Yup that’s pretty much the way of things in New York and remember those prices won’t include Tax (circa 20%) or Tips (circa 20% also) and yes you really do HAVE to tip.

Personally I’d make use of the subway as much a possible and yeah there’s plenty of time to get back to your hotel after a day out and get ready.

Ellis Island was something that I really enjoyed and the memorial at the twin towers sight is well worth a visit.

If art (or indeed architecture) are your thing, the Guggenheim Museum is worth a visit.

Ground Zero was worth a visit – even before they built the memorial.

Last time I was there for work, we did a “Treasure Hunt” around Greenwich Village – that was quite good fun, and the Village is definitely worth an afternoon wander.

Some favourite things –
wandering round Greenwich Village, Chinatown, Little Italy (obvious dining oportunities 🙂 )
Highline, Chelsea Hotel, Chelsea market
Empire State Building – yes, I know, but it is sort of special
Eating in one of the iconic Jewish delis – they are horribly rude but that’s part of the entertainment
Grand Central Station plus or minus oyster bar
Strolling in Central Park, eating a bagel, reading the NYT and pretending you are in a Woody Allen film

Recently been for my honeymoon, things we enjoyed the most…

Empire state – way better than I expected
Rockefeller centre – fantastic at sunset
Walk over Brooklyn bridge (we thought the famous pizza place at the far end was decidedly average though)
Grand Central Station oyster bar – brilliant, we eat at the counters with the locals
Highline park and Chelsea market
9/11 museum

We used the subway to get around – cheap and easy (once you’ve figured out if you are going up town or down town!). Just buy a card and top it up at the machines.

Yes, forgot that

Plus we (MissJ and I) enjoyed the NYPD museum – just to buy sweatshirts as we’re MYPD Blue fans 🙂
Also I enjoyed MOMA, and she didn’t complain too much (21st birthday treat)

You’ll have a great time. I took my daughter there last September for her 18th birthday present and we had a ball.
NY pass is great, we also saw a game at Yankee Stadium, we had to do baseball as the hockey (our preference) season hadn’t started yet. We used our NY pass to do “The Ride” which was really cheesy but brilliantly done. Guggenheim was the highlight for me, as said earlier Ellis Island is really interesting
Excellent restaurants all over, cheap by UK standards but you need to factor in tax & tips, we ate Japanese a lot as we don’t have any Japanese restaurants near us.
Subway for longer distances, we walked a lot too.

Was there a couple of weeks ago with the family in similar area.

Don’t bother with hotel breakfasts (especially at 30 bucks a head) – theres a great authentic deli on 45th near you called Dunhills – we had breakfast there most mornings before setting off. Great for wraps/sandwiches too if you want to take them with you.

If you’re going to the SR71 and Intrepid then the Highline park is just beside it – it’s an old subway line thats been redone as a bit of a park/walking stretch that is better than wandering though the streets. Dumps you out near Greenwich Village if you want to get hipster.

Whilst walking is fine, you can’t really get a good pace on – the blocks are relatively small so you just end up stopping and waiting for lights every block. Worth hoping on the subway, honest! Some of the stations are really good as well (the one beside Twin Towers is amazing).

If you get bad weather then there are loads of museums etc. that are worth it, we enjoyed the Natural History one beside Central Park – spent all day in there and the entry fee is what you want to pay so could go for free if really being tight!

Central Park is, well, just a big park, but it has a load of nice bits to it – Alice In Wonderland, the zoos, etc. – fancy a trip round in a horse drawn carriage as a treat?!

Twin Towers memorial is worth a look, if you’re not going to Statue/Ellis then there’s no much around that area (though fairly close to Brooklyn Bridge).

Thought Ellis island was really interesting and Statue of Liberty is still the classic destination. None of the helicopters got anywhere near it (probably due to security fears) so might not get best view from the air.

Empire State building? Really expensive to get in (30+ bucks a ticket) to basically go up to a tall office block for 10 minutes and you can’t see it when you’re up it!

Throwing a couple of random ones in there – the Grand Central Station is close and a good look around, the Chrysler Buildings nearby to tick that off too. We really enjoyed wandering around the Central Library as well – again, right beside you.

The iconic Gridiron building worth a walk past too.

If you’re flying into JFK and wandering about how to get into the centre – it’ll probably be quicker to get a subway than getting a taxi in. Can’t remember the fixed cost for taxis but the price basically covered the cost of a four day unlimited pass on the subway and to Times Square didn’t take long. If its an option then shout up, theres a few hints that make the journey a lot smoother if first time in.

Central Park is best on weekends as roads are closed to through-traffic and you can hire a bike to ride around

Nothing in Times Square (its not even a square!)

Transit bus from airports to downtown in OK, but some services charge more going the opposite way!

As you are only there for 4 days staying on UK time will get you up and out before a lot of the city are on the move,so you can hit the popular spots before they get busy( and you are first at the Diners).

Mmm, just checked Google maps for route from.JFK to times Square. Not sure you’d get much sightseeing in. Not much in Queens to get excited about! But still more than sitting on a train in a tunnel I suppose 😛

Might be okay at one, they were saying rush hour trip from airport is two hours!!

Just got back. Included in the pass you can do a bike tour/ hire bikes.
We missed the guided tour (arrive early) and went self-guided and it decided that it was probably lucky.

Then on the final morning got up early, took the citibike and ran round the resovoir with the locals. great way to see it; it beautiful in early light and no tourist at 7am.

if you have a sweet tooth go to the cookie dough bar.

I’d personally not go up The Empire State and go to the top of the Rockefeller Centre

empire state interior is amazing though. and rockafella centre was the worst experience we had in 2.5 weeks in the US just herded around needlessly queing for ages.

Black pointy thing on Intrepid is an A-12 (nerd alert). The other really pointy thing is the fastest Concorde of them all Alpha-Delta and my once upon a time ride across the Atlantic. There is an SR71 at Duxford in the awesome American museum.

S’alright -A12 is faster!

https://www.cia.gov/news-information/featured-story-archive/2015-featured-story-archive/oxcart-vs-blackbird.html

At £1:$1.3 it’s all expensive and I find Time Square somewhere to get out of as soon as possible (I was there last week and back next week).

The other posters have it about about spot on. Grand Central Oyster Bar is a favourite. Roof top bar at The Strand, Empire State (go to the very top and imagine getting off your Zeppelin there!) and walk round Wall Street and Central Park.

Following this thread with interest as Mrs T and I will have just arrived at JFK this time next week (11 pm GMT)

The High Line, an elevated subway track turned into a long skinny park/walk on the lower west side

https://www.timeout.com/newyork/parks/highline

Looks a somewhat different way to see the city.

Williamsburg Bridge is the one to walk over, above a river, road, railway and it wobbles. Williamsburg is hipster cool with a great clothing recycling place and the Brooklyn Brewery. I wouldn’t risk the oysters in Grand Central, I’ve heard terrible stories of victims spending whole days of their holiday exploring the bathroom.