New York City trip advice.

Few questions about a trip to the big apple, I’m pretty certain some of you have some wisdom to pass on 👍🏻  I know google has all the answers but asking here for real experience.

What NYC airport to fly to? Wife and I more than happy to use public transport to get in to the city centre.

Which part of the city to stay in? We are certainly not high end! Good access to the tourist stuff. Again using public transport is all part of the fun 👍🏻

How long do you need?

Any recommendations of things to do? We’re pretty happy wandering around museums and parks etc.

Would like a day trip out of the city by train. Any ideas?

Cheers

Newark and JFK have decent links.
Prefer JFK myself. Take the AirTrain to Howard Beach (or Jamaica). Get a metrocard and travel into Manhattan on the Subway. Youve already got your metrocard by that point to get about manhattan.

Stayed in Hells Kitchen and near Madison Square Gardens. However I do like the ability to get into Penn Station to catch a multitude of trains/subway to get about.

Normally do 3/5 days for shopping trips/theatre and nice city break

All the airports have lines of yellow Taxis right outside with a fixed price to anywhere in Manhattan. It was about 45 usd when I was there so it’s probably doubled by now. Don’t let the pushy limo drivers get you into their private cars or it’ll be double again.

Don’t go in winter. It’ll be -15 outside, your skin will fall off and your whole neighborhood might be plunged into a ‘brownout’ at any time.

Don’t buy tickets to see Rage Against the Machine at Madison Square Garden in July 2020 because there will be a global pandemic and it’ll take 9 months to get all your money back.

• Go up a tall building. If you don’t want it busy then go at night for a very different experience
• Highline is a great walk through the city giving some great (urban) views that do don’t get from street level
• Broadway show (assuming you’re into such things)
• Spend a chunk of time in Central Park
• See the Statue of Liberty. Either from Battery Park, a boat or the island depending on how much time you want to give it
• Walk across the Brooklyn bridge is good
• Lots of trendy bars and restaurants in Brooklyn
• I was also shown a few cool places in Manhattan, but as I had a local to show me around I didn’t pay enough attention.
• Hotels – you can either stay in Manhattan and walk straight out of the door and you’re in the city, or somewhere like Brooklyn where you get amazing views of the city, and just hop on the subway.

Would like a day trip out of the city by train. Any ideas?

Be interesting to hear what others have to say about this. My, limited, experience of US trains is that they are amazingly bad for a country that owes so much to railways

Only train i took outside NY which wasnt to get to an airport, was from NY to Boston (and stations in between).

I was working in Connecticut at the time, and where i was based was near New London. I found the trains roomy, on time, inexpensive if a little slow (4hrs from NY to Boston)

There was a recent thread all about what to do in NYC.

I’m sure someone wil post the link.

If you want to see a show on Broadway, there is a ticket booth selling same-day tickets very cheaply (similar to the one in Leicester Square in London I guess).

Use the subway to get around – it is very straight-forward.

Don’t arrive the day after Princess Diana died – every single American will pass on their condolences to you as if you knew her personally.

Would like a day trip out of the city by train. Any ideas?

When I visited I stayed in a pal’s flat on Long Beach and got the train in each day to do tourist stuff.

I wouldn’t recommend going there particularly, but maybe further along Long Island to the Hamptons?

Everything above.

If it is your first time in NYC then I’d recommend staying in central Manhattan so you can easily and quickly get to all the main attractions.

4 nights is a good length of stay. Time enough to see all the touristy stuff and have a bit more relaxed wandering about.

Flying in to/out of JFK is most convenient as it’s quick to get in to/out of Manhattan by train, and cheap. As SSS says, Airtrain to Jamaica and then in to Manhattan from there. No need for a Metro Card now though. Tap & Go was introduced at the end of October 2023 so now you can just use for phone to pay for travel.

it doesn’t really matter which airport you go to – its around an hour to get downtown whichever you picl. on top of the taxi fare you have to pay bridge tolls and a tip, if you’re on a budget there are shared shuttles to the downtown spots, or you can take the subway.

the citibikes are a great way to get around, they get pricey after a 30 min rental, but enjoyable, little pedal around central park, down to time square is a nice route, there’s lots of dedicated cycle lanes. you can get a day pass then after 30 mins just click the bike in-and-out to avoid getting stung. Going across the bridge to brooklyn is nice, but bikes aren’t allowed on the top deck of the bridge any more so better to walk over that bit for the views.

head to Katz for a sandwich

everything is expensive. Beer is up to $10, a bagel might run $15. 20% tip on everything is expected.

its too cold in winter and too hot in summer, but spring and autumn are lovely

If it is your first time in NYC then I’d recommend staying in central Manhattan so you can easily and quickly get to all the main attractions.

