PLEASE help with itinerary for our trip to NY

[mmhassa2]

Can those who know around NY help me finalise our itinerary for the trip? I have done some research and have found the distance for some of the attractions through mapquest from our hotel. Now there are a few I couldn’t find and was wondering if anyone can help fill these up.

Basically: we have entire Monday plan on starting the day by 8am and Tuesday until around 4pm to do these things and then we’re heading off to Atlantic city. How should we go about the attractions so we don’t go back and forth? Our plan is to see each attraction that falls on our way, and then when we’re done use the cab or bus to get back to our hotel. Am I making any sense?

Starting point is:

Murray Hill East Suites
New York, NY 10016

1.Empire State Building
(212) 736-3100
350 Fifth Avenue,
New York, NY 10118

2.Statue of Liberty
(866) 782-8834
Liberty Island,
New York, NY

3.Grand Central Station
87 E 42nd Street
New York, NY 10017

4.Central Park
(212) 310-6600
59th to 110th Streets,
New York, NY

5. Zoo in Central park

6.Madison Square Park (Garden?)
(212) 229-7607
Fifth and Madison Aves.,
New York, NY 10010

7.Times Square
42nd Street at Broadway,
New York, NY 10036

8.Ground Zero
New York, NY 10007

9.Brooklyn Bridge Park
718.802.0600
1 Main Street,
Brooklyn, NY 11201

[rogerrabbit168]

for the Statue of Liberty, make sure you get on the first ferry of the day, anything later, you'll be lining up the whole day before you can get inside

[CoffeeAddict]

The Way you've numbered things this is the way I would do it and you MIGHT even be able to do everything in one day if you skip actually going to see the statue of liberty up close (not worth seeing it I would say).

From Hotel take subway to Statue of liberty area

2, 8, 9, 1, 6, 3, 7

then leave central park for tuesday

To pack all this in in two days is pretty killer though
I did all the sights with my gf for her first trip to nyc and i think over 3 days it was just barely doable

[WhatADeal!]

I didn't find much interesting in the parks.

[adwoodw]

for the Statue of Liberty, make sure you get on the first ferry of the day, anything later, you'll be lining up the whole day before you can get inside


+1

You want to be there bright and early to ensure that you get a chance to also view the inside of the Lady. When we went, we had to get a monument pass by calling it in. You pick it up at a table inside the Castle Clinton monumnet, which is also where you get your ferry tickets.

Be prepared to spend at least half the day there if you include Ellis Island.

[Vivrant1]

The top of the Rock at Rockefeller Center (http://www.topoftherocknyc.com/welcome/default.aspx) has a better view than the Empire State Building. The view north into Central park is amazing. Plus, it's not as busy and it's within walking distance to Times Square.

J.

[Shaner]

For the statue of Liberty, don't waste your time going right down there. You'll easily waste half the day on that one attraction.

Instead, go to the pier on the west side of Manhattan. From there, there's mini-cruises as well as speed boat, thrill rides. Get yourself on the speed boat attraction. It'll probably be about $20-30 per person but it's worth it.

They'll take you up and down the river at very fast speeds, then they'll take you right up to the Statue of Liberty and will stop for a few minutes for pictures, etc.

Then they hit some more waves and take you back. It's a 30 minute ride tops, but you'll also get to fit in the statue of Liberty.

That's the best way to see it, IMO.

[dolphie]

JUST got back from NYC last month-first trip-had a fricking AWESOME time.

you NEED to book a City Sights tour. We booked ours online about 3 weeks ahead of time. When you arrive in NYC take your confirmation numbers to the Mme. Tussauds wax museum near times square to trade it in for your tickets.

i cannot say enough about this tour, but i'll try.

They have hop on-hop off tours on a double decker bus. the tours take you around a specified route telling you about points of interest. You can hop off at any one of the MANY MANY dedicated stops to see more, then pick up another bus that comes by 20 minutes later, at that stop, or any other stop, continuing the tour where you left off, or at another point.
You can hop on and off unlimited times.

