Thetownend.com

...following on from the 'holidays to NYC' thread, now its all booked, what to do? Got a few things we'd like to do, but always open to suggestions! (I'm really really hoping the Rangers have a home game whilst we're there, originally wanted to wait to book until the schedule is released in July but the deal we got for the flights and hotel was too good to pass up on!)

Any clues as to what kind of things you like? Are you going with Mrs Leggett or mates?

What deal did you get? Just that me and the girlfriend have been looking at NY recently. Hoping to go late November as the Giants have three home games in a row then.

Breakfast at Sara Beth's on Central Park.

I did the usual touristy shit - Went to the top of the Rockerfeller, bus tour, boat tour, wander around Central Park, Statue of Liberty etc etc.

Great city. As you'd expect from America the food comes in monstrously large portions.

A tip I learned, just cross the road and if any cars get pissed off, just put up your hand and in a New York accent, say 'Hey, I'm walking here!!' Works a treat.

Going with the future Mrs Leggett, managed to get flights and a 3 night stay at the Stanford Hotel not far on Manhattan for about £150 less than anywhere else we could find on the island, hotel is highly recommended.

Where did you find that deal?

We did something similar with Expedia I think when we booked our flights to Bangkok. If you do a deal with them on flights and hotels for the first 2 nights you can get some good deals. We basically got 2 nights in a 5 star hotel for a little more than the cost that the flight alone was going to be.

A tip I was given before I went the first time.  Wait until dusk when the lights start coming on, and then start walking across Brooklyn Bridge away from Manhattan.  The trick is not to turn around and look back until you are half way across.  It's a lot harder than you think.  But if you manage it, you'll be rewarded with one of the most mind-blowing views when you do.

And stick a pair of headphones in and have Gershwin's 'Rhapsody in Blue' playing while you do it, and you'll probably start blubbing like a little girl.

Buy a huge hot dog off a street corner vendor.
Find the old firehouse from the Ghostbusters film.
Maybe take a trip out of the city for a few miles and take in the city from afar.

Go up the Empire State.

Visit Ground Zero.

Enter the Foyer of the Chrysler Building (fantastic Art Deco decoration).

Grand Central Station.

Find the John Lennon memorial in Central Park to see what little note Yoko has left for the day.

If the future SWMBO liked Sex and the City (even if she didn't but you both like cup cakes) visit Magnolia Bakery (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnolia_Bakery). The cakes are the business.

Sit down in a bar/ restraunt that overlooks Time Square and watch the world go by whilst you enjoy a quiet drink.

Hire a bike and cycle round Central Park
Staten Island Ferry (free)
WTC tribute centre
Roosevelt Island Tramway
Wander round (and eat in) China Town & Little Italy, they are next to each other
Drink here http://www.themeanfiddlernyc.com/

One of my favourite things to do in NY is to go up the Empire State Building, aim to get up there about 15-30 mins before sunset (allow plenty of time - sometimes the queues are long) and stay up there until the sun goes down. Amazing views, and great to see everything light up and night falls.

I took a ride on a speedboat around the tip of Manhattan. Absolutely brilliant fun and a unique way to see everything from the water:
http://www.circleline42.com/new-york-cruises/cruise-details.aspx?id=5 (http://www.circleline42.com/new-york-cruises/cruise-details.aspx?id=5)

Agree about the Brooklyn Bridge, but don't bother walking all the way over, it's a pain to find a subway on the Brooklyn side and all the view you need you can get if you walk halfway along the bridge and then come back.

Definitely go over to Liberty Island. Don't bother actually going up the statue - very cramped, hot and you get seconds at the top to enjoy the very mediocre view. Walking around the island is much better.

And finally, if you're feeling energetic, walk from Central Park all the way down to Battery Park. It's a long walk but, if you plan your route right, you can get a really good feel for the variety of the city. New York is all about the different cultures crammed alongside each other. You can walk in pretty much a straight line and take in Central Park, Times Square, Midtown, Garment District, Chelsea (not that one), Greenwich Village, Soho, Little Italy, Chinatown, Wall Street and then end up with the classic view of the Statue of Liberty. If you only do one thing in New York taking in all of this on foot should be it IMHO.

Look for ninja turtles inside the huge grates in the pavement that are emitting steam

Take in a Broadway show, visit a jazz club (the experience is amazing), The rage at the moment is to find an old speakeasy, and drink some real fine Bourbon.

Liberty and Ellis Island. I went top of the rock, Ground Zero. If your uinterested in getting up close and personal wo a space shuttle (I was arms length away from the nose), then do a trip to the USS Insepid. Maybe not your thing i dont know.

