New York in March?
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Humm, i went over xmas and it was pretty good. It'll be either really cold or nice and warm (no in between really).
Theres loads of good stuff to do (especially if you have 5 nights there), central park was really nice, the empire state building and statue of liberty are pretty essential (along with time square). I took the UN tour too (my family had different flights as i wanted to go back to belfast and ahve an extra half day) which was really good.
Go see a broadway show too, its not nessesserally going to be good but the singing is quite an experence (we saw wicked which was fairly good by american comedy standards).
Best way to get a better idea of what to do is buy a new york guide book (a few quid for one from smiths) just to get a picture of what there is on offer.
For me the one of the better parts of the trip was walking to most places just to take in the atmosphere, and we came across a few more random things including the sign to A.I.D.S plaza near city hall
Theres loads of good stuff to do (especially if you have 5 nights there), central park was really nice, the empire state building and statue of liberty are pretty essential (along with time square). I took the UN tour too (my family had different flights as i wanted to go back to belfast and ahve an extra half day) which was really good.
Go see a broadway show too, its not nessesserally going to be good but the singing is quite an experence (we saw wicked which was fairly good by american comedy standards).
Best way to get a better idea of what to do is buy a new york guide book (a few quid for one from smiths) just to get a picture of what there is on offer.
For me the one of the better parts of the trip was walking to most places just to take in the atmosphere, and we came across a few more random things including the sign to A.I.D.S plaza near city hall
was there in march last year for the weekend, got a bit chilly in the evenings but a coat and a hat and you will be fine.
loads to see and you have loads of time to do it all.
dont be shy of walking, when you look at a map and you think 10 blocks!!!! its really not that far :]
loads to see and you have loads of time to do it all.
dont be shy of walking, when you look at a map and you think 10 blocks!!!! its really not that far :]
Soldato
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Oo I should be going to NY February if my mate doesn't mess up, looking forward to it
Urm take probably 10-20% more money that you think you'll need, tipping is more or less mandetory, and prices on everything (except clothing) dont include sales tax which confused me a bit.
Id also recommend staying in a hotel in the midtown area (east or west) as thats more or less the center of the city and allows you to get to all the good bits fairly quickly
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Don't feel pressured into tipping. If the service isn't up to much then don't tip.
I went a couple of weeks ago, it is amazing when ever you go! When I spoke to people out there, they were like, you have to come back in the Summer! Make sure you plan where you want to go, and take the Subway everywhere, as it is much quicker and cheaper!
I went to NYC in March last year for 5 nights.
Plenty to do, we only left Manhattan to go to Liberty Island.
The weather isn't that bad. Was a bit cooler than the UK, very mixed conditions - overcast one day, bright sun the next. Got drenched on the way to a show in Broadway one evening.
My recommendations:
-Get a hotel somewhere fairly central in Manhattan. We stayed at the Affinia Manhattan (kinda opposite MSG) and walked nearly everywhere except to and from the airport and getting a bus to Battery Park.
-Macys is fabulous (god I'm such a girl). I assume they'll have massive clearance sales like they did when we went, plus you can get an international visitor card for another 11% off everything. Of the casual clothes I currently wear regularly, I bought about half of them in there.
-On a cold day stop off in Central Park Zoo, they've got a tropical area that warms you up nicely
-Do the Rockerfeller/ESB late at night. We went during the day and they were really busy, you felt like cattle at times.
-Eateries generally seem to fall into two categories: Pretentious and somewhat overpriced, or common and good value. A lunch for two can easily run to $100 in a restaurant, or a more reasonable $15-20 in a small chain outlet. We never really found anything in between, but I'm sure they do exist.
-Cheaper seats in MSG are better than I was expecting.
This probably sounds a bit weird/sad, but one of the great things I've found having been to NY is that when I'm watching films etc, I can recognise places. It actually makes a real difference. The street naming convention also makes perfect sense to me now.
Plenty to do, we only left Manhattan to go to Liberty Island.
The weather isn't that bad. Was a bit cooler than the UK, very mixed conditions - overcast one day, bright sun the next. Got drenched on the way to a show in Broadway one evening.
My recommendations:
-Get a hotel somewhere fairly central in Manhattan. We stayed at the Affinia Manhattan (kinda opposite MSG) and walked nearly everywhere except to and from the airport and getting a bus to Battery Park.
-Macys is fabulous (god I'm such a girl). I assume they'll have massive clearance sales like they did when we went, plus you can get an international visitor card for another 11% off everything. Of the casual clothes I currently wear regularly, I bought about half of them in there.