The tours we did:
Uptown tour...hopped off at central park for a few hours, spent some time there.
we did the downtown tour which shows some awesome landmarks.....ground zero, financial district, empire state building, staten island ferry etc.
we did a night tour that wasn't a hop off (security reasons), but was awesome too. we went across the manhattan bridge, grenwich village, downtown, saw the museums, libraries, etc.

there are a zillion packages you can buy that contain the tours, and much more.

we paid 74 bucks(per person) and got
48 hours unlimited to do the downtown tour, uptown tour, night tour and harlem tour.
th night tour stopped at the harbour for 25 minutes so we could take pics and watch the sunset. awesome.
again, you can use the tours as a bus service almost, it's fantastic.
we also got a 3 hour harbour cruise that took us around Manhattan and past the statue of liberty, ellis island, etc
we got passes to the top of lady liberty
passes to the museum of new york
passes for the top of the rock.....
i feel like i'm forgetting something.........but i can't say enough about this tour. freaking fantastic-google em :)

with this tour, we hit everything on your list except #3, and #9. we were at the brooklyn bridge, and there likely was a stop near there, so you could probably knock off #9 too, although i can't say it was on my 'todo' list, so i didn't notice

[YLSF]

I have been a few times and I am going again this weekend. I never went in the statue of liberty but I did take a free ferry that runs by it (forget the destination now) and then just hopped on the next ferry and came back. It was a nice view of the water, statue, and free!

This weekend I am lucky enough to have gotten David Letterman tickets on Monday... (I say, lucky even though I am not a huge fan of his ,but, will be a cool experience! Adam Sandler is on)...

I would give yourself time to walk around Central Park. Columbus Circle is close by one corner and there is a shopping plaza there with the "Samsung Experience" which displays all their products, etc... Kind of neat. Especially if the weather turns crappy.

If one of the people in your trip like to shop, Century 21 is right across teh street from Ground Zero. From a girl who I travelled with the first time, I have heard it has good deals! I might stop by this time and pick up a pair of jeans

[JeffTaylor1985]

NYC is great, and there is so much to do but it is always busy! You have a great list of spots to visit, but I would add some restaurants.

A lot of nicer restaurants in NYC are booked up weeks in advance, so you'll have much better dining if you plan some of it ahead.

Check out http://www.yelp.com/c/nyc/restaurants
They have the best real reviews of restaurants in NYC, since the reviewers are regular people, not "paid reviewers"

Enjoy the trip!

[torlou]

I have been a few times and I am going again this weekend. I never went in the statue of liberty but I did take a free ferry that runs by it (forget the destination now) and then just hopped on the next ferry and came back. It was a nice view of the water, statue, and free!

Was it the Staten Island Ferry?

[GemInite]

you could easily skip Grand Central Station as it is just a transit hub and I personally would skip Central park/Zoo.

Since you have only a day and a half you could probably afford to cut out MSG.

Just decide which sights are the most important to you and then build your itinerary from there.

[robertalan]

The top of the Rock at Rockefeller Center (http://www.topoftherocknyc.com/welcome/default.aspx) has a better view than the Empire State Building. The view north into Central park is amazing. Plus, it's not as busy and it's within walking distance to Times Square.

J.

+1

I've been to both and Top of the Rock was amazing - if you can only pick one, I'd recommend it, unless you have "An Affair to Remember" fetish.

Also, you can buy combo tickets for it and other attractions - we got it with our MOMA tickets and saved ten bucks each!

[JeffTaylor1985]

The Rockefeller Center is best at the very start of your day. You go up there and get a "big picture" view and understanding of how the city is laid out, which helps a lot when you are off visiting different attractions later on in your vacation.

Book tickets online ahead of time. It sometimes has long lines if you get tickets at the door!

[adwoodw]

JUST got back from NYC last month-first trip-had a fricking AWESOME time.

you NEED to book a City Sights tour. We booked ours online about 3 weeks ahead of time. When you arrive in NYC take your confirmation numbers to the Mme. Tussauds wax museum near times square to trade it in for your tickets.

i cannot say enough about this tour, but i'll try.

They have hop on-hop off tours on a double decker bus. the tours take you around a specified route telling you about points of interest. You can hop off at any one of the MANY MANY dedicated stops to see more, then pick up another bus that comes by 20 minutes later, at that stop, or any other stop, continuing the tour where you left off, or at another point.
You can hop on and off unlimited times.

