NYC in 2 days (first visit)

HHarry

+1 for Rockefeller. View is much better, as you can see the ESB. And they use an appoinment system so you buy a ticket, turn up at the right time and they whisk you straight up.
We had to queue for 1h45m to get to the top of the ESB, not fun!

callum9999

HHarry wrote: »

+1 for Rockefeller. View is much better, as you can see the ESB. And they use an appoinment system so you buy a ticket, turn up at the right time and they whisk you straight up.
We had to queue for 1h45m to get to the top of the ESB, not fun!

I agree. I did the Rockefeller on my first trip then the ESB on my second - purely because it was the ESB and I thought it would be interesting historically.

When I got to the top (luckily the queue wasn't that long!) the view was noticeably worse than the Rockefeller (though if you want to see particular buildings at certain angles, I guess it's subjective) and most of the historical displays were pretty tedious..

agrinnall

azzap wrote: »

Two full days (3 nights).

Perhaps you could edit your OP then, because it's clear from that at the moment that you have only 1 full day.

callum9999

agrinnall wrote: »

Perhaps you could edit your OP then, because it's clear from that at the moment that you have only 1 full day.

Unless they've already fixed it and MSE doesn't show the "edited at" bit any more (I just tried it on my post and it does, but maybe it doesn't to OPs?), it's perfectly clear that they have 2 full days.

pompeyrich

azzap wrote: »

Visiting New York next month for the first time and begrudgingly only have two full days (late arrival on the first day, early dept on the third). IThanks

callum9999 wrote: »

Unless they've already fixed it and MSE doesn't show the "edited at" bit any more (I just tried it on my post and it does, but maybe it doesn't to OPs?), it's perfectly clear that they have 2 full days.

The bolded bit above states late arrival first day, early dept 3 rd day. So arrive day 1 late, have day 2 free then leave early on day 3. In my book that is 1 full day. It now appears the op has 3 nights, so yes 2 full days but the 1st post was confusing. No biggie but they wanted to do an awful lot in what we thought was 1 day.

callum9999

pompeyrich wrote: »

The bolded bit above states late arrival first day, early dept 3 rd day. So arrive day 1 late, have day 2 free then leave early on day 3. In my book that is 1 full day. It now appears the op has 3 nights, so yes 2 full days but the 1st post was confusing. No biggie but they wanted to do an awful lot in what we thought was 1 day.

Well I've clearly lost the ability to count to three...

Rambosmum

If you want to go to the crown of the S of L you need to pre-book, you can't buy tickets on the day. The earliest is 9.30 so can be a good one to do am.

I would day 1 - arrive, take a cab to your hotel I'd take a cab to save time, will be around $70 dollars. I'd dump bags and walk to times square (dead easy from 55th). Take in the sights and sounds and grab dinner and a drink or 2.

Day 2 - you'll wake up around 5am (the one time jet lag is a good thing!). Get up, go for breakfast and take the subway to Battery park ready for the 9am ferry to S of L. Take a quick look around the museum and then go up the crown. Take the ferry to Ellis Island but don't get off. You'll get fantastic views of S of L AND the NY sky line. OR just do the statten island ferry which gives you the same views but obvs not up the crown. Then walk up from Battery park/ statten island ferry to ground zero and take a look (15mins if you don't go in the museum longer if you do). then walk up through Greenwich village and grab pizza at Johns on Bleeker for lunch.

Then get on to 5th Ave and walk up past the Washington Sq garden, flatiron building, NYC central libray, Empire state building and a glimpse at the Chrysler building through gaps in the building ending at West 48th street where you'll take a left and head to the rockerfella centre, where you can grab dinner before watching the sunset at the top (or watch sunset then grab dinner). Then drinks, a show if you fancy it on broadway and an early night. The walk is a total of 5 miles, but with all the sights it really doesn't feel like it.

Day 2 - head up in to central park and walk though central park on your way up to museum mile (the Met is on the edge of central park, and is 'entrance by donation' so you can justify spending only half and hour in there). The guggenheim is a 1/4 mile further up the road. The outside is worth a view, tickets are $25 each though, so might not be worth it for you. Take the subway to grand central ad then walk outside and look at the Chrysler building. Get the subway, or walk, to China town.

Enojoy! I'd definitely recommend walking- you see soooo much more than the subway and get the real feel of new york.

azzap

Yes a little confusing on my part, technically a late arrival on the 1st day and early departure on the 4th day to give 2 full days :-)

Some great advice thus far. I thought about the bus though it sounds like a lot of hopping on and off, in potential traffic. We are young and don't mind a bit of walking / subway so thought we would have just as much luck DIY. Sounds like we don't need to do both the RFC and ESB, we will pre book the RFC for a day time view and visit one of the high bars in Time Square (the sticky mentioned a bar at the Marriott?). Is China town or Washington Sq park worth a visit?

bluenoseam

I'm going to visit Chinatown mostly cos I've heard it's a bit of an adventure & there's some good cheap eats there so I'll swing by during lunch one of the days. I think you may need to trade off between do you want to see another park (pretty as they may be they're still just a park!) or something different.

What I will be avoiding this time round is walking from 97th street down broadway to 28th street & start back up again - I got to around 50-55 on the way back & the legs gave in! I will inevitably walk for miles, but this time round I'll do it a bit smarter

pompeyrich

If you're flying into JFK, the subway is possibly as quick as a taxi and a lot cheaper, although I suppose arriving in a taxi you would get a better view of the skyline. The Airtrain from the terminals to the subway interchange costs $5, then $2.75 for the Subway into Manhatten.