Hello, can anyone who has been to NYC or is from there please refine my itinerary? We'll be travelling there in late May.
About us:
Late 30’s, from London, I’m a very light drinker, husband is a non drinker. Eat everything except pork.
- We enjoy grazing on small eats so that we can experience lots of different flavours and variety. The only real restaurants that we want do are for the classic NYC steak experience, which is a bucket list item for us. Please give us your recommendations for great steak places.
- Oh, and I also want to go somewhere for happy hour oysters, which I’ve heard are divine. Please feel free to suggest places that do this 😊
- I also love thrift stores and anything quirky
Friday – stay near hotel, Renaissance Chelsea
- Get to hotel at around 2pm (after an 8 hour flight, having woken up at 6am, so we'll take it easy)
- Freshen up and head out at 3pm-ish
- Walk around, check out shops (buffalo exchange for example)
- Walk to Flatiron building
- Anything cool to eat around the area? Any recommendations for steakhouses? Bucket list item is to eat great steak in NYC. Is Wolfgang Steakhouse Park Avenue decent? Nothing set in stone to do on this afternoon/evening so happy for suggestions, what would you do that we won’t have covered below?
Saturday – Brooklyn
- Take the F line to York Street (Brooklyn).
- Wander around Brooklyn Flea Market
- Wander around Dumbo, photo op at Washington/Front Intersection
- Head to Timeout Market and explore, food and views from rooftop
- Wander through Brooklyn Bridge Park and through promenade
- Explore Brooklyn Heights, through Cobble Hill (Court Street and Smith Street) – any interesting shops/sights/food we should get/do here?
- Either head through Park Slope to Prospect Park OR head to Red Hook area and eat/drink/views at Strong Rope (which would you choose? Or is this whole bullet too ambitious and should we skip back to Brooklyn Bridge from here?)
- Back to Brooklyn Bridge, walk across bridge (iconic NYC bucket list item)
- Head to Pier 11, get Staten Island Ferry return to check out Statue of Liberty from the water (I'd rather do this that fit in Red Hook/Prospect Park above)
- Take South Ferry back to 23rd Street, walk back to hotel
- Either call it a day and relax or chill for a bit and head out again
- Options for going out – City Winery, a comedy club or jazz bar – any suggestions?
Sunday - UWS, Central Park, Met, East River Ferry
- Head to Zabars, pick up some food for a picnic (iconic NYC bucket list item, as strange as it may sound)
- Wander through Farmers market on W 79th St & Columbus Ave, more picnic food
- Check our Grand Bazaar
- Take food loot to Central Park – picnic on Great Lawn
- Find Bow Bridge, then wander to Bethesda, more wandering if we fancy it
- Head to The Met and wander round
- Drinks and views on The Met roof
- Walk to 92nd street, hopefully seeing pretty architecture on the way (any particular street or small food spots, like bagels or slices?), and take ferry to East 34 Street (doing this to get skyline view from the water, have heard it’s good)
- Wander back to hotel, either rest for the night or relax and head out somewhere later
- Late night options: comedy at Village Underground, Jazz at Smalls or Blue Note (any other suggestions?)
Monday – Village/Chelsea/Downtown day
- Walk to Chelsea Market, wander around (any recommendations for small eats?)
- Check out Pier 57 (any recommendations for small eats?)
- Walk to Magnolia bakery, banana pudding
- Check out general Bleecker Street area and side streets (SATC house, Friends house)
- Joes Pizza for a slice
- Mooch up to Washington Square Park, eat the slice on the grass and chill for a bit
- Check out Greenmarket at Union Square (is it worth doing this considering we'll have been to a few markets already in UWS?)
- Walk down to Strand Books
- Head to Yonah Schimmels for knish
- Katz deli for something to share
- Wander through Chinatown, get something small, maybe bubble tea (any small eat recommendations here?)
- If we didn’t get round to Staten Island ferry do it now, otherwise head back to hotel (take the R or W line from Canal Street station to 28 street)
- Chill and either stay in or head out later in the evening
- Any suggestions for what to do later locally?
Tuesday – Midtown day (have a chilled day as we’re flying out in the evening)
- Walk to Grand Central Station, eat at Veselka
- Check out view at SUMMIT
- New York Library and Bryant Park
- Either eat at Los Tacos 1, or head up to Gallaghers for steak (is Gallaghers a better option that Wolfgang Park Lane?)
- What else can we do in the area? Maybe a cool cinema?
- If we have time to kill, get some small eats (any recommendations please? cart food or bagels for example) and chill in Central Park.
- 5pm – get taxi to the airport