The tours we did:
Uptown tour...hopped off at central park for a few hours, spent some time there.
we did the downtown tour which shows some awesome landmarks.....ground zero, financial district, empire state building, staten island ferry etc.
we did a night tour that wasn't a hop off (security reasons), but was awesome too. we went across the manhattan bridge, grenwich village, downtown, saw the museums, libraries, etc.

there are a zillion packages you can buy that contain the tours, and much more.

we paid 74 bucks(per person) and got
48 hours unlimited to do the downtown tour, uptown tour, night tour and harlem tour.
th night tour stopped at the harbour for 25 minutes so we could take pics and watch the sunset. awesome.
again, you can use the tours as a bus service almost, it's fantastic.
we also got a 3 hour harbour cruise that took us around Manhattan and past the statue of liberty, ellis island, etc
we got passes to the top of lady liberty
passes to the museum of new york
passes for the top of the rock.....
i feel like i'm forgetting something.........but i can't say enough about this tour. freaking fantastic-google em :)

with this tour, we hit everything on your list except #3, and #9. we were at the brooklyn bridge, and there likely was a stop near there, so you could probably knock off #9 too, although i can't say it was on my 'todo' list, so i didn't notice

Took the words right out of my mouth. This is the Grey Line Tour.

http://www.coachusa.com/newyorksightseeing/

We purchased our tickets on line and had to walk to the office on 8th ave to pick them up. We didn't use the 'hop on, hop off', too much. Basically, we got on in Times Square and 'hopped off' at the 'south ferry' stop for our Statue of Liberty tour.

Here are a couple of pics I took riding on the top of the bus:

http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c265/adwoodw/new%20york/nycSept20-272004219eLarge.jpg


This pic is of the tour guide giving descriptions/stories of the landmarks.

http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c265/adwoodw/new%20york/nycSept20-272004221Large.jpg


Marked area for tour busses. We hopped off here and got back on after visiting the Lady and Ellis Island.

http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c265/adwoodw/new%20york/nycSept20-272004287Large.jpg


It was starting to get dark. This is a shot looking north on 5th ave near Central Park.

http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c265/adwoodw/new%20york/nycSept20-272004297eLarge-1.jpg

[adwoodw]

For the statue of Liberty, don't waste your time going right down there. You'll easily waste half the day on that one attraction.

Instead, go to the pier on the west side of Manhattan. From there, there's mini-cruises as well as speed boat, thrill rides. Get yourself on the speed boat attraction. It'll probably be about $20-30 per person but it's worth it.

They'll take you up and down the river at very fast speeds, then they'll take you right up to the Statue of Liberty and will stop for a few minutes for pictures, etc.

Then they hit some more waves and take you back. It's a 30 minute ride tops, but you'll also get to fit in the statue of Liberty.

That's the best way to see it, IMO.

Here is a pic of how close you can get to the Lady. I believe the speedboat is called the Shark.

http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c265/adwoodw/new%20york/nycSept20-272004966Large.jpg

[robertalan]

Here are a couple of pics I took riding on the top of the bus:


Yow! Those pictures did nothing to sell me on taking that bus tour. :eek:

NYC is a walking town imho, plus the subway is efficient and interesting for long hops.

[dolphie]

ow! Those pictures did nothing to sell me on taking that bus tour
why not?
they're very similar to my own...and it instantly made me smile.
it's a place everyone's got to visit at least once in their lives.....whether by bus or by foot.
the distinct advantage the bus had (for me) is the wealth of knowledge the guides seemed to have. that or they can BS really well, but wither way, they pointed out landmarks, with cool side stories, and kept us entertained.
After walking across Manhattan for a day or 2 you'll be ready to hop on a bus!

[adwoodw]

Yow! Those pictures did nothing to sell me on taking that bus tour. :eek:

NYC is a walking town imho, plus the subway is efficient and interesting for long hops.

For first timers, the bus tour is a great option as it is a supplement to walking. I agree that walking is the best way to see Manhatten, but it does get tiresome walking if you are there for a week or so. The bus tour gives you an overview of what you may want to see while on foot and helps you to get oriented a bit. We found it very helpful as we did not have to navigate the subway to get to certain locations. The bus tour also gives you the opportunity to take some interesting and unobstucted photos of the landmarks. The narratoin from the tour guide was also very interesting, entertaining, and informative. Everyone I know who was a first time NYC visitor that went on the Greyline Tour had nothing but positive things to say about it. It's not cheap, but I thought it was worth it to have that extra convenience.

