NYC first and only visit

[luvsvacation]

looking for advice. We are visiting NYC next summer as part of a 3 week east coast road trip. We'll have 3 full days in NYC along with an evening. I have several things I want to do but I'm not sure if the best order and what to put with what on which days.

Evening only, pretty well set on this, planning a Broadway show, walking around Times Square and Carlos Bakery for DD 15.

First full day, pretty set here too unless it's too much. Want to do the Statie of Liberty (crown), 9/11 memorial, not museum just outdoors, and walk across the Brooklyn Bridge.

This leaves 2 full days for these activities...

Empire State Building

Carriage ride through Central Park

Top of the Rock (at night)

Rockefeller Center

NBC studio tour

Dessert at Serendipity

Anything else that's cant miss???

Thanks for any help!!!

 

[mjkacmom]

Walk the High Line, your 15 year old would probably like Sugar Factory, get off the ferry at Ellis Island, Museum of Natural History, Central Park (I'm not a fan of carriage rides), tenament museum, Eataly... Map out everything you want to see, and plan your days from there. Do not eat at any chain restaurants.

 

[Party.Of.4-NY>>>FL]

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[Nancyg56]

My 14 YO DGD loved The Ride!

 

[BrinkofSunshine]

You can skip the ESB if you're doing Top of the Rock, which is generally considered the better view anyway.

I'd also consider skipping the carriage ride... the horses are treated horribly (one collapsed in the street a few weeks ago), and seeing Central Park by foot is just as charming and much, much cheaper!

I'm almost positive you can only make reservations at Serendipity in person, and the waits can be long (asked a few weeks ago and it was 2 hours).. Maybe drop by there first and then walk to Central Park for a bit, or take the Roosevelt Island tram, which is right next door, for an awesome and cheap view of the city by air.

 

[Soldier's*Sweeties]

I would leave some time to just wander/shop/eat. That's my favorite thing to do when I'm down there.

 

[bcla]

United Nations.

http://visit.un.org/

 

[Nancyg56]

I would leave some time to just wander/shop/eat. That's my favorite thing to do when I'm down there.

We do that as well. My DGD loves a weekend in the city and we do try to make the most of it, but wandering is a great pastime for us.

 

[shoney]

Since the NBC studio tour and top of the rock are in the same place, I would do it together, in the morning.

If you want a night viewing, go to ESB, they are open pretty late!
top of the rock is newer and more modern. They can move more people at a time so generally less of a wait. TofR will give you great views of ESB, but you may still want the iconic view from ESB so do both.

Do you really want to go to the crown of the statue? I was only there once on a second grade trip and I remember walking and walking up tons of steps to look and walk back down. Wasn't that interesting and never went back. YMMV. I would go on the Beast boat ride. Leaves by the intrepid museum .... 30 minute high speed boat ride that takes you right up to her for great pics.

Years ago we went on a food walking tour through Greenwich village and loved it. Great history with snacks! There are so many different themed ones now...pizza, chocolate, cupcakes etc.... I suggest doing something like this to take you out of the crazy touristy areas.

 

[wilkeliza]

Got to say I've been to Serendipity and I don't get the appeal. I went for my niece's birthday and it felt dirty and cramped. The food was hardly edible.

Also the Carlos Bakery in Times Square is not the original one and is hit or miss. The real one would require a day trip to Hoboken, NJ.

The rest of your list could be fit into 1 day. Do Empire State Building in the morning to get your iconic view then head to Central Park and walk around. Get the later NBC studio (should be at like 2 during the week 5 on weekends) and then after the tour walk around Rockefeller and then do Top of the Rock. If you want more time at Central Park then do that on day 2.

 

[scottmel]

My DD17 and I did Adventures By Disney NYC Dreams trip last July and loved it. Some things we loved were THE RIDE, 9/11 museum was excellent, Tenament Museum loved. We did Top of new world trade center..it was ok...but I think just one place with a view is all you need to see the city so I would pick this...We also hired MUSEUM HACK to tour Natural History museum with us and they made it a lot of fun. We loved walking thru Central Park to get to the museum and had a really good burger at Shake Shack after. Definately did some shopping as well. I feel like we did a ton in 5 days - some things I never would have thought to try and loved

 

[elgerber]

My dd and I loved Serendipity. That said, we got there about 25 minutes before they opened and got in line, so we were able to get in the first round of seating. I would not go later than that, and wait a couple of hours.

 

[luvsvacation]

Thank you all so much for the great advice so far!! Going to get rid of Serendipity, I had no idea there was a huge wait. Looking into Eataly (love Italian food) and Sugar Factory!

Thanks for the heads up on Carlos Bakery. We are staying in NJ so we'll check out the one there instead. We are staying a week and doing NYC every other day and going other places as well. I didn't want 4 days in a row of NYC. So we can do the bakery on non NY day.

