Tag: New York

New York does not need an introduction, which is exactly the problem for a first visit. Everyone arrives with a list already written by films, songs and other people’s photographs, and the list is too long for any trip: the Statue of Liberty, the Empire State Building, Central Park, Times Square, Broadway, the Met, the Brooklyn Bridge, the 9/11 Memorial, a slice, a bagel, a show. All of those are worth doing. But the city New Yorkers live in is the one between the landmarks: the Village streets that ignore the grid, the dumpling counters of Flushing, the free ferry with the best view of the harbor, the neighborhoods of Brooklyn and Queens that have become destinations in their own right. This guide covers the sights that earn a day, the neighborhoods worth a half-day, the food, Broadway and the sports, the day trips that are easier here than from any other American city, and the practical details that turn a checklist into a trip.

If you are still comparing cheap flights to New York, read this alongside our guides to the best time to fly to New York and whether you need a car (you almost certainly do not). Between the three you can plan the whole trip.

New York at a glance for first-timers

• Airports: three of them. John F. Kennedy International (JFK) in Queens handles most long-haul flights and is about 24 km (15 miles) from Midtown; LaGuardia (LGA), also in Queens, is closer and mostly domestic; Newark Liberty (EWR) is across the Hudson in New Jersey. See our JFK airport guide.
• Getting around: the subway runs 24 hours a day and is the fastest way around the city; tap a contactless card or phone at the turnstile. Manhattan is walkable block by block, and the Staten Island Ferry is free. Nobody needs a car, and our car-versus-transit guide explains why.
• Money: US dollars. Sales tax of just under 9 percent is added at the register, not shown on the tag, but clothing and footwear under a set price per item are exempt. Tipping 18 to 20 percent in restaurants is expected, and a dollar or two per drink at a bar.
• Weather: four real seasons: cold, sometimes snowy winters, a short lovely spring, hot and humid summers, and a long golden fall. Our month-by-month guide has the detail.
• Where to stay: Midtown and Times Square for theaters and first-visit convenience; Lower Manhattan for the harbor and quieter weekends; Chelsea, the Village or the Lower East Side for restaurants and nightlife; Williamsburg, Downtown Brooklyn or Long Island City for lower rates a short subway ride from Manhattan. Our New York hotel search covers them all.

Midtown: the Empire State Building, Grand Central and Times Square

Midtown is where most first visits start, and its landmarks sit within a twenty-minute walk of one another. The Empire State Building, with decks on the 86th and 102nd floors, is still the classic view; Top of the Rock at Rockefeller Center is the view of the Empire State Building, with Central Park spread out to the north; and Summit One Vanderbilt, beside Grand Central, is the most theatrical, with mirrored rooms and glass ledges over Madison Avenue. Pick one for sunset and book a timed ticket. Grand Central Terminal is free and is the best building in Midtown: the celestial ceiling of the main concourse, the whispering gallery outside the Oyster Bar, and the food market on the Lexington Avenue side. Two blocks west, the New York Public Library opens its Rose Main Reading Room to anyone, and Bryant Park behind it has a free ice rink and holiday market in winter and lawn chairs and movies in summer. Rockefeller Center has the rink and the tree, Radio City Music Hall and St. Patrick’s Cathedral across Fifth Avenue. Times Square is loud, bright and worth one evening; the TKTS booth under the red steps sells discounted same-day theater tickets, and the Broadway houses are on the side streets just west of it.

Lower Manhattan: the Statue of Liberty, the 9/11 Memorial and the Brooklyn Bridge

The southern tip of Manhattan holds the two sights most visitors would name first. The Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island are reached only by the official ferry authorized by the National Park Service, which leaves from the Battery; one ticket covers both islands and their museums, and pedestal and crown access sell out weeks ahead, so book early and take the first boat of the morning to beat the security lines. The 9/11 Memorial, two reflecting pools in the footprints of the twin towers, is free; the 9/11 Memorial & Museum beneath it is a serious, moving two hours, and the Oculus, the white-ribbed transit hall next door, is a landmark in its own right. From here it is a short walk past Trinity Church and Wall Street to the Brooklyn Bridge, which you should walk, ideally from Brooklyn toward Manhattan in the late afternoon so the skyline is in front of you; allow about half an hour. The Staten Island Ferry, from the Whitehall Terminal, is free, runs around the clock, and passes the Statue of Liberty on its 25-minute crossing; ride it over and straight back for the cheapest harbor cruise in the world.

