Viewing 28 posts - 1 through 28 (of 28 total)
  • What to do in New York City
  • slowuphill
    Free Member

    I am taking the wife to new york for her birthday. Any one been? its only for a few days so looking for any recommendations on things to see / do??

    Elfinsafety
    Free Member

    It’s a bit boring really. Just a few tall buildings not much else.

    drofluf
    Free Member

    I lived there last year but it depends what you want to do. Most of our visitors did:

    Empire State Building
    Statue of Liberty (both of these you can avoid the queues by booking online)
    Horse Carriage round Central Park
    A museum of some sort – there’s so many that there’s bound to be one that you like
    Pop into Grand Central Station, it’s very impressive
    If you’re there in December the Christmas decorations in Rockefeller Plaza
    Staten Island Ferry, but get the next one back. great views of the city from the water

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    richcc
    Free Member

    Take her up the…

    Empire State Building? Buy tickets online, in advance and save standing in a massive queue.
    Ellis Island Audio tour
    Hire bikes and ride around Central Park.
    Christmas Shopping
    Be in audience of tv show filming

    finners
    Full Member

    geez, where do you start!?! amazing. when are you going and how long exactly?

    plumber
    Free Member

    Assuming you mean Manhattan

    Empire State Building
    MOMA
    Met Museum
    Grand Central Station
    Carnegie Deli
    Staten Island Ferry
    Central Park

    ChunkyMTB
    Free Member

    Have fun. Fantastic city – especially in the winter.

    meehaja
    Free Member

    Don’t tell mamas, just off broadway. I’m not a fan of show tunes or stuff like that, but basically, this is the bar all the stage show actors go to, it has a man with a piano that can play any song, and anyone can get up to sing, only most of the people that sing are professional singers! REally good atmosphere and a nice way to spend an evening. Find them at,

    343 W 46th Street, NY NY 10036

    Between 8th & 9th Avenues

    Its also been on friends (the one where monica sang and her top was see-through) if that impresses the lady in your life?

    Don’t bother with statue of liberty, you get a better view from the Staten island ferry.

    Bike in central park is nice, but it might be quite cold!

    Just walking around for me was good, I kept seeing places that I kind of recognised, only to realise they’d been in films. Seeing the locals doing there thing is part of the experience IMO (I also witnessed a murder and a half ar$ed terrorist attack, but i don’t recommend that!)

    The bus tour may be cheesy but its a good way to see all of manhattan if you’re not there for long.

    Brooklyn is Worth a trip out on the subway and MOMA is good if you like modern art!

    Eat in Little italy at least once, get up early every day for interesting markets etc, have a lie down in the afternoon when nothing much is going on and get back on it in the evening. Grenwich village is gentrified hippiedom, East Village is scummy but great. there are police everywhere so its safe and they are reasonable friendly for directions advice etc. Taxi’s are great, don’t get caught in the rain!

    Have fun!

    slowuphill
    Free Member

    going december 1st. for 4 days. wife not too keen on heights! any restaurant recommendations??

    DaRC_L
    Full Member

    Just got back myself – wasn’t that keen but friends/wife were dead keen and I was pleasantly surprised.

    Cycling round Central Park – would’ve done that but for friends who have no balance 🙄

    Top of the Rock – Rockerfeller Centre costs about $20 but great views; if you go up just before dusk say 5.30ish you get to see the lights as well.

    For shopping
    Tiffany’s – just to look at the Tiffany diamond which is huge although you’ll not want to be encouraging her to look at anything else on that floor as it could seriously damage your bike fund.
    Bloomingdales – particularly if your wife is a Sex & The City Fan.

    Really liked Greenwich Village for eating and mooching about.
    My mate did his own rock & godfather tour he had looked up the address’s of various things like – where Sid Vicious died, the cover of Physical Graffiti,scenes from the godfather films so we wandered around and did that.

    Ellis Is. – I’ve heard is good but we took the (free) ferry to Staten Is. to get photo’s of the Statue of Liberty.

    Proper American diner for breakfast of bacon, pancakes and maple syrup.

    slackman99
    Free Member

    Go up the Rockafeller Centre. Quieter than the Empire State, and you get to see and take photos of the Empire State. Somthing you would struggle to do in the Empire State!

    Eat a lot. There’s a great deli next to one of the studios (it’s famous because the chap who runs it interviews celebs who pop in from the studio to grab thei lunch). They do very good sandwiches.

    Go to Katz deli, (Where Harry met Sally). Bloody expensive, and tourist centred but looks like what you imagine a real deli does.

    grievoustim
    Free Member

    Ice skating in central park is fun

    visit the zoo while you’re there

    cxi
    Free Member

    We did the Rockafeller Centre first thing in a morning, then the Empire State at night. Didn’t queue for either.

