New York, where to go and what to see?

So me and Mr MC are thinking about a long weekend in New York in October (to make up for the non-existent Morzine trip .. not the same I know!). anyone got any suggestions on what to go and see/do? Does anyone have any good deals they know of, ie particular website to use? i've had a brief look and all look resonably priced. Any suggestions on anything relating to a long weekend away in New York! cheers. MC.

I you fancy some proper English Fish n Chips, go to A Salt n Battery. Its run by my brother in law in a part of town known as 'Little England'. Its got an excellent reputation and is frequented by some famous faces in NYC.

He did a TV show couple of years ago where he was challenged by a 'celebrity chef' and ended up winning. Heres the first part, check it out!
A Salt & Battery

A Salt n Battery. Its run by my brother in law

I heard him on late night radio (Radio Sheffield?) a few weeks ago

I enjoyed:
a boat trip round the Liberty Statue.
Going to the top of the Empire State.
Walking in Central Park.
Walking round Soho – window shopping achingly chic shops.
Going to bars in Greenwich Village.
very cool jazz/music clubs
Just being amazed at being in NYC!

Lots of good art galleries if you're into that. There'll be loads of other stuff too, the above shoehorned in between work, but the top 2 must sees I thought. It's a great city, fantastic vibe.

Went a couple of years ago, it's hard to fit everything in but highlights were:
Boat ride around the island (inc. past SoL, the full one takes a few hours though but although I have the attention span of a goldfish I wasn't bored)
Intrepid war museum (aircraft carrier with lots of planes on inc. a Blackbird)
Empire State Building – go early though else it's a lot of queuing
Dinner in a steak house (at http://www.rothmanns54.com/home.html apparently it's a fairly average restaurant compared with say Peter Luger's but the Porterhouse was way better than any other steak I've had)
Breakfast at a non-touristy place (any breakfast that comes on 3 plates gets my vote :p ).

I didn't enjoy the shopping much mostly because the GF just wanted to spend hours looking at clothes (even more annoying when it's shops like H&M which you can go to in the UK :p ). My legs were knackered by the time we went to Central Park to so I didn't enjoy that much either…

Friends of ours live near the High Line. It's an old section of elevated railway line that's been converted to gardens and stuff. It may not be a destination in itself but if you want to take time out from street level and relax a bit, could be the place to go.

Macgyver

I always find time to get out to Rockaway, its all the Ramones fault. You can look back to Manhattan whilst standing by the sea. Strange place.

Grand Central Oyster Bar is worth a visit if you like seafood
Ellis Island/Lady Liberty
Top of the Empire State Building when it's dark
Coney Island

OR – Wander round pointing out everything you've seen on the movies! 🙂

The best things are the free things.

Central Park,
Grand Central Station,
New York Public Library,
Little Italy,
China Town,
Meat packing district, (you've gotta go to Pastis)
Rockafella centre, sit in the restaurant and watch people try to ice skate,
The Jazz Cafe,
Brunch in a cool cafe,
New York Plaza,
The Apple Store,
FAO Shwartz
Tiffany's
Ground Zero and it's little church + Battery park and Wall street

Take Taxi's everywhere, they're cheap and you'll see a whole lot more + they're everywhere.

Went in April – loved it

Don't bother with a nice hotel, just get something relatively cheap and central – you won't spend any time there awake!

Boat trip out to Ellis Island is well worth doing, the boat goes right by the Statue of Liberty too. Not worth queuing for tickets to go inside the statue though, especially on limited time. From there it's an easy walk through Battery Park, to see the battered monument to 9/11, and wander up past the charging bull to Wall Street. Keep going to the WTC site if you must, although it's just a building site now. Century 21 is there though if you're shopping for cheap clothes.

Top of the Rock (Rockefeller Centre) is arguably better than the Empire State building observation deck, because you get to see the ESB as part of the NYC skyline from there. Apparently less crowded too.

Walk over Brooklyn Bridge, have pizza at Grimaldis (get there early for lunch or dinner!) and get the boat back, going further up/down/around the island if you want.

United Nations building does a good tour if that interests you.

Get tickets to a game of some sort – basketball at MSG, baseball at Yankee stadium.

Wander through Central Park. Easy to tie in with museum visits if you're that way inclined, the Met, Guggenheim, Natural History, etc are all on the edge of the park.

Have proper NYC brunch somewhere on the Sunday.

ps. try here for dinner one night: http://www.peepsoho.net/ – they have amusing bathrooms 🙂

Top of Empire state is good, but if you go to the top of the Rock then you look down on the Empire and can get it in your photos!!

Staten Island ferry (which is free!)…goes past statue of Liberty and a view like this of Lower M'tan!

A walk in central park in the early morning…see all the designer dog walkers.
Walk across Brooklyn Bridge and have a pizza at Grimaldi's.
Just take in the sights/sounds/smells…oh I'm all jealous now…desperate to go back! It is fantastic!!!

I'm lucky enough to have been three or four times now and I've still not seen everything.

Personally I like to stay in SoHo it's fairly compact (for New York) with lots of places to eat in the evening, we even saw Yoko Ono when we were having lunch.

You should try to go up the Empire State because it's the Empire State, we went just as it started to get dark, we went practically straight in and managed to get pictures of NY by day and night, it did get a little cold though. For the best views of NY though it's got to be the Rockefeller, from here you can see a fantastic view of the Empire State down town and Central Park uptown, again we went late in and got pictures of NY by day and night with practically no queues.

Liberty and Ellis island I thought were a little bit of a none event, although a sight seeing boat trip was excellent, going right up to Liberty Island.

