What are your New York "must see's"

[jacs1234]

I'm going with my mum (if I get enough money) at the end of the year. I've not done any research on New York and I was wondering what you girls consider "must see's".

 

[becpee]

My must sees?

Statue of Liberty
Empire State Building
Brooklyn Bridge
FAO Schwarz and Toys R Us
Magnolia Bakery
Carlo's Bakery (see the theme here? )
Central Park horse and carriage ride
9/11 memorial
Museum of natural history


I'll add as I think of them

 

[battymum]

There is a list of must see things to tick off - I have done that now, and cant wait to go back to just "be there" and absorb all the atmosphere without running from one attraction to the next.

Statue of Liberty
Central Park
Empire State
Rockefeller Centre
Times Square (M&M world, Toys R Us)
Museums (take your pick, there are a lot to choose from)
Broadway Shows
Baseball
Brooklyn Bridge

are all the top tourist sites.

 

[BecBennett]

Central park
time square
shopping (there's a lolly store that we go to, but I can't remember what it's called...)

It's not really a must see, more of a must do - learn how the subway works - getting every where is so much easier once you've cracked it

 

[Anne_Aus]

Central Park
Serendipity 3
Broadway shows + off broadway shows
Eat in Hells Kitchen
Food on foot tour
Brooklyn Bridge
Wander around and get lost
Catch the subway
Carlos and Magnolia Bakery - Plus Georgetown Cupcakes have just opened a NYC location so that would be on my now to do list
Top of the Rock
Statue of Liberty
9/11 Memorial

My list is really endless I loved that city

 

[Melbourne5]

From one of the boys

Central park walking/playgrounds/ horse and carriage
Broadway show
Walking/people watching in times square ( m&m world, Disney shop, toys r us)
Hudson river/ statue of liberty cruise
30 rock- viewing plus shops nearby ( Lego, Nintendo , FAO Schwarz )
9/11 memorial

 

[Kangarucci]

Dylan's Candy Store?

 

[Ms. Shuttergirl]

Everything that everyone has listed are the must sees!!!! Esp baseball at Yankees stadium, a definite must see.

But I 100% agree with Battymum that once you've checked those things off your list - just enjoying the place, people watching, soaking up the atmosphere, finding local delis, talking to everyone, listening to all of the different languages and accents as you walk through Times Square at night.

It's one of those places that you just can't get enough of. We went in 2009 for 5 nights, in 2010 for 6 nights and now we are going back this Dec for 9 nights and I know it still won't be enough for our family.

It is an awesome place and you are going to love it.

 

[shushh]

Jacs from memory you're into photography? If so then the NY B&H store is worth visiting! Just drop by when you go to Macy's.

To add to the others that have already been listed is High line Park. Something quite unusual. While you're there grab a bite at Pastis, and hopefully spot a star or two.

 

[Kangarucci]

Another one for B and H.

 

[jacs1234]

Thanks girls and boy

So far we are planning to do the statue of liberty and a cruise,
eat at the view on thanksgiving
watch the Macy's parade
The m & m store
fao shwarz
A broadway show, I'm hoping the Lion king will still be playing
A carriage ride around central park
Central park and eating lunch at the boathouse
Shopping of course
The empire state building
Top of the rock
Hopefully some iceskating at central park or rockerfella centre
Mum wants to eat at a cafe that's in "You've got mail" (can't remember it's name)

I will check out those bakeries,
I need a hot dog from a street vendor lol
Didn't think of the 9/11 memorial
and will consider getting lost lol

So is it worth seeing both Toy's are us and Fao Shwarz?

I'm afraid that I won't be able to afford anything in B&H as all my money will be sucked into the trip itself.

 

[becpee]

So far we are planning to do the statue of liberty and a cruise

I read somewhere that they're doing a bit of a refurb on Lady Liberty in coming months (Fall) so you won't be able to go up into the crown
I'm spewing, you might just get past it...

 

[battymum]

becpee,

I think you will find that was last year, pretty sure it closed in late October, just after we visited - she turned 125 that month and they waited until after that.

You can still go to the island and pretty sure you can tour inside the pedestal - there is quite an interesting display.

If you choose to go to the island you have to get tickets from statuecruises.com - its best to go as early as possible - there can be long lines and you have to go through 2 x airport security - take off belts, jackets, hats, search your bags - can be a right pain!!

But no you cant climb the crown anymore.

