1st trip to New York - Any advice?

[backaftera2yearbreak]

Hi all.

anyone been to new York and have any advice? Going in March with my 14 year old son. Have some vague ideas of what I might do but is there anything unusual/unique I may not know about

TIA

We loved Highline. And Edge too. The lift up and down for Edge is an experience in itself!
Yes the food in Ellen’s isn’t the best but it’s such a great experience (if you like singing and musicals!) I absolutely loved it, my DH endured it for me!
9/11 museum was harrowing but im glad we went.
We saw Harry Potter and the Cursed Child on Broadway - another high light of our trip.

A helicopter tour. I have been 3 times & the second time we did a helicopter tour. It was so good I did it again the third time I went. I would also go up the Empire State Building at night.
Find a diner that does a breakfast buffet, fill up on that & you won't need lunch.

I think it was Liberty Helicopter tours we went with & I want to say it was called "The Big Apple" tour.

Pre book everything. And allow time to get through security

Also plan down time , leisurely drinks in Central Park, Greenwich village etc

Bring heavy down filled coats and winter footwear (snowboots, not nice leather ones because salty slush will ruin leather).

Bring wooly hats, lined gloves, and scarves.

It will be very cold.

No need for a pile of cash for tips. The vast majority of places do tips using your card.

If you're going to be there anywhere near 17 March be prepared for St Patrick's Day festivities to take over the city.

Definitely do the 9/11 museum and waterfalls - they're harrowing but we were so glad we did it. We also did a helicopter tour around Statue of Liberty - amazing. Absolutely loved it. Times Square as well if you get the chance

We went to Top of the Rock and thought it was horrible - we felt like we were cattle being herded from one pen to another and then bombarded with sales pitches from people. It was really busy and we couldn't get near the edge to see.

Didn't rate Ellen's Diner, very gimmicky and the food was rubbish

Things we loved that were £££:

9/11 museum
Madison Square Garden tour
Cycling in Central Park
Helicopter tour

Things we loved that were free:
Staten Island ferry
Walking the Highline
Walking across Brooklyn Bridge
Walking down 5th Avenue (DDs were 21, 18 and 16 then so wanted photo ops in all the flash stores)

Be very careful around Times Square, lots of touts and sellers who give you something to hold / offer to take a pic and then pretty much hold you hostage until you pay them to get rid of them.

Expect to tip lots - we saw someone chased out of a restaurant as they didn't leave a tip.

I think the Edge is the best viewing deck in NYC. It's really expensive but the views are great, and if you go early in the morning it's not too busy. All of the viewing decks are packed and miserable at sunset...not worth it IMO. I'd rather have fewer people.

Book ahead if you want to go up to the Crown in the statue of Liberty. Terrifying but glad I did it. Cycle round central park.

Advice I was given was to book a hotel with breakfast included if possible. We did and it was great. Started the day off well and I think it made food less of a focus and gave us more time to sightsee.

We still got the pretzels/hotdog/pizza type things as we went along.

My sightseeing tip is Rise NY (all the givens have been mentioned above) - butwe had the passes where it was included and not far from our hotel. The museum/experience part at the start is a bit weird, but the ride at the end was really fun!

Also don't be afraid to use the Subway (I wasn't sure about it) but it got us around quickly & easily so we could make the most of our time.

That's me! Thread is here: https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/AMA/4919815-i-still-live-in-new-york-city-ask-me-anything?page=10&reply=131087479

What do you like to do? I love to play tour guide. We went to Summit One Vanderbilt a few weeks back and had a great time, highly recommend.

@allfurcoatnoknickers I’m interested in whale watching! Is this an easy thing to book onto? Thinking May time. Also my husband is a basketball fan… are there stadium tours available?

What Lesdeluges said.* *
It's astronomically expensive.
I loved cycling around lower manhatten and across the brooklyn bridge.

We went to Coney Island for the day, although we went in May so might be too cold in March. It was good fun

Dont worry too much about the scare stories regarding tipping, we did tip, but 10%, no more and had no problems at all, sometimes just left change ( maybe not 10%) sometimes on card

@Moonshine86 Very easy! You can book online for both. One of my friends did this Whale Watching tour that actually leaves from Manhattan: https://seastreak.com/tour-and-event-cruises/manhattan-whale-watching-cruise/

You can also do tours of MSG where the Knicks play: https://www.msg.com/guided-tours/new-york-city-tours/madison-square-garden-tour

Coney Island's usually closed until the end of March/beginning of April. The Boardwalk is open, but almost everything shuts down.

Thanks! Will look into it!