Off to New York in April after winning a competition at work. Flights and hotels etc are paid for so looking for plenty of things to do for the 5 days I’m there.

What are the must see sights?

Best places to eat/drink?

Carnegie Deli for an obscenely large Sandwich.

Get a Red Bus pass, negotiate a deal from one of the street sellers – great way of getting hour bearings and the guides are quite informative. We used the red bus instead of metro/cabs.

Rockefeller has less queues than the Empire State.

Oysters (or lobster if you prefer) in the Chelsea market.

Walking the Highline

Katz – it’s a great diner

Rockefeller has better views in my opinion. Book a table at the Bathtub gin house on 9th street, queue outside (if you can find it) go in to the tiniest coffee shop through a secret passage way and drink some fab Gin cocktails – food is a bit disappointing though for NY.

Hoboken is a good afternoon/evening out, walk along the park for some great views over the Hudson. Lots of restaurants all in walking distance of each other – catch the path train at the station at the bottom of the Freedom tower.

The Met is awesome, MoMa is great for modern art and The Frick is a brilliant collection of pieces from the old masters.

Walking the Highline is really nice on a nice day. Stop by the Gansevoort/meatpacking area afterwards too. Lots of cool shops and you can stop by Rapha for a coffee.

Walk the Brookyln bridge and explore Dumbo.

Smorgsaburg is a sweet outdoor food market in Williamsburg, though it might not have started up in April.

The Staten Island ferry is free and a good way to see the Statue of Liberty.

If you like pickles stop by The Pickle Guys. If you like movies then Katz does a great pastrami sandwich (not cheap though) and you’ll recognize it from the film.

For eating check out the roof top restaurant in Eataly. Great views, great beer and great food. For drinking there’s so many great bars and pubs. My favourites are the Pony Bar in the Upper East Side (American Craft beer bar) and Valhalla in Hells Kitchen (Again, lots of craft beer, though not just American). Top of the Strand in the evening for sweet views or there’s the Bar Downstairs on 42nd and 5th for posh cocktails 🙂

My 21 y-o son and his girlfriend go on Wednesday so I too am interested in things to do for them.

Bindun many times, so worth a search.

But,

Breakfast at Loebs
Pizza at John’s just off Times Square
The Met, as mentioned above
Top of the Rock for the views

Katz – it’s a great diner

Went there with my daughter. On the next table was a big group of Jewish/Israelis who progressively pushed their seats back so that we were cramped on our table. Gave me a new appreciation of how it is to be Palestinian.

Cross Williamsburg bridge (wobbly and full of single speeders) and check the vintage clothes shop opposite the Brooklyn Brewery (tours available), Williamsburg is hipster cool
Go to Bleecker Street and drink in the Blind Tiger then eat in Fish (opposite) (Bob Dylan used to live on W4th, just a block away)
Visit Dave’s (Avenue of the Americas) for jeans and Carharrt stuff (have a look at the website)
Get the ferry to Staten Island, run around the booking hall, come straight back.
Take good walking shoes, NYC is for walking hours and hours a day.

Just to emphasise, don’t miss out on the Fish restaurant. It is owned by someone in the wholesale fish distribution business, so the fish is fresh. It is also very cheap and the quality and range on offer is exceptional. You might book to ensure a table, I have seen hour long queues. Amy’s Bakery (Bleecker St and elsewhere) is great for breakfast and gets a mention from Anthony Bourdain.
The BT has 28 cask ale pumps plus endless bottles in stock. It is also a great spot for people watching and furtive fotos.

Departures at JFK.

Thanks folks, plenty to go on there.
Cheers.

A lot of the above is good, but I will add the aircraft carrier Intrepid to it-

http://www.intrepidmuseum.org/

I’m a pacifist, hate the military but this was cool. Many interesting planes, mucking about in a massive ship and a submarine. Highly recommended.

If there’s two of you and no kids then you can also go on sailing yacht tours of the harbour which are brilliant, as are the helicopter tours.

I was in NYC from Wednesday until yesterday. Damn snowy and cold (-10c daytime) but in sunny CA this morning.

I ate at a couple of very good (non vegetarian! Restaurants). Wolfgangs and Roisstery I think it was called.

I like MOMA, oyster bar at Grand Central, Empire State and Staten Island ferry.

In my opinion the best thing to do in NY (I’m guessing you mean City) is leave, and go up state.

Don’t get trapped in a hurricane, like we did when we wher last out there..
Sandy out paid to all our plans..

If the clouds look like this:

Or this;

Then stand by your beds, it’s gonna get nasty.

This was Times Square in the middle of the afternoon, with no electricity, it was like 28 Days Later..

All the advertising is run by generator so even if there’s a nuclear appocolipse, you’ll still know Gap have a 30% sale on…

Going back next year for my cousin’s wedding.

Looking forward to doing all we didn’t last time.

My pal who lives on 42nd St won’t go near the oyster bar in GCS because of the number of cases he’s heard of people being made ill. Just saying like.

there’s loads of stuff and a few threads on here. Main thing is it’s worth getting the hang of the subway asap to get round stuff. Walking palls after a bit.

Hi
Did all the normal touristy stuff then particularly liked
Natural history museum
Guggenheim
Chinatown( but don’t get drawn into a deal with little Chinese women on handbags cos they lead you off down alleyways on a merry dance)
Comedy clubs (they seem dodgy when people approach you selling tickets and include drinks but was really good laugh)
Shopping!!!!!-yes it’s true! There’s lots to see.
People watching on the subways
Some nice bars and restaurants-a bit like Cheers but can’t remember the name!
Talking to an elderly Englishman who described himself as an ageing queen who was like Quentin Crisp who paid $200 a month for an apartment in Manhatton cos he’d lived there for fifty years plus and his landlord wasn’t allowed to increase the rent. He said the landlord couldn’t wait for him to die. Proper entertaining guy!
There’s so much and I wasny that bothered about going!!!
Just enjoy
Cheers
Steve

Plenty to go on there, cheers folks.

Teetosugars – friend of mine was working on a Disney cruise ship at that time. Some scary videos!