    Digger90
    Free Member

    New York is vibrant – you won’t have a shortage of things to do as there’s just SO MUCH there.

    In terms of Tourist attractions, Drofluf’s shortlist is a good starter.

    I often spend hours just walking around – as did my wife and kids this summer when they were with me.

    Seeing Central Park, the Staten Island Ferry, Greenwich Village, drinking Cappucino’s in wonderful little coffee houses, eating pancakes for breakfast, Seafood or Mexican for dinner, etc..

    I love walking/jogging up the shorefront of the Hudson River very early morning – great time to be there as the City wakes up. Great views and some unexpectedly lovely shorefront parks. I often run sections from anywhere between 22nd Street to 108th Street.

    Of passing interest to me, was that the last time I ran up there they had the Blackbird airplane (remember that?) perched up on deck of the USS Intrepid that’d docked at Hudson River Greenway & W 46th. I haven’t visited it (it wasn’t open at 6am!) but colleagues have and said the USS Intrepid Museum was worthwhile.

    NYC Velo is worth a visit and buying a T Shirt, socks or baseball cap – they are an NYC institution and have many retro display bikes of interest from Bontrager, Fat Chance etc. They are big into Cyclocross too, which adds to the mix. They’re at 64 2nd Ave, cross-stree of E 4th & 2nd.

    The site of the Twin Towers.. 9/11 is worth a visit – make sure you see it from the windowed gallery in the World Financial Center building opposite (river side of the WTC complex). For a really moving experience, get the Water Taxi/Ferry to Jersey City, where just north of where it docks near Goldman Sachs and Barclays Capital’s buildings, you will find a memorial to those lost, including twisted wreckage, Identity cards, wrist bands and mementoes of those who died. I found it very moving.

    From the South Ferry Terminal (Staten Island ferry), walk up to Wall Street and take that all in.

    Grand Central Station is worth a visit – and if you walk out up the street to E 46th & Park Ave you will get the exact view of it from the film “I Am Legend” where Will Smith dangled from the booby trap.

    coogan
    Free Member

    New York is my favorite city, been five times and never get bored there. So much to do and see. All the tourist stuff as above is good. Best thing about Manhatten is it is pretty much completely flat so you can walk for miles taking it all in.

    Greenwich Village/East Village/West Village are my fav areas, loads of bars and restaurants and away from the touristy bar’s/restaurant chains.

    Great pizza place is http://www.firstpizza.com and they do awesome mussels.
    Awesome burgers at: http://cornerbistro.ypguides.net
    This place has over 300 different beers, great cocktails too: http://www.peculierpub.com/

    pastcaring
    Free Member

    you wont have any time for any of that, your wife will be shopping 😀

    i always spend most of my time in brooklyn but,

    cuban sandwich from Havana club. corner of elizabeth and prince, soho.

    smoke house bbq from rub, west 23rd street, chelsea.

    more bbq from hill country, west 26th street, just off broadway.

    tacos from ? southern end of lafayette.

    steak from peter lugers, 178 Broadway, Brooklyn, just over the williamsburg bridge.

    the best burger in nyc from shake shack, madison square park.

    i hope your not vegetarian…

    for other spots to eat, check out http://newyork.seriouseats.com/

    timmys
    Full Member

    slowuphill – Member
    any restaurant recommendations??

    I haven’t been for a couple of years but particularly enjoyed Blue Hill and the Graemacy Tavern. Both are pricey-ish but not obscene. I’d eat in the more casual bar area of the Graemacy Tavern personally.

    For a slightly touristy, but great experience, go and eat pizza at Grimaldi’s which is under the Brooklyn Bridge (Brooklyn side). Either walk there and back across the bridge or get the subway out and walk back across the bridge. Basically make sure you walk across the Brooklyn Bridge and make sure you walk it heading towards Manhattan to get the full experience.

    Sorry if this is patronising but when eating out please don’t Brits a bad name – make sure you tip properly. Easiest thing to do is when you get your bill look at the amount itemised for sales tax (8% ?) and then double that amount for the bare minimum to leave as tip.

    EDIT; Oh yeah, Zagats is probably the best guide for food.

    pastcaring
    Free Member

    how did i forget, veselka, ukrainian diner, stuffed cabbage is a must (better than it sounds). 2nd av and 9th street

    cxi
    Free Member

    Oyster Bar at Grand Central was very good when we were there (2007 IIRC)…

    http://www.oysterbarny.com/

    GJP
    Free Member

    I lived there for a few years before September 11th. A long time ago now but in terms of good places to eat I can recommend

    Mesa Grill – 102 Fifth Avenue between 15th and 15th Street (Union Square subway is near by)
    Rosa Mexicana – 1063 First Avenue (59th and Lex probably the closest subway)

    These two places are up-market but not overly expensive.