-On a cold day stop off in Central Park Zoo, they've got a tropical area that warms you up nicely
-Do the Rockerfeller/ESB late at night. We went during the day and they were really busy, you felt like cattle at times.
-Eateries generally seem to fall into two categories: Pretentious and somewhat overpriced, or common and good value. A lunch for two can easily run to $100 in a restaurant, or a more reasonable $15-20 in a small chain outlet. We never really found anything in between, but I'm sure they do exist.
-Cheaper seats in MSG are better than I was expecting.
This probably sounds a bit weird/sad, but one of the great things I've found having been to NY is that when I'm watching films etc, I can recognise places. It actually makes a real difference. The street naming convention also makes perfect sense to me now.
Soldato
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Funnily enough I'm in NYC in March.
I've had friends chased (not literally) by staff for tips before.
That's not what I've been told... apparently you tip depending upon service... buy you always tip. 10% if **** and you wouldn't go there again... and upwards..
I've had friends chased (not literally) by staff for tips before.
Sometimes I think they are a bit over-zealous hounding for tips. We got a bill in a restaurant once which said:
15%.... Good
18%.... Great
20%..... Excellent
...and the woman had put a great big ring round the 20%! I mean c'mon, get over yourself!
Tipping is a good way of getting rid of your shrapnel in coffee shops etc, they normally have a cup on the counter and you can just chuck any random coins in.
15%.... Good
18%.... Great
20%..... Excellent
...and the woman had put a great big ring round the 20%! I mean c'mon, get over yourself!
Tipping is a good way of getting rid of your shrapnel in coffee shops etc, they normally have a cup on the counter and you can just chuck any random coins in.
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It's not the law to tip you know. If the service was **** then don't tip and if they ask why then tell them.
I went there a couple of years ago. I managed to tack a 3 day stay onto the end of a work trip, so I decided to race around all the tourist spots Stayed in "Hotel Thirty-Thirty", Madison and 30th, or was 30th and Madison, I never got that hang of that 
Nice enough hotel, not stunning and fairly small rooms (well the Single was
). But it's clean and well located; you can walk to the empire state in 5 minutes. Macys
- Like HangTime says in the middle of the day the empire state is packed, but early AM or late PM are good.
- Central Park was cool, however on the weekend it's absolutely jam-packed (I went on a sunny Sunday however).
- I thought the Statue of Liberty was a little dull; however Ellis Island was cool (so don't skip that stop on the boat ride )
- When I was there you had to queue though airport style security checks for all the major sites, and no doubt they're still there. So allow a little extra time for everything
akakjs
Stayed in "Hotel Thirty-Thirty", Madison and 30th, or was 30th and Madison, I never got that hang of that Nice enough hotel, not stunning and fairly small rooms (well the Single was
). But it's clean and well located; you can walk to the empire state in 5 minutes. Macys- Like HangTime says in the middle of the day the empire state is packed, but early AM or late PM are good.
- Central Park was cool, however on the weekend it's absolutely jam-packed (I went on a sunny Sunday however).
- I thought the Statue of Liberty was a little dull; however Ellis Island was cool (so don't skip that stop on the boat ride
)- When I was there you had to queue though airport style security checks for all the major sites, and no doubt they're still there. So allow a little extra time for everything
akakjs
Places your likely to go more than once or twice (We stayed in the New Yorker which had a bar and diner which was helpfull for breakfast or un-interesting meals) tip fairly well and your more than likley to get extra good service another time...
Only other places we tipped propperly were places that didnt check drinking ages (always forget its 21 over there not 18).
As a random extra thought, id reccomend looking for the MarkJoseph steakhouse in the lower east side of manhatten. We had an uber late lunch there one afternoon and had one of the best steaks iv ever eaten (yeah probably not the best thign to spend a whole day out for but was good as it was nearish to the docks for the statue of liberty).
The other cool thing I saw was the skate park thing under the brooklyn bridge (its on tony hawks 2 for reference) which i thought was a bit different
Only other places we tipped propperly were places that didnt check drinking ages
(always forget its 21 over there not 18).As a random extra thought, id reccomend looking for the MarkJoseph steakhouse in the lower east side of manhatten. We had an uber late lunch there one afternoon and had one of the best steaks iv ever eaten (yeah probably not the best thign to spend a whole day out for but was good as it was nearish to the docks for the statue of liberty).
The other cool thing I saw was the skate park thing under the brooklyn bridge (its on tony hawks 2 for reference) which i thought was a bit different
Soldato
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I wouldn't go there if you paid me.
I would, it was fantastic... I have hundreds of photos.
www.stevenlevitt.co.uk/ny if you want to see some of them
www.stevenlevitt.co.uk/ny if you want to see some of them