You don't need to be an 'investor' to invest in Singletrack: 6 days left: 95% of target - Find out more
Nice surprise for my 50th from Mrs S. of a 4 day trip to New York in the middle of November. Staying in the Novotel in Times Square, with New York Attraction passes thrown in.
Never been or even looked into going so now there is some serious planning to do. Looking for some things to see and things not worth the effort.
Reasonable places to eat and from looking nothing is reasonable the prices are jaw dropping at some restaurants.
A Helicopter flight has also been booked so I`m thinking this will cover Lady liberty and the need to travel out to her again.
We both like walking and this looks like the plan, or is this crazy and should we be using public transport to zip around?
The only thing I am defo going to do is see a SR-71 Blackbird in the flesh on the deck of the Intrepid Sea, Air and Space museum.
Is it the sort of city you go out for the day and stay out or will there be time to head back and get ready for a night out.
Any help very much appreciated as it would be nice to get it right as probably never get there again as I will be keeping an eye on the joint account that she managed to squirrel £2K from over the last 18 months without me noticing :-). Cheers John.
Reasonable places to eat and from looking nothing is reasonable the prices are jaw dropping at some restaurants
Yup that's pretty much the way of things in New York and remember those prices won't include Tax (circa 20%) or Tips (circa 20% also) and yes you really do HAVE to tip.
Personally I'd make use of the subway as much a possible and yeah there's plenty of time to get back to your hotel after a day out and get ready.
Ellis Island was something that I really enjoyed and the memorial at the twin towers sight is well worth a visit.
and yes you really do HAVE to tip
rules for tipping in US.
they spit in your face, you tip 10%
OK service, you tip 15%
Good service, you tip 20%
If art (or indeed architecture) are your thing, the Guggenheim Museum is worth a visit.
Ground Zero was worth a visit - even before they built the memorial.
Last time I was there for work, we did a "Treasure Hunt" around Greenwich Village - that was quite good fun, and the Village is definitely worth an afternoon wander.
On Bleecker St, drink in the Blind Tiger, eat at Fish, breakfast at Amy's bakery and jeans etc from Dave's (Ave of Americas).
Some favourite things -
wandering round Greenwich Village, Chinatown, Little Italy (obvious dining oportunities 🙂 )
Highline, Chelsea Hotel, Chelsea market
Empire State Building - yes, I know, but it is sort of special
Eating in one of the iconic Jewish delis - they are horribly rude but that's part of the entertainment
Grand Central Station plus or minus oyster bar
Strolling in Central Park, eating a bagel, reading the NYT and pretending you are in a Woody Allen film
The aircraft carrier is a must see.
It has a Blackbird.
Cheers so far people for the excellent replies that I was hoping for, will look them all up was thinking Central Park being much like any other park and possibly a waste of half a day?
was thinking Central Park being much like any other park and possibly a waste of half a day?
Probably - but an hour's people watching would be OK 🙂 Then you can go and drop all your cash in the Apple store.
Recently been for my honeymoon, things we enjoyed the most...
Empire state - way better than I expected
Rockefeller centre - fantastic at sunset
Walk over Brooklyn bridge (we thought the famous pizza place at the far end was decidedly average though)
Grand Central Station oyster bar - brilliant, we eat at the counters with the locals
Highline park and Chelsea market
9/11 museum
We used the subway to get around - cheap and easy (once you've figured out if you are going up town or down town!). Just buy a card and top it up at the machines.
We used the subway to get around -
We meant to but never needed it, you can pretty much walk the length and breadth of the island with stuff to look at every block.
Walk over Brooklyn bridge
Yes, forgot that
Plus we (MissJ and I) enjoyed the NYPD museum - just to buy sweatshirts as we're MYPD Blue fans 🙂
Also I enjoyed MOMA, and she didn't complain too much (21st birthday treat)
Its a pretty easy place to walk around. Not very pretty once you get into the back streets, very little greenery and quite messy, but interesting to see. I wouldn't "do" central park but you can walk across it on the way somewhere. Highline is a good walk too. Probably worth a trip on the subway just to have a go and saves walking the same bit twice. The public ferry is a good trip too. Nice views.We both like walking and this looks like the plan, or is this crazy and should we be using public transport to zip around?
You'll have a great time. I took my daughter there last September for her 18th birthday present and we had a ball.
NY pass is great, we also saw a game at Yankee Stadium, we had to do baseball as the hockey (our preference) season hadn't started yet. We used our NY pass to do "The Ride" which was really cheesy but brilliantly done. Guggenheim was the highlight for me, as said earlier Ellis Island is really interesting
Excellent restaurants all over, cheap by UK standards but you need to factor in tax & tips, we ate Japanese a lot as we don't have any Japanese restaurants near us.