I’ve only been the once, but I’d recommend the opposite – I stayed in Madison Square Gardens, and the hotel was pretty crap and stepping over junkies every morning got boring very fast. If I went again I’d probably stay in either Brooklyn, Harlem or Greenwich Village.

Things I particularly enjoyed: Highline Park, the Intrepid (assuming you like planes, it has a Blackbird and a Shuttle and a Concorde and… wow 😍) , the Rockefeller Center at sunset, Times Square, and  the (free!) ferry past the Statue of Liberty.

We went in October last year. Flew to JFK and took the train/subway to midtown Manhatton.

Highlights were: steam coming out of the drains (free), going up the Empire State building and the Edge (quite different experiences). Boat ride that took us past the Statue of Liberty, hiring bikes and cycling over Brooklyn bridge, and around Brooklyn, early morning run around Central Park.

There was lots of queueing, getting through customs when entering the US was about 2 hours, and the more popular museums had big queues too, all worth it but just to bear in mind.

The sightseeing pass is worth checking out. It seemed quite expensive at the time but saved us a lot when we were there, and most of the attractions are included (https://www.sightseeingpass.com/en/new-york) – they often have offers on. Enjoy!

it has a Blackbird and a Shuttle and a Concorde

*Books tickets to NYC*

Wet stayed at the beacon hotel on Broadway, upper west side. I wouldn’t worry about not being entirely central i.e. times Square. It doesn’t matter, the subway is dead easy plus walking about about looking at stuff is great anyway. We were a couple blocks over from central park so we used that to walk down to the usual sites.

Hotel was nice, Jonny marr was playing the theatre the week before we went. Would’ve gone to that if we were there for it. Tom Petty was on the week we were there, I hate tom petty!!

We have said when we go again we would stay in Greenwich or Brooklyn, just because we enjoyed it there

Was there in Feb. Favourite thing to do is just walk around Manhattan, we did > 20000 steps every day. Grabbed citi bikes a couple of times.

I wanted to go up a tall building and ended going up Edge at Hudson Yards, which I’d recommend. No queuing at all in the middle of the day, outside deck with glass floor.

As others have said, it is very expensive.

Hotel in midtown was close to Times Sq etc and quick on E train to JFK, but there’s plenty of other places which are probably as good.

Recent thread here https://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/things-to-do-places-to-visit-in-new-york-in-april/

Brilliant! Thank you to all of you

The cool kids stay in Brooklyn, that or downtown.
West village is fancy now and most downtown areas feel like a movie set in a good way. Mid town is soul-less.
The Highline is a must. Eat as much pizza as you can. Walk the Brooklyn bridge. Get the Staten Island ferry there and straight back for the views from the river.

Not been for a while but I once stayed in an Ian Shrager  hotel in or close to 40th, near 8. Small rooms and not awfully expensive but nice busy bar, the money went into communal spaces. .
I’ve been advised to take “the Circle Line” boat trip around Manhattan. Having seen Manhattan from the boat across to New Jersey I bet it’s a lovely trip.
It can be rather hot and smelly (bins). The expectation of a 20%+ tip pisses me off. If you tip 20% it may be received like refusing to tip at all here.

Went in June for 4 nights – it’s a great place for a visit.

We stayed in Midtown (between 8th & 9th Ave). It was handy for most things and – for a first timer you’re almost certainly going to stay in Manhattan so you might as well be central-ish.

As someone else said, the number of addicts slumped out in the streets around our hotel was eye-opening. Nobody bothered us directly, they muchly kept themselves to themselves.

I forgot exactly which but we’d dubbed the areas between 9th and 7th (I think) ‘Crazy Town’ due to so many folks being completely out of the game around there (day and night(. I’m not completely bumpkin (originally from Liverpool and spent a few years living in Edinburgh) but it was much more open and widespread than in any other city I’ve visited – seeing poor folk shooting up in doorways mid-morning was common.

Times Square is a toilet. Get in, see it, get a photo and GTF back out again.

Next time I’d probably stay in Brooklyn (which was really cool) and subway it over to Manhattan. Soho and Greenwich both looked nicer than Midtown.

