New York City Travel Forum

I have been to NYC 4 or 5 times and seen just about all the tourist stops. What do you guys/girls think are the MUST see spots for a first time New Yorker? We are going up 1/9/09-1/12/09.

Thanks!!!

Hire a car & driver for one day. We made arrangements through our hotel for a private tour. The man was "typical" New York & gave us a wonderful overview of the Island. From the Statue of Liberty to Ground Zero to Soho & beyond. It was a great experience.

It's so hard to narrow down all of New York's many options into a short list of 'must see spots', but I think the Empire State Building would be at the top of my list. Take the elevator to the top and take your time identifying the different sites and enjoying a bird's eye view of one the greatest cities ever. I knew it touristy, but the view can't be beat!

Other great things to do would be visiting the Met or the MOMA (where you can spend anywhere from a few hours seeing major works to days exploring the entire place) and seeing a Broadway play including taking in the lights of Times Square (there not really any other place in the world quite like Times Square!).

Aside from that, I love simply wandering around the city and seeing what comes my way from shops to restaurants to street performers to outdoor art. There is always something to see!!

Enjoy your trip!
Sarah

We LOVED Soho & the Village! Didn't do any of the typical touristy stuff in NYC, just started in the West Village (had lunch at The Corner Bistro) and meandered around all day, had dinner in the East Village (?) at In Vino. Very cool area all around.

I recommend City Food Tours (www.cityfoodtours.com). They offer three guided tasting tours: Lower East Side, NoLita, and Upper West Side. It's a fun, affordable, and delicious way to explore New York. The guides are knowledgeable and friendly.

I love the Upper West Side Tour. The combination of wine, chocolates and six ounce cookies makes this tour the perfect afternoon treat.

Try ice skating in Bryant Park. If you like museums there are many to choose from. I personally like the Cloisters Museum. The NY public library is also nice. If you are interested in seeing the skyline and Statue of Liberty try taking a dinner cruise around Manhatten. It is a little cold on the water but if you stay inside it is nice. Because of the time of year prices seem to be a little lower also. You can also try looking online to see what festivals are going on while you are there. Street festivals are the best way to see the city and really experience it. Don't limit yourself to Manhatten the other bouroughs have a lot to offer like great resturants, museums, and views. Have a great time!

Hi - Empire State Builing, Statue of Liberty, Times Square, Top of the Rock/Rockefeller Plaza, walk down Fifth Avenue towards Central Park, South Street Seaport, Greenwhich Village, Chinatown, Walk across the Brooklyn Bridge. If you're interested in museums - Museum of Natural History, Metropolitan Museum of Art. Try some new types of cuisines, hit a comedy club, maybe see a play on Broadway, hockey game at MSG, or concert. Check Time Out NY or local free papers (on the streets) to see what's going on while you're there. Happy Travels!

Wherever you choose to wonder in Manhattan, take some time to simply look up and enjoy the beautiful architecture and design of some buildings.

Have you ridden the free Staten Island Ferry? the Governor's Island Ferry? the Roosevelt Island tram? walked along the Promenade in Brooklyn Heights, overlooking the east side of Manhattan and the lower East River bridges? Take the N or D train, from Canal St to DeKalb Ave (to Junior's, for their world-famous cheesecake!), over the Manhattan Bridge, for a wonderful "indoor" view of NYC. If you like old-time amusement parks, go out to Coney Island and take some pictures of it quick; they're tearing it down next spring. If the weather allows, ride a bike along the West Side Highway, from the Battery up to around 59 St; there's a segregated off-road Hudson River Path for bikes and pedestrians. Go to world-famous Katz' Delicatessen, Houston St at Ludlow St (between 1 Ave and Ave A) in the very trendy Lower East Side. If you like fish n chips, etc, go to A Salt and Battery/Tea and Sympathy on Greenwich Ave, between W.12 and W. 13 Sts. Have a look at my homepage for things you would not find in the usual NYC tourbook. See? New Yorkers ARE friendly!