Central Park and the rivers

Central Park is 843 acres in the middle of Manhattan, and it deserves a morning rather than a shortcut. From Grand Army Plaza at the southeast corner, walk north past the zoo, up the elm-lined Mall to Bethesda Terrace and its fountain, over Bow Bridge into the Ramble, and up to Belvedere Castle above Turtle Pond and the Delacorte Theater, home of free Shakespeare in the Park in summer. Strawberry Fields near West 72nd Street remembers John Lennon, the Reservoir loop is the classic run, and the Conservatory Garden at 105th Street is the formal garden most visitors never find. The Central Park Conservancy publishes maps and free tours. The city’s other great green spaces are on the water. The High Line, a freight railway turned elevated park, runs from the Whitney Museum in the Meatpacking District to Hudson Yards; go early or at dusk to avoid the crowds. Little Island, a park on pillars in the Hudson at 13th Street, and the long Hudson River Park are where Manhattan watches the sunset. Across the East River, Brooklyn Bridge Park runs along the water under both bridges, with the best skyline view in the city from its piers and from the Brooklyn Heights Promenade above.

Neighborhoods worth a half-day

Greenwich Village and the West Village

South of 14th Street the grid breaks down, and the streets around Washington Square Park and west toward the Hudson are the most walkable in the city: brownstones, corner cafés, the Stonewall National Monument on Christopher Street, the Village Vanguard and other jazz clubs, and old coal-oven pizzerias on Bleecker Street. It is the best place in Manhattan for an unplanned afternoon and a late set.

SoHo, Chinatown and the Lower East Side

SoHo’s cast-iron warehouses hold the city’s densest shopping; Chinatown, across Canal Street, has dim sum, hand-pulled noodles and the best cheap lunches in Manhattan; and the Lower East Side is Katz’s Delicatessen, Russ & Daughters, the Essex Market, the bars of Ludlow and Orchard Streets, and the Tenement Museum, which tells the immigrant story through the restored apartments of a single building.

Chelsea, the Meatpacking District and Hudson Yards

The galleries of West Chelsea, between roughly 19th and 27th Streets near the High Line, are free and show more contemporary art on a Saturday than most museums. Chelsea Market fills the old Nabisco factory, the Whitney anchors the foot of the High Line, and Hudson Yards at the top has the Shed arts center and the Edge deck, with a glass floor 100 stories above the West Side.

Harlem

Take the 2 or 3 train to 125th Street for the Apollo Theater, where Amateur Night on Wednesdays is an institution, soul food, the brownstones of Strivers’ Row and, on Sunday mornings, gospel services at churches that welcome respectful visitors. Combine it with the Cloisters, the Met’s medieval branch in Fort Tryon Park.

Brooklyn: DUMBO, Brooklyn Heights and Williamsburg

DUMBO, under the Manhattan Bridge, is the photograph everyone takes on Washington Street, plus Jane’s Carousel; Brooklyn Heights above it is the loveliest residential neighborhood in the city. Williamsburg, a stop from Manhattan on the L, is restaurants, vintage shops, rooftop bars and the Smorgasburg food market on warm-weather Saturdays.

Queens: Jackson Heights, Flushing and Long Island City

The 7 train from Times Square is the best food tour in America. Get off at Jackson Heights for Indian, Nepali, Tibetan and Colombian kitchens, and ride to the end of the line in Flushing for a Chinatown larger than Manhattan’s. Long Island City has MoMA PS1 and the skyline from Gantry Plaza State Park; Astoria is the Greek neighborhood.

Museums, culture and family attractions

New York has more first-rank museums than any visitor can see, so choose. The Metropolitan Museum of Art on Fifth Avenue deserves a full day: the Temple of Dendur, the European paintings, the American Wing, the arms and armor, and the rooftop garden in summer. The Museum of Modern Art on 53rd Street has Van Gogh’s The Starry Night, Monet’s water lilies and the definitive modern collection. The American Museum of Natural History, across the park from the Met, is the dinosaurs, the blue whale, the planetarium and the Gilder Center’s cave-like atrium; it is the museum for families. The Guggenheim, Frank Lloyd Wright’s spiral on Fifth Avenue, is worth seeing for the building alone; the Frick Collection is back in its Fifth Avenue mansion after a long renovation; and the Whitney, the Brooklyn Museum and the Intrepid Museum, an aircraft carrier on the Hudson with a space shuttle on its flight deck, each fill a half-day. The Bronx Zoo and the New York Botanical Garden sit side by side in the Bronx. For live performance, Lincoln Center houses the Metropolitan Opera, the New York Philharmonic and New York City Ballet, whose Nutcracker runs through December; Carnegie Hall is on 57th Street. For what is on during your dates, our New York events page lists concerts, shows and games.