Subway for longer distances, we walked a lot too.
Lots of it is walkable, but its a 5 mile walk from Times Square to Brooklyn...
Cheers all , Will have to start planning an itinerary as I think winging it may be a waste and I don`t really want to factor a 5 mile walk to get from A to B. Food menus look good for recommended eateries, looking at the tip tax situation I think I might as well double everything to be on the safe side!!
Avoid Time Square 😀
It's a good time to visit. Getting to grips with the subway means you'll see more. I like the ridiculous landscapes (buildingscapes?) oand you get some great views from Central Park. Brooklyn's good for a wander/night out.
Was there a couple of weeks ago with the family in similar area.
Don't bother with hotel breakfasts (especially at 30 bucks a head) - theres a great authentic deli on 45th near you called Dunhills - we had breakfast there most mornings before setting off. Great for wraps/sandwiches too if you want to take them with you.
If you're going to the SR71 and Intrepid then the Highline park is just beside it - it's an old subway line thats been redone as a bit of a park/walking stretch that is better than wandering though the streets. Dumps you out near Greenwich Village if you want to get hipster.
Whilst walking is fine, you can't really get a good pace on - the blocks are relatively small so you just end up stopping and waiting for lights every block. Worth hoping on the subway, honest! Some of the stations are really good as well (the one beside Twin Towers is amazing).
If you get bad weather then there are loads of museums etc. that are worth it, we enjoyed the Natural History one beside Central Park - spent all day in there and the entry fee is what you want to pay so could go for free if really being tight!
Central Park is, well, just a big park, but it has a load of nice bits to it - Alice In Wonderland, the zoos, etc. - fancy a trip round in a horse drawn carriage as a treat?!
Twin Towers memorial is worth a look, if you're not going to Statue/Ellis then there's no much around that area (though fairly close to Brooklyn Bridge).
Thought Ellis island was really interesting and Statue of Liberty is still the classic destination. None of the helicopters got anywhere near it (probably due to security fears) so might not get best view from the air.
Empire State building? Really expensive to get in (30+ bucks a ticket) to basically go up to a tall office block for 10 minutes and you can't see it when you're up it!
Throwing a couple of random ones in there - the Grand Central Station is close and a good look around, the Chrysler Buildings nearby to tick that off too. We really enjoyed wandering around the Central Library as well - again, right beside you.
The iconic Gridiron building worth a walk past too.
If you're flying into JFK and wandering about how to get into the centre - it'll probably be quicker to get a subway than getting a taxi in. Can't remember the fixed cost for taxis but the price basically covered the cost of a four day unlimited pass on the subway and to Times Square didn't take long. If its an option then shout up, theres a few hints that make the journey a lot smoother if first time in.
Great advice breatheeasy, was thinking a yellow cab from JFK so I could site see ??, it will be around 1pm ish, I am from up North so undergrounds aren`t my strong point , usually hang on to my London mates shirt tails and let him go at 100mph!! Ellis Island is on my to do list , that sounds disappointing on the helicopter rides. Jesus so much to see and so little time in which to see it!!
Central Park is best on weekends as roads are closed to through-traffic and you can hire a bike to ride around
Nothing in Times Square (its not even a square!)
Transit bus from airports to downtown in OK, but some services charge more going the opposite way!
The iconic Gridiron building worth a walk past too
Flatiron 🙂
As you are only there for 4 days staying on UK time will get you up and out before a lot of the city are on the move,so you can hit the popular spots before they get busy( and you are first at the Diners).
Gawd, yes, Flatiron, not Gridiron 😳
Mmm, just checked Google maps for route from.JFK to times Square. Not sure you'd get much sightseeing in. Not much in Queens to get excited about! But still more than sitting on a train in a tunnel I suppose 😛
Might be okay at one, they were saying rush hour trip from airport is two hours!!
I'd personally not go up The Empire State and go to the top of the Rockefeller Centre and then you actually get to see the Empire State.
Central Park being much like any other park and possibly a waste of half a day?
Just got back. Included in the pass you can do a bike tour/ hire bikes.
We missed the guided tour (arrive early) and went self-guided and it decided that it was probably lucky.
Then on the final morning got up early, took the citibike and ran round the resovoir with the locals. great way to see it; it beautiful in early light and no tourist at 7am.
if you have a sweet tooth go to the [url= https://www.cookiedonyc.com/ ]cookie dough bar.[/url]
I'd personally not go up The Empire State and go to the top of the Rockefeller Centre
empire state interior is amazing though. and rockafella centre was the worst experience we had in 2.5 weeks in the US just herded around needlessly queing for ages.
