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First New York trip - tips, places to stay, things to see...

I would not bother with Ground Zero at all but I would consider having lunch/dinner atr Central Station. The station is beautiful with a fab choice of food/drink.
 
Cheers for the extra info!

I think we're going to do staten island ferry/statue (but not go up), top of empire state, brooklyn bridge, central park, grand central station, museum of natural history, 1-2 art galleries (any must see's?), rockafeller. She wants to visit chrysler building. We would like to visit china town/little Italy, flatiron, ground 0, theatre show, among some of the other things above, if we get time. So I'm not sure how much time these will consume or where they are in relation to each other, but don't think it's worth getting a City Pass? We will get a subway pass though!
 
The Chrysler Building - it's not open to the public past the lobby. It's really not far from the ESB and the views of it from the top of that are good. Worth going fairly close & looking up at though. Have to say my Eyewitness Guide book was invaluable on my NY holiday. And you have to have breakfast in a diner. Corned beef hash with eggs over easy ftw.
 


If at Grand Central find out about the special ceiling outside the Oyster bar, can't remember what they call it. May sound like nothing but the ceiling is a prfect parabola so you can stand in opposite corners facing tha wall and have conversation with the person in opposite corner, its very impressive and a traditional way for those in the know in NYC to propose.
 
kazza007 said:
brooklyn bridge,
grand central station,
museum of natural history,
rockafeller.
chrysler building.
china town/little Italy,
flatiron
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walk across the brooklyn bridge.
grand central really is nice, an unimaginable turnaround from what it was like when i was young. there's a bar called the Campbell Apartment you could try to visit: pricey but the drinks are powerful and it's one of those places where everyone looks fabulous just by being there. (i say "try to" because it's sometimes booked.)
the museum of natural history really is a trip. see the whale and the dioramas in that room. see all of it in fact.
there's not much in rockefeller center. it's where NBC is located, maybe you could see some TV in the making.
the chrysler looks great (more elegant than the ESB) but as someone said you can't go up it.
not much either in chinatown or little italy, these being residential districts. you could perhaps go to a restaurant in chinatown where english isn't spoken (that would be 90% of them) and try to order.
the flatiron is famous but again you can't go up it. it's not so tall anymore anyway.

EDIT oh and the talking arch in grand central station is immediately outside the oyster bar (a depressing place itself, i don't recommend it) just up the ramp from the lower concourse. you'll see people trying it. GCT pix: http://www.nyc-architecture.com/MID/MID031.htm
 
editor said:
I wouldn't recommend it as a "must see" for someone spending just five days in New York, unless they lost friends or family there.
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I think the tiles on the fence by the hospital are the best memorial.

e2a penne a la vodka seems to be served in every italian i went to. Its disgusting.
 
There is a little trick I am going to use next time I go to NYC to get to the top of the Chrysler. Situated right at the top, where the windows are triangular, is a dentist. I might just feel a toothache coming on!
2005_05_dentist-thumb.jpg
 
This was fun to read! I'm a native NYer - some of my favorite places on this list:

Fort Tryon/Cloisters
Highline
Brooklyn piers

***

aw, the squid and the whale - I spent half my childhood at the Natural History Museum (the vulture diorama is forever emblazoned on my consciousness)
 
Hello D! My mate Jim nearly got mugged at gunpoint while having a picnic by the East River this week! I'll tell you more later.
 
Someone else just asked me about what I'd recommend, so I thought I'd share my answer:

The Gershwin Hotel is a pretty good place to stay (E27th, http://www.gershwinhotel.com/ ) - it's not super cheap, but it's got a lively vibe.

If you like Brixton Albert-esque down to earth bars, then I'd recommend the Three Cups on 1st Avenue or the nearby Double Down saloon on Ave A - or the Library opposite (I went there a lot).

And if you're after some live music the Cake Shop might be worth a peek too....
 
As a recommendation for where to stay: I stayed at the Edison (West 47th Street - you could see the famous Times Square Coke bottle from the hotel window) and although the room was basic the lobby & bar were beautifully done Art Deco style with a jazz singer every night, though I'm unsure whether that's because of it being Christmas.

£80 per night; this was in '97 but was cheaper than anywhere else in the Theater District.
 
Oh, and don't forget you'll have to take out ID when you go to bars, to prove you're over 21. This applies even if you have clearly past that landmark age many, many years/decades ago.


(PS I've edited the title to make it more accessible to others)
 
Any comments on The Hudson, Ed? Just booked 7 nights there. Wasn't cheap, but cheaper available stuff wasn't much cheaper at all and looked nowhere near the quality.
 
editor said:
I would advise taking time to just soak the city in rather than embarking on a hell for leather, try-and-fit-everything-in adventure. The best views are from the street, and it's a fabulous city to walk around.
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I totally echo this. Particularly including walking through Central Park.

And I agree with going up the Rockefeller -- that's a must. An amazing view of Central Park on one side and the skyscrapers on the other.

And walk across Brooklyn Bridge and having done that and seen the brownstone houses on the other side, take a trip to Prospect Park and then over to Williamsberg. The half-day we did all that was probably my favourite bit when we went last year.
 
Brooklyn Heights is really superb - and there is an UK bar on (I think) Pacific St that does beans on toast , Marmite etc and good English beer if you get all homesick .......
 
NY touristy stuff is horrible. I gave up on the empire state building after cuing for an hour and not even getting to the lifts. I sold my tickets to some guys in the ticket line which by that time was about 30 minutes long in itself.

Liberty? Pah, probably boring. Get the free staten island ferry and chug past it. The parks nice, and there are a few nice guitar shops but the Forbidden planet is worse than Croydons.
 
Got back yesterday, really enjoyed it...went to rockerfeller (top of rock), SoL ferry trip (paid one, free stopped running), MoMA, brooklyn bridge, walked around meatpacking district (saw the disused rail line and superb views from the highline), some of soho/chelsea/greenwich village, flatiron, central park, grand central station, walked around, got lost, walked and got lost again. Stayed here http://www.cassahotelny.com/ got upgraded to exec, staff superb, infact people were generally friendly apart from 1 or 2 exceptions
 
kazza007 said:
Got back yesterday, really enjoyed it...went to rockerfeller (top of rock), SoL ferry trip (paid one, free stopped running), MoMA, brooklyn bridge, walked around meatpacking district (saw the disused rail line and superb views from the highline), some of soho/chelsea/greenwich village, flatiron, central park, grand central station, walked around, got lost, walked and got lost again. Stayed here http://www.cassahotelny.com/ got upgraded to exec, staff superb, infact people were generally friendly apart from 1 or 2 exceptions
Click to expand...

How was the weather? Looking pretty poor for us but we're not going to sunbathe, so not too bothered
 
Not too great, first day was very warm, then turned largely cool, with the odd shower on one of the days, but there were the odd bursts of sun. Was a slight dampener, as I;d expected it to be warmer and only took 1 top and a thin jacket amongst lots of shirts.
 
I went in the last few days of October last year and was expecting it to be similar to the UK. I arrived wearing boots/jeans/coat and what I needed was shorts & T-shirt for the first few days before it settled back to normal autumn weather.
 
I have been several time is first week of march and nearly always had snow. One year was about 10 below, next day we were wearing shorts!!
 
When I visited New York I took a great class at ----. I learned how to use my camera better and took amazing pictures of the city skyline. It was something fun and different from just "sightseeing"
 
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