Highlights included; The High Line – it’s a great way to see the city from a different angle. Chelsea Market at one end was worth a look if you’re passing. Intrepid was great. I looked into a few of the Big Tall Building viewing experiences and ended up with Summit One at the Vandeburg building. Which was ace – you’re so high up that you’re looking down on the Empire State and Chrysler buildings. Would recommend that one for sure.

We took the subway over to Brooklyn, had a mooch about over there (I liked Brooklyn) and walked back across the bridge – which is also well worth doing.

Central Park… I get it, but it’s a (huge) city park. We hired bikes and did a lap so didn’t really scratch the surface but you could easily spend a day in there if it’s your thing.

Circle Line evening cruise was nice – I think it was Harbour Lights (set off late PM and came back in the dark – it was lovely actually now I think about it).

Every blog post you read will tell you this but it’s worth repeating: Take comfy walking shoes. You will cover a Lot of ground on foot. Even in my trusty Vans I ended up with huge blisters and a lost toenail because they weren’t up to walking 10+ miles a day in 4 days on the trot.

Staying over a Saturday still seems to reduce flight costs.

Booking hotel and flights on Expedia seems to be a good way to manage costs

Michelangelo near Broadway was good value last autumn and friendly

If you come in to Newark you get a train in to Penn Station and lots of hotels nr there, but read reviews first as lots low rent

Spent 6 days in New York and few more days in DC with family over the Easter, here my thoughts and experiences:

• Highline: overrated, I didn’t see point walking in queu on converted tracks. You see something other than streetlevel but not much. Probably beautiful when trees and flowers blossom
• Battery Park: It is mostly construction site until 2025 and view to Statue of Liberty is blocked.
• Edge viewing platform: ok
• Times Square: I personally didn’t get anything out of it, family loved it
• Intrepid: It is good but National Air and Space Museum in Dulles DC is vastly better (also museums in DC are free but may require timed entry) as it has real shuttle and interesting planes. The shuttle on Intrepid is prototype which hasn’t been in space
• Most NYC museums are nice but expensive and you still might need to stand in line for hour despite prebooked tickets.
• Location of accommodation might not be that important if it is close to subway. Uber rides take twice the time but some locations are not easy to reach with subway
• Name of place for cheap tickets to Broadway is TCKT (?) and they have few locations.
• Food is quite expensive with tipping. Some good and bad experiences, it is a recommended to check recent online comments as Lonely Planet recommendations from last year might be off.
• Got to love some of the NYC attitude, e.g. one storage unit had huge advert saying ”Store old stuff here, not in White House”

Few more tips:

• The railway stations are massive and you might not know the track until 15 minutes the train is leaving. This is bit annoying in places like Moynihan hall which has subpar announcements and does not have normal time table display.
• Central Park is truly nice on a sunny day
• Most payments were done with NFC but some restaurants still take your credit card to backroom for some reason.

I’m glad that we went but I don’t think I’ll be back anytime soon.

Been a few times and I love NYC for vibes. and I have family there too

Keep in mind that things move fast in NYC, I could recommend you a restaurant/shop I went to and outside of the legends (e.g. Katz Deli, etc) it could be be gone by the time you get there.  Do some reading on Gothamist, Thrillist, Time Out and Eater before going for up to date recommendations

Staying – last time I went we stayed in the Riu Plaza “New York Times Square” (there is another Riu hotel about a block away which causes confusion) near Times Square which had a very decent buffet breakfast included which means you don’t need to worry about Breakfast at the very least, which is defo a help when you have 2 teenage sons who are caloric black holes.

Food

Need a snack?  Get a slice of Pizza, it tends to be one of the cheapest things you can eat.

Pizza – Johns of Times Sq, Grimaldi’s in DUMBO, Brooklyn and Joe’s on Carmine were all (and continue to be) excellent.  If you are at Joe’s there is also John’s of Bleeker 2 mins away but they are full pies only not slices but is arguably (and people will ague about this) better.

You could probably eat pizza twice a day for 3 weeks and still miss some really good places.

Dim Sum in China Town – read reviews and pick a spot.

Bodega Deli Sandwiches can be amazingly good too. (Get the Chicken Cutlet in Italian places)

Shopping

Beware Times Square if you have kids as there is tons to tempt them (e.g. M&Ms store) and none of it is cheap!

