Things to do in New York / Boston

Civilian_Target

Hey,

Going to New York and Boston for a fortnight, and was wondering if any of you good people had any great ideas on things to do or see while there, as a 21-year old single guy. I really can't afford to be spending more than $80 a day on stuff either, so being a bit budget concious couldn't hurt...

So far, the only thing arranged is to be in Boston on Paddys Day, to see the Dropkick Murphys....

katnip

Get the New York city guide - it's free from most hotel receptions, etc. It tends to have money off vouchers for entry into events and gives you ideas of what to do. There's a good little comedy club (the Ha! Comedy Club) about 2 blocks west of Time Sq. bring the voucher and it's $7 in with 2 drink minimum. If you're low on funds make sure you have a strong willpower when it comes to shopping - there's sales on everywhere. Century 21 opposite the site of the WTC is great for getting hundreds of dollars of retail prices. Canal St. in chinatown is a good place if you're looking for really good counterfeit bags, etc.
Empire State building late at night is pretty good - no queues and for an extra $6 you get a really good audio tour.
If you want to actually go inside the statue of liberty make sure you book it a couple of days in advance. Tickets on sale in Battery Park. And go either early morning or late evening as the queues for it and ellis island can last for hours. Although you can't go up in the actual statue anymore, only the base pedestal.
If it's your kind of thing, most of the big tv organisations do guided tours of their New York facilities. The CNN one is a good bet.
Then to kill some more time there's tonnes of museums, although the museum of sex isnt as interesting as you'd expect.

Civilian_Target

Museum of Sex eh?
Whats that about - "This is how we did it back in my day?"

Some good advice there though - definitely'll have to give that comedy club a go.

idontknowmyname

I walked from my hotel on 34th street all the way to the end of central park.....its about 70 blocks and then back. Took the best part of a day to do the return trip. Central Park is great, then if you wanna see a few musuems you can exit and go onto Musuem Mile and visit the Guggenheim etc. Downtown, with Battery Park and the boat to Ellis Island and Liberty Island is good too. And dont forget Ground Zero, even though you cant see much.

If you want to go on a day trip, take a train to Coney Island, its a resort just outside NYC.

Real

This is the best bit of advice youll get!!!

Buy the New York Pass www.newyorkpass.com

We did in January for 3 day at a cost of $79. For that price youll get free into nearly all the major tourist attractions and some minor ones too. Discounts on food and merchandise in Hard Rock, Planet Hollywod etc and it also lets you skip the queue and get priority seating in some places. Tourist attractions in New York are quite expensive but with the New York Pass we saved over $300 over 3 days alone.

Dont miss out!!!

Real

por

Civilian_Target wrote:

Hey,

Going to New York and Boston for a fortnight, and was wondering if any of you good people had any great ideas on things to do or see while there, as a 21-year old single guy. I really can't afford to be spending more than $80 a day on stuff either, so being a bit budget concious couldn't hurt...

So far, the only thing arranged is to be in Boston on Paddys Day, to see the Dropkick Murphys....

The St. Patricks day parade in South Boston is usually held the Sunday before or after St. Patrick's day so seeing as this year it's on a Thursday the parade will be on the 20th, well worth a going to and the pubs will be packed thick.
On Pddays day iteslf there is not much going on in Boston seeing as it is a week day, lots of American (Irish or otherwise) wearing green and going to Irish pubs for lunch.

brettmirl

http://gonewengland.about.com/cs/bostonattractions/a/aastpatboston.htm

details of some of the "oirish" events in Boston for you.

Am actually going to be in SF for their Paddy's Day parade which on March 13th. I wonder to do they constitute a few lads on the back of lorries a parade?


As for things to do in NYC... You could go ice skating in Central Park or at the Rockerfeller Centre http://www.rockefellercenter.com - It's pretty cold and snowy in New York at the moment.

You could try and get into the audience for the recording of the David Letterman show - more details: http://www.cbs.com/latenight/lateshow/show_info/ls_show_info_stand_by_ticket.shtml

A lot of the museums do "free days"... I went to the American Museum of Natural History (across from Central Park) - was pretty cool - had the whole T-Rex skeleton stuff, i-Max movies, etc - http://www.amnh.org/museum/?src=toolbar

Civilian_Target

Real wrote:

This is the best bit of advice youll get!!!

Buy the New York Pass www.newyorkpass.com

Can you get it in normal shops/airports in New York? It sounds like a good enough deal - just spend a couple of days doing sights with it....


Also - good tip on the Paddys Day parade - I'd have been wondering where it had gone on the Thursday - never occured to me that it'd be on the sunday.