I’m thinking about heading to The City next year. Most of the research I’ve done points me to the highlights of Manhattan (the Museum Mile, Empire State Building, Freedom Tower, Greenwich Village, etc.) or the Upper Bay (Liberty Island and Ellis Island). I’m willing to accept that, especially since I really only ventured out of Central London once during my trip in 2017 (to visit Highgate), but I imagine there are some great things to apprehend in the other four boroughs as well. What would be on your list of must sees?
The wife and I have already decided that the next time we spend any time in NYC, all we are going to do is eat and see shows.
You can walk across the Brooklyn Bridge, catch a concert at Lincoln Jazz Center or Iridium or the Blue Note, take a walk through Central Park, walk The High Line, visit the New York Metropolitan Museum, have a great pizza at Denino’s or at San Matteo Pizza, and have a pastrami sandwich at Shelsky’s Deli in Brooklyn.
Book a show or two as soon as you can because tickets are hard to get.
Top Of The Rock is in some ways better than ESB. For one thing you get to see ESB! It’s also much closer to Central Park. And it has timed tickets, not sure if ESB has those now. For ESB go for the morning opening (9 am?) - lines just get longer and longer throughout the day. And mornings are clearer.
I wasn’t totally thrilled with the Liberty / Ellis island thing. Security and lines were brutal. I had to stow my backpack in a locker - they are not allowed in the Statue. And it takes at least 3 hours to do.
If you like music there are the famous jazz clubs, Beacon Theatre, and classical music like the Met opera etc.
I would recommend taking the 2 train to Clark Street station in Brooklyn Heights, walk down Henry to Montague street and then down to the Brooklyn Heights Promenade with spectacular views of the Upper Bay and Lower Manhattan. Walk across the Brooklyn Bridge back into Manhattan.
Central Park is wonderful. Maybe some of your favourite TV and movies were shot in NYC and now that I think about it, see the “Moonstruck House” in Brooklyn Heights if you go there.
The times I’ve been there I did all the stereotypical tourist things, and loved them all: Broadway shows, Central Park, Empire State Building, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Natural History Museum, Greenwich Village, etc. etc. You can’t go wrong (of course, I’m from rural America, and thus easily impressed).
Agreed but I would have to do a bit of research for my meal choices. I want new flavors and new experiences. I have no interest in a top notch steak house or the best pizza slice in New York. Find me some mediocre Moroccan or some ptomaineish Iranian meals and I’m happy. I don’t just want a meal, I want an adventure. Do you know of a (North) Korean BBQ joint where if I order extra kimchi, I get placed on the no-fly list? Maybe a Caribbean place where each meal comes with a complimentary scotch bonnet high colonic just so you know what tomorrow morning is gonna feel like. Maybe a tapas place that keeps trading insults and firebombs with the Basque place across the street? That’s two places I can try.
There are a lot of existing threads with some great suggestions.
Every time I visit New York I try to eat at a restaurant that serves food from a country I’ve never been to or eaten the cuisine of before.
Also, Broadway shows.
Go to Taste of Samarkand and have awesome kosher Uzbek food in Queens! Or here are some other ideas in Queens. Or because I am partial to Central Asian food, it’s nonexistent in most fo the U.S., and many of the best joints are near my dad’s place, here are a few more possibilities.
Do you like movies? Jazz? Murders? Books? Scandalous scandals?
There are dozens of guidebooks available that tell you where to find Jimi Hendrix’s personal recording studio on W 8th Street; or where in Woodlawn Cemetery Jafsey met with the Lindbergh kidnapper; or the church Al Capone got married in; or the house in Brooklyn Heights where W.H. Auden, Paul Bowles, and Gypsy Rose Lee had a freakin’ COMMUNE; where Gustav Mahler lived when he was the conductor of the Metropolitan Opera; Montgomery Clift’s grave in a tiny Quaker cemetery in the middle of Prospect Park; the site of the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire; Louis Armstrong’s barber…and so on forever.
Pick a subject that fascinates you, get the book (or spend some time on the Internets), and New York with probably be packed with historical sites just for you.
(Knowledgeable New Yorkers will note that the places cited above are located in four out of the Five Boroughs. Sorry, Staten Island.)
PERMANENT NEW YORKERS is an informative guidebook which gives wonderful walking tours, with maps, to the cities best boneyards. The top two are Woodlawn, in the Bronx, and Green-Wood, in Brooklyn. Both the resting places of the famous AND particularly tasty funerary monuments are featured.
Pay a visit to Herman Melville…Harry Houdini…Babe Ruth…Irving Berlin…the guy who invented soda water!
Also available as separate volumes: PERMANENT LONDONERS; PARISIANS; ITALIANS; and CALIFORNIANS. Collect them all!
I’m in the middle of a three week stay - more of a return for me.
First, we got an AirBnB for about $125 a night, on the Upper East Side, just a block from the subway. Lots more room than in a hotel and a kitchen for my real bagels and excellent smoked fish.
If you want to see Hamilton and Book of Mormon, definitely book ahead. But see the thread I started on what shows to see for TKTS advice - there are a lot of great shows available at half price. We’ve seen 3 so far.
