6 days in New York - help me with an itinerary please

[BigSandyBalls2015]

We're going for Easter next year with two teenage DDs (mid-teens).

I haven't been for 25 years. Most of our holidays involve getting up late and chilling by a pool/the beach with a few watersports or a mooch round a village after lunch, so this is very different and I don't want to waste it, so I'm thinking an itinerary would be good.

Can you give me some ideas of 'must do's' re: sightsteeing etc and also where to eat. It's DH birthday whilst we're there so a plan for that would be good.

I've just come back from 5 days with DD21 and we had THE most amazing time!

I think all of the places we went to have been mentioned already... TOTR is well worth it for the views and the crazy lift. Central Park is beautiful... make sure you find the Alice in Wonderland statue, it's lovely. Natural History Museum was fantastic (was shocked at the PP saying it was shit!).

Oh! Go to a Shake Shack for the best cheesy fries in the world!
Mercer Kitchen was very swanky - was featured in SaTC apparently... excellent (but pricey) Cosmopolitans!

Forgot to say... we had a very detailed itinerary which went pretty much out the window by the end of day 1... you just don't appreciate how long it takes to get around everything; you don't want to be rushing from place to place.

Re: 911 Museum - we went and I wish we hadn't. Don't get me wrong, the fountains are beautiful and well worth a visit, but the museum was just.... too upsetting. We were both utterly deflated when we came out... the PP who compared it to an encounter with Dementors was spot on.

We also did a Circle Line Cruise which I would definitely recommend. Brilliant views.

Ellis Island is definitely worth the trip.
If you want to do something to think about 9/11, but don't want to do the visitor centre, hop on a boat to Liberty Park. There is a very moving statue, which, if you stand in the right place and look towards Manhattan, emulates the view that was there before the towers fell.

If you can get tickets, definitely worth going to the top of the Statue of Liberty.

A slightly offbeat attraction is getting the cable car from Manhattan to Roosevelt Island. Not much over there, but we enjoyed the trip. It's also quite near Barneys and Bloomingdales.

Staten Island ferry at sunset.

Juniors in Brooklyn - although they have a cheesecake shop in Manhattan, the whole experience is fabulous at the Brooklyn restaurant (have a savoury meal and buy cheesecake to go).

Fekko Everyone is very welcome in NYC. Down south, not so much.

lapdance has the best post so far. Brooklyn is great. We go to the Danish church in Brooklyn Heights. It's a fab neighborhood. The River restaurant below is great and has lovely views.

For the poster coming in Feb, good luck. Feb is normally when we get hit with snow. It's also normally bitterly cold. However this past year we had a very mild winter. Fingers crossed it's mild for your visit too.

Even if you are coming outside of summer you will most probably need sunglasses. I'm always wearing them and carry 3-4 pairs of cheapies in my bag.

For shopping Century 21 downtown is fab. It opens early and is a great way to spend jet lag. I also like going to sit in Trinity Church downtown and st Patrick's cathedral in midtown. St. John the divine is being built up by Columbia university and I think it's worth a visit up there when doing Central Park/ Harlem.

The gospel up in Harlem on a Sunday morning is insane. Well worth the visit. People are lovely. Do not do Harlem at night though. People like to sound big but it's really not safe for tourists. The nice people you will meet on Sunday morning at church do not walk about Harlem in the dark.

Soooo useful! (am off again in May with my mates...can't wait!)

For those familiar with New York, I am thinking of going for a week or so next year, staying in a Holiday Inn to use up some rewards points - and hopefully keep the cost down.

Obviously the more central the more points per night, so at the moment I am looking at Staten Island West, Woodbridge or Parsippany Fairfield mainly because l love the name Parsippany

Looking at the hotel details, these all seem to near public transport to get in to NYC - or is this is a crazy idea?

hastings do not stay in the holiday Inn outside of downtown Jersey City. There is one in secaucus but it is right next door to a motel where they put up homeless people. You do not want to stay there. The homeless population here that don't qualify to stay in a shelter are people who really shouldn't be on the streets. They have MH issues and are unpredictable.

Woodbridge and Parsippany are both quite a hike away. It would be like going to London and staying in Reading or St Albans.

Definitely the 9/11 museum, we nearly didn't bother but so glad we did. Spent nearly 4 hours there!

I know NY is fab but travelling was a pita before trump so god knows what getting through customs is like these days! Besides does anyone know what would happen to a visitor who mooned the presidents photo just beyond the gates in us airports?

hastings all those locations are a fair way out. Staten island is not that great either, and only connects to NYC by the ferry which is at the bottom of downtown NYC so it's a hike to midtown, central park etc. Fairfield (as the one in Connecticut?) is about an hours train from grand central - not that far but you're stuck having 2-3 trains an hour on weekends.

fekko getting through customs often depends on which airline you travel; delta now has automated kiosks which make it easier, others don't an you face a long queue if your plane arrives at the same time as others. I'm assuming your other comment is in jest - you'd be insane to pull anything like that round immigration / TSA as you don't want to run the risk as being flagged as a security risk and hauled to the second room out back. They probably couldn't give a monkeys that its about Trump, you'd just be flagged as unstable!

