New York City Tour ideas?

[T-Bird76]

I need some ideas for a New York City Tour. One of my coworkers in Canada who I've become friends with is coming to NYC for the first time and asked me to show her around Manhattan. She only has a day so I've thought of the following sites to take her to. If anyone has any suggestions I'd love to hear them. Also do you think I can get everything below in a day? Figure the day will begin at 9 and go to 10/11 PM

1. Empire State Building
2. Times Square
3. Rockefeller Center
4. NBC studio tour
5. St. Pattricks
6. Lunch (any idea of a really true New York place to go?)
7. Head Downtown via subway
8. WTC site
9. Trinity Church
10. Wall Street and the Federal Building
11. Battery Park
12. Statute of Liberty
13. Dinner (got that covered)

I'd like to throw in the Met to but I don't think we'll have the time.

[moose135]

That sounds like an awful lot for one day, especially the NBC tour & Statue of Liberty. Haven't been through either recently, but I would think they would eat up a considerable amount of time. Otherwise, you should be able to hit a bunch of stuff on your list.

I did something similar with some old friends who were in town over the summer. We did the ESB and Times Square in the morning, lunch at Nedicks (I think) then took the subway downtown. Did 8, 9 & 10 on your list, then walked over to South Street Seaport. We met at Penn at 10am, and got back by around 6 or 6:30.

[mirrodie]

Tom, hate to agree with Moose but statue of liberty alone can eat up 2-3 hours.

Some spots that I 've brought visitors....

Brooklyn Promeade gives WONDERFUL views and would be a great place to get some eats.

Penn Top bar and hotel for drinks.

Battery Park is a nice hour though if you don't take the ferry to the Statue.

Also, if you do this on a weekend day, I think taking a car into the city might save a bit of time. Just have to be smart about where to park efficiently

[cancidas]

what i ususally do is take someone around by car at night. we leave my house in brooklyn, head over the 59th st bridge then up the FDR to the GW. instead of paying the toll on we take west side highway all the way down to the battery, then back up the FDR and take the brooklyn bridge back to brooklyn. once in brooklyn, take the BQE down to the veranzanno bridge.

it's a pretty cool trip for first timers just to get to see NYC at night. we stop along the way too, usually at queens west, the battery, the promenade in brooklyn and wtc. the most recent trip i took was 2 years ago when my buddy came to NYC for the first time from cali.

total time to completlion: about 3 hours without traffic. :borat:


as far as daytime trips i've taken people on the staten island ferry (caught a ride to SI with my father in the morning) then walked much of the city. we walked more for the experience of walking in the city as opposed to visisting any particular place. we did go to the empire state building that night, but spent most of the day getting up to central park. once at central park we were done for the day and headed home. the next day we walked all of central park from the south end up north, then caught the subway home.


i have also flown people around NYC when they came to visit. did it once during the day and once at night. started off following the south shore and entered the harbor over the veranzanno. up and down the hudson, around Lady Liberty and up the east river to the manhattan bridge. instead a nice tight steep turn back towards the harbor i got clearance from LGA to overfly the airport, then went east from there and took the helo route over central part and back out over LGA again towards northport. that was a fun trip!

[PhilDernerJr]

Considering that you can't go UP the statue, I would pass on that idea.

The rest of it is not too bad. I have a lot of experience in showing peopple around the town, and this is my ideal tour:

N/W train to 59th and 5th Ave, starting around The Plaza, taking a brief walk into Central Park, then out, down 5th Ave, seeing St. Pats and Rock Center. Then at 42nd, walk east to Grand Central (with a look at the Chrysler Building), then the S train to Times Square. I would then walk Broadway down to Herald Square/Empire State Building (viewing, not to the observatory).

I would then take a train (Q/W) to City Hall, and walk from there, Woolworth Building, that church, then WTC. If desired, a walk to Trinity Church and Wall Street/Federal Hall.

For me, it would end there. Battery Park is full of people trying to sell watches, and the Statue of Liberty is somewhat far to view and backlit to the point where just looking at it is difficult.

This is a basic tour to WITNESS New York City. Even my tour is a LOT to do in one day, and you need to make sure that your friend is willing to walk a bit and certainly wears comfortable shoes.

If you want to go up the Empire State Building or do mor4e activities, then it must be split into multiple days. It must.

As for meals, going along that route, I would go for a VERY inexpensive, but great Chinese meal at "The Excellent Dumpling House" on Lafayette Street, just feet belong Canal Street. This would mean that your Q/W trip downtown should be an N/W trip to Canal Street if this is what you choose. This would be for lunch.

