New York, NY

The city that never sleeps. The Statue of Liberty. Times Square. The Empire of State Building, Central Park (and the museums around it). Grand Central Station. Broadway. The Brooklyn Bridge. Different experiences after six trips over the last 20+ years. My favorite place in the world. I’m never going to have enough of NYC.

New York City has everything. This may be said about many cities around the world, but there has to be a reason why it’s considered the world’s capital by many. Right?

One of the first things to understand, if you’ve never been there, is that New York City is divided into five areas, or boroughs: Manhattan, Brooklyn, The Bronx, Queens, and Staten Island. Manhattan is the most popular and frequented one, but also the smallest. If you can, try visiting the other boroughs, for a change.

I always advise taking a tour bus if it’s your first time in town. There are many companies that offer double-decker bus tours, admission discounts for many touristic places, and/or detailed booklets that will make things much easier for the tourist who wants to go straight to the most popular landmarks, museums, and sightseeing spots.

I recommend the New York Pass because I’ve had good experiences with it, but you may want to do a little more research to find what’s best for you. Always consider the weather before riding the double-decker bus (it may be too cold or too much sun to ride upstairs). Be strategic when it comes to choose where to go. You will NOT have enough time to do everything, so try to make your itinerary as time-efficient as possible. 

For those who may want a different kind of trip, it is still a good idea to try a tour bus ride at least once. This way, you can start recognizing the different areas of the city before walking up/down Manhattan or taking the subway. Taxis are quite expensive and the bus system is not so easy to understand, but both options may be fast and convenient depending on what you need.

As usual, it is a good idea to plan in advance, depending on the interests of the travelers, whether it’s shopping, sightseeing, partying, or the usual landmark visiting. What would you like to do in New York City? Depending on this, the number of days, hotel/hostel location, and budget will vary. A lot.

Staying outside of Manhattan may save you some money, and it will allow you to get to know other quieter, less densely-populated areas, such as Brooklyn or Queens. I lived in Woodside, Queens for a couple of months and it was very nice, but walking around the area at late hours was not recommended by the residents.

The subway will take you to Manhattan in about 20-30 minutes from surrounding areas, such as Queens, Brooklyn or Yonkers, but it’s a journey you will have to do back and forth, so keep that in mind before you consider booking somewhere out of Manhattan. It’s also a good idea to be informed about the nearby stores, shops, and safety-related info of the area where you will be staying, as well as to know how to get around the city (subway stations, bus timelines).

Manhattan, on the other hand, is noisy, busy, and more expensive, but moving around will be much easier if you stay inbound, as the subway can get you almost anywhere fast enough. Here, you will experience the real thing, what you see in the movies and want to get to know. The first three times I went, I stayed in the same hotel between Times Square and Central Park and it was very convenient: The Wellington Hotel. In my experience, I’ve found New York to be quite safe in comparison to other big cities. I’ve walked through Manhattan by myself after midnight several times and never had any issue, but it never hurts to be careful.

Museums are mostly around or near Central Park (uptown). Some of them are the Metropolitan (also known as The Met), the Museum of Natural History, the Museum of Modern Arts (MoMA) and the Guggenheim. In Central Park, you can also find a zoo, the John Lennon memorial, extensive fields and roads to rest, ride a bike or just walk around. It’s huge and it drastically changes depending on the time of the year. Central Park will look (and feel) completely different whether if it’s summer or winter.

You can walk past Grand Central Station, Radio City Music Hall and the Rockefeller Center (and the stores nearby) on your way south, coming from Central Park. Other famous landmarks include the Chrysler and the Flatiron Building, as well as the legendary Madison Square Garden. There are literally thousands of public parks and meeting points, such as Union Square and Washington Square Park. Also, I prefer the Top of the Rock Observation Deck over the Empire State because it’s more spacious, usually less crowded, and there are no bars, but going up to both of them are experiences you may want to fit in your itinerary.

Broadway’s theaters and Times Square are just below Central Park. From that point, you will have sixty blocks to walk up and down, and more than a dozen avenues to move left to right, before you get to Houston St. (pronounced ‘HOW-sten’), a big street that divides the numbered streets up to the north, and the streets with names down to the south. Just below Houston St. you can find the Rockwood Music Hall, a nice place to see live music every day. You can pay a small admission fee per artist, grab a beer, and enjoy different genres, musical ensembles, and moods.

I remember some other places I grew fond of, such as The Thirteen Step, a bar frequented by young people and the ocassional traveler, where you can find low-priced drinks. In the Pizza Pub I could get a cheese pizza slice and a pint of beer for 5 dollars, but the last time I went to NYC I couldn’t find it. There’s also Rudy’s, where you get a free hot dog for every beer or shot. This is of course, for people traveling in a budget, like I usually am. If you don’t mind spending more, there is an infinite amount of places throughout the city that will offer you any kind of entertainment or service. 

I also enjoyed cocktails at Faces and Names, which is close to Times Square, and partying in Pacha, which I heard, closed permanently. I met one of the most gorgeous women I have talked to while hanging out at Le Poisson Rouge. The first time I sang in front of people was at Wicked Willy’s. The last time I was in Manhattan I went three days in the same week to Coyote Ugly. I’m aware I haven’t been in most of the coolest places to party in this city, but what I’ve experienced so far has been good enough. Hands down.       

From that point on, you’ll get to the Soho, Lower Manhattan, and Downtown, where there is much more to see, including the Charging Bull, the One WTC and 9/11 Memorial. There is simply no way to summarize this enough and mention every place worth visiting. Again, it depends on what you want. I’ve never had any interest in going to Wall Street, for example.

It’s almost impossible to get to do everything you want in a single visit, but it’s useful to plan an itinerary based on the amount of days you have and the places of interest you definitely don’t want to miss. This way, you may cover as much as possible in a single day, by checking out places that are in the same area. Also, be mindful about the time of the year when you think about the things you want to do.

If you visit New York in winter you can ice-skate in the Rockefeller Center and most likely you will be able to enjoy snowflakes falling to your face, but it’s going to be quite cold. If you go in summer, you can enjoy many more activities in Central Park, or watch a baseball game in Yankee Stadium, but there’s going to be many more people walking in the streets and the sun might get annoying. Some people recommend going during Spring, but for others, Autumn is the best time of the year to be in NYC.

Last of all: keep in mind that you have to rest. There’s no point in planning a ten-day trip to NYC if your feet are swollen and blistered after the first 48-hours, because of wanting to do everything as soon as you get there. It happens to me every time!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *