New York Intinery

[Newyorknewyork2]

Hi, I'm visiting New York in September with my sister. 4 night/5 days. We're staying in Midtown West. I'm overwhelmed with trying to plan an itinerary. We would like to visit, summit 1, 911 museum, central park and do a bus tour but open to anything else also. Has anyone done anything similar who could get me started with an itinerary of places to go each day which are grouped near each other, or any other tips please 🙏 I keep trying to put together a plan and end up getting no further forward.

Visited last autumn and I’d say the highlights were:

The High Line then the Edge observation deck
Statue of Liberty/Staten Island Museum
Walk Brooklyn Bridge
The Met

We got city passes and they covered most things we did bar the Met, really good value.
We also did a free walking tour of Chinatown/Little Italy organised by the hotel we stayed at which was excellent.

We were there late October and the ice rink had just opened at the Rockefeller Centre so the kids skated then we did Top of the Roc as DCs wanted to do a sunset high viewing somewhere.
DH and one of the DCs went to a basket ball game. Would have gone to baseball as well if the season was still going.
I can’t remember what it was called but we really enjoyed this kind of flight simulator “Welcome to New York” thing (can’t remember what it was called) that was included with the city pass. We just decided to go on a whim on the last day as we were in the area and it was really good fun.
Spent hours in the 911 museum.
DCs enjoyed the bucket list Empire State type stuff.
Natural History Museum, MoMA and The Guggenheim were all interesting (just dipped in and out of the latter as was included in the pass) but if you only have time for one place I’d absolutely choose the Met.

We didn’t do this but being in the audience of a talk show might be possible? Some are recorded in NY.

It’s a long time since I went but Ellis Island for the Statue of Liberty and the island Museum itself was really interesting and very moving. The ferry is in Battery Park which is about a 15 minute walk from the 9/11 Memorial by the looks of it. You’re also quite close to the bull statue on Wall Street.

The Empire State Building, Chrysler Building, and Grand Central Station are around a 20 minute circuit. We waited ages to get up the Empire State although people say the Rockefeller is better as you then look at the Empire State.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art would be worth a full day visit if you are interested in art and you still won’t see everything. The Egyptian section is impressive and you’ll recognise it from a few films (that I can’t remember off the top of my head). We didn’t go to the Guggenheim but that’s something else you could look at visiting if you were interested as it is quite close.

Central Park is huge, the zoo is in the south east corner.

We didn’t go shopping (but did go into Tiffany) and wandered a lot, I remember the Flat Iron Building, Washington Square Park and Little Italy in addition to the other places I’ve said, plus Times Square which wasn’t fabulous.

I’m sure other people will have lots of suggestions and you’ll have a great time.

The edge is great and was a much better experience than the top of the rock! The 9/11 memorial is really thought provoking and quite eerie, however we found the museum incredibly boring! The statue of liberty is good and you can see it from the staten island ferry. If you like shopping its heaven. Grand central station is interesting as well.

I would drop the bus tour. Traffic is heavy so you are quicker walking or taking the subway. Highlights for us were Madison Square Garden, Top of the Rock and climbing the Statue of Liberty.

If you get the Staten Island ferry you get a great view of the Statue of Liberty and it’s free!

And yes, I would also ditch the bus tour due to traffic - you’ll walk it faster!

Ellis island museum was great. We got an early ferry and stayed in it when it docked at SoL so it was really quiet on Ellis Island. Also got bonus of great photos of SoL because there boat was also empty apart from about 10 people.

Tenement museum was great - they have some buildings set out as there were 100 years ago - there are different tours focusing on different types of immigrants.

It may be a little late but worth a shot - big apple greeters. They do individual personalised walking tours to tours based on your interests. All free as run by local volunteers. We choose Brooklyn and walked around seeing different areas and the history of them. Highly recommended - you could choose an area, something like vintage shopping or food anything really. And then you are mates to a volunteer.

