New York (People who have been)

I went a couple years ago. I'm currently looking into moving over there for some time. I love the place. At the moment I am really craving Ice Skating at Rockefeller. gutted I missed out last time. It lovely this time of year!

Hope you have fun!
 
Another person that went there literally this week last year - I got on the flight Friday after thanks giving and returned on the Wednesday.

I had a pretty hectic schedule but here is what we did:

- Shopping - thanks giving sales....you will have NY sales
- Outlet visit - all day trip, can take the bus and worth a visit
- Empire State Building

- Broadway Show - we went to watch Chicago...pretty decent seats brought the day before with plenty still available even over thanks giving.

- Statue of Liberty - including crown access (don't do crown if you don't like tight
spaces, it gets a bit tight near the top, but it's pretty safe - Also a LOAD of security getting there)

- Rockefeller, I went up when they did the Christmas tree lighting, no queues :) I did both the Rockefeller and Empire State. I couldn't chose which one, Rockefeller you see the Empire State Building but Empire State is Empire State :)

- Little Italy / China Town / all the other avenues with shops etc

- Central Park

- American History Museum...can do free entry but a recommended donation is $15 each I think, maybe slightly more (I paid)

- Huge IMAX near 55th Street, biggest in NY - We had some spare time so we watched a film, Harry Potter - Death Hallows Part 2 I believe.

- Obviously Times Square, my hotel wasn't too far away from here so it wasn't a problem. I can't believe how busy that place was 24/7.

Some other stuff we didn't do but people mention:

- Bronx
- Art Museum (not my thing)
- NFL / Ice Hockey / Baseketball Game (No time)

Hope it has given you some ideas.
 
I wouldn't really recommend the Natural History Museum. Ignoring the fact it was totally packed on the day I was there, it was a bit bland, boring and the big attractions were obviously aimed at younger audiences. They take the "stand there, look at this object and read the description" approach instead of the "look at this, here's why it fits into this area, did you know...?" approach of actually telling you why it's interesting. I remember thinking that a lot of the areas were more like list of animals or catalogs rather than something designed to educate.

The Intrepid Museum was pretty awesome like Qdos said. Central park is pretty good too but it's also huge, and if you really want to see around it you'll need a fair bit of time! The zoo there is compact but great.
 
Art said:
I wouldn't really recommend the Natural History Museum. Ignoring the fact it was totally packed on the day I was there, it was a bit bland, boring and the big attractions were obviously aimed at younger audiences. They take the "stand there, look at this object and read the description" approach instead of the "look at this, here's why it fits into this area, did you know...?" approach of actually telling you why it's interesting. I remember thinking that a lot of the areas were more like list of animals or catalogs rather than something designed to educate.
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That's a good point to be fair, I didn't actually say what I thought of it.

It was a case of, we where near and some movies had made it look awesome. I probably wouldn't recommend a visit unless you have time to have a good look around...which we didn't honestly.
 
Get a metro pass, I only went for a day but bought a day pass which gives you unlimited use of the metro.

What I did find bizarre was that I felt safer in NY than most places in the UK. Even walking through Chinatown in the middle of the night with not much lighting.
 
I'd make sure you go up the Rockefeller. It may not be as iconic as the Empire State Building but when you get to the top you get a skyline with that in it rather than being up it and not being able to see how impressive it is :) It's one of the things I was gutted we didn't get to do when we went (we went up the Empire State close to midnight which was impresseive though)

If you have the money to do so we really enjoyed the heli tour we did of the city as it really puts in to perspective how grand of a city it is and you get to see a few extra little things you might've normally missed.
 
Qdos said:
Museum of Modern Art (MOMA)
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Be careful! Consider your taste in art. I found the first 3 or 4 levels to be a shocking display of very very 'Modern' art. I'm talking about a splodge of paint on the floor being an exhibit.

However the top two floors had some awesome stuff from Monet etc, much better :D

Just my 2 cents.

Also a lot of people saying skip Statue of Liberty, I should point out that the Ellis Island tour that comes with it was fascinating!
 
Highline park is a lovely place to walk down.

I'd do Empire State AND Rockefeller, because despite Empire State not having as good a view, it is iconic and worth the visit if you have the cash to spare.

I'd walk across the Brooklyn bridge because I enjoyed the walk, and you can get the subway back if you want.

Try and explore the upper-west side / Morningside heights area if you get a chance just purely because they have some cool churches.

I find churches / cathedrals really interesting, so St Bartholomew's and St Patrick's are both worth a visit.

Carmine's is really nice if you like share-style Italian food. They have a few, but I liked the one on the upper-west side.

If you have a passing interest in American history, Philadelphia is an interesting place to visit. It has the Liberty Bell, Liberty Hall and home of the 'Cheese steak'. :) It'll take 2 hours to get there by bus which you can catch in Midtown, and it was $20 each way when I hopped on without booking. You could possibly get it cheaper though.

I would've liked to have had a look around Williamsburg. It was indie-kid central, and I think it still is.

I'd love to live there. Unfortunately it's not that easy when you're British. :(
 
qqg3 said:
Be careful! Consider your taste in art. I found the first 3 or 4 levels to be a shocking display of very very 'Modern' art. I'm talking about a splodge of paint on the floor being an exhibit.
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I'd beware of the Guggenheim for the same reason. I quite enjoyed it, but it was a LOT of art to take in in one go!
 
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