 

[alicia1506]

i second all the things already listed here.

one of the things we really liked was doing the hop on/hop off tour... you don't have to hop off, we used it as a way of getting around town above ground (cheaper than taxis and not as confusing as the subway system) but the tour guides are funny and tell you things about the locations/building/history of new york that you won't find elsewhere... it's also a bit of a touristy thing to do, but you will also get some amazing photos from up top those big double decker buses and sometimes it's nice to get off your feet and sit back and just enjoy the view

if you do the hop on/hop off tour, we used grayline tours (the red buses) and did their 72 hour tour, which included the downtown/uptown/brooklyn/night tour and included entry to Top of the Rock and the Statue of Liberty cruise. we really cannot wait to get back to NYC as it's such a fabulous city

 

[WAMUMOF4]

When we climbed the statue of Liberty the guy at the top told us it was closing so they could put a lift in so they could bring more people up in an hour.

jacs1234 if you can afford to stay at Double tree times square i would have to say that is a must do on our list on top of everything everyone else has listed as well as eating at Bubba gumps with a Times Square view.

 

[Luisa]

Dylan's Candy
M&M World
Hershey store (there's a theme here.....)
Empire State at night
Rockefeller for ice skating and the Christmas tree and lights
Central Park for more skating
Museum of Natural History
Guggenheim museum
Botanical Gardens in the Bronx (they have a holiday train show thats surprisingly fun - toy trains going around well known New York architecture created out of plant material)
9/11 Memorial
Grand Central station (great for photos and people watching)
Intrepid (if you have any interest in air/sea craft and the war - I liked it)

Last time I was there I also came across a couple of Christmas markets, no idea where they were but there was a lot of fabulous handmade things to buy - I just discovered them while wandering.

I'm not a basketball fan but went to the NBA store for my brothers and was blown away by the size of the store and volume of stuff they sell. The Disney store was also fabulous but I believe its changed since I was there in 2009 and is now even better, looking forward to checking it out myself in December.

Have a great time, New York is definitely one of those cities with something for everyone - you can't help but have a fantastic time there.

 

[DizOz]

My top five things we did were:

1. Statue of Liberty - we climbed to the crown (Hard work but worth doing once) Limited tickets that sell out fast so book online early.
2. Yankee Stadium - Watch a game just a fantastic experience
3. Bus Tours both uptown and down town were great and so many interesting tid bits of info.
4. People watching in Time Square. Just sitting on the staircase was great.
5. Tour of Madison Square garden. You get to every part, both stadiums, superboxes and changing rooms

 

[BecBennett]

Dylan's Candy Store?

Yeah that could be it... It was better then the small one in fao schwartz.

Where's the High Line Park?

 

[slugguts]

Just wondering if any of you have used the New York pass to visit NY attractions?? Seems good value.
Will be in NY early June for two days and looking to buy pass to cover attractions- can do up to 70 different attractions
Rgds
Slugguts

 

[AussiePrince]

My wife and I were in NYC back in September 2010 for 8 nights/9 days, and loved every second of it.

The first two days we did a 48 hour hop on hop off bus which was great fun, saw downtown, uptown, and a side tour of Brooklyn.

Then we had a New York Pass for the next 7 days and did a lot of the attractions on their program which made it well worth it. We liked Top of the Rock better than Empire State, the uninhibited view is much better. You can see all of Central Park, and get great photos of the Empire State.

We were disappointed with the Bronx Zoo, yes its huge but thats mainly because its so spread out, and the fact you have to pay extra for certain areas was poor. We had a much better time at the Central Park Zoo, maybe we were just lucky but we got some great footage of a seal coming right up to us close enough to touch noses, and of the polar bears playing with sticks and getting fed. Given the long subway trek out to the Bronx, I would rather recommend a stroll through Central Park to their Zoo.

Also highly recommended is the Food On Foot tours, we did a sweet tooth tour mainly through the lower east side and it was fantastic. Our tour guide gave us a bunch of different restaurants to try near our hotel and was just genuinely a nice guy.

We are going back with four family and friends in July/August for another 9 nights and cant wait to get back to the atmosphere there.

One other thing, if you want to get some cheap Broadway tickets and are gonna try your luck at the TKTS booth, try the one downtown near the Brooklyn Bridge, its nowhere near as busy as the Times Square one and you can also buy tickets for the following days matinee.