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New York tips

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Neilds

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In July I am taking Mrs S to New York for her **th birthday. We are doing the usual tourist things - Empire State, Statue of Liberty, Twin Towers memorial, baseball, Broadway theatre but was wondering if anyone had any 'insider' tips on any other must see attractions that may not be in the usual guide books.
we are staying just of Broadway, between Central Park and Times Square so can get to most parts of Manhatten

cheers in advance
 
Another for TOTR - best view in NY, plus you get pic's of Empire state building behind you, but itf it's your first visit, do them both. You simply can't go to NY and not to the ESB (pre-book, go early, miss the queues).

Staten Island ferry goes straight past Liberty Island to get a good view / pics without actually stopping, plus it's free!

Broadway - check out the TKTS offices (https://www.tdf.org/nyc/7/TKTS-ticket-booths) for tickets to performances that night. We went to see Mary Poppins (brilliant!) with top seats at about half the billed price. As a side tip, they have an office at Times Square (busy) and one down at the South Seaport (quieter), this one is just round the corner from where the ferry's leave for Liberty and Staten Island, so we did the ferry in the AM and went to the office for tickets about 30mins before it opened.

Look at the jump on / off open top buses. Great for getting about, we used Grey Line.

Walk the brooklyn bridge, cycle through central park (go there on a sunday, they pretty much shut the park to traffic), Guggenheim, The Met, dinner at Loeb's in central park.... there's so much stuff to do, easily too much for your 1st visit so make a list of what's important for you to see and try to get as much of that ticked off.

Oh aye, shopping at Macy's or Bloomingdales, take your passport to the Customer Support desk, they'll give you a discount card which pretty much knocks off any sales tax stuff or 10% discount of other.

*Edit* - Totally forgot, in Hells Kitchen there's a place called 5 Napkin Burger. Simply the best burger I've had in my life and is the first thing I look at booking into whenever I'm off to NY!
 
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The two lesser visitors but still well known parks that are a must walk are Battery Park (famous for many movie scenes of people running along the waterfront) and Riverside Park, the latter is very picturesque and peaceful.
Five Points is an interesting historical place but one to be careful around.
 
As has been mentioned the Staten Island ferry gives you great views and is free. The Brooklyn Bridge is good to take a walk over, the diamond district is interesting. Grand Central Station is spectacular, soho and the meat packing district are good to wander round, you must go up the Empire state Building (go at night), Smith and Wolenski are a good steakhouse restaurant.
 
We ordered one of these before we went (https://www.newyorkpass.com/En/) you just have to collect it from the office in NY, pretty central.

Gets you access to Empire State & Top of the Rock (id recommend one in the morning before it gets busy and one at night so everything's lit up. We did Empire State at about 8am, less queues, and Top of the Rock at about 10pm).

NYP also gives you 9/11 Memorial entrance. There is also a hop on hop off bus, which was great as you can do sightseeing and get off at the different stops and just pick it up somewhere else. Also get a single trip on the ferry which goes around statton island.

Hidden gem for me was the Ghostbusters fire station, we had to go off piste for that, but worth it.
 
would recommend one of the free guided walks (tipping the guide is optional but trust me the value they give, you will not feel begrudged to tip at the end) you can go on, just goggle them and read the Trip Advisor reviews, we have done a couple the guide was extremely knowledgeable and entertaining, great way to see parts of the city like wall street area,
 
Dont by scared of using the subway it's the cheapest, fastest and most economical way to get around.

Greenwich Village is fascinating to walk around, visit Chelseas Market whilst down there
Have a walk along the Highline but do it in the morning before it gets really busy.
Spend a bit of time in Chinatown, another fascinating place
Washington Square Park is another iconic park as is Tompkins Square Park which is great for people watching if thats your thing.

If you want you could try for a big apple greeter, they'll take you anywhere you want http://bigapplegreeter.org/

Food wise.

Front St Pizza in DUMBO over the Brooklyn bridge is very good, 5 Napkin Burger is good but not as good as the one in Boston for burgers the best we had was in Minetta Tavern in Greenwich Village, unbelievable flavours. We fould this on a friends recommendation. Steak wise nothing beats Keans, it is simply superb and I've ate in a few in NY. You have Katz Deli where THAT scene from When Harry, met Sally was filmed, food is decent but selection would confuse a scientist. Best breakfast bagels ive tried are Murrays Bagels, they have 2 shops but try the original shop. You wont go hungry thats for sure.

New York is an amazing place.
 
If you are anywhere near the Upper West Side, you have to go to "Big Nicks Burger Joint"
or next door if you prefer, "Big Nicks Pizza Joint"
Simply the best grub anywhere.

Everywhere previously mentioned is well worth a visit.
Ellis Island was good and we also took a helicopter flight over Liberty.
All the World Trade Centre Memorial is a must see too
 
I would ignore the advice to not stop off and go up the statue of liberty, its well worth walking around it.

Book well in advance and get tickets to go up to the top of the crown - you will NOT get tickets on the day for this as it sells out well in advance.

another vote for Top of the Rock, much better than ESB (but its still very good).
 
I was going to suggest Pier 17 as you could get some great photos of Brooklyn Bridge from the end. However, after just having a quick Google I wouldn't bother as it would seem that it has been pulled down. Shame as there were some nice independent eateries there instead of the mAssive chains.

If you like eating shrimps then try Bubba Bumps in Times Sqare.
 
srixon 1 said:
I was going to suggest Pier 17 as you could get some great photos of Brooklyn Bridge from the end. However, after just having a quick Google I wouldn't bother as it would seem that it has been pulled down. Shame as there were some nice independent eateries there instead of the mAssive chains.

If you like eating shrimps then try Bubba Bumps in Times Sqare.
Click to expand...

Pier 17 is being refurbished and has been since the damage it got during Hurricane Sandy. South St Seaport which is between Pier 17 and Fulton St still has a few shops worth visiting, there is a nice Irish Bar a few hundreds yards away just off Fulton St, Ryan Maguires
 
srixon 1 said:
I was going to suggest Pier 17 as you could get some great photos of Brooklyn Bridge from the end. However, after just having a quick Google I wouldn't bother as it would seem that it has been pulled down. Shame as there were some nice independent eateries there instead of the mAssive chains.

If you like eating shrimps then try Bubba Bumps in Times Sqare.
Click to expand...

That should read Bubba Gumps. Stupid auto correct.
 
Val said:
Pier 17 is being refurbished and has been since the damage it got during Hurricane Sandy. South St Seaport which is between Pier 17 and Fulton St still has a few shops worth visiting, there is a nice Irish Bar a few hundreds yards away just off Fulton St, Ryan Maguires
Click to expand...

I didn't know about the damage. According to the web it should be re-opening sometime this year.
 
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