Cookie dough bar is on the list, going for the taxi from JFK as muggings here will have an extra 20kg case to pull and stress level will be off the scale!! Also we are going to do Rocker and Empire as that is Mrs S choice
Black pointy thing on Intrepid is an A-12 (nerd alert). The other really pointy thing is the fastest Concorde of them all Alpha-Delta and my once upon a time ride across the Atlantic. There is an SR71 at Duxford in the awesome American museum.
God I hate nerds!! Gutted , someone told me it had a SR-71 and a space shuttle on there!! Oh well still going to head there for a few hours, cheers
S'alright -A12 is faster!
Sat at Newark waiting for my flight after three weeks out here...ready for home!
Anyway - my picks. Deli called Frame on 7th and 39th is amazing - breakfast there if you can. Cookies at Culture are the best I’ve ever had - 38th and 6th
Walk to the intrepid as it’s mental walking down from Hell’s Kitchen and just seeing a massive war ship parked at the end of the street.
Grand Central is pretty cool, good cheesecake and oysters in the market
Juniors for the best cheesecake ever. One next to port authority and another on 45th and 7th
Ground Zero is pretty moving, worth going to.
Brooklyn is awesome and mental all at the same time. Just walk round, have drinks in bars and people watch. Metro card definitely worth it.
Central Park is ok, but massive and crowded. I work in a big tall building so didn’t bother with Empire State and similar.
Take plenty of money - it’s crazy expensive!
Cheers scuttler some reading for tomorrow!!
Have a pic instead
[img] 
[/img]
At £1:$1.3 it's all expensive and I find Time Square somewhere to get out of as soon as possible (I was there last week and back next week).
The other posters have it about about spot on. Grand Central Oyster Bar is a favourite. Roof top bar at The Strand, Empire State (go to the very top and imagine getting off your Zeppelin there!) and walk round Wall Street and Central Park.
If in Grand Central pop in the the Campbell Apartments bar, rude not too.
There's a revolving restaurant / bar in Times Squre called View. Just have a drink and spend 30 mins watching the panorama. I wouldn't be fussed at food there though.
I liked Shake Shack for a burger next to the Flat Iron.
Following this thread with interest as Mrs T and I will have just arrived at JFK this time next week (11 pm GMT)
Go to Washington Sq Park on a Sunday, walk up to Canal Street buy a fake watch grab some lunch in Greenwich village
The High Line, an elevated subway track turned into a long skinny park/walk on the lower west side
https://www.timeout.com/newyork/parks/highline
Looks a somewhat different way to see the city.
The Highline is a must do. Just seeing the city from that position, and not having to cross the roads is a massive treat. There’s a great little coffee/ good thing under cover at the end.
For pizza in the village it’s Joes for a slice or Johns for a whole (pie) pizza.
See what’s on in Le Bain, a bar at the top of the Standard Hotel, with amazing views across the city and river, again feels like a film set. Take your passport everywhere to get into night life.
Walk from the metropolitan to the zoo in Central Park.
Cycle around the edge of manhattan on the blue hire bikes, and cycle over Brooklyn bridge.
Up town is shit.
Staten Island ferry is worth it.
You can walk up and around the big letters for cool photo ops.
Williamsburg Bridge is the one to walk over, above a river, road, railway and it wobbles. Williamsburg is hipster cool with a great clothing recycling place and the Brooklyn Brewery. I wouldn't risk the oysters in Grand Central, I've heard terrible stories of victims spending whole days of their holiday exploring the bathroom.
Cheers for more great tips overnight, much appreciated, We will not be touching an Oyster as we both despise shell fish!! there is stuff on the menu that we liked so probably give it a shot, a colleague says Ellens Stardust Diner is a must and is literally on our doorstep so this will probably be one nights entertainment. Will defo do the Highline probably after a visit to the Intrepid looking ata the map and Slaten Ferry. Do I seriously need my passport at 50 yrs old to drink!!
Why did you not start this thread tenfoot and save me a job, please add a detailed account on your return, enjoy 🙂
If you leg it around the port on Staten Island you can get the same ferry back (you're not meant to do this) and it makes for a nice free boat trip with views of the S o L and Manhattan.
Bookmarking as I'll be there for work in 2 weeks time
Almost completed our first day in New York.
We were up early and up the Empire State Building at 8am. From there down to WTC on the subway, a walk over brooklyn bridge for lunch then subway back to Highline. It's been so hot I got sunburnt.
A word of warning. We took 2 hours to get through JFK border control last night.