I have alot more photos taken from the Grey Line bus, but the second and third shots were only for informative purposes and not meant to 'wow' anyone.

The subway is great as well. We got a 7 day Metrocard for our underground travels and encountered a few interesting weirdos that would get on a packed subway car and shout to the car's occupants why they needed money. The best one was the one who claimed that he was a 'certified money inspector' that preferred $100's!! I can't believe how big these undgergound statoins are. We have Skytrain in Vancouver and it's nothing like their subway with terms like uptown, downtown, crosstown, express, and non platforming cars thrown into the mix. It's funny how some tourists get stuck at the turnstiles that access the subway since they do not slide their Metrocards through the reader fast enough and it causes an error! If you notice the digital display of the turnstile, it says 'go' when you slide your card through successfully. NYC is very fast paced indeed.

While on foot near the World Trade site, Mark Messier got out of a black limo like car and walked right across our path and into a swanky apartment building. We also saw Eugene Levy (dad from American Pie movies) come out of an elevator on Ellis Island. For lunch one day, we decided to go to the Hello Deli and I was served by Rupert, who is a regular on the David Letterman Show. I also got to chat and take a pic with him.

[geronimo]

Don't worry mmhassa, you have enough time to see and do all of those things on your itinerary. You could do them in any order really, since they are all located in Midtown or Lower Manhattan and it's not a big journey to move between those two sections of the city.




Thanks for sharing those great pics with us Atwoodw! :) You're lucky you got to see/meet celebrities... so far I haven't been that lucky yet. :P

[adwoodw]

Don't worry mmhassa, you have enough time to see and do all of those things on your itinerary. You could do them in any order really, since they are all located in Midtown or Lower Manhattan and it's not a big journey to move between those two sections of the city.




Thanks for sharing those great pics with us Atwoodw! :) You're lucky you got to see/meet celebrities... so far I haven't been that lucky yet. :P

The OP can probably see the outside of the Empire State Building, Statue of Liberty, and MSG if they are short of time.

Empire State Building: lineups to get tickets, lineups to go on the up escalator, lineups to go outside on the observation deck, lineups to get a spot for a pic on the observation deck, lineups to get on a down elevator. It was all about lineups. Total time after 8:00pm was at least 2.5 hours for our visit. Top of the Rock is better.

Statue of Liberty: lots of security, lineups, a few boat rides, waiting time, and a tour inside the Lady. Ellis Island included. Total time 6 hours

MSG: got to see private suites, season ticket holder club, dressing rooms, playing surface, not much waiting time. Total time about 1.5 hours

Grand Central: you can see this at any time of day. They do have a guided tour of this place but we skipped it. Not sure if they still have this. We mainly used Grand Central as it was intended: a transit hub. We also had a meal at Juniors downstairs in the food fair one day and on the following day used it as a rest stop for our walk from Times Square to the UN. You can probably spend anywhere from 10 minutes to 2 hours in here.


Central Park: this is best on the weekends when they close it to traffic. You can spend all day here if you are not careful. A brief walk through moving in a southerly direction to see Bethesda fountain, Shakespear Garden (?),Belvedere Castle (excellent view of the Great Lawn), Wolman Rink, etc would take from 45 minutes to 1.5 hours.

Times Square: you can walk through this congested area and see it in about 20 minutes assuming you do not go to any of the shops in this area. Most of the shops all sell the same stuff anyways. I forgot the name of it, but there is a large tourist gift show a few stores away from the Roxy restaurant and they have all the touristy stuff you can imagine if you are into that sort of thing. If you are into fake Gucci, Prada, etc, there are alot of those types around this area as well. They will set up their wares on the sidewalk and move along when they see police. Lots of fake stuff on Canal St in Chinatown as well.

Ground Zero: walking around it will take 20 minutes to half an hour. If you decide to read some of the descriptions, walk the perimeter, and take some time to reflect what happened here, look to spend about 45 min to an hour. While you are in the area and if you have time, Century 21, a retail discounter, is right across the WTC site. My wife and I spent lots of time digging for bargins here. Total time for WTC, lunch at World Financial Center, Century 21: at least 4 hours.

