New York

Chopperdog

I am taking a 3 day trip to New York for the weekend with Mrs. Chopperdog.
I have never been there before so what do you recommend us to do and see.
Any ideas on where to stay? (without breaking the bank).
All suggestions gratefully accepted.

6ix

Times Square, Empire State (great views). Good spot for shopping of course.

I'd recommend the Staten Island Ferry. Its FREE and takes you from the Harbour to Staten Island in about 20 mins, giving you a great view of the NY Skyline, Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty. When I was on it, it was a beautiful day, so that also helped.

I've heard the trips to the Statue itself aren't that good and you have a lot of security checks/queuing to do.

Central Park is lovely for a relaxing stroll and you can rent boats. However, it was warm when I was there, not sure what the weather is like now.

You'll also have the Paddy's parade won't you? Should be a good wkend.

gilroyb

There is a boat trip they do around Manhattan which has a tour guide and gives you a good way to see the skyline. Although the Statten Island ferry is free, so that might be better value for money, even though you dont get the interesting guide. Some friends of mine did all the bus tours and really enjoyed them, used them to get info as well as just to get around.

Plenty of museums if you're interesting in that sort of thing.

My friends (students) went to a show on broadway. There is a booth on Times Square that sells tickets on the day of the show at a greatly reduced price. They were very impressed and thought it was very good value for money, but I think the seats are something of a lottery.

New York is an amazing city, try and push yourselves to see as much as you can, but leave time to simply take the city in as you walk around.

Now that I think of it, any chance I can come?

Ruu_Old

I think they have eased up a little bit on the security thing regarding the statue of liberty, so you might be in luck this time have a great time.

dingding

Some of the bus tours are very good, If you do one of these on the first day it gives you a good intro the the city and you can spend the next couple of days following up.

Damarr

My friend says:

Seconding the Staten Island Ferry suggestion. The trip to Liberty Island itself sucks - you mull around the base of the statue for awhile and get to see inside the structure if security is having a good day. They don't let anyone up to the head anymore.

Buy a one week Metro pass for $24 for unlimited use of the buses and subways. You could buy three one day passes for $21 total, but queuing at the machines is a pain.

The Pennsylvania and Wolcott Hotels are good if you're on a budget but want a central location. Hotel 31 isn't bad either.

The American Museum of Natural History kicks serious ass. Worth the one hour queue that you'll likely encounter.

Litcagral

Get the subway to Brooklyn and walk back to Manhattan along the magnificent Brooklyn bridge.

I'd also recomend a bus tour ,especially the one via Harlem.

all good suggestions.
Do the Empire state building at night though as there will be no queue.
Otherwise you might waste hours.

Oh and when in maceys ask for the visitor centre.
If you show your passport there, they will give you a voucher that entitles you to 11% off everything you buy there.

Eoin

Ruu wrote:

I think they have eased up a little bit on the security thing regarding the statue of liberty, so you might be in luck this time have a great time.

Afraid not, we were only there 2 weeks ago, and you are searched and x-rayed before you even get on the ferry and again when you go into the statue. You can only go as far as the pedastal, it looks like going into the actual statue is not a runner at all these days. Ellis Island is well worth a look though; a much better use of your time then the Statue of Liberty (which I didn't think looked any more impressive up close).

The 3/4 hour ferry trips around the Island are good - would recommend one of them. The visitor centre in Times Square (around 42nd Street I think) sells all the tickets you need.

Check tripadvisor.com for hotels, you can search by price etc and the user reviews are quite good. The one thing that I have noticed is that a 4 star in Ireland / Europe is bound to be of better quality than one in NY. We stayed in Fitzpatricks Grand Central, and it was only OK.

patsyh

http://wikitravel.org/en/New_York_City for all you need