Grand Central Station, The crysler buiding is just outside. I went to a comedy club on upper west side, surprisingly it was pretty good.

Suppose you better take the Mrs Shopping!

To surpress yout inner child, the ghostbursters firehouse is in Tribeca, and the word largest toys r us is on times sqaure.

Go to a place called serendipity, the food is really good, as well as a frozen hot chocolate!

Oh, do the brookyln Bride but DO walk over it, and find a pizza parlour called Grimaldis (its in an area called Dumbo), I promise you, it will be the best ever!!!

Not the first person to recommend Grimaldis, will check it out! Mrs isn't bothered by shopping (apart from presents for our boys and family) so thats a bonus! Thanks for all the advice so far, will check it out :-)

eat a pizza from RAYS PIZZA (well a slice, because they are massive)

Was in NY 2 weeks ago, recommend:
Dizzy's Jazz Club at the Lincoln Center, great views of Central Park and the option of an early show, which can be useful for the jet lag.
MOMA if that's your thing, nice cafe/restaurants for lunch.
Grand Central Station has a unique Apple Store that overlooks the main hall.
Hire a boat at Central Park.
As pointed out, take the free Statten Island ferry to get great views of Statue of Liberty. When get to far end just run round to catch the same one back.

Eggs at Schillers - http://schillersny.com/ - their 'eggs hussard' is one of the finest things I've eaten.

Roberta's is a great pizza place in a cool area of Brooklyn - lots of artists and graffiti if you like that kind of thing. Roberta's is a laid-back pizza/bar place, really good food and even better atmosphere http://robertaspizza.com/

Thanks, we will definitely try this.

I never did the headphone thing, by the way.  That was just an afterthought.  But if ever there was a piece of music that perfectly described a city, it's 'Rhapsody in Blue' and NYC.

Grand Central Station is great, and I'm not really into architecture and things like that. Find out the oyster bar and make yourself look silly doing the whispering gallery.

Although it was touristy (and tourist prices), I quite liked the horse and cart trip around central park. It was March when we went and it had snowed. We went for a walk after and did the zoo.

Generally did all the other touristy sightseeing things, times square, Stanton island ferry, Empire State, Flat Iron building, etc.

Didn't do anything too exciting food wise, the Lebanese restaurant with table top BBQ was interesting. They didn't seem to speak English, so it was all a bit of guesswork.

Also we got to see the St Patrick's day parade, which obviously you can't do but it was interesting to see primary school aged children carrying "England out of Ireland" banners.

If you don't mind spending some money on drinks, go here:

http://www.230-fifth.com/

Brilliant views on a sunny day

I did a food walking tour in Greenwich Village which was really good.  They take you through the courses at different restaurants, some of which were really quirky.  One was a farm house inside the middle of a block - they'd just built around it!

Boat tours are good, did an old clipper style boat at sunset.

Go see the Yankees play baseball. or, the Mets if the Yankees are on the road.

Take PATH to Hoboken, NJ and walk along the waterfront

http://icons-ak.wunderground.com/data/wximagenew/h/Hobokenite/235.jpg

Then stop in at Marguerita's Italian restaurant - get there before 7pm as it gets busy. It's a BYOB place, too.

Or eat the jambalaya at Oddfellows or the paella at Puerto Spain.

I used to live in Hoboken and miss it!

Baseball bores the shit outta me, I (and my mrs) are hockey fans. Praying the Rangers are home that weekend...

Baseball is a great game, but the less you understand the nuances, the less likely you'll enjoy it. Definitely worth going to see, if only for the retro feel to it. A good way to spend an afternoon or evening...

The Rangers are out of the NHL playoffs (only 4 teams left) so don't expect to see a hockey game...you can always see the NY Red Bulls in the MLS...not quite the same American experience, though...

Oh, this place is expensive, but the food is amazing. Only go if you're really hungry... http://churrascariaplataforma.com/

I know the Rangers aren't in the playoffs, as I'm going in October the new season will have started ;)

I've watched a couple of games of baseball, I've read up about the rules and how best to enjoy the game, and it's dull. :P each to their own!

Whenever i think about baseball it reminds me of this


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UTjnvyBaaxA&sns=em

This was the food tour:

http://www.foodsofny.com/

This place was good for a sarnie:

http://www.brooklyndiner.com/menu

and this was the last boat tour I went on:

http://www.manhattanbysail.com/About-Us/Our-Boats/

Pier 17 has plenty to do as well, so you can make a night of it.