I joined the Facebook group, New York Tourist Tips, before we went. Some of the itineraries are wild, but you get lots of ideas and tips. We didn’t manage to see everything we wanted to.. so we’ll have to go back! 😁

Thank you all. There's things here I hadn't even thought of. So much to try and squeeze into a short stay. I definitely want to do the ferry also. And a sunset viewpoint would be amazing! Lots to think about.

I've done a bus tour and the traffic was OK - it's a good way to get a glimpse of the famous sites and get your bearings.

We did Empire State at 8am (as still jet lagged) and had no queue and very quiet at the top. We then did Top of the Rock at night to get a different experience. Enjoyed both of those.

You have a couple of choices with the Statue of Liberty, you can do a paid visit or take the free Staten Island Ferry. I would say the paid ticket is worth it as it includes the Ellis Island museum which was fascinating (the actual Statue of Liberty museum was just ok).

We did a bus tour and would skip next time, wish we did a walking tour instead. I would have loved to have gone to the Met but we did the Natural History Museum which was still very good.

The High Line was ok, lots of people love it.

Main thing I would say is if you’re interested look at tickets to a Broadway show.

I've heard different opinions of the Highline, dome people have told me it's boring and some have said it was a highlight of their trip so I'm not sure whether to include it. I don't think it's too far from our hotel though so it might be an option if we have some spare time.

It was a nice walk. You can get on and off it in loads of places so you do t need to commit to the whole length. If you go to the edge it starts there so you could do a segment.

@lovelysunshine22 for the 9/11 museum did you go in the second tower part, where they went through the events of the day almost minute by minute? I can't believe you'd think that was boring but the rest of it is more about the history of the buildings & def less interesting

I've done summit 1 & it's great, esp for teens

Chelsea markets & restaurants at the end of the highlibe are lovely for lunch. The HL in itself is a walk but fairly interesting architecture

I've been to NY many times, I was last there in March. I HIGHLY recommend you download the Wanderlog app. Use the free bit. You can make a list of what restaurants and attractions you're interested in which then brings them up on a map. When you're there and at a location click your map and you'll see what's close, how far it is to walk estimated. Some things I didn't even realise were that close to each other so I was able to see more when I looked at the map! x

Thank you all. This is all really useful! Chelsea markets sound like my kind of thing and the app will definitely come in handy for two people with little sense of direction ha.

I came back last week.
I don't think anybody has mentioned it, but the Roosevelt tram is fun
It's a cable car across the river and costs the same as the subway. $2.90

Thank you. I haven't heard of this. Will definitely look into it.

Do you think dresses are practical for all the walking or would shorts be more sensible? We're going end August/beginning of September so I think it will still be warm enough.

Also, do you think it would be best to get one of the passes, or just wing it and turn up/ book things once we are there?

We went a few years ago highlights were:

The High Line then the Edge observation deck
Walk Brooklyn Bridge and eat pizza on the other side.
The Met and the cocktail bar on the roof.
The MOrgan Library
Govenor's Island - (the Statue of Liberty was shut for some reason so we got the ferry out here and it was a peaceful spot.)
Cycling in central park.

Yes went in both parts! Just found it really dull! The friend i went with also found it boring! I found the memorial outside a very sobering experience though.

@Newyorknewyork2 I would price it up - for me it was cheaper to just buy for what I wanted

We were there for 9 days and it was definitely cheaper to get the passes. I used a Quidco Expedia link and got a big cashback a few months later which I’d priced in. Most of the things we did were covered by the passes. I’m used to museums and galleries being free and costs can run quickly when they are not!

The Highline was just a nice way to walk between places. We were staying in Chinatown (I avoided Times Square after reading MN threads and was glad we did, we only went once and the whole experience seemed to be that is was a massive scrum of people). I didn’t find Chelsea Market particularly interesting but I would have liked to have spent more time exploring Brooklyn.