Which city does Holden travel to after leaving Pencey Prep?

After leaving Pencey Prep, Holden travels to New York City.

Holden leaves Pencey before the Christmas holiday officially begins, after learning that he has been expelled for failing most of his classes. Rather than return home immediately, he boards a train heading toward New York City. The trip marks his abrupt separation from school and begins the short, wandering episode that forms the main action of The Catcher in the Rye.

On the train, Holden meets Mrs. Morrow, the mother of his classmate Ernest Morrow. He lies to her about her son, calling Ernest a popular and admirable student even though Holden dislikes him. After reaching New York, Holden checks into the Edmont Hotel and spends several days moving through the city, visiting bars, nightclubs, museums, an apartment, and Central Park.

New York is not simply a backdrop. To Holden, it offers freedom from his parents and school, but it also exposes his loneliness and confusion. He contacts old acquaintances including Sally Hayes and Carl Luce, while repeatedly thinking about his sister Phoebe and his late brother Allie. Chicago, Philadelphia, and Boston are not the destinations described in this episode.