If you are coming from the north and moving in a southerly direction:

-Central Park
-Grand Central
-take 'S' train rom Grand Central to Times Square
-take a train headed south and get off at Penn Station, you are now underneath MSG
-go back down to Penn Station and take '1' train headed to downtown to WTC (get off at chambers or rector st station), walk to WTC
-get back on subway, take '1' train to South Ferry, get off, walk to the waterfront to view Statue of L.
-you can walk on South St to view Brooklyn Bridge, Vietnam memorial and South Street Seaport along the way.
-Take a bus back north along 5th ave to Empire State Bld.

[mmhassa2]

Thanks everyone for the helpful advices, I have made changes to some of the things. I decided to just get the 3 hour cruise to relax and see some of the attractions from the cruise since we have the extra time.

Does anyone know the admission to Rockefeller Center JUST for the sunset viewing?

[DQM]

We were in New York recently. To me at least it seems like you'd be wiped out if you tried to do all that in 2 days.
Like another poster said, the Statue of Liberty is over-rated. Take a boat ride and see it.
Also, do you know where exactly you plan to visit in Central Park? It's a huge area. I found Belvedere Castle and the surrounding area really nice, and a good area to take a few photographs.
The Jackie O. reservoir is also nice, and has great views of the buildings overlooking the park.

[airmail]

Dont forget the Intrepid Museum if your an aviation buff....

The Intrepid Museum maintains an extensive aircraft collection spanning the history of flight, from early wooden “flying machines” to the latest supersonic jet fighters.

Growler
First opened to the public at the Museum in 1989, the USS Growler, SSG 577 is the only intact strategic diesel powered submarine that fired nuclear missiles open to the public anywhere in the world.

Concorde
The Concorde is the fastest airliner ever to enter commercial service.

Aircraft Collection
The Intrepid Museum maintains an extensive aircraft collection spanning the history of flight in the second half of the twentieth-century, from World War II to the latest supersonic jet fighters.

Pier 86, W46th St. & 12th Ave., New York, NY 10036 · 212 245 0072

[adwoodw]

Dont forget the Intrepid Museum if your an aviation buff....

The Intrepid Museum maintains an extensive aircraft collection spanning the history of flight, from early wooden “flying machines” to the latest supersonic jet fighters.

Growler
First opened to the public at the Museum in 1989, the USS Growler, SSG 577 is the only intact strategic diesel powered submarine that fired nuclear missiles open to the public anywhere in the world.

Concorde
The Concorde is the fastest airliner ever to enter commercial service.

Aircraft Collection
The Intrepid Museum maintains an extensive aircraft collection spanning the history of flight in the second half of the twentieth-century, from World War II to the latest supersonic jet fighters.

Pier 86, W46th St. & 12th Ave., New York, NY 10036 · 212 245 0072

I don't think this is open to the public until Nov since it is being redone. I could have sworn I saw a news video of the ship being tugged off of the pier.

As for the exhibit, I really enjoyed it but my wife is not really an airplane buff. She did, however, get a kick out of a cruise missile that had a shark mouth painted on it that was hung inside the hanger deck. :lol:

[geronimo]

Well unlike most of you I like fast-paced vacations and I could definately see and do all of those things in 2 days. Everytime I go to NYC I have lots of attractions packed into each day. When I went to the Empire State Building I didn't spend more than 1.5 hours. I haven't been to the Statue of Liberty yet :o but I don't think it would necessarily have to take 6 hours either.

[dell]

Does anyone know the admission to Rockefeller Center JUST for the sunset viewing?

If your talking about the Top of the Rock attraction where you get to see the city from the top of the Rockefeller its like $20. I heard the top of the Empire State building is open till 2am everynight. I went up both buildings a few weeks ago, Empire during the day and Rockefeller at night, great views and awsome photo ops.

[adwoodw]

Well unlike most of you I like fast-paced vacations and I could definately see and do all of those things in 2 days. Everytime I go to NYC I have lots of attractions packed into each day. When I went to the Empire State Building I didn't spend more than 1.5 hours. I haven't been to the Statue of Liberty yet :o but I don't think it would necessarily have to take 6 hours either.