I’ve been impressed by the really good restaurants on 2nd and 1st avenues, of varying ethnicities. Stay away from the tourist traps and you’ll be fine.
I’ve been to the Met, the Met Breuer and the Museum of Natural History so far, and taken a tour of the 42nd street library - free but limited - show up at 10 am to be sure to get on. We’re doing a tour from the Tenement Museum on Monday.
BTW, a Met ticket is good for the Breuer and the Cloosters over a 3 day period.
Tomorrow we’re going to take the Ferry to Roosevelt Island, and the tram back.
Get a 1 week Metrocard to get around. It is refillable. The machines take credit cards.
I hit the used book stores, mostly around 12th street.
There is a City Pass available, which might save you money, depending on whether you want to see the things on it. I qualify for Senior rates, so buying single tickets is cheaper for me and more flexible.
I’m from Queens, but I wouldn’t recommend going unless you have a specific destination. Many things in Queens need a bus ride to get to. It is not nearly as dense as Manhattan.
BTW - if you buy tickets for a show from TKTS, and want to buy another within a week, show your tickets to a TKTS staffer (red shirt) and he or she will direct you to someone who will let you jump the line. We got tickets to Chicago on Sunday, when there is a very long line, inside of 5 minutes. Also, download the TKTS which show you what is or has been available.
Take the Staten Island Ferry - it is free, gives you a good view, and you can turn right around and come back.
I’ve done Circle Line, and wasn’t impressed. There are free walking tours of various neighborhoods.
Have fun!
Outside of Manhattan:
I love The Museum of the Moving Image in Astoria, Queens http://www.movingimage.us/
Their Jim Henson Exhibition is amazing - made me laugh and cry -brought back many wonderful memories.
You can get there on the M or the R.
The Noguchi Museum is also in Astoria, worth a look if you’re already in the area. Meditative and a different museum
The Socrates Sculpture Park is just down the block from the Noguchi Museum - it’s an outdoor space, usually lots of fun and quite different installations.
Also, I would second Ukulele Ike’s suggestion of hitting up the various cemeteries - Greenwood in Brooklyn is my favorite. Tours are a great help, since it is a huge cemetery, and you might miss the highlights if you wander on your own.
Seeing Houdini’s grave in the Machpelah Cemetery is a bit difficult, though, since the cemetery really isn’t open anymore. You have to go to the adjoining one and climb over a toppled fence. Cool to see, although his bust was constantly being stolen back in the day. Haven’t been there in a few years, though.
Have a great time!
Around 2007, I had nothing to do but walk around Manhattan for three days. I was there with my wife, who was in a conference for the first three, but we would be there for several days afterward. So I couldn’t really do anything like visit a museum, so I just wandered around. I had some idea of how the map/grid system worked from a video game and I’d glanced at a recent map, but I got around. I’m sure a smartphone would be even better than that today.
I enjoyed it a lot, and I saw a lot of neat stuff. Eat anywhere, there’s lots of places. By the end of my trip, I was giving directions to people from the outer boroughs because they were asking. I highly recommend just wandering around Manhattan if you have the time.
ETA: And to be honest, I didn’t even see half the place!
I’d mostly just want to see great architecture. The Neue Gallery is first on my list of museums.
My wife talked our way into Electric Ladyland last April, which is not open for tours since it’s still an active recording studio. Got a mini-tour of the place, probably because they were bored. 
Here’s the secret to getting around. When I was a messenger, almost 50 years ago, before bicycles, I had a magic card which correlated numbers on avenues with cross streets, (They are all different.) That way when you get an address you can figure out which subway stop to get off for it. You can do with with a phone, but knowing the numbers lets you group destinations. I’m sure you can find one on-line.
Numbers on streets are much easier - East is towards the East River, West is to the Hudson.
That’s midtown. In the Village you need a good map.
Figuring out which direction to go in once you’ve left the subway is harder, but remember numbers increase as you go north.
Speaking of subways, while I read of massive delays in the Times, the ones I’ve traveled on have been cleaned and the air conditioning works - a lot better than the ones I used as a kid.
We did the ferry today. A nice cheap way of seeing NY from the water. Take the subway to Wall Street, and walk east and under the FDR drive. Pier 11 is just to your right when you hit the water. Take the Astoria Ferry (fare $2.75) three stops to Roosevelt Island. You’ll see a lot of the city for cheap - just like the Circle Line but less crowded and no annoying commentary. Get off at Roosevelt Island and walk across the island (all of two blocks) to the Manhattan side. Walk nort to the lighthouse (about 85th street) or south to the Park (about 34th street) or both. There is a free bus (red) that runs up and down Main Street. Take the tram - which uses your MTA card, to 59th street and 2nd avenue. You can also take the F train whiich stops on the island, but the tram is more fun.
I’d been over the island but never on it, but it is a placr I could live. Expensive no doubt unless you live in London or California.
It was a few years ago, but I quite liked this experience and didn’t remember the lines being too terrible. I’d strongly recommend getting a Crown ticket so you can walk up the stairs inside the statue to the head. It’s really interesting to see the architecture of it from the inside, and the double helix stair case is cool. That said, they limit the number of people who can do this quite dramatically. I recall needing to book six months in advance, and it might be worse now.