Things to do in New York

[turbotongue]

Going to New York tomorrow for the first time. Any must go to restaurants/bars/things to do?

So Far:

Yankee Match
Circle line at night
Peter Lugers Stake House
Gramaldi's Pizza
Empire State Building
Ground Zero
1 fancy restaurant, possible 21 Club? Any recommendations?

Anything else worth doing?

Cheers

[Wacky Racer]

Get the underground and have a trip to run down Coney Island. Very Atmospheric.

[darreni]

turbotongue said:

Going to New York tomorrow for the first time. Any must go to restaurants/bars/things to do?

So Far:

Yankee Match
Circle line at night
Peter Lugers Stake House
Gramaldi's Pizza
Empire State Building
Ground Zero
1 fancy restaurant, possible 21 Club? Any recommendations?

Anything else worth doing?

Cheers

Rockerfella center

Stanten Island Ferry

Diamond district

Chinatown/Little Italy

Macy's/Bloomingdales etc

[ErnestM]

turbotongue said:

Anything else worth doing?

Cheers

Ivanka Trump?

[CVP]

turbotongue said:

Going to New York tomorrow for the first time. Any must go to restaurants/bars/things to do?

So Far:

Yankee Match
Circle line at night
Peter Lugers Stake House
Gramaldi's Pizza
Empire State Building
Ground Zero
1 fancy restaurant, possible 21 Club? Any recommendations?

Anything else worth doing?

Cheers

1. Yankee match - look at ticket prices for the new stadium before you think about this one - very very expensive. Also check fixture list as they may be away onthe road now the season is back started
2. Circle line is nice, I'd honestly recommend doing it in the day rather than at night. At night the top of the Rockerfeller (Top of the Rock) gives a really nice view northwards over Central park and then southwards to the Empire state building and further downtown
3. Peter Luger's - good steak but if staying in Manhattan can be a pain to get to as it is not really near any particular subway station. I prefer the steak at Smith & Wollensky (707 3rd Avenue) but the choice is yours. If you do go to Luger's have the bacon as a starter, lovely bacon chops
4. Grimaldi's - nice pizza but be prepared to queue. If going ata normal lunch / dinner hour the queues can be very long. In general int he US they eat dinner earlier than in Europe, think 6pm, so if you head there about 7:30-8 you will be OK. If you go early they are just building a new park from the Brooklyn bridge south to Atlantic Avenue and the first piece is open at the Brooklyn Bridge. It's only 50 yards down the road so get takeout and eat in the park looking at the bridge & upstream to the Manhattan bridge.
5. fancy restaurant - try 11 Madison Park, One If by Land, Buddakhan, The Modern at the Muesum of Modern Art. If here Saturday lunch try to get the prix fixe menu at Nougatine in the Trump International Tower at Columbus Circle

Chris

[turbotongue]

CVP said:

turbotongue said:

Going to New York tomorrow for the first time. Any must go to restaurants/bars/things to do?

So Far:

Yankee Match
Circle line at night
Peter Lugers Stake House
Gramaldi's Pizza
Empire State Building
Ground Zero
1 fancy restaurant, possible 21 Club? Any recommendations?

Anything else worth doing?

Cheers

1. Yankee match - look at ticket prices for the new stadium before you think about this one - very very expensive. Also check fixture list as they may be away onthe road now the season is back started
2. Circle line is nice, I'd honestly recommend doing it in the day rather than at night. At night the top of the Rockerfeller (Top of the Rock) gives a really nice view northwards over Central park and then southwards to the Empire state building and further downtown
3. Peter Luger's - good steak but if staying in Manhattan can be a pain to get to as it is not really near any particular subway station. I prefer the steak at Smith & Wollensky (707 3rd Avenue) but the choice is yours. If you do go to Luger's have the bacon as a starter, lovely bacon chops
4. Grimaldi's - nice pizza but be prepared to queue. If going ata normal lunch / dinner hour the queues can be very long. In general int he US they eat dinner earlier than in Europe, think 6pm, so if you head there about 7:30-8 you will be OK. If you go early they are just building a new park from the Brooklyn bridge south to Atlantic Avenue and the first piece is open at the Brooklyn Bridge. It's only 50 yards down the road so get takeout and eat in the park looking at the bridge & upstream to the Manhattan bridge.
5. fancy restaurant - try 11 Madison Park, One If by Land, Buddakhan, The Modern at the Muesum of Modern Art. If here Saturday lunch try to get the prix fixe menu at Nougatine in the Trump International Tower at Columbus Circle

Chris

Thanks very much for the reply. Very helpful.

[luckyal]

Great restaurant - Grammercy Tavern, pricey but great atmosphere & unpretentious.

Sounds silly but i'd make a point of enjoying Central Park if the weather is good, plenty to do/see, safe & to be in that amazing space surrounded by iconic buildings really brought home the Englishman in New York/Movie Cliche feeling.

