The family and I are taking our first trip up to NYC this spring break, and was looking for recommendations from those who have been before or that live there. This is the list so far:

Empire State Building
Ground Zero
Statue of Liberty
Broadway show - any good ones?
Central Park
Times Square (our hotel is right next to here)
Yankees Stadium (giving tours still?)

Thanks!

Museum of Natural History (across from Central Park)

The Met

My sister and I saw Wicked during Christmas, it was really good.

If it is up your alley, I loved this place:

http://www.metmuseum.org/cloisters/

A bit of a trek to get there on the subway, though

I second Wicked!

Walk across the Brooklyn Bridge

and don't forget to buy some chochkas on Canal St.

The Wife dragged me to see Wicked..it was actually really good.
Go and see Yankee Stadium..new and old. I believe they are still giving tours in the Old Stadium.

take the subway over to Brooklyn and walk the Brooklyn Bridge back towards Manhattan... from there it's a short walk to the financial district and the World Trade Center site.

Also, I suggest going up to the Observation Deck of Rockefeller Center rather than the ESB. If you want to go inside the ESB and check out the lobby cool, but from what I've experience the wait to get up to the Top of the Rock is much shorter and the view is great. Plus you can get a view of lower Manhattan including the ESB which you obviously can't get from it's deck. Also a great view of Central Park from up there. We went about 6:30 pm on a Tuesday and there was no line and it wasn't crowded at all up top.

As for Times Square, I can do without it. But some people seem to like it.

Go check out Grand Central... beautiful piece of architecture.

Also if you don't have all day to wait in line for the Statue, take the free Staten Island Ferry across and back (1 hour round trip) and if you have a decent camera with any sort of zoom you should be able to get good pics of the Statue.

If you're a Letterman fan get your request in now via http://lateshow.cbs.com/latenight/lateshow/show_info/tickets/. Good times!

if you haven't done so, check out the forums over at http://www.tripadvisor.com. They were a great help in planning my trip.

[This message has been edited by SbisaVictim95 (edited 3/9/2009 12:50p).]

The ferry to Staten Island is pretty nice ride and you get good views of the city and the Statue of Liberty. It's free.

The Transportation Museum in Brooklyn is pretty cool. The Cloisters is pretty nice. Although, pretty long trek.

The Gracie mansion and the park along the east side and the east river is pretty nice. Stop by and pick up a hotdog at papaya king then walk across to the west side and get a hotdog at gray's papaya.

Thanks for the replies!

I had thought about Letterman, bc I enjoy his shows, but my sister is 17 so I don't think she can get in. Maybe my dad and I can go while the girls shop.

I second the ferry to Staten Island. It's free and gives great views of the Statue of Liberty.
It may be all you want to see of the Statue of Liberty, IMO. Unless you get there super early, you've got a long wait ahead of you and it's really just climbing up lots of stairs. Just a thought.

Go see Wicked. The Met is amazing--you really need 3 days to see the whole thing though! Also, the MOMA is one of my favorites. You can get through it in about 2-3 hours.

Also, eat at a restaurant called Becco.
http://www.becco-nyc.com/

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Also, I suggest going up to the Observation Deck of Rockefeller Center rather than the ESB.

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+1 on this. While you're at Rockefeller Center, you could take an NBC studio tour. It's about an hour long, and you get to see 3-5 studios, depending on whether there's a taping going on or not. My wife and I got to see Conan's studio, NBC News/MSNBC, and SNL. I think there was one more, but I can't remember what it was right now.

If you're an art museum person, I liked MOMA better than the Met. I would not hit the Guggenheim at all- it was a colossal waste of time (for me, at least). I haven't been, but I've heard good things about PS 1, which is contemporary art.

If you walk the Brooklyn Bridge, I recommend eating at Grimaldi's Pizzeria. There might be a wait, but it's definitely worth it.

You can do the Financial District, Ground Zero, and Battery Park in one afternoon. From Battery park you get a view of the Statue of Liberty, but it's not as good as good as taking the tours to Staten Island. The Empire State building in my opinion is a waste of time because of the long lines. You may also want to make your way down to Mulberry St and find yourself a good Italian place to eat one of the days your there. I like Paesano's, but I'll be honest it's not always consistent. Since your in the Time Square area you should also check out St Andrews Restaurant & Bar.

As far as art collections go,in order,I prefer
The Met
The Frick Collection
The Brooklyn Museum of Art
MOMA
The Whitney
Guggenheim

As one other poster mentioned the Museum of Natural History is well worth a visit. If the weather is good and your feeling a little adventuresome and willing to leave Manhattan take a train up to the Bronx and catch the Bronz Zoo and the New York Botanical Gardens.

Wicked is an amazing musical. Best songs you'll ever hear.

In addition to the other fine recommendations:

Ellis Island is a great trip but plan on spending at least half the day there. You'll need to get to Battery Park early to avoid long lines to get on the boat.

The Tenement Museum on the lower east side is well worth it. Go to Katz's deli for lunch.

Prospect Park is nice in Brooklyn. The roses probably aren't in bloom yet though.

Wicked is great!



[This message has been edited by Pacing The Cage (edited 3/10/2009 7:54a).]

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The Transportation Museum in Brooklyn is pretty cool.

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Normally don't see that on people's lists but my husband and I went with some family. He absolutely loved it, but I was somewhat bored.

I love spending an afternoon in the Lower East by going to the Tenement Museum, then eating at Katz's and stopping by Economy Candy for dessert.

Do the Cloisters (which is beautiful) and Yankee Stadium the same day since you will be on the north part of the island.

