Any NYC must do's/eats/visits?!

Hi,

6 weeks today we'll be down at Heathrow ready for the start of our 5 night trip to NYC...its the only thing keeping me sane at the mo! ;)

So far we've booked: Empire State Building, Top of the Rock and Statue of Liberty tickets and are planning on a visit to Ground Zero, Ghostbusters fire station, Central Park and Guggenheim museum. Is there anything that you would definitely recommend to someone visiting for the first time that I really should try and do/see/eat!? I also want to do a bit of simply walking around and taking in the sights!

Any areas/eateries/bars/touristy places I should try and get to? The hotel is located on East 34th Street near Lexington.

Any help much appreciated as I've been Googling and there is sooo much to do it's mind boggling! Thank you!

Ohh how exciting!                   

We did some of what is on your list plus Ellis Island and MOMA and the Chrysler Building. Greenwich Village for café lunches and evening music venues is worthwhile - there are some great little clubs with live music if you are in to that sort of thing. There is so much to do that we keep saying we need to go back because you can’t get it all done in five days – plus I now need to see the Ghostbusters fire station – I didn’t know you could do that!

If you get time, a walk around Broklyn Heights is lovely, especially in Autumn as all the leaves are falling and people decorate their brownstone houses with pumkins - it's so pretty. Also the view looking back over the water to Manhattan is amazing.

Also I love listening to people playing music in Washington Sq - it's such a great place to while away a few hours and people-watch. Plus there's lovely shops just south of there in Soho.

It's my favourite city in the world, I love just hanging out there and Autumn is definitely my favourite time to go.

Have fun!

Flounder:

Ohh how exciting!                   

 

We did some of what is on your list plus Ellis Island and MOMA and the Chrysler Building. Greenwich Village for café lunches and evening music venues is worthwhile - there are some great little clubs with live music if you are in to that sort of thing. There is so much to do that we keep saying we need to go back because you can’t get it all done in five days – plus I now need to see the Ghostbusters fire station – I didn’t know you could do that!

 

 

 

WSS

The MOMA was one of my favourite things when I was there.

I think we literally did every major tourist thing possible when we were there.

I can recommend the Frommers Guide Book - was fab when we were there.

Think youve got most of the sights we did (although v jealous that we didnt go see the Ghostbusters fire station!) so I wanted to give you an 'eat' - that is if you like cheese!  We heard of an ace little cheese deli with a restaurant in back (http://www.kashkavalfoods.com/) and went there.  Theres not a lot on their site but there are links to reviews.  They do an awesome fondue and loads of different meats, breads and veg to dip. Obviously cheese is not everyones thing, but it felt like such a cool little place off the tourist track and OH and I loved it.  I would go back there in a heartbeat!

Sooooo jealous.

One recommendation I got from here was to walk across the Brooklyn bridge and get an ice cream from the Brooklyn Ice Cream Factory.  It was fab, great views over the east river and the ice cream was yuuuuuummy :)

Our favourite touristy thing was Top of the Rock, amazing views and we went at sunset which was just fabulous.

We are going back when O is old enough to appreciate the museums.

We did most of those. Have you booked the Guggenheim? We didn't read the leaflet and went there on a Thursday when it was closed!

After we had been up the empire state building, we walked along the street a bit and ate here  It was so different and really tasty. We ate upstairs, but they also do takeaway downstairs. We also went to John's Pizzaria. It was recommended to us by someone else. The pizzas were huge, and we took the leftovers back with us for the next day, very yummy!

Another recommendation - for ease of getting around, get tickets for the sightseeing buses, they stop at all the main attractions, and you can hop on and hop off. We went with this company and got the 72 hour all loops ticket, saved our feet loads.

I also recommend the horse and carriage ride round central park. Was very relaxing and a nice way to see the park and find out some of the facts, also helped us get our bearings and work out exactly where everything was in the park.

If you are a Ghostbusters fan, I'll warn you now - the New York Public Library is currently under boards and scaffolding, well at least it was when we were there 4 weeks ago! My husband was most disappointed.

Have a look at my honeymoon photos to see what else we got up to!

For a night out we were recommended this place. We ran out of time to go!

Also if you like shows, you could go and see one on Broadway. We saw Avenue Q

Looking at my photos has jogged my memory!

Washington Square Park

Flatiron building (used in Spiderman) apparantly there's a lovely little park nr there as well. We didn't go there, but my BIL says they had coffee and doughnuts in there most mornings when they were there.

Times Square

Battery Park

We hopped off our bus near ground zero, walked past, saw the Freedom tower they are building there. Carried on walking through the financial district and down to Winter Garden , through to the harbour. We then walked along the Hudson River to Battery Park. They are making lots of green areas along there and it's really nice. In Battery park there is the globe that used to stand at the bottom of the World Trade Centre, and next to it, the eternal flame.

Zippy27:

Another recommendation - for ease of getting around, get tickets for the sightseeing buses, they stop at all the main attractions, and you can hop on and hop off. We went with this company and got the 72 hour all loops ticket, saved our feet loads.

WZIppyS! We did this and got free entry to either empire state building or top of the rock, also got the cruise to statue of Liberty and Ellis Island, night bus tour to Brooklyn and a few other trips included in the price, probably saved us quite a bit. I see though that you've already booked a few of these seperately.

We went into the pub at the bottom of the Empire State Building for a drink. They do an amazing Raspberry Cider!

Brilliant! Thank you so much for all your tips! It's always nice to get recommendations as everywhere says that they're the best! ;) I am making a nice big list of everything and will go through with hubby this weekend! :)  

Zippy, I will take a gander at your honeymoon pics! :) Thanks!

Notts Lass:

Top of the Rock

Thats where i got engaged :) :)

We didnt really eat out as much as we would have liked, we just stack to Pizza take aways and stuff.  But we did have a fantastic meal at a place called ' Bubba Gump', i think its just on Times Sqaure, you HAVE you go there! There are also these cafes called 'Europa Cafe' which are lovely for breakfast and lunch

Also, if you get chance, one of the bus tours, i think its the Blue and yellow, they do a night tour, they take you over the bridge to the other side of the river, AMAZING is all i can say!!

x

Suzie&Karl:

But we did have a fantastic meal at a place called ' Bubba Gump'

I second this one! OH and I went to Bubba Gump on our last night in NY. Yum YUM YUUUUUUM!!

We went to Ground Zero and had a tour from a proper New Yorker - it was really interesting to get a first hand experience from someone who was there on the day and she gave a great tour.

Apart from that I would agree with all the other suggestions. We did Empire State in the day and Top of the rock in the evening (no queues!)

It is such a great place. Have a fab time!

I'd have suggested a lot of what other people have already done so won't repeat. Except to say that John's Pizzeria is fab.

I definitely recommend going to see a show though, it's a fantastic experience.

But mostly, walk, look, take it all in, it's amazing.