OK, NY Dopers, I’m on my way…
I’m heading on down to NY city from Canada in late Feb. to catch a couple of Islanders games on the Island. The wife wants to check out the city a bit, too, without spending too much money.
Are there any locals / other recent visitors here who can give a little advice on what to do in New York?
What do I HAVE to do, and what can I skip? Should I travel around by foot, cab or subway?
IANANY (I am not a New Yorker) but I can give one piece of valuable advice.
Don’t open a car door on the street facing side of the car without looking. Always get out curb side if possible from cabs.
I speak from experience.
ouch! Thanks.
What to do in NYC ( a partial list):
[ul]
[li]See a Broadway play[/li][li]See an off-Broadway play[/li][li]Catch an IMAX movie[/li][li]Take a horse ride in Central Park[/li][li]Visit the Statue of Liberty (you can’t go into the statue itself, however)[/li][li]Check out the view from the Empire State Building[/li][li]Take a Circle Line Cruise around Manhattan Island[/li][li]Visit the South Street Seaport[/li][li]Visit Ground Zero[/li][li]Say hello to zev_steinhardt[/li][li]See Greenwood Cemetery in Brooklyn where many famous people are buried[/li][li]If you have kids, check out the Liberty Science Center in Liberty, NJ[/li][li]Visit the Museum of Natural History and/or the Hayden Planetarium[/li][li]See Ellis Island (especially nice if one of your ancestors came through there.[/li][li]Enjoy dinner at one of literally thousands of resturaunts.[/li][li]Dance the night away at a Night club.[/li][li]Shop at Herald Square.[/li][/ul]
As for transportation, cabs are OK, but expensive for long trips. Check out a subway map at www.mta.info and map learn how to get around on the trains.
I have a set of standard advice that I give on the SDMB for people visiting NYC: Do a search for posts by Stuyguy. He is the best informed of the NY Dopers about City events, attractions and history.
See a Broadway play
-Planing on it…gonna try get tickets at the TKTS booth.
See an off-Broadway play
-May have to if no available cheapies for a broadway show.
Catch an IMAX movie
-Eh, probably not…seen them in Washington & we have one here near my home.
Take a horse ride in Central Park
-Any body know how much a handsome cab ride runs?
Visit the Statue of Liberty (you can’t go into the statue itself, however)
-REALLY!!! Why not? I always thought you could…was this an urban myth of some sort?
Check out the view from the Empire State Building
-Again, we plan to do this…
Take a Circle Line Cruise around Manhattan Island
-Wife thinks it’ll be far too cold.
Visit the South Street Seaport
-Don’t know what this is, I’ll have to look into it.
Visit Ground Zero-Again, we plan to though I hear there’s not much there anymore.
Say hello to zev_steinhardt
-I just may 
See Greenwood Cemetery in Brooklyn where many famous people are buriedNOW THIS IS WHAT I’M LOOKING FOR. Great idea! Thanks!
If you have kids, check out the Liberty Science Center in Liberty, NJ
-No kids…
Visit the Museum of Natural History and/or the Hayden Planetarium
-Wanted to go to MoMa, but I’m al ittle afriad of Queens. I assume all of Queens isn’t what I saw from the train last time I was in New York.
See Ellis Island (especially nice if one of your ancestors came through there.
-Will do!
Enjoy dinner at one of literally thousands of resturaunts.-Wnat to make it to Tom’s Diner…yeah, I know, the ultimate tourist!
Dance the night away at a Night club.
-Can’t dance…not sober anyway.
Shop at Herald Square.
-Again, don’t know this one, I’ll have to look it up.
Thanks a bunch!
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Not off the top of my head, I’m afraid. I’ve lived here almost my entire life and have never done this.
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You can thank Mohammed Atta and his 18 buddies for that.
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Downtown, Pier 17. It’s at the eastern end of Fulton Street.
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The Museum of Modern History and the Planetarium are in Manhattan.
Queens is a very large area (it’s physically the largest of the five boros) and it has all types of neighborhoods.
You’re welcome…
Zev Steinhardt
Well No Good, Zev gave a lot of good suggestions. Are you stayng in Manhattan while you are here? How long is your stay? How tight is your budget? All these can help widen or narrow what you may have time for or can afford to do.
Museum of Modern Art (MOMA) is now temporarily in Long Island City (Queens) and only minutes from Grand Central.
Also, I would much rather have read that you were coming to see a Rangers game. Although, they are not really worth watching these days. FYI, if you are not staying out in Long Island it is not exactly easy to get the Mausoleum. Oh sorry, Coliseum. IIRC, the closest Long Island Rail Road station is still a cab or bus ride away. It’s been a while since I went there by LIRR.
D’oh! On preview I see you already responded. To quickly answer your questions:
Yes years ago you could go into the Statue of Liberty. I know before 9/11 they had resticted it to only the first boat each day.
Do not be frightened of Queens. I am not really sure what you are judging it on. You rode the 7 train to Shea perhaps? Not really sure what scared you. I ride the train every day to work. FYI, MOMA is three stops into Queens and should be completely safe for you to visit.
Billdo is right. Stuyguy does know NYC better than any one here
So far, so good. We’re staying with friend’s in LI (but they work days, so we’re on our own to do the tourist stuff). Just a few miles from the Colisuem!
I won’t touch the Rangers comment…
Only there for a few days (Thurs-Sun), and the budget is minimal. (Canadian exchange hurts!)
I didn’t mean to pre-judge Queens, but last time I saw it was from the LIRR, and all I remember seeing were a bunch of scary looking buildings with the window glass missing, and lots of graffiti.
I did a search on archive posts and found a bunch of info from Stuyguy that proved very helpful.
Don’t be afraid of Queens. We Queens residents are just like most other folk. Well, except for the thing about the human sacrifices every new moon…but usually we use vagrants, not tourists. Except that once. No, twice. Never mind.
In any case, one advice about Islanders games…be willing to pay money for decent seats. You can’t see anything from the nosebleed seats at Nassau Coliseum. Not because of the distance, but because there are structural thingies blocking your view in many spots.
If it helps, just think of Queens as being Canada to Brooklyn’s U.S.
(dodging the rain of punishing blows from cmkeller)
I prefer to think of Brooklyn as being Mexico to Queens’ U.S.
Let’s not start a Borough war. You may have the Warriors but Baseball Fury is starting to gain momentum in Flushing. At least I hope.
Can’t we all just get along?
If using the subway, get the one day Metrocard. It’s pretty cheap, and if you ride the subway around the city it will save you money. Also, TKTS gets mobbed early in the day.
Say hello to the Naked Cowboy (Times Square.)!
If you’re at all interested in art, from all over the world and all over history, you really ought to go to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. It’s grand and has great interior spaces. The Guggenheim and Frick collection are in the neighborhood, too.