofidio + Renfro renovation to Lincoln Center—striking glass awnings, a spectacular vivisection of Alice Tully Hall, and an enhanced central plaza and fountain—cost back in 2010. Yet with New York City Fashion Week back on campus February 9-16, we'll just call it priceless. Here?s what to do during your time at the tents.

Morning
On your way uptown, swing by Bouchon Bakery (1) (Time Warner Center, 10 Columbus Circle, 3rd floor; (212) 823-9363) for a rich, custom-roasted Equator coffee, pecan-piled sticky bun, or chewy, buttercream-rich seasonal macaroon. Savor the sugar before the rush under the London Plane tree grove in Hearst Plaza or nearby on the undulating Illumination Lawn (2).

Lunch
If you?ve only got 30 minutes, take away a cranberry-dotted quinoa salad and iced mint tea from the high-design organic hummus house Nanoosh (3) (2012 Broadway; (212) 362-7922). If you have an hour, load up your tray at Hudson Hall (4) (Hudson Hotel, 356 W. 58th St., (212) 554-6502), a luxe twist on the collegiate mess hall, with pre-prepared and locally sourced heirloom spinach salads, Pat LaFrieda dry-aged beef sliders, and maple cr?me caramel for dessert. (Or have a liquid lunch on the patio bar.)

Mid-afternoon Break
Pop over to at65 Caf? (5) (1941 Broadway) in the architecturally stunning new lobby of Alice Tully Hall for an Illy espresso with your Gruy?re and swiss chard quiche or Balthazar fruit galette. Seasonal cocktails take the edge off.

Style Emergency
A bit musty after 106 years, Thomas Drugs (6) (171 Columbus Ave.; (212) 877-7340) stocks low-end essentials—safety pins, brushes, Band-Aids, Excedrin—for when disaster strikes.

After the Shows
A doorman keeps things classy at the Empire Hotel Rooftop (7) (44 W. 63rd St.; (212) 956-3313), with open-air cabanalike nooks 12 floors above the scene. Muse over the day?s milieu with a Cherry Lane (Bombay Sapphire, Maraschino, and lime muddled with rosemary and cherries) or Veev A?ai?based Brazilian.