Appreciate that tenfoot, hope the rest has been good.Cheers
Appreciate that tenfoot, hope the rest has been good.Cheers
Hmm, missed this thread last week as I'd just got back from.. 4 days in New York!
Things we did that were great:
Empire State Building - either get there early to beat the queues or arrive at the end of the day, so there aren't too many people, and you get to see the city in daylight, then hang around as the sun goes down and all the lights come on
Brooklyn bridge - get the subway to Brooklyn, then walk along the river and back to Manhattan over the bridge. We did this first morning to make a grand entrance (sort of)
MoMA - great collection
Run around Central Park (or at least the reservoir), just to feel like a local.. or at least to put it on strava to show off
Guggenheim - great building, thought-provoking exhibition (modern Chinese art), smaller than I expected.
Random restaurant in Chinatown. Lots of pictures, waitress who barely spoke English, great food (helped by aforementioned pictures)
USS Intrepid - get there early to have small queues for the Submarine. Nice to see the aircraft and Space Shuttle, but the best bit was walking round the sub and the tower and talking to the veterans who actually served in those vessels. Brilliant guys, happy to chat and makes the history much, much closer.
Statue of Liberty - seems a bit small when you see it from the boat. Seems huge when you're standing under it! Worth reading the panels around the island.
Mexican and burger restaurants, bagels, donuts
Rich people's Halloween decorations.
Things that were a bit meh:
The Met and Natural History Museum - huge, but old fashioned
Ellis Island - hugely important site for American history which had no cultural resonance for me
Little Italy - seems to only be one street, surrounded by expanding Chinatown? It was raining so we might have missed some bits
Pizza - bit underwhelming. Should have made more of an effort to get recommendations.
Shopping - everything seemed expensive
Things we didn't do (time constraints)
The Highline
Smaller museums
General exploring : Brooklyn/Queens/SoHo/Greenwich/etc..
Walking is both a great way to get around, and an arse. In a district, great. Between districts, use transport otherwise your feet will kill you. We ignored the park the first half dozen times we went, but have gradually started to use it more. Took the kids fishing, which pretty much kept us busy in the park all day. Staten Island has a dingy pizza place just off the ferry, with school canteen decor - yet the pizzas are awesome. Otherwise just follow your nose and be willing to experience what New Yorkers do - always something fun around the next corner.
Tenfoot - it took us over 4 hours just to drive to JFK from New York last time. I'd recommend a taxi from the airport, just so that you experience the thrill of doing 80mph on the hard shoulder, in stationary traffic whilst the driver watches YouTube vids.
Cheers for all the latest update, I’ve a feeling I’m planning on doing too much and going to spoil it, going to thin my to do list down a bit as fancy getting a good few scoops in at a few random bars I stumble across one afternoon.
Smiththemainman- back home now and exhausted.
On top of what I wrote about up there, we had breakfast in Dunhills, and Juniors , both on 45th St, went to Grand Central Station, subway to the Guggenheim, had a walk around Central Park, took in a film, had a circular trip around Manhattan on a boat, and went up The Rockerfeller in the dark.
.The Guggenheim building was fantastic to be in, but the art, an exhibition of Chinese art, left me cold. There were a few original Picassos and a Paul Klee to see which was good. The boat trip, called Best of NYC, run by the Circle Line, was a nice way to see the whole of Manhattan, took around 2/1/2 hours with an entertaining guide giving interesting information. After 2 days of walking, it was a nice way to spend a bit of time chilling.
Try to leave a reasonable amount f time to get to the airport, as the queue through security to get out of the country was around 30 minutes - at 6am on a Sunday morning.
Cheers Tenfoot everything you mentioned is on my list , looked at the cruise as it’s on the “freebie” pass , did it take you up close to Liberty?
Yeah, within 30 - 40 metres I would think. Dress up warm, as it's pretty chilly out on deck. The views of Lower Manhattan from the boat were worth the trip alone, for me.
EDIT: we also had a look around Bryant Park near The Rockerfeller, which had a small Christmas market and ice rink. Very pleasant.
Cheers wife been on about that park and ice rink
Sitting on plane waiting to fly back from my the day business trip to New Jersey, the work was completed in one day leaving 2 days to follow the recommendations for NY from this timely thread.
The Intrepid was so cool, was slightly disappointed by the construction of the Blackbird like plane, not as sleek as I thought it would be. The space shuttle was amazing, twice as big as I thought it would be.
Great thread.
We are thinking of going next February so these suggestions are really useful.
What's the best (cheapest) way to get from JFK airport to New York - I have heard the taxis are very expensive?
Thanks!