Getting through passport control involved lots of being shouted at. "This way!" "Over here!" "Pick up your stuff and walk over to the benches to dress." - shuffle to benches without shoes or belt on.

At passport control you look into a camera and also have to press down on a screen to give fingerprints. The screen was filthy, sticky and greasy so have hand gel in hand luggage.

We did have a lovely time after that.

Just to add to Wanttobe's suggestion of St John the Divine- they do a vertical tour (need to book in advance online) which is brilliant! You get right up to the rafters and then onto the roof. Not for anyone with vertigo! Part of the flying buttress only have a knee high barrier as you peer down to the floor.

Can I recommend a company called food tours of ny? We did a tour of Chelsea village with them and it was fantastic. A stand out from our trip which also included watching ice hockey at the garden and going to a show on broadway. DH still talks about it now several years later!

Anyone interested in Brooklyn (Morris ) I lived there for 5 years and I'd recommend splitting it into sections

1) DUMBO / Brooklyn heights
Take the subway to either Clark St or York St. From here you can see all of Dumbo which has all the renovated warehouses (bit like Shad Thames in London) the renovated antique horse carousel and the infamous grimaldis pizza (altho its NOT worth the queue) Under the bridge there's a great smaller kids park, plus its a huge area for official wedding photos etc so you can often do some v interesting ppl spotting as the outfits are often very OTT!

Brooklyn Bridge park is awesome and keeps being extended. they have lots of outdoor sports rinks there, including an ice rink in the water, kayaking etc. There's volleyball courts, bike path (you can rent bikes like boris bikes in London) and a nice bar down by the volleyball. In the summer you can also take the free ferry from here to governors island, which is a converted naval base which is all pedestrianized

From DUMBO you can walk up onto the promenade to Brooklyn Heights. Worth a trip for the architecture - its the neighborhood wealthy traders first settled in and it has tons of old house and carriage houses. You get a really good view of the statue of liberty from here

From here you can walk or get the subway to Caroll Gardens (old mainly Italian neighborhood which has now gentrified) and Bergen St. Lots of nice small independent bars, shops and restaurants round here

2) From Carroll Gardens its a quick ride to Park Slope. (you could probably do 1 and 2 in a day if you have the stamina) very residential and lots of change going on so unfortunately lots of small business are losing their leases. However, nice bars etc there and only a 15 min was from Prospect Park which is like central park but smaller and more 'doable' Next to the Park there's the Brooklyn Museum and the Botanical Garden

3) Williamsburg - originally full of hipsters and relatively edgy (by NYC standards) not so much now but still retains an independent feel. Good bar and music scene, and I can massively recommend the Brooklyn Brewery for a stop off. You can do tastings by buying beer tokens and taste all their regular and one off brews. Lots of ppl have been priced out to Bushwick which is worth a wander through altho again quite residential

Brunch is huge in all the above places and restaurants turn over owners etc quite quickly so its worth researching the latest places on line

Hmmm, looks like I need a rethink then And apologies for the thread hijack Big

Just got back 2 weeks ago with dd (21)

Can highly recommend:
9/11 museum was amazing
Ellen's stardust diner so much fun
Highline beautiful
Bar sixty Five & observation deck at Rockerfeller

We stayed in Brooklyn and did Airbnb which was so much cheaper than hotels we stayed 3 nights for about £180

Loved Brooklyn, we were Williamsburg/bushwick and got the L train
Felt very safe on the subway, even after midnight
New Yorkers were so friendly

I'd love to go back

We visited the UN building about ten years ago and loved it - I suggested it to a colleague who said "You and I have very different ideas of a good time!"
We walked by the Ghostbusters firehouse and got a peek inside the open doors which was great, but not worth a specific detour.
Everything else we did has been suggested above.

Prospect Park is lovely

DD1 took us there for a picnic last time we visited (mid October)

No, sadly we just get the 'random my arse checks' before flights. Every sodding time.

I wouldn't moon the bugger - most likely a big wave one digit salute.

We bought things like ready-peeled boiled eggs in Trader Joes

Pond with swans is behind a small museum (?) - had a slight problem with weed (or algae). Museum had activities for kids inside with minibeasts. (Google suggests it's the Audubon Centre. I wasn't paying enough attention, clearly; but I was very tired. See earlier post about stamina!)

Dozen apples tour - excellent.

We went (10years ok now, yikes!) in Feb and it ranged from the mildest Feb on record to "that wind chill will kill you folks". We ventured out to Bronx zoo which was fab if very cold but that meant we had to pretty much ourselves

I'm going at the end of November!!
Excitement doesn't cover it this thread has been a mine of information!

I've RTFT op, some excellent advice.
My opinion fwiw...

Do go to the WTC, but do other "sad stuff" on the same day.
We went to the Museum of Jewish Heritage, and on the EI immigration tour, all in the same day, lots of tears, but all done on the same day.

Don't think the Frick collection has been mentioned, worth a look.

The Apple Store on 5th.

Ride the carousel in CP.

USS intrepid was brilliant, especially the Concorde tour.

NY public library.

St Patrick's Cathedral.

Magnolia Bakery/ "Carrie's" house if you're SATC fans.

Baseball match on Staten Island.

Buy ALL the peanut butter M&Ms!

Have an amazing time.

I❤️NYC