Broadway

Broadway is the city’s defining night out, and the mechanics are simpler than they look. Around forty theaters in the blocks west of Times Square run shows most nights, with Monday the usual dark night and matinees on Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday. The long-running hits sell out months ahead; newer plays often have seats on the day. The TKTS booth sells same-day tickets at a discount, and most shows run a digital lottery or rush tickets; check each show’s own site the day before. Twice a year, in winter and again in late summer, NYC Broadway Week offers two-for-one tickets across much of the season. Off-Broadway, in smaller houses across the Village and Chelsea, is where new work starts and seats cost far less. Dress as you like, and eat before the show a few blocks west in Hell’s Kitchen, along Ninth Avenue, rather than on the square. If you are coming for a particular show, buy those tickets before the flights.

Sports

New York has two of everything. The Yankees play in the Bronx, about 20 minutes from Midtown on the 4, B or D trains, and the Mets at Citi Field in Queens on the 7. The Knicks and the Rangers share Madison Square Garden, directly above Penn Station; the Nets and the WNBA’s Liberty play at Barclays Center in Brooklyn. The Giants and Jets share MetLife Stadium in New Jersey, reached on game days by NJ Transit from Penn Station with a change at Secaucus. The US Open fills Flushing Meadows for two weeks from late August, and the New York City Marathon on the first Sunday of November turns all five boroughs into a grandstand. Check what is on sale in New York for your dates before you book flights.

What to eat, and where

New York eats better and more variously than any city in the country, and the essentials are cheap. The slice is the city’s food: folded in half from a corner shop and eaten standing up, with a coal-oven pie in the Village or under the Brooklyn Bridge for the full version. The bagel with cream cheese and lox from an appetizing store, and pastrami on rye at Katz’s, which has been slicing since 1888, are the other pillars. Then there are the halal carts that feed Midtown at lunch, the bacon, egg and cheese from a bodega, Nathan’s hot dogs on the Coney Island boardwalk, cheesecake at Junior’s, and Korean barbecue on 32nd Street after midnight. The real depth is in the boroughs: Flushing and Jackson Heights for Chinese, Indian and Latin American food, Arthur Avenue in the Bronx for old-school Italian, and the Smorgasburg markets on weekends. At the top end, NYC Restaurant Week, in winter and summer, is the affordable way in. Book serious restaurants weeks ahead, and remember that tax and tip add roughly 30 percent to the menu price.

New York through the seasons

New York is a different city in each season. Winter (December to February) opens with the holidays: the Rockefeller Center tree, the Fifth Avenue windows, the rinks at Bryant Park and Wollman, the Radio City Christmas Spectacular and the New Year’s Eve crowd in Times Square. January and February are cold and much cheaper, with Restaurant Week, Broadway Week, the Lunar New Year celebrations in Chinatown and quiet museums. Spring (March to May) is short and lovely: the St. Patrick’s Day Parade up Fifth Avenue, cherry blossoms at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden in late April, and Fleet Week over Memorial Day. Summer (June to August) is hot and humid, but it is also Shakespeare in the Park, outdoor movies in Bryant Park, the Pride March on the last Sunday of June, the Macy’s fireworks on the Fourth of July, ferries to Governors Island and the beaches at Coney Island and the Rockaways. Fall (September to November) is the local favorite and the priciest hotel season: perfect weather, Fashion Week and the UN General Assembly in September, the Feast of San Gennaro in Little Italy, leaves turning in Central Park, the Village Halloween Parade, the Marathon and the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. Our month-by-month guide has the fare patterns for each.

New York with kids

New York is easier with children than it looks, because the subway is an adventure and the sights are close together. The Natural History Museum is the obvious full day; the Central Park Zoo, the carousel and the playgrounds are across the park. The Intrepid’s flight deck, the Statue of Liberty ferry, the free Staten Island Ferry, the Roosevelt Island Tramway, which runs on a subway fare, and the New York Transit Museum, set in a disused Brooklyn subway station with vintage cars you can climb through, are all reliable hits. The Bronx Zoo, Coney Island’s rides in summer and the Brooklyn Bridge Park playgrounds fill the rest, and a family musical makes the best evening. Children 44 inches (112 cm) and under ride the subway free with a paying adult; strollers and stairs do not mix, so choose a hotel near a station with an elevator.

New York on a budget

The city is expensive to sleep in and cheap to see. Free: Central Park, the High Line, the Brooklyn Bridge, the Staten Island Ferry, Grand Central, the Public Library, the 9/11 Memorial plaza, the Chelsea galleries, the Brooklyn Heights Promenade and Times Square at night. Several museums have a pay-what-you-wish or free evening; check each site before you go. The subway is the best bargain in town: tap the same card or phone for every ride and, after a set number of paid trips in any seven-day period, the rest of that week’s rides are free. TKTS and rush tickets put Broadway within reach, and the slice, the bagel, the halal cart and the 7 train neighborhoods feed you well for very little. The hotel is where the money goes, and hotel taxes add roughly 15 percent to the rate: look at Long Island City, Downtown Brooklyn and the Upper West Side. Our guide to New York on a budget goes deeper, and our New York hotel search compares rates by neighborhood.