Grand Central is fantastic, it's became a bit of a habit now to try and make sure all Subway journeys need a change there so we can stop off for a drink in the bar overlooking Grand Central. In GC is a bar called Campbell Apartments, it takes a bit of finding but it's real treasure (you can't wear "sports shoes though).

If you like Art at all the MoMa has got to be worth a visit, you could easily spend a day in there, it's full of pictures that you usually only see in books and on TV.

I'm going to shut up now, get yourself a Rough Guide and prepare for long days – it's great.

Apparently there's some shops too.

simon_g…seems we did the same things! 8)

A Grimaldi's pizza…

Top of the Rock early in the morning on a clear day
Then Empire State at night – no queues after 10pm when we went

Oyster Bar in Grand Central is fab if you like fish, fish or fish.

Second Grand Central (and Oyster Bar) and Central Park – my two most memorable places.

We went to this comedy/theatre venue… http://newyork.ucbtheatre.com/

The diners are great, huge tasty meals for not much money.

Bars were generally a bit crap. Overpriced (and I lived in London at the time), lack atmosphere and the bar staff spend ages making an easy drink to somehow try to justify the ridiculous tip you're expected to give them.

Met museum, moma, guggenheim – if you like art

Totally amazing

Plum

Theres a hotel bar that overlooks times sq – at night its like blade runner awesome

Oh, and Lombard's Pizza is mmmmmmm!

http://www.firstpizza.com/home.html

Go make yourself ill at Big Nicks Diner 70 W. 71ST STREET (71st & Columbus) so many calories so good.

Maybe visit a blues bar, although doubt you'll get that authentic smokey feel, but you'll catch some cool music.

How about NYC biggest tourist attraction ground zero.

other things like central park and brooklyn are cool, in brooklyn I saw i guy with all gold teeth

The New Museum is meant to be quite good, not been myself though.
The New Museum[/url]

On my 'to do before I die' list is to go to a Basketball game at Madison Square Garden.
Something might I add that my wife managed to do with a group of kids on a school trip a few years ago……not that it annoys me much!

the aircraft carrier you can go on is superb at midtown on the river, its huge well worth a visit

you must go here . . .

Light beer or dark beer, that's it!

McSorleys[/url]

If you wanna beach and to spot Ferraris go to Greenwich CT, about 50 mins on the MNR.

(Mr MC posting)

I visited NYC several times when I lived near Philly 10 yrs ago, but its amazing how many things I never did or visited (like any of the museums, Ellis/Staten/statue of liberty, never went to ANY game despite living there for 2 years!). I like the interior of Empire State, unfortunately last time I was there I saw the best views from the WTC…

Lobby of Trump Tower is good to see as its so gauche, even saw crazy-haired Donald last time I was there.

Buy time out guide!

WHOOP WHOOP I'm off to New York this evening! got a rough itinerary planned but just checking we haven't missed anything! only there for 3 days so got LOTS to squeeze in!!! Think if we go to Grimaldi's I'll ask for the kids menu looking at that pizza!

Island Burgers and Shakes. Otherwise the best bit of NYC is any route out of it.

not sure if this has been mentioned but central park zoo is small but perfectly formed

they have 2 polar bears – which you can swimming underwater through the glass – and a fantastic indoor rainforest type area with birds and butterflies flying around you

going to top of the rockafella (sp?) centre means no queues and better views than the empire state building.

we wish we'd had more time to wander round central park – but a sunday morning was a great time to do it.

balthazar is a great place to go for brunch, but you'll have to book well in advance. lots of celebs go there (probably why i was politely told off for taking photos in there… oops)

beer etc is shockingly expensive (don't think we got a pint for under $9!) so we were glad that our hotel did free wine and cheese early in the evening! food is comparatively cheap though, so it's a good chance to eat at michelin starred restaurants without breaking the bank (provided you don't drink too much booze!)

i also liked giving my better half madison slings as we walked down madison avenue (it helps when you've been spectating at the velodrome recently ;o) not too sure she was as endlessly amused as i was though…

and everything else that's been said above!

And don't forget to tip…everyone. It is not optional!

Early Cocktails at Bar 89 @89 Mercer Street in SOHO before going on to a nice restaurant.

Harlem (during the day if you have time) probably on the way back from the Cloisters Museum right at the northerly point of Manahatten – but I would place most of the other standard attractions higher Ellis Island, Empire State, Central Park, Shopping at the top end of 5th and Madison (in the 50's just south of the Park) etc.

If it were me I would look to stay down town (lower than 23rd) as you are then a lot closer to the nightlife and a not dependent on taxis and subway to get home at night. Likely to be fewer choices though. I would also not try to stay too far east or west (ie. probably no further East than 2nd Avenue or further west that 7th Avenue). A newbie may even feel more comfortable between 3rd and 6th.

New York is very safe, when I lived there I would walk around the city 24 hours a day and never felt in the least bit on edge or unsafe (obviously not the Bronx or Harlem!)

Have a great trip – where are you looking for hotels. NYC hotels always seem top dollar when I look? I would like to go back myself but more tempted by SFO or YVR as it is far cheaper.

Wahey what an awesome trip! Stayed right in the heart by Carnegie Hall, 5 min walk to Time Square! It's amazing how much free stuff there is there! Did Central Park, 5th Avenue, coffees (lots of!) USS Intrepid, Rockefeller Centre, Tiffany's, Sak's, Macy's, Grand Central Terminal, Chryslar Building, Time Square.

Had pizza, Thai, mexican and THE BEST Pan Latin with some awesoem cocktails. To anyone that hasn't gone worth it for a long weekend and don't have to spend a fortune we didn't. Love it .x