I'm also more of an action type of guy when it comes to vacations and don't like to sit on the beach much.

The Statue of Libery can be done in less time unless you want to look inside the old Lady. You can't just walk in and look since they give you an entry time for your tour. We were the 3rd or 4th boatload of people to land on Liberty Island and our tour did not beging for another 2 hours so we just walked around the island taking photos.

If you plan on just visiting Liberty Island to look around and take some photos, look to spend at least 90 minutes. Time is mostly spent on security screening, lining up the boat ride, and waiting for a the boat to and from Liberty Island.

We had lunch on Ellis Island and probably spent about 2.5 hours there. Watch out for the hungry seagulls outside. One of them picked up a paper plate with my wife's pizza on it, folded the plate in half, and swallowed the entire pizza!! We're usually more careful with our food, but we had to put down our plates to take a photo.

[geronimo]

^ WTH!?! LOL @ the seagull!! :lol: Thanks for the tips, I will take note of that when I go to NYC next time, hopefully this August. ;)

[mmhassa2]

Thanks everyone and yes like the previous 2 posters we like fast pace trips. And just to update everyone we just got back today, and had a wonderful trip.

Sunday:
The bus was late so we got to Penn station around 8-9pm. Went to hotel (Murray Hill suites, a very nice spacious hotel close to most things). Went to dinner at Whitecastle, because we heard it’s really popular, but was very disappointed. Food was awful and makes McDonald’s seem like high end food. LOL

Monday:
We did the following with plenty of time to roam around.
Empire State Building view and the stimulator ride: Bright and early (8am)
Grand Central Station (A must see in my opinion)
Lunch at Dabar (Great Indian restaurant close by)
Central park:
Went for a horse carriage ride
The Zoo
The Castle with enough time to sit around and enjoy the park
Time squares; shopped around
Went to the Top of the Rock for the sunset viewing (breath taking)
Went to dinner @ Chipole

Tuesday:
3 hour Cruise line tour and saw the bridges, statue of Liberty etc. (personally I will never use the cruise again as 3 hours is a LONG time)
Lunch at some Chinese place
Ground Zero
Shopping @ Century 21 (it truly is NY’s best kept secret)
Enterprise picked us up for our rental
Headed to Queens to look around a bit (Their Indian/Bengali stores are really known, and great food)
Headed to Atlantic city, and reached there around 12am.
Looked at nightlife till about 2am

Wednesday:
BK @ IHOP
Shopping at Ross (Great bargains, we usually fill up on loads of clothes/perfume/shoes whenever we go to Phoenix) and a few other places in the plaza.
Casino (Lost more than we won)
Headed back to NY, dropped our car off
Walked around MSG and got on the bus and came back to Toronto.

Overall we saw a lot in the short 3.5 days we were there, and it was a really nice trip. The weather was great and considering it’s our first time there I think we did pretty well. Wanted to thanks everyone who helped me plan the trip as I received compliments from my family on how well I knew exactly what to do when. Planning seems to be the key, as you can get off tracked pretty fast in a city this busy.

[adwoodw]

^ WTH!?! LOL @ the seagull!! :lol: Thanks for the tips, I will take note of that when I go to NYC next time, hopefully this August. ;)

Yeah, I was like WTF?!!! We were a bit stunned as we have never seen anything like that before. The largest piece of 'human food' I've seen a seagull eat whole was a large piece of watermellon. I don't have a picture of the seagull in action, but in one of our photos, you can see him taking off for the pizza on the side the frame. Pizza replacement was $5. >:(

I found that both Ellis Island and Liberty Island were very good locations if you wanted to take photos using Manhattan as a backdrop. I saw many people with professonal style SLR's and tripods taking pictures.

If you do decide to get a monument pass, take note that they will not let you bring large backpacks and bags into the Statue of Liberty. They do, however, have small 'fingerprint ID' lockers for you to secure your stuff prior to entering the monument. You don't have to worry about carrying a key since you will release the lock with your fingerprint. Purses and small camera bags were not a problem.
You don't get to go to the very top of the lady or enter the actual statue, just the pedistal that it sits on. You can, however, peer up into the Lady and see the stairs that lead to the head/crown. From what I was told, the view from inside the head wasn't too good anyways and only allowed you to look into New Jersey.