Not convinced there is much you can’t get at home cheaper these days to be honest.

The only possible exceptions for me and my lot are are Dave’s (workwear type clothing, e.g. Carhartt/Dickies) davesnewyork.com 581 6th Ave and the new Yeti (excellent but expensive drinkware/coolers/bags) store at 200 5th Ave but we’re not designer people.

Things to do/see:

Aside from all the “Normal Stuff”

Agree that The Intrepid is worth visiting especially if you have Aeronautical Nuts with you, we did and they/I loved it.

What time of the year are you going?   If over the summer get either up to Yankee Stadium or over to Citi Field (Mets) for a baseball game.  It’s not terribly expensive (compared to NHL/NFL/NBA

2 NFL teams play in MetLife Stadium over in Jersey so should you want to and if you’re there between September and January you stand a good chance of there being a game.  The stadium is reasonably impressive (despite what the Giants and Jets fans say) and it’s quite easy to get to from Penn Station.  Not cheap though and incredibly cold if you’re there later on in the season.

Last time we were there we did a Helicopter flight around Manhatan and that whilst not cheap (we got an amazing COVID era deal on flights and hotel which gave us wriggle room in the budget), it was something we won’t soon forget.

If you’re going to go up something high (and you really should) try and go a dusk.  We did The Edge at Dusk and it was superb.

Park Slope, where my family live is gentrified family friendly aging-hipsterville, most people from STW will love it.  😉

Coney Island is a great trip out in summer.  Brighton Beach is the Russian Area and pretty interesting too.

everything is expensive. Beer is up to $10

So about the same as London, then…

I hate tom petty!!

He didn’t have much to say about you, from what I understand…

I’m hoping to get across to NY at some time in the not too distant future, Joey’s sister and brother in law live in north Harlem, actually close to Harlem YMCA, in a classic Brownstone, just off Malcolm X Blvd, so close to a lot of interesting cultural places.
Pretty sure they can show me good places for food and drink that would be difficult to find otherwise.

Soz, going to be repeating stuff;

• Avoid Times Square (both as an area to stay and in general)
• Highline is brill
• Food & drink is insanely expensive. Not sure there’s anything that’s a bargain in the US vs the UK nowadays, so not worth doing much shopping.
• Walk across Brooklyn Bridge. Key thing is to get subway or whatever over to Brooklyn and then walk back towards Manhattan so you get the ‘correct’ view (unless you walk both ways).
• Go up a high thing, but probably only want to pick one as they are all very expensive.
• Can’t see the attraction in spending tons on a Broadway show as you can do that in London.
• Staten Island ferry is free, so use it to get a free boat trip past the Statue of Liberty.
• Chealsea Market good for lost of food vendors – coinvent for Highline.
• Pizza – I really enjoyed Artichoke Basille’s Pizza (one branch is also good for Highline).
• MOMA

Blackbird and a Shuttle and a Concorde

I can get 2 out of 3 of those within 10 mins of my house.

@mmannerr – are you still working for the NYC Tourist Board?

re: @jamesmio

@mmannerr – are you still working for the NYC Tourist Board?

No but I’m still in hospital due nasty food poisoning I picked in DC. For real, tomorrow will be 9th day in ward. Plus one 15hr spell in GWU Hospital.

That might be reason for lack of post-holiday happiness.

Ouchie, that sounds horrendous. Gws.

Just back from a 4 day trip, stayed in Hells Kitchen and appreciated the good subway connections and being able to walk to Broadway, Times Sq, Central park.

It’s like London in that it can be as cheap or expensive as you want it to be, I had some amazing slices of pizza for snacks for as little as $3, and then had a can of lager cost $17 at Citi Field.

Little delis for breakfast burritos, sandwiches, paninis etc for cheap eats were better than the UK equivalent.

Favourite thing was walking over the Brooklyn Bridge which was free, then went to ignazios where a small pizza to share and 2 drinks each was $100.

Lots of the shows around Broadway are the same as London but there are some new ones being released, we saw Hells Kitchen which was ok and not crazy money.

Irish pubs were the only real pubs there, popped in to one but didn’t really have time for drinking.

Belvedere Castle in Central park was nice to go up for the view, and tonsee the turtles – another free thing to do

Loved it, have a massive list of things we didn’t get to, definitely going back

Sounds like you could do good business by taxiing into Manhattan with a few slabs of cans and selling them loose for $10 a pop.