Suggested places to see in NY

[Aza1972]

G'day folks,

 

We are a family of Aussies visiting New York for a few days and was wondering if anyone can suggest must do's and must sees ?

 

So far we are planning on seeing the usual like Ground Zero, Statue of Liberty, Times Square, Empire State, Rockerfeller Centre, Central Park and Yankee Stadium as well as perhaps a Wed morning Gospel Church tour.

 

We are time limited as we arrive 1230pm Monday and depart 4pm Thursday. We will also be dragging 6 kids aged 16, 14, 14, 14, 12 and 1 plus grandma 69years,

 

Any advice would be appreciated.

 

Aaron

[138east]

Could you provide more details? Exact dates? Where are you staying in NYC?

 

Are you arriving by plane? Which airport? The times sound good, but if you're flying, you need to allow time for transfers and possibly customs and immigration as well as time zone changes.

[culinarc]

Just a few more ideas if you can work it in:

 

While at rock center go to top of the rock. The elevator ride is cool and the views are great.

 

I would suggest a museum as there are some great ones. The Guggenheim, Museum of Natural History, and The Mertropolitan Museum of Art are my favorites and have something for everyone even teenagers.

 

While at the Statue of Liberty make some time for Ellis Island. Better than the statue to me.

 

Take the E train to West 4th street downtown. This puts you in Greenwich Village. Eat some great pizza and you are within walking distance of SOHO and Little Italy. Fun area to get a real NYC feel. Shop, people watch, eat etc...

 

St. Patricks Cathedral is across from rock center. Gotta check it out.

 

Take a walk over the Brooklyn Bridge also check out South Street Seaport while you are there.

 

Grand Central Terminal is worth a look see.

 

Plenty more if you need. Have fun!

[AlFrank]

G'day folks,

 

We are a family of Aussies visiting New York for a few days and was wondering if anyone can suggest must do's and must sees ?

 

So far we are planning on seeing the usual like Ground Zero, Statue of Liberty, Times Square, Empire State, Rockerfeller Centre, Central Park and Yankee Stadium as well as perhaps a Wed morning Gospel Church tour.

 

We are time limited as we arrive 1230pm Monday and depart 4pm Thursday. We will also be dragging 6 kids aged 16, 14, 14, 14, 12 and 1 plus grandma 69years,

 

Any advice would be appreciated.

 

Aaron

A fun place to get a bite to eat is Eataly, it's Mario Bataley's place. On the idea of an upscale cafeteria but they do have a few sit-down places. Wide range of food. Also, not sure if it still is necessary but when we went to ground zero we need tickets. We had to order them ahead, no cost but this was how they did crowd control.

[pizzalady1]

A fun place to get a bite to eat is Eataly, it's Mario Bataley's place. On the idea of an upscale cafeteria but they do have a few sit-down places. Wide range of food. Also, not sure if it still is necessary but when we went to ground zero we need tickets. We had to order them ahead, no cost but this was how they did crowd control.

 

The 911 Memorial no longer require tickets ahead of time. If you want to go to the museum, you can buy those tickets on-line or when you get there.

[marco]

I'd pick up any NYC guide book and plan your adventure in advance. Something I might say "don't miss", someone else might say "don't bother". There is soooooo much to see and do in the city, you really have to base it on your interests. Maybe schedule a "planning party" and one evening all of you get together with a guide book or two and plan your self guided tour. Subways are easy to use and inexpensive and can get you all over the city. (though just walking the streets and happening upon something is fun, too) There are many, many, many very good, inexpensive ethnic restaurants all over the city. Dining in the city can be an adventure in itself, I'd try to avoid the chains and pricier well known "tourist" restaurants.

[138east]

I'd pick up any NYC guide book and plan your adventure in advance. Something I might say "don't miss", someone else might say "don't bother". There is soooooo much to see and do in the city, you really have to base it on your interests. Maybe schedule a "planning party" and one evening all of you get together with a guide book or two and plan your self guided tour. Subways are easy to use and inexpensive and can get you all over the city. (though just walking the streets and happening upon something is fun, too) There are many, many, many very good, inexpensive ethnic restaurants all over the city. Dining in the city can be an adventure in itself, I'd try to avoid the chains and pricier well known "tourist" restaurants.

 

This is a great idea - particularly with all your teenagers. I "negotiated" several two family land trips in the US Southwest and the UK that involved 4 children. We made lists of the options and asked the kids to rank them in order of what they most wanted to see and promised to try to include at least one of their top choices. The US results were interesting. Carlsbad Caverns was at the top of the list (good choice) as well as Four Corners, which is the intersection of Arizona, New Mexico, Utah, and Colorado (tourist trap). The other family went to Las Vegas and our kids picked the Grand Canyon. Everyone felt enfranchised with a stake in the action and it made for a much smoother trip.

