Let’s say you’re dropped off somewhere in Manhattan and have to be back at the same spot in 10 hours or so. You’ve got six other people with you and nobody’s ever been to NYC before. You have a budger of say $200 for the day for everyone. Where do you get dropped off? What do you do? What do you see? Looking for suggestions from people that have been there, but for somebody that’s never been there. Thanks.
I’ve done it many times, by myself and with my wife. I do a food and drink tour – eat breakfast at a diner or kosher deli, then walk around parks and/or museums, then eat lunch at X’ian Famous Foods, or Go Go Curry, or NY Pizza Suprema, then walk around a bit more and stop for drinks at a bar, then dinner at whatever unusual cuisine strikes my fancy, then back to the train station (or wherever). I’ve done it many times and it’s never gotten old (I take the train to NYC early in the morning, then back home to DC at night).
That’s if these people love to eat. If they’re not big into food, then I’m not sure.
I’d recommend visiting either the American Museum of Natural History or the Metropolitan Museum of Art. There are several really good museums in NYC but those two are “can’t miss”.
A walk through Times Square is a good way to get a feel for the city.
7 people have to get by on $200 for 10 hours? Does that include meals? That’s really going to limit what you can do.
Funny you should ask, I’m doing the same thing next month and am going to see the Guggenheim and the High Line, but then again I’ve been to NYC and have already seen Central Park and the Museum of Natural History. My hotel is across from MoMA but they are doing a grand re-opening around then so I am thinking it will be pretty crowded.
I’ve also never been to the places I’m going to see. The High Line might be for people who are able to walk at least a mile without tiring, but it’s pretty distinctive because there are not a lot of those types of open walkways in the world.
Nope, that does not include meals. This is a budget trip, so looking for “free sightseeing stuff”. Fancy Cuisine and Broadway shows are for another time.
It may be surprising, but NYC is a fantastic place for budget eating. You can easily get a very large, very tasty meal at the three restaurants I mentioned (and many more) for under $15 a person. Under $10 for Go Go Curry and NY Pizza Suprema.
If the weather is nice I’d walk the High Line to the World Trade Center museum. That’s an amazing place that will take 2-3 hours to experience. Then a taxi up to Katz’s Deli for lunch, then the Metro to Central Park and a visit to the Met. You might wish to stop at Times Square or Rockefeller Center along the way.
Grew up near New York, so I’ve done this countless times.
You can:
– Go to the Big Museums (Natural History, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Museum of Modern Art)
–Go to any of a number of less well-known museums (Whitney, Guggenheim, Museum of the city of New York, New York Historical Society, The Cloisters, etc.)
– Walk up and down Fifth Avenue, window-shopping, seeing t. Patrick’s, visiting Rockefeller Center
– Go to the Central Park Zoo
– See if you can get cheap tickets to a Broadway show
– Go to an off-Broadway show
– Visit the Empire State Building or the Site of the World Trade Center, The Flatiron Building, the Chrysler Building or some such
– Go to quasi-historical sites (Fraunces Tavern, Castle Clinton, etc.)
– Walk around Central Park
– Visit the Diamond District. Try not to piss off the armed guards
– Walk the High Line
– Visit the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, and try to imagine what it’ll look like finished.
And that’s just in Manhattan.
Ok, no need to recommend bringing food with you. Otherwise I’d second the advice from Little Nemo, but you are bringing just enough money for the entrance fee to one of those, not both. $200 for 7 people doesn’t go very far, you might prefer to spend it on souvenirs.
If it were just me (or maybe me and one other like-minded companion), I would simply spend the day wandering. Maybe take a stroll through Central Park; pop into a tavern that looks interesting and start a conversation; check out some no-name neighborhood diner when I got hungry; take a train to an unfamiliar neighborhood just to see what’s there. I’d essentially go wherever the wind and my whim takes me. It’s very hard to get bored in Manhattan.
However, with a group of six or more, you’ll need a plan and you’ll need everybody to commit to the plan; otherwise you’ll spend 5 of your 10 hours discussing what to do next. So I realize I have no relevant advice to offer. Carry on.
One of my suggestions is always: take train to Brooklyn near the Brooklyn side of the Brooklyn Bridge. Walk across the bridge. It should be close to lunch time, so go to South Street Seaport for something to eat. Either walk or cab to the battery. Get on the Staten Island Ferry (it’s free) going to Staten Island. Look at the Statue of Liberty as you go by it. Get off of the ferry, go upstairs, and get back on the Staten Island Ferry (it is still free). That should get you to mid-afternoon, and you can do any of the other ideas from this thread.
Thanks for the suggestions so far. How does this circuit sound?
- Drop off at Penn station
- Walk to the Empire State Building (7 minute walk according to google maps)
- Walk to Chrysler Building (15 minute walk)
- Walk to Rockefeller Center (15 minutes)
- Walk to Time Square (9 minutes)
- Walk back to Penn Station (15 minutes)
So that should give a good “Ooh look, places I’ve seen in movies” experience, in a fairly compressed area. But, would there be good places to check out/eat in between? If you weren’t going to do that circuit, which would you do, specifically? We have a person in the group that probably couldn’t handle much more than that in walking (not counting mulling around indoor places).
Go ride the Staten Island Ferry. Its free and the view of the city (and the statute of Liberty) from the harbor is magnificent. Don’t go during rush hour tho.
Remember: Get out of the way
That was my only trip to New York. My wife and I drove into Manhattan through the Holland Tunnel. We parked my truck near my friend’s apartment on the Upper East Side, and just walked around. We walked around Central Park mostly. After a couple of hours, my friend called me that he was home from work, so we met up at his apartment. By then it was evening, so we walked to Koreatown and had some amazing food. We went to the roof of his apartment building after dinner and just enjoyed looking at the lights and the city until we finally crashed. The next morning my wife and I said goodbye to NYC as we had to continue on to Vermont. It was fun. I don’t care to go back.
For super cheap food in NYC, head to Chinatown. I went to some little hole in the wall where you could get a plate of either chicken or pork with rice and vegetables for ridiculously cheap, like in the $2-$3 range. The portion wasn’t huge, and it didn’t come with a drink, but it was good and enough food for me. After a bit of Googling I’m 99% sure the place was Wah Fung No. 1 Fast Food. It looks like the price has gone up to $4.25 now (I was there over a decade ago).
Speaking of lesser known museums, I have to give a plug to the New York Transit Museum. It may not sound fun, but I thought it was actually quite interesting. It’s got exhibits on the history of the construction of the subways, vintage subway cars, an old drawbridge control panel. But it’s down in Brooklyn, so it’s probably not something the OP can fit in in the time available.
MOMA.
I would definitely add Grand Central Station to that circuit. It’s literally just a few doors down from the Chrysler Building.
For food, I mentioned that place in Chinatown, but that’s out of the way given the other stuff on your list, and it’s probably not worth taking the subway down to Chinatown just for food. So I withdraw that recommendation unless you decide you really want to see Chinatown, and say just eat from whatever street cart or food truck strikes your fancy as you’re walking around. You will definitely pass some.