I want to do TofR and ESB both. Would like to do one during the day and one at night.

I know people don't like the crown of the Statue of Liberty but it's something I did as a kid while visiting an aunt in PA and I have fond memories of the spiral staircase. To show just how long ago, my cousins and I actually ran up to the top twice that day! We will definitely do Ellis Island as well!

We will not be eating at any chain places while we're there! Strange as it sounds I'm really looking forward to getting a hot dog from a street vendor

We live in the Midwest, in the subarbs so we are looking forward to trying new thing. I'll be 40 next summer and I have never taken a subway or a taxi, I've always had a car, we don't even have public transportation.

 

[jevs]

We're going to NYC soon and I've found these guys. If you scroll right down there are self guided tours including a Central Park one. I would avoid the carriage ride like the plague for reasons already mentioned.

http://www.freetoursbyfoot.com/new-york-tours/tour-calendar/#tours

 

[clori]

I don't know the current status of Ellen's Stardust because I heard they are holding signs outside (no idea if it is a strike) but we love going to Ellen's Stardust for breakfast with the singing waitstaff. It is cheaper and better food than later in the day. DD16 and I loved The Ride. We just tried Serendipity - it was over an hour wait and it requires a minimum of $10 per person. Personally we wasted most of the desserts. We loved Shake Shack at the Natural History Museum but hated the one in Boston. Carlos Bakery was empty when we went but only because we had some time before we got our bus out of Port Authority. It was fine but no big deal. I would only go in your in the area which you will be.

We really enjoyed the walking tour we did of Wall ST even though I wasn't looking forward to it. The UN Tour was interesting. Last visit when we did Serendipity I realized my girls don't remember doing the Roosevelt Island tram (their uncle used to live nearby) so we took it again. You might enjoy the Radio City Hall tour where you meet a Rockette. My daughter who loves m&m's can spend too much time at the M&Ms store in Times Square. If you have middle school aged kids the National Museum of Mathematics is fun.

 

[AnnaFloridaLover]

I would do Top of the Rock in the day and Empire State Building at night if you are going to do both. To pick one, I prefer Top of the Rock. Again, as mentioned, I would skip the crown but if your heart is set on it, that's cool. I prefer do do a cruise around the harbour. Walk the streets, eye candy everywhere.

Please do not do the carriage ride around Central Park. There is nothing romantic or sweet about riding in a carriage driven by abused, neglected, overworked and therefore decrepit horses. There's nothing stopping you from a leisurely stroll through the park. Save your money and go see a show. Wicked is awesome!

 

[luvsvacation]

I see several people saying not to do the carriage ride. I've never done one anywhere before, but have seen them several places. Are the ones in New York particularly bad or is it just horse drawn carriage rides in general? We usually do horseback riding on vacations, this summer we did a ride in Rocky Mtn Natl Park, last summer the Smokey Mountains and the summer before Bryce Canyon in Utah. Never done a carriage ride but thought it would be a fun way to incorporate horses in NYC and see Central Park. I had no idea there was controversy surrounding them...are there any good companies or are they all bad??

 

[bcla]

I see several people saying not to do the carriage ride. I've never done one anywhere before, but have seen them several places. Are the ones in New York particularly bad or is it just horse drawn carriage rides in general? We usually do horseback riding on vacations, this summer we did a ride in Rocky Mtn Natl Park, last summer the Smokey Mountains and the summer before Bryce Canyon in Utah. Never done a carriage ride but thought it would be a fun way to incorporate horses in NYC and see Central Park. I had no idea there was controversy surrounding them...are there any good companies or are they all bad??

Sure there's controversy. Some say it's cruel to keep horses like this in a city as well as allowing them on busy city streets outside of Central Park. The regs don't allow the horses to work if the temps are above 88 deg F or under 19 deg F. Most of the operators claim that their horses are well treated.

Personally I feel it's pretty simple duty for a working animal that could probably pull five times the weight. I've taken my kid on similar rides in Sacramento, where there are similar protests. We just did a simple loop around Old Sac, which cost $10.

 

[kellyanderson]

We spent a quick weekend at NYC. We hit Times Square and then took The Ride. This was a fun way to explore and learn about the city.

 

[AnnaFloridaLover]

I see several people saying not to do the carriage ride. I've never done one anywhere before, but have seen them several places. Are the ones in New York particularly bad or is it just horse drawn carriage rides in general? We usually do horseback riding on vacations, this summer we did a ride in Rocky Mtn Natl Park, last summer the Smokey Mountains and the summer before Bryce Canyon in Utah. Never done a carriage ride but thought it would be a fun way to incorporate horses in NYC and see Central Park. I had no idea there was controversy surrounding them...are there any good companies or are they all bad??

A quick google search can show lots of information but here is one link:http://www.humanesociety.org/issues/carriage_horses/?referrer=https://www.google.ca/