Day trips from New York

No American city makes it easier to leave for a day without a car. The Hudson Valley is under two hours north on Metro-North from Grand Central: Dia Beacon, a vast contemporary art museum a short walk from Beacon station, and the river town of Cold Spring, with hiking trails from the platform. The beaches are on the subway and the train: Coney Island and the Rockaways by subway or ferry, Long Beach and Jones Beach by the Long Island Rail Road. Philadelphia is about 90 minutes by train from Penn Station and an easy day; Washington, DC is about three hours and Boston nearer four, which makes each an easy overnight; our guides to Washington and Boston cover both. Hoboken, a PATH train or ferry across the Hudson, has the best view of Manhattan from the west. The trips that need a car, the Catskills, Bear Mountain, Storm King Art Center and the North Fork vineyards, are best done with a rental picked up the morning you leave; our car-versus-transit guide explains how. For Niagara Falls and Toronto, fly: our New York to Toronto guide covers the options. I Love NY, the state tourism office, covers everything beyond the city.

Two sample itineraries

Three days, first visit

Day one: the first ferry to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island, the 9/11 Memorial and the Oculus, a walk through Chinatown to the Lower East Side for a late lunch at Katz’s, and the Brooklyn Bridge at golden hour, ending in DUMBO for dinner. Day two: the Met in the morning, Central Park from the Conservatory Garden down to Bethesda Terrace, Rockefeller Center and Grand Central in the afternoon, and a Broadway show with dinner in Hell’s Kitchen. Day three: the High Line from Hudson Yards to the Whitney, Chelsea Market, an afternoon in Greenwich Village, and a jazz set or a sunset observation deck.

Five days, deeper

Add a Brooklyn day (the Heights, Brooklyn Bridge Park and a Williamsburg evening) and a Queens day on the 7 train to Jackson Heights and Flushing, or swap one for a Hudson Valley train trip or a Yankees game with dinner on Arthur Avenue.

Practical details

• Transit: tap a contactless card, phone or watch at any subway turnstile or bus reader; one fare includes a free transfer within two hours. Express trains skip stations, so check before you board. The MTA has maps and service alerts; our transit-versus-car guide goes into detail.
• From the airports: from JFK, the AirTrain to Jamaica, then the Long Island Rail Road or the E train into Manhattan, or a taxi at a flat fare plus tolls; from LaGuardia, the Q70 bus to the subway or a taxi; from Newark, the AirTrain and an NJ Transit train to Penn Station. The JFK airport site covers ground transport and the ongoing terminal rebuild.
• Weather: layers in spring and fall, real cold-weather gear in January and February, light clothing and an umbrella in summer. The National Weather Service’s New York office has the forecast.
• Time zone: Eastern, the same as Toronto, Boston and Washington.
• Entry requirements: visitors from Visa Waiver Program countries need an approved ESTA before boarding; most others need a visa. The State Department’s travel site is the authoritative source.
• Safety: one of the safest large cities in the country; the usual awareness applies on late-night trains and in crowds.

Frequently asked questions

How many days do you need in New York?

Three full days covers the landmarks, one museum, Central Park, a Brooklyn walk and a show; five lets you add Queens, a second museum and a day trip. Nobody ever finishes.

What is the number one thing to do in New York?

Walk the Brooklyn Bridge toward Manhattan in the late afternoon. If you can buy only one ticket, make it the Statue of Liberty ferry; if you have one evening, make it Broadway.

Is New York walkable?

The most walkable big city in America. Manhattan’s grid makes navigation easy (about twenty north-south blocks to the mile), and the subway fills the gaps.

Do I need a car in New York?

No. Parking is expensive, traffic is slow, and the subway is faster to nearly everywhere. Rent one only for a day trip the trains do not reach.

Is New York expensive?

Hotels and sit-down dinners are, especially in the fall and at Christmas. Everything else can be done cheaply: the subway, the free sights, the slice, discount theater tickets and free museum evenings.

Which borough should I stay in?

Manhattan for a first visit, ideally near a station served by several lines. Brooklyn or Long Island City for lower rates a short ride from Midtown.

Ready to go? Compare flights to New York, find a place to stay with our New York hotel search, and see what is on stage and in the arenas for your dates on our New York events page.