    Then, for a treat there are the classic well known places. although I never particularly liked these places. The food can be wonderful but the service made me feel unwelcome.

    Union Square Cafe,
    Gramercy Tavern
    Gotham Bar and Grill

    All these are within walking distance of Union Square. Gramercy about 6 streets away, the others 1/2 streets away.

    in terms of touristy stuff, then no-one has yet mentioned a walk across the Brooklyn Bridge.

    Blackhound
    Full Member

    As well as the above The Tenement Museum is interesting should you have a few hours spare. Walkable from Times Square.

    steviegil
    Free Member

    Superb city and wonderful at this time of the year.

    We done alot of the usual tourist stuff, Empire, liberty, central park, brooklyn bridge, but one day we went into central park and started walking south. We ended up walking all the way down to the battery park area(where we enjoyed a few beers on the deck at pier 39?? looking over the hudson) – it certainly was not planned, but a superb way to experience all the different parts of manhatten.

    Top of the rock is a must on a clear evening/night 8)

    Have fun, very jealous!

    GJP
    Free Member

    If you like cocktails – then Bar 89 at 89 Mercer Street in SoHo is hard to beat

    swoosh
    Free Member

    we were there last year for xmas. We did:

    Central Park
    Christmas Lights tour of Brooklyn
    Sex and the City tour – (surprisingly good way of seeing the city and keeping the mrs happy too)
    Empire State Building (go when it first opens at 8.30 or whatever, we booked tickets but that wasnt going to save us anytime so walked the 5 or so blocks first thing and there were about 20 people up there)
    River Cruise with meal on Xmas eve (great way to see Statue of Liberty and the NYC skyline at night)
    Skating in Central Park

    Then just general sight seeing stuff like Rockefeller Center complex, Bloomingdales, FAO Schwarz, Tiffany’s, Grand Central Station, Madison Square Park, Central Library, ‘The Village’, all that sort of stuff.

    We walked everywhere and didnt get the Subway once. We saw much more of the real Manhattan than our friends where were there at same time but got subway most places.

    Restaurant-wise i would recommend a nice bar whose name escapes me at the moment but its between Madison and Fifth on 38th Street and a really nice French place called Madison Bistro on 37th and Madison. Our hotel was called Morgans and was directly oposite this French restaurant and the hotel was great, staff were friendly and it’s in a great location. I will be staying there if we go back.

    Of course, there is plenty else to see:
    Staten Island Ferry, Brooklyn Bridge, Harlem, Bronx, any of the museums, Battery Park, and any of the other 4 boroughs that make up NYC.

    xander
    Free Member

    For art/culture there is an Edward Hopper exhibition on at the Witney. One of my favourite artists and very American. He lived in NYC in later life (Washington Sq.)

    bangaio
    Free Member

    If you like Jazz(or even if you don’t) the Zinc bar is the best place in town. Really intimate little venue and great bands on. Nothing can beat Monday night there until the small hours with rocket fuelled cocktails.

    Food – check out blue hill for a very very good top end meal. Broom street bar does an amazing bowl of chilli most days of the week. Tribecca grill is very good too. Nothing can beat just ambling around – popping into bars and experiencing life but if it your first time you will want to do the touristy trail as well I guess.

    Elfinsafety
    Free Member

    Sex and the City tour

    So, you go to one of the greatest centres for Culture on Earth, and you’d go on something like that??

    Bloomingdales, FAO Schwarz, Tiffany’s

    OP; think about what NY is famous for; music, theatre, art, architecture, etc. Loads of far more interesting things to do than go to poxy shops or spensive resaurants. Think about what makes NY unique, and do a bit of research around those themes. You’ll get a much better NY ‘experience’.

    Port Authority Bus Station might not be something that features highly on any list of things to do, however.

    Dogzyboy
    Free Member

    We went in May & loved it, so much that we are desperate to go back! I agree with pretty much what everyone else says, but one of our highlights was walking over the Brooklyn Bridge & back. The view was amazing.

    The Staten Island ferry was also a winner to get a free, decent view of the Statue of Liberty. We also did the lower Manhatten bus tour on our first day which was really good.

    Empire State, Rockerfeller, Chrysler, Flat Iron, Grand Central Station are all impressive buildings, though you’ll probably see most of them on your travels.

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