Times Square Central Park Statue of Liberty Empire State Building 9/11 Memorial These are all absolute musts for a first visit. Take ibuprofen with you too, your neck will ache from constantly looking up at the fking great big buildings everywhere.
I went back in febuary 2001 for my 21st and it was amazing. Glad I got to experiance NYC before 9/11 and see the twin towers. Statue of liberty is a good afternoon out, but I'm not so sure you can go inside anymore? 1. Go for a look around central park 2. Empire State Building is a must 3. 9/11 Memorial 4. Have a meal here....http://www.iguananyc.com/. I'll think of more later EDIT: This is where I stayed http://www.ameritanianyc.com/index.html.
I can't find the exact list I saw recently, but this is a pretty close approximation of it; https://www.reddit.com/r/reddit.com/comments/9i3sk/a_quick_guide_for_tourists_visiting_new_york_20/ FWIW, I've been there a long time ago, so my experience isn't likely to be relevant anymore!
I'll say stuff other than the usual. Find a decent jazz bar to sit in, the type that's narrow, under a house in the meatpacking or west village areas, people walk in off the street with their instruments and start playing in. Smile at the barman and he'll bring you another round, after round, after round. If stuck for something to do in the evening, try one of the comedy clubs, NY is big on the scene for comedy and you can find a good club easily, they're cheap and often have upcoming acts. The Brooklyn tour bus is a good shout, if you don't have time to wander over the bridge, definately worth doing. Katz's Delicatessen for a pastrami sandwhich, from the scene of Harry met Sally, the sandwiches are amazing, **** the diet for that sandwich. Really weird, you walk in, they give you a ticket, join the queue, order a sandwich, grab a coke, they write what you have on the ticket, and as you leave they add it up and bill you, big hint dont lose the ticket!. Visit this glorious place: The lads really good to fans, you can have a wander about and they show you some of the memorabilia lying about. Great guys. Other random things, the amusement park on the Brooklyn boardwalk, the Bronx zoo, museum of sex. Hmm, can't think of anything else atm, but sure more shall come. Have a great time, enjoy drinking some Old Fashioned's and soak up the atmosphere, it's a great place. Make time to have a walk in central park.
Use the subway to get around, 7 day pass for around $30, so easy and convenient. There's so much to see and do, but a couple of suggestions: Ride the Staten Island Ferry - its free and great photo opportunities. Walk across the Brooklyn Bridge - again free and awesome photo ops Once across head to the corner of Washington Street and Front Street and grab a bite at the Front Street Pizza (good burgers too) and get over to Foulton Street and get some ice cream from the Broklyn Ice Cream Factory. Take the Ikea Ferry from Manhattan to Red Hook and get yourself some pretty good ribs and German beer from the Hometown Bar-B-Que From there take a walk to Smith Street via Van Brunt Street through Carroll Gardens (Van Brunt to Carroll St can seem a bit rough but worth the walk). You pretty much have to do the Empire State building, but you get a better view from The Top of the Rock. One WTC is ok, but your behind face smudged glass. Hire a rowing boat at the Central Park boating pond, good way to spend an hour. Id suggest spending a bit of time in Brooklyn, a lot more nice drinking and eating places than in Manhattan - and better quality food without the attitude at least. PS, take a walk down the High Line from North to South the bar hop around Chelsea. PPS, whilst you can still get inside the Statue of Liberty you need to book ages in advance to get up to the crown you can still get uptonthe pedestal booking now.
I went there on business a few weeks ago. Not for me personally but it has merits for sure. Little Italy is well worth checking out as it's quite cute, not necessary to eat on the main strip though - lots of tourist fare. Korea Town and China Town obviously worth exploring for cool food. Rockerfeller Plaza is awesome for architecture. There is an awesome breakfast place outside Grand Central that I ate at 4-5 times called Pershing Square. Highly recommended pancakes! I didn't get time to do it but going to a Comedy Club should be on your list for NYC.
It's been a while, but some more things to do: Visit the Great Jones Cafe in Bowery for Sunday brunch - brilliant, fresh Southern cooking. Expect to queue and probably share a table with other people. While there, walk around Downtown - City Hall, Wall St, South St Seaport etc. It's usually really quiet on a Sunday and feels much less touristy than during the week. Then you can walk across Brooklyn Bridge and wander around Brooklyn like Yoda suggested. If you're into pens, visit the Fountain Pen Hospital If you're into photography, visit B&H and 42nd St Photo If you're into books, visit the Strand Bookstore (towards the bottom end of Broadway). Allegedly the world's biggest secondhand bookstore, but just an amazing visit. Don't go in there with any titles in mind, just browse. tbh, the Statue of Liberty isn't all that much up close. If you want to go in, it's a timed ticket, and you'll just be shuffling up and back down again. However, catch the ferry to Ellis Island instead and visit the museum there. One for the feels. See if you can get to see a show. Your hotel might be able to help with tickets. For a bit of cultural history, visit the Blue Bar of the Algonquin Hotel. It was the home of the Round Table set in the 20's: Dorothy Parker and her cronies. On the right night, it's often the favoured watering hole of the Saturday Night Live crew. Tons of art galleries - most of them on the East side of Central Park Go to the New York Public Library on 5th Avenue and try to recreate the Ghostbusters scene
One more, go see a baseball game - you can easily get tickets for a Yankees game. It's a great afternoon out and easy to get to on the subway.
How long are you there for Parge? If more than a week it might be worthwhile getting out a bit and see a bit more of the area. I was there for a couple of weeks at the end of June, so decided to hire a car and drive up to Niagara for a couple of days. Stayed over in the Canadian side with great view of the falls.
I was in Manhattan for a fortnight a bit ago doing a datacentre upgrade. Hard Rock Cafe. Sit at the bar on the right. Keep your eye out for the bartender (well, he's a supervisor or manager but I didn't ask his exact title) who drums out the music using cutlery on the sink and glasses. It's epic for reals. He did When Doves Cry when we were there. There's a tourist day hopper bus you can get tickets on and bomb around. Get on and off anywhere you want. The taxi transfers to and from the airports are fixed price so you shouldn't get shafted. Don't try and transfer to the hotels or airports at rush hour, even outside rush it can take 2 - 3 hours. Don't be walking around Penn after teatime unless you want hookers and pimps. Not nice ones. Times Square is overrated and full of panhandlers. But brighter than the daylight sun and worth a visit. There's a really good BBQ place off to the south east corner. You'll get Magners Cider in places but otherwise you're on beer. Hotel breakfasts are usually quite expensive and overrated. Find a nearby diner. Make sure you have steak and eggs for breakfast at least once. Make sure you eat some good bbq before you leave!
Hope that one day i also can have the opportunity to be in New York city and feel the rhythm of the life.
looks like I have to go to this place v soon, am being told 7 days stay but every one knows it means a month or at least two weeks if I object fiercely. I kind of want to go a little bit, seeing the sky scrapers. hope I don't get shot buying a pretzel, going to go to the worlds best cheese cake shop if I get to the city. I spoke to her on the phone a while back and said if I can ever get to NY I will come to your shop... well it might happen. https://www.google.co.uk/maps/place...i6656!4m2!3m1!1s0x0:0x3a0e74d10d91383!6m1!1e1