When I went I flew into Newark rather than JFK; no immigration queue. Bus from the airport to one block from Grand Central Terminus, $17 per person
Taxi from JFK to Manhattan is flat rate (about $70 inc tip).
If there are 4 of you then it's about the same as the buses and takes you directly to where you want to go.
If you're 1 or 2 then train/subway or bus
Not wanting to restart the thread but wanted to personally thank all the contributors.
Trip done and dusted, 4 beautiful days one drizzly morning. JFK immigration was about 45-60 minutes so not too bad. Couldn't be bothered with carting cases on public transport so joined the yellow cab queue , $65 inc tips tolls to Novotel hotel in Times Square. $75 for the return yellow cab arranged by concierge, maybe extra for Thanksgiving day? Only took one taxi in the 4 days that was after a meal in the Oyster bar in Grand Central and we had done 30000 steps. Averaged 21000 steps a day over the 4.5 days.
After arriving in NY late afternoon we collected the New York pass from the Big bus shop in Times square , headed to MOMA but it was 4.45 and shut at 5 so we wandered around just taking it all in and having a few beers here and there, ended up in Rosie Ogradys.
Day 2 was up early in Dunhills for breakfast then a stroll and onto the Intrepid museum (excellent) , lovely walk along the Highline to the end and into Greenwich village and Blind Tiger for drinks and lunch. wandered up to Flat Iron and this was my favourite building in New York. Went up the Empire State for sunset, beautiful views but bloody freezing up top. Then went to 230 5th rooftop bar in the igloos for amazing views of Empire States. Meal in Olunneys times square, sports type bar with ok food.
Day 3 was up early again and our one and only tube (where a kind tube worker showed us how to use the ticket machine and then finished with here is your change but I will keep $3 for my trouble and was gone before I knew what had happened) trip down to South Ferry for our Helicopter flight, that was an amazing 15 minute $240 not cheap but that was my main present loved every minute of it as it was a bluebird day so views to die for and got 2 front seats next to pilot. Next was $2.75 ferry to Dumbo where we ate the nicest burger ever in Sugar Cane(sister restaurant to Duck and Waffle in Heron Tower London, never eaten there but drank in Sushi Samba) a new establishment in this up and coming lovely area. Walked back over Brooklyn Bridge and visited 9 11 , didn't have time for the museum as there was a big queue and I wanted to surprise the good lady with an afternoon of LFC in Carraghers bar, it was rammed with a great atmosphere and we both had a good time. Bryant park was next before heading up the Top of the Rock for drinks and onto Grand Central Station and the Oyster bar for food.
We had wanted to go to Ellens Stardust diner for a meal but every night there was 50 plus in the queue so kept avoiding it.
Day 4 we walked out in the rain round the corner at 8 am only 5 in the queue so joined it and were in Ellens five minutes later in to an already bouncing atmosphere, cracking Breakfast of sirloin steak eggs and hash browns and superb entertainment from very talented singing staff looking for a Broadway break. Next was an open top bus tour up to Natural History Museum, what a collection buy way too much to see, a nice wander through Central Park to the Solomon Guggenheim Museum, amazing building but the contents were not for us, the highlight being a Lavazza coffee and a carrot cake. Walked down 5th Avenue , museum mile past the Central Park zoo and past Trump Tower and the posh shops and finally to Jimmy`s corner a bar owned by a trainer who Ali and the other champs used to look up when in New York for a bit of training. Great traditional bar with everyone sat at the bar and best value in The city $7 for a pint and a bottle of Corona, we abused the cheap beer for a few hrs before heading back. It was Thanksgiving Eve and rammed so we settled for a little pizza restaurant nothing special but $107 for 2 pizza and 4 bottle $10 each drink WTF, felt ripped off .
Cheapest round Jimmy`s $7 dearest Top of the rock $22 (always two beers without the tip.)Rudest bar Playwright Celtic pub where barman talked to another punter from asking what we would like and then threw 4 one dollar bills back at me which landed all over, needless to say he got none of them and we decked the drinks and left. Most meals about $60 average with 4 beers on it. Always had time to go back get changed maybe have a kip each evening for an hour or so. Times Square is manic and everyone wants your dollar but no one over pushy.
Last morning was a stroll away from the Macys parade down empty streets to a cruise round Lady Liberty on another bluebird day on a near empty boat, this was amazing and the perfect end, had an excellent lunch at The Beer authority by the magnificent Penn Station opposite the New York Times/ Madison Square Gardens then wandered up 42nd street seeing the remnants of the parade and back to the hotel and the taxi. Thank you so much for all the tips it defo helped us have an amazing time and left us chomping at the bit to return in the not too distant future.