If I was only allowed one choice it would be this:

Take the Subway to Clark Street, Brooklyn, turn right and walk down Clark Street, past Hicks Street and then left into Willow Street. Stroll past some beautifully preserved Brownstones (complete with stoops) as well as a lovely converted firehouse. At the end of the road turn right down Pierrepont and then onto the Promenade for the perfect view of Lower Manhattan.

Many photos later make your way back up Montague Street and stop for a break in the Heights Cafe opposite the recently restored Bossert Hotel. Then make your way via Clinton Street to Cadman Plaza and then onwards to Adams Street and the Brooklyn Bridge.

For me, the Brooklyn Bridge is the best place to observe the sunset. If you walk from the Brooklyn side you will have fabulous views in all directions. Look to your left and you will see the Statue of Liberty silhouetted by the setting sun along with the Verrazano Narrows Bridge, the Bayonne Bridge and numerous New Jersey derricks. Straight ahead is downtown and the fabulous skyscrapers of the financial district (look out for the City Bank Farmers Trust Building, 40 Wall Street, the American International Building and the Woolworth Building). Finally, look to your right to see the whole of mid-town and particularly the Empire State Building bathed in the honey-glow that is only seen at this time of day.

The whole walk is just sublime and, as an extra bonus, it's absolutely free.

Footstool, I found all the NYers to be really friendly last month and only ran into ONE rude New Yorker - at John's on Bleecker Street (Pizza)!! :) I'll take a gander at your NYC page before I venture to the city again.

Keep coming back!

Great question!!

My wife & i are first time visitors to your city & are spending 10 days from December 22nd to New Years day. We will try as many of the above suggestions as possible.

It's great to have true NY'ers to offer such advice!!

Hi steveo - that is a great time to be in the city. Don't forget to see the tree at Rockefeller plaza, watch the skaters (or skate yourself!), and see all the decorated window displays especially Macy's, around the plaza, and along 5th Avenue! Happy Travels!

Totally agree with Donna. Anyone going from Thanksgiving onwards will have the extra treat of seeing New York wrapped up like a Christmas present. There's the world famous tree at Rockefeller Center, whole buildings like Cartier tied up with giant ribbons, the trees on the sidewalks swathed in lights and, of course, the windows at Macy's telling the story which is all their own: 'Miracle on 34th Street'.

Even in January and February you can enjoy some of the winter festivities - the ice rinks are still there and some of the trees will still have their lights plus it will be far cheaper and quieter than during the run-up to Christmas.

hey Beatchick, tell me where to find that rude New Yawka, and I'll beat the tar out of him! lol

He was at John's on Bleecker Street (a pizzeria) in the Village!! He was the only sour note in our trip - just a real jerk, unnecessarily rude, and I had to point out some good manners to him.

Seriously though, everywhere we went, we met up with the nicest people: the cabbies, the street vendors, the servers in the restaurants (Les Halles, In Vino, Pasta Fina Pizza, Caffe Vivaldi, La Bergamote), the staff at Billy's Bakery (that's a funny story, too, about Billy who's now Lauren who sold the biz & now lives in Georgia!). Even a sales guy at the Christian Audigier store in SoHo directed us to the Ed Hardy store to find cheaper Ed Hardy wares; here in Cincinnati, the sales staff would've BLANCHED at the idea that we wouldn't wish to pay over $150 for a t-shirt (they're around $75 at the other place). Everyone was so nice to us!!

I forgot my credit card in the patisserie, La Madeleine, and the young lady who waited on us ran down the block to give it to us!

Late one night, we were walking down 7th Avenue from Times Square on our way to Madison Square Garden. I was parched & exhausted so I stopped at at grocer/fruit stand place to buy one of those huge a** bottles of water.
I asked the guy "How much?"
and he replied "$350"
so I blurted out "350 DOLLARS!!".
"WELCOME to Times Square", he rejoindered.

I laughed SO HARD. He then said the price was $3.50 and remarked that the water didn't seem so expensive now, did it!! I think I laughed for 5 minutes straight. The guy really liked me 'cause I laughed so hard.