Walk through Central Park, you never know what pretty stuff you will see. Agree that Top of the Rock is better than the top of Empire State building. Go at sunset, it is gorgeous. Wicked is a great show as well as many others, you can get tickets for the day of performances at TKTS but go to the one at the Seaport, not Time Square, you have to pay in cash but the lines are a lot shorter.

I like going to Ellis Island and Statue of Liberty if you have never been. Walk the Brooklyn Bridge and spend some time in Brooklyn Heights.

There is never ending stuff to do and you won't get bored. Also, the tripadvisor website has endless information and forums on NYC so it is a good place to look.

[This message has been edited by wapa (edited 3/10/2009 10:29a).]

+1

Top of the Rock > Empire State Building

+1 for Katz's. Great pastrami on rye!

Also go to Chinatown (I forget the name of the place with amazing "steamed buns" and Little Italy (Lombardis is great pizza.

If you get Statue of Liberty tickets, Yankee Stadium tour tickets, and ESB tickets ahead of time, you save a TON of time. Do it online. Don't let anyone talk you out of going to the top of the ESB. My wife and I did it as day turned to night and it was an amazing experience.

If you get a chance, eat at the great Italian food place at 90th and Broadway. The thing about going up there is that you see another part of NYC that is worth seeing that you probably would not go up for.

Other advice: Spend most of a day in Central Park (get a good map) and stay somewhat flexible. For example, we were just handed tickets to Who Wants to be a Millionaire and it was a lot of fun!

I wish I could go back right now!!!!!

I'm just thinking off the top of my head and thought of a couple more.

Go to Grand Central Station just to see it. They have a great food market you just have to see to believe and their "food court" pulls together all the famous NYC eateries and makes the prices more managable (Junior's cheesecake, etc.)

Today Show was fun. The Lion King was awesome. Broadway at night is awesome.

When you are ready for lunch near Central Park, find Gray's Papaya (about a 5 minute walk). Hot dogs are great, but you have seen this place so many times on movies you will feel like you've been there before.

South Street Seaport - Sit outside on the deck, under the shadow of the Brooklyn bridge and enjoy a beer.

Hayden Planetarium / Natural History Museum

I also forgot that if you like books, go to one of the Strand Book Stores.
http://www.strandbooks.com/

Also, just walk around the Village (and NYC in general) and enjoy the food, shops, sights, etc.

I was the tour guide for my parents and I took them down to Brighton Beach in Brooklyn to walk along the boardwalk, look at all the Russian community, visit the original Nathan's hot dogs and see Coney Island. They really enjoyed it. You can take the subway all the way there.

ttt

McSorley's

I agree with everyone else that said Wicked. It was fabulous! If you go to a broadway play, make sure you go to the Stardust Diner afterwards. It's a 50's diner and all of the waitors and waitresses all go to NYU and whatnot. They sing and dance to broadway songs and it is so much fun. We ended up going twice while we were there because we had such a good time.

Carmine's is a nice upscale restaurant to go to. Its italian food served family style. One dish can easily feed 4 people.

The back stage tour at Radio city music hall is great and for any show tickets head down to times sguare in the moring to the TIX 50% of place!

Would you have to buy Wicked tickets in advance or do you think you could get those at the 50% off place? I was thinking it was likely sold out but I was not sure.

They are talking about TKTS and it's a crap shoot. Availability of discount tickets to shows is completely dependent on the date and time versus show popularity which drives what sells out and what doesn't. For example, a show that always sells out on a weekend date may have discount tickets available for a Tuesday. Some shows are so popular they almost never make it to TKTS. I think I've seen Wicked on the board occasionally though.

If you are coming into town and for sure want to see a particular show on that trip, I would bite the bullet and buy in advance for full price. If you are willing to take a chance and possibly end up at a less desirable show if your number one choice is not available, then I would try TKTS to save money.

By the way, there is another location for TKTS in the South Street Seaport area. It always has much shorter lines than the Times Square version, so if you can go there instead it is much better.

Get to the Empire State Building right when the observation deck opens, and you can pretty much walk right up and pay with no wait. I think it opens at 8:00 so it's not like you'd have to wake up super early.

Also, I would highly recommend getting the City Pass for NYC. The time you save by skipping ticket lines(not to mention money you save) is worth it's wait in gold.

http://www.citypass.com/city/ny.html

First off, thanks to the Mrs. for digging up a few NY threads for me.

Airplane tickets are bought. Going in less than 2 weeks from now. Hope the weather is cooler than it is in Texas! Staying about a block from Times Square. Was actually able to buy tickets to Wicked. All performances for the days we will be there were already sold out on ticketmaster except one. And I could only get seats in the rear mezzanine, so it may not be the best. But it is supposed to be a fantastic show.

Anyone been down to ground zero? We had originally thought we would go there but other online advice suggests there is nothiing to see except a construction site and vendors peddling shirts (or worse - but I never could find anything specific - just vague references).

Are there any tours in the financial district? Can you even get in the NYSE?

We've had recommendations from coworkers to use the double decker tour buses to be shown the city. I'm against. Wife is for. Other coworker advice is to take a carriage ride at the beginning of the Central Park day to see it all quickly and get a sense of where things are in the park. We are both ambivalent on this one. What says the Texags NYC gurus?

I enjoyed the double-decker bus. We used it as transportation around the city for one day in lieu of a cab and managed to hit a lot of places. Also, with all the different tour guides picking you up at various points, you get to hear a lot of interesting trivia along the way told from different perspectives.

Also, I agree with the Mulberry St. suggestion for Italian food.

I went there during spring break and no you cannot get near the World Trade Center site. They are doing construction so all you see is a big fence and the cranes. It's an experience to go there, but as far as sights go...there's nothing there.

The NYSE had a barrier around it and police at all the doors when I went by. It did not look like you could go in, but some people were coming out. Maybe those were the people that worked there.