[bull996]

Are these sightseeing helicopter flights any good that around Manhatten?

[turbotongue]

bull996 said:

Are these sightseeing helicopter flights any good that around Manhatten?

Had a look at that. Seems expensive and short. I think the circle line does the job for us.

[Dr John]

Some ideas for FREE things to do in NY:
Walk round central park and watch the model boats on the pond ( http://www.centralpark.com/pages/attractions.html )
Visit the central library and see the longets table in the world ( http://www.nypl.org/events/tours/schwarzman )
Visit the federal reserve gold vaults ( http://www.newyorkfed.org/aboutthefed/ny_tours.htm... )

Things you have to pay (not a lot) for:
Walk round central park and go boating ( http://www.centralpark.com/pages/sports/boating.ht... )
Take a trip on the Staten Island Ferry to see the Statue of Liberty ( http://www.siferry.com/ )

John

[turbotongue]

Dr John said:

Visit the federal reserve gold vaults ( http://www.newyorkfed.org/aboutthefed/ny_tours.htm... )

That looks interesting. Cheers John

[fat80b]

One of the best things that we did was hire bikes to ride round central park.

It all felt a little dodgy when we turned up at the parking lot to rent the bikes and the chap with a trailer full of bikes wanted a passport as deposit for them.
We settled to let him hold on to a photo driving licence and tootled off expecting never to see it or him again.

A few hours later, we returned with the bikes and exchanged them for the photo ID having had a great time for a few dollars.
Cycling round at your own pace stopping off for a spot of lunch and soaking up the central park feel - Well recommended.


Other things - see a broadway show - although don't bother queuing for the half price tickets in time square as it takes up too much of your valuable time. Instead, head to the actual theatre that you want to go to when they open in the morning (10 am ish) and book for tomorrow, takes no time at all and you get to see what you want.

[CVP]

Dr John said:

Things you have to pay (not a lot) for:
Walk round central park and go boating ( http://www.centralpark.com/pages/sports/boating.ht... )
Take a trip on the Staten Island Ferry to see the Statue of Liberty ( http://www.siferry.com/ )
John

John, Staten Island ferry is now free, it used to be 25 cents. Absolutely support the walk round Cenrtal Park. Saturday and Sunday are meant to be lovely here with Sunday hitting 80 degrees Fharenheit. If you are hungry and near the Southern part of Central park you can also head towards Columbus Circle and into the big centre there, I think it's the Time Warner building (2 tall towers on a curve). They have a shopping centre and number of bars / restaurants in there. If you like your watches there is also a watch shop right on the outside which can ruin your wallet

I'd forgotten about the bike folks in Central Park (Bike N' Roll?). Just be wary this Sunday (2 May) as it is the TD 5 Borough Bike Tour which will close some roads as we will go through Central Park on the route. There will be 35,000 of us so it'll be quite busy !

Chris

[Jake.]

CVP said:

I prefer the steak at Smith & Wollensky (707 3rd Avenue)

Another vote here for Smith and Wollensky. The steak is fantastic.

[james S]

Gramercy Tavern - world class

Bars down in the Village and Tribeca - just go with your instinct

Ellis Island

My advice wouls be don't try to 'do' too much stuff - just enjoy the place for what it is

[Beardy10]

As others have said Central Park is a great and whilst you are there The Met and Guggenheim are both close. The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is a few blocks south of the park too if that's your thing.

NYC is a great city to walk around but I would avoid midtown as it's dull as ditchwater. I'd advise walking around Greenwich or East villages (basically the area between Houston and 14th St across the width of Manhattan). Greewnwich Village is more upscale has designer shops etc whereas the East Village is a lot more pithy but none the worse for it if you want to see the real NYC. Also Soho which is the area South of Houston (that's where the name cames from) and West of Broadway is great for walking around and shopping.

New York is a fantastic city to eat out in but personally I would avoid the upscale restaurants as they are expensive and frankly not hugely memorable. If you like more eclectic stuff there are fantastic restaurants in the Villages, Soho or the Lower Eastside, you won't get a choice of restaraunts like them anywhere else in the world. The small bars and restaurants are what makes New York different to any other city on the world in my mind.

Other things you may not see in the guide books if you are into cameras or gadgets THE best shop in the world is B+H Photo http://www.bhphotovideo.com/ it's run by orthodox Jews so not open on Sat. It's an unbelievable shop...once you have bought something it gets loaded into a crate and moves off on a conveyor belt to the cashier....look up to the ceiling and you see crates flying around all over the place!

If your other half likes her fashion (or you) the Prada store in Soho is worth a look....it was NYC's fifth busiest tourist attraction when it first opened.

If you want to buy sports gear Paragon SPorts on Broadway and something like 16th is a great shop. They have everything.....and I mean everything.

If your Mrs like clothes and wants a bargain and is happy to rummage through stuff Century 21 near ground zero is the place to go. It's kinda like TK Maxx but better.