Ellis Island was interesting, Liberty less so I thought and if it is open, don't bother going up the statue.

The Top of the Rock views are probably better than the Empire State Building, mainly because you get to see the Empire State Building!  But both are well worth the trip up.  I'd recommend The Rock by day and Empire by night.

Someone recommended Battery Park to Central Park.  I did that first time, and it was a long old walk!

If you want a less expensive but more rowdy night, around 80th St on Amsterdam Ave there are lots of Frat bars.  Got some free drinks from one them on my first afternoon in the city, seems the accent was winning the bar maid over.  Went to an Irish bar (O'Reilly's) on 31st St near Madison Square Gardens (on the St, not the Ave) and there was a cop having a drink with a guy who looked like a gangster and another one who could easily have been a politician.  Had to double check I wasn't in a film set.

I agree with Rob, the Accent def gets you the odd feebie here and there, when in a bar, when they give you your change, if your sitting at the bar, leave the change there, its custom to tip, if the people behind the bar see a good tip growing, they will also throw the odd free beer here and there too. A local told me that little tip.

There is another irish bar called playwrights, I it's near times square, the R train takes you stright there pretty much, the locals are pretty cool, the staff are great, the food is homely, sport on the tv's, and they do show the football if a big game is on.

There is a bar called Superfine in Brooklyn, go there, but an old Hippie called Alex a drink and you wont have to buy a single drink for the rest of the night, music is old 70's rock, the crowd is a mixture of old and young, the staff are great, the craic around the pool table is pretty good too!

YES!!

Totally agree with Rob T,

Top of the rock by day Empire State by night! don't bother going on the simulator on the Empire State first though its crap and made me feel proper car sick.

Agree with most of the ideas on here but here are a couple of new ones -

http://www.groundzeromuseumworkshop.com/home.html
This is not actually near Ground Zero, but is well worth a visit as it houses the original photos taken by the one official photographer who was allowed into the Ground Zero area in the days and months after the attack. Pre-booking is a must as only a few people (about 20) can visit at one time - but once you are there you can spend as long as you like. Be prepared to be moved by what you see, and if you are lucky the photographer himself will be there.

Combine it with a walk along here - only about 100 yards away from the museum - which gives a completely different viewpoint of the city. http://www.thehighline.org/ The food and drink for sale up here is pretty expensive though, so maybe buy before you go up!!

Also in the opposite direction from the museum is an Apple store, which may or may not float your boat, but is a great place to grab a bit of air-con before moving on!!

http://www.tenement.org/ is also worth a visit, but again pre-book.

Near Central Park and Bloomingdales take the tramway across to Roosevelt Island (we did this on our last morning before going to the airport as it only takes a couple of hours in all).
Again a different view of the city.
http://www.ny.com/transportation/ri_tramway.html
 It is free if you buy the 7 day subway pass for $30 dollars. We were only there for 4 nights, but it was totally worth the money. If  you do, another trip would be to take the tram right down to Brighton Beach and walk all the way along to Coney Island where you can see Nathan's Hot Dogs where the annual hot dog eating competition takes place.

We did all these things a few weeks ago on our second trip to New York, as obviously we didn't want to do the Empire State/ Top of the Rock etc. again, but those will obviously be be top of your list if this is your first visit.

Can anyone help with reasonably priced accommodation? Please?

Expedia was the cheapest place for flights and hotel deals I could find. If you don't mind shared bathrooms you're even further in luck.

We've got flights already otherwise that would have been a good shout, thanks

edit: hold on, they didn't used to tell you your hotel, just the facilities and price. Didn't see this on priceline just now but didn't look too hard??!

Plus hotwire is insisting in doing things in GBP, where USD used to be cheaper..
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In a non-refunadable risk taking mood?

1. Check out deal prices via normal avenues and direct on hotel sites.

2. Do some research:
http://www.betterbidding.com/

3. Then go blind and hope you got it right:
http://www.hotwire.com/us/index.jsp
http://www.priceline.com/

Done this twice before in Toronto, guessed the hotel right and saved a fair bit. Would do it as a couple for a non-special occasion, but not with kids..

Cheers Batch. took your advice and got a (seemingly) good deal on a hotel 2 blocks from times square. Certainly the cheapest place I've found to date.

Hope its OK!

We had no problems whatsoever with either company. Stayed at one of the hotels twice, once booked normally, once through priceline. There was no difference in checkin, room stand, or anything really.

I'm sure it will be fine. Hotels are really only used for storing your bags and getting your head own. Any extra comfort and its a bonus in my eyes.