[Got2Cruise]

Your wish list is doable. Arrange to visit a different section of the city each day. Statute of Liberty and World Trade Center are located in lower Manhattan. You might have time to fit in walking the Brooklyn Bridge. Midtown is Times Square Empire State and Rockefeller Center. I would consider a Broadway Show. Harlem is uptown and you could also go a little further down and visit Central Park or visit the Cloisters which is way uptown Yankee Stadium is a subway ride uptown into the Bronx. Look at Google Maps it is great to see what is close by.

[Desert Cruizers]

pizzalady, if you know the day & time your planning on seeing the Museum & Memorial would it be best to buy our tickets ahead of time. We will be limited on time so unfortunately won't have a lot of time to spend in NYC but our primary interest is the 9/11 Museum & Memorial. We have seen many of the landmark sites already.

Edited August 14, 2014 by Desert Cruizers

[bob-a]

Surprised no one noted it, but I always suggest to friends going to NYC for the 1st time to go on the Circle Line tour around Manhattan. Its @3.5hrs, but gives the most comprehensive intro to the City, great views of the Statue of Liberty, etc.

Departs from about 44th St on the Hudson - just google Circle Line

[Rocketlady]

We wanted to see the 9/11 memorial while in NJ. We are staying at the Embassy Hotel near airport (Newark, N.J.). What expenses would we have and it is a hassle to even do? Not talking about the museum but just getting there?

 

Been to NY city before and had fun after we got there and stayed in a hotel (in NY City) but we took a train from home. This time not so sure we want to deal with it all.

 

Another factor would be the weather in Jan. which is already getting me nervous about. Leaving out of Detroit. Hoping it won't be another 2014

year.

[138east]

What exact date are you doing this? PATH from Newark to WTC has weekend closures through 2014 and possibly into early 2015. How many people are you?

 

In the winter I would probably consider spending the money to take a cab from Embassy Suites to Newark Penn Station (about $25) and then take PATH directly to the World Trade Center for $2.50/pp. This would probably take close to an hour, but you would limit your outside exposure. IMO this is the least hassle.

 

To take the train and PATH you would have to take the hotel shuttle to P4, the free Airtrain to the Newark Airport station, and pay $8.25 just to ride one stop, which is why a cab is a reasonable choice. The trains run about 4 times/hour so you could wait a bit. I don't know how much indoor space is available at that station. PATH trains run more frequently.

[Parkway Shire]

We're going to be in New York in October and one of the things I wanted to do was to make the climb to the Crown on the Statue of Liberty. I was surprised at how much ahead of time you need to buy the tickets to do this.

 

The tickets seem to go on sale about three months ahead of time and you need to buy them quickly after that. Right now (mid September) they are sold out until mid November - two months out.

 

Just getting to the island and base is not to bad, but they really limit the number of tickets to go to the crown. You need to pick a specific date and time when you buy the tickets, and they are non-refundable.

[Got2Cruise]

Try viator.com and see if they offer climb to the crown tours.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

[Parkway Shire]

The packaged tours only get you to the base and pedestal. Going to the crown is more of a TSA security thing. Only individuals can buy tickets, each purchase is limited to 4 tickets, each person can visit only once in any six month period, each person must be identified at the time of purchase, the tickets cannot be mailed they must be picked up in person at the ferry site by the person that purchased them, and each person must go through a TSA type screening with ID before going to the crown.

 

I think part of this is to prevent scalping and having tour companies lock up the tickets, because they have so limited the number of tickets. The tickets are still reasonable in price, going to the crown only adds $3.00 to the cost of going to the pedestal. But it does require planning a long time ahead.

 

This is from the National Parks web site:

 

"Due to its extreme popularity, access to the crown is by advanced reservation only. Statue Cruises is the official source for crown reservations as well as the company that provides ferry transportation to the island. All reservations must be made online or by telephone.

Crown reservations are not available at the ticket offices.

Crown reservations are not available on Liberty Island."

[Parkway Shire]

Just another note. I went to the wrong web site and had to pay a service fee for each ticket. If you go directly to the "Statue Cruises" web site pointed to by the National Parks, you can avoid the service fee.

 

We also have a National Parks senior pass that let's us avoid National Park entry fees at most parks. It doesn't work here because the fees are not entry fees, they are for the ferry service and screening costs.