So, some gal pals and I are going to be in NYC for 2-days (and change), a Thursday and a Friday. Friday night we are going to a Broadway show, otherwise the only two goals are the Empire State Building and the Statue of Liberty.
One of us has some significant mobility issues that make it hard for her to walk or stand for extended periods of time. So I was thinking we could do either a bus tour or a ferry tour.
Is there a strong case for doing one over the other? This will be the weekend of April 8th, so temperature may be a factor on the water? Any companies/tours you like better than others?
Personally I would take the bus tour. Nothing to do with the mobility issue; I just think it’s a better tour. I mean the ferry will take you around Manhattan and give you a nice view of the Statue of Liberty, but with the bus tour, you’re in the city, and you can hop-on-hop-off. I think for forty bucks you get a 24-hour pass and there are about 40 stops on the bus, IIRC. So if you plan your day right you can use it as a sightseeing bus/taxicab and get where you want to go without walking too much.
It’s the big red bus company in Times Square; trust me, you can’t miss them. And if you do, they won’t miss you.
Ah, I hadn’t considered the dual tour/taxi aspect… I shall look into it further!
(I also wanna do the bus tour, m’self.)
Can any New Yorkers give me a sense of how long the wait will be for the Empire State Building on a Thursday in early April? This would likely be in the afternoon.
I would go to the Top of the Rock (viewing level on the top of Rockefeller Center, instead of the Empire State Building. It has better views of uptown and downtown, and from the top of the Empire State Building, you cannot see the Empire State Building!
Wilbo makes a good point, but if you do go to the ESB, I don’t think it will be too bad. I’d guess an hour at most, but of course it’s hard to know for sure. You’re not coming during a regular tourist month, and if you go during the day it’ll be less crowded than it would in the early evening. Having said that, once I went at 9pm and there was literally no one else there. We had to walk through that huge setup of line-ropes like rats in a maze!
Also, stick with the first stop at the top (the 86th floor, I think). It’s an extra $15 to go up farther, which sounds nice but it’s all enclosed up there. The 86th floor is out in the open, which to me is what makes it so cool.