Report: New York City, USA

rovers_runner

Hi all,
Just returned from a Week in NYC and below are some of the places/things we got up to that I'd recommend.

- Statue of Liberty tour
Book "Reserve tickets" online for a specific time, unless you have 90mins extra to spare, well worth the cheap fee and you'll get great photos on the way out on the boat.

- Sports in MSG
We got to the Knicks final home game but am sure there may be some hockey left, that or a gig, a magnificent arena.

- Jersey Gardens
Was recommened it in favour of Woodbury commons and can see why, only 25 mins on the bus from Penn station, has all the stores you'd want except Timberland and Ralph Lauren but well laid out and you've a nice view over Newark too

- Top of the Rock
Didn't bother with Empire State in favour of this and views are excellent as it's all glass surrounding lookout areas, also excellent value at around 20 dollars I think it was.

- Battery Park City & WTC site
Battery Park City is by far the nicest part of the Island and the grass and river views are a nice contrast the buildings behind you.

WTC site is quite surreal, every time we passed it there was always someone there mouring for a loved one and the memorial beside the graveyard is very sad, hadn't seen the buildings as I hadn't been there before but it put some perspective on the scale of the destruction that day.

- Broadway
We ended up going to Wicked in the Gerswin and was a nice spot, but would definitely recommend checking out the TKTS booth behind the Marroit on Times Square as there were plenty of tickets on the evening we went for 50% or less.

Recommended stores
- Niketown
- Tommy Hilfiger (outlet)
- Factory Brand Shoes (outlet)
- Oakley (hard found but worth it)

Stores to miss
- Macys (Arnotts meets BT meets rip off)
- Century 21 (TK Maxx, full of seconds and odd sizes XXL or S)
- FAO Schwarz (Living on a reputation, fat American kids trying to play piano is funny though)


Places to eat
- Hard Rock on Times Square
- Ruby Tuesdays just behind Times Square on 7th Avenue

WooPeeA

Wow, what a great trip!! Thx for advices

rossie1977

would agree with almost everything you have written, century 21 is one of the most over-rated stores i have ever visited and still i hear people saying how good it is

i would add a walk across the brooklyn bridge (not as spectacular as the golden gate but still worth the trip), a visit to the museum of natural history up around 80th street central park west

mloc

Would also recommend a dusk trip on the (free) Staten Island ferry, if its dark coming back some spectacular views.

Just make sure you get to the return terminal as soon as the boat arrives or you could be waiting a while for the next one!

Rb

Good job picking Top of The Rock over the Empire State. I did both when I was there in January and Top of the Rock is a huge amount better.