Dinner....depends on the scene. People are into so many different things. What kind of place are you looking for?

[Midnight Mike]

If you take her downtown make sure that you show her the Bull

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v726/MidnightMike/Joke%20Photos/Front.jpg

& then the back, always good for a laugh!

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v726/MidnightMike/Joke%20Photos/Back.jpg

[cancidas]

If you take her downtown make sure that you show her the Bull

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v726/MidnightMike/Joke%20Photos/Front.jpg

& then the back, always good for a laugh!

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v726/MidnightMike/Joke%20Photos/Back.jpg


i knew someone would bring this up... didn't think it'd be you though mike.

[adam613]

For a true New York lunch, you might want to try John's Pizza on 43rd between 7th and 8th. Excellent New York-style pizza. We take new employees there for their welcome lunch.

[cancidas]

6. Lunch (any idea of a really true New York place to go?)



just get a couple hot dogs or a felafel from a street vendor. seriously...

[Derf]

NY....PIZZA! :borat: Dirty dog as a snack later! Eat a little, all day long! People that are from out of state that have visited talk about food 1st and longest. Seriouisly.... Food will be a bigger conversation piece for your friend than any site you would possibly see with the only exeption being the WTC.....but probably hotter to talk about than that too!

[hiss srq]

These questions prove Tommy is actually from Ireland and just developed his accent real well. :twisted: Anyone in NY knows you have to eat from street vendors!

[Matt Molnar]

1. Statue of Liberty
2. Ground Zero
3. Lunch: A/C train at Chambers St two stops to High Street (first stop in Brooklyn), eat at Grimaldi's Pizza (by far the best in NYC IMO)
4. Look at beautiful view of lower Manhattan from Brooklyn side of the East River
5. Walk across Brooklyn Bridge back to Manhattan
6. Subway or cab up to midtown for Empire State Building, Times Square, Rock Center, etc, which are all in walking distance of each other.

[Midnight Mike]

1. Statue of Liberty
2. Ground Zero
3. Lunch: A/C train at Chambers St two stops to High Street (first stop in Brooklyn), eat at Grimaldi's Pizza (by far the best in NYC IMO)
4. Look at beautiful view of lower Manhattan from Brooklyn side of the East River
5. Walk across Brooklyn Bridge back to Manhattan
6. Subway or cab up to midtown for Empire State Building, Times Square, Rock Center, etc, which are all in walking distance of each other.

To add to that, stop by the World Financial Center, they have a view of Ground Zero that tells the story of the size of the WTC.... Also in the World Financial Center there is a timeline for the events after 9/11 including the construction of the WTC replacement....

Go to the Village, they have lots of outdoor vendors that sell stuff, remember girl = shopping..

[Mellyrose]

Phil's tour is my tour too...so that's my suggestion. I was going to mention the fact that you can't go up in the Statue anymore so it's better to view from afar anyway....and I would definitely rule out going to the observatory for the ESB as lines will be long and definitely take up more time than you want. It's also about $20 per person and most of your time will be spent waiting.

I would avoid any type of tours as even if they're only scheduled for an hour or so, you will likely spend at least 2 hours trying to get tickets, waiting, etc.

FYI, minor detail....only the R-W goes to City Hall regularly. The Q's last stop in Manhattan is Canal Street. Another option is to walk a couple blocks east from ESB to the 6 train and take that to City Hall/Brooklyn Bridge for a nice view of the bridge and a walk through the park by City Hall on your way to Ground Zero.

[Mellyrose]

PS: If you DO decide to go to the Excellent Dumpling House, it's literally right off Canal and if she does like shopping, she'd be in knock-off heaven.

Oh, and order the mixed dumpling soup, fried pork dumpings and the scallion pancake.

[Winglets747]

3. Lunch: A/C train at Chambers St two stops to High Street (first stop in Brooklyn), eat at Grimaldi's Pizza (by far the best in NYC IMO)
4. Look at beautiful view of lower Manhattan from Brooklyn side of the East River
5. Walk across Brooklyn Bridge back to Manhattan

I definitely recommend this. Grimaldi's is excellent and there are great views of Manhattan in that area. Walking across the Brooklyn Bridge (allow 20-30 minutes) also has nice views and is fun within itself. If you have time, you could consider a walk on the promenade or from Grimaldi's walk a few minutes into Dumbo to Empire-Fulton Ferry State Park, which has picture-esque views of Manhattan and the Brooklyn Bridge.