Another day, we were in La Bergamote, a bakery on 9th Ave & 20th St, when a lady asked us where we were from and then said we should gain access to the gardens of the General Theological Seminary of the Episcopal Church if we wanted to see a hidden part of Manhattan. In fact, she said, it was the next street over, and is a garden hidden within the walls of this seminary, an entire block long. You'd never know it was there unless someone told you. So we went, buzzed the buzzer on the gate of a door about halfway down the block, told them someone said we should see the gardens, gave up our I.D.s inside and walked around one of the prettiest, most tranquil places I've ever seen! I'll post the photos just as soon as I can on a travelogue. I don't know what made her take an interest in us, but she somehow clued into the fact that I LOVE hidden places! It turned out to be a wonderful serendipitous experience in New York. :)

Yeah - I'm definitely going back to New York!!!

Beatchick, I've never heard of the hidden garden at the Seminary; nice work! I expect a full report, replete with pics! Have you been to The Cloisters, which is WAY uptown Manhattan? It's an old castle filled with suits of armor and such. It's the kind of site that Europeans would yawn at. It's up in Fort Tryon Park, which is in Inwood. Inwood is so far uptown that it might as well be the Bronx. If you like to have CHinese food served to you by transvestites, then where else can you go but Lucky Cheng's, on 1st Ave, between 1st and 2d Streets. If you "dig" poetry readings, check out the Bouwerie Lounge, on the west side of Bowery at the end of East 1 St. In fact, have you checked out the East Village and Alphabet City yet? Your visit will be during cold weather, but that only means that the streets will be less clogged with tourists. Dress in layers; wear gloves, scarves, hats. We don't get much snow anymore, only here and there.

Hi John

<Have you been to The Cloisters, which is WAY uptown Manhattan? It's an old castle filled with suits of armor and such. It's the kind of site that Europeans would yawn at.>

Well, here's one European who didn't yawn! Normally, one might feel a little uncomfortable at viewing magnificent pieces of religious art (and parts of actual churches, monasteries etc.) that are on display in a foreign land but certainly not in this case. It's almost as if these artefacts were quite literally rescued from destruction through neglect and placed in the perfect setting to show them off. My favourite story concerns one of the priceless unicorn tapestries which were found in poor condition in a farmer's barn. When asked how come this one was in such a bad state, the farmer replied that he used to wrap it round his fruit trees to protect them from frost in the winter!

I love the Cloisters and shall be there in February followed by a meal in the New Leaf café next door - an old concession stand which has also been lovingly preserved by Bette Middler's New York Restoration Project.

Hi Nic. As to the old tapestry, you know how pragmatic we Yanks are! Say, exactly when you do plan to visit NYC? I'm going to Seattle over President's Day Weekend, but if I'm in town, maybe we can meet up for a spot of tea? [Do people still say "spot of tea"?!] Speaking of which, have you been to A Salt and Battery/Tea and Sympathy, on Greenwich Avenue, between West 12 and 13 Sts in the West Village? Or Nevada Smith's, on 3 Ave, between E. 11 and E.12? An Englishman would feel right at home there. Cheers.

Hi John

We're there from the 9th to the 18th of Feb and then we're having another couple of days driving in the Hudson Valley before flying home on the 20th.

If the Saturday wasn't also Valentine's Day, I might very well have been in Nevada Smiths as it's the 5th round of the FA Cup that day. However, I may well be involved in something far more romantic (strolling through Central Park or visiting the Frick Museum or, just maybe, The Cloisters!).

As I get a handle on our itinerary, I'll let you know. A spot of tea (or something stronger - just to keep the cold out, you understand) sounds like a very good plan!

Not been to either A Salt and Battery or Tea and Sympathy although I think we're planning on going to Meyers of Keswick for some provisions to remind us of home!

Nic

thanks for all the info, I am sure I will see a few things I haven't seen and my friends will get a first taste of the best city in the world.