Let’s talk about New York City! This is my favourite city aside from London. So wanting to plan a short trip there and unsure on what to see or do? Let me get into my favourite must do’s for New York City. Get your pen and paper ready..
- The Statue of Liberty & Ellis Island
Let us start with the most obvious must see in New York City. The Statue of Liberty, everyone knows it right? So you have to take a visit. You can organise a boat trip which takes you from the South of Manhattan Island. It’s a couple of hours round trip while your guide takes you to explore Liberty Island and inside the Statue itself. Then you continue to Ellis Island where again you will take a walking tour around the island before heading back to mainland Manhattan.
- Empire State Building
Another classic must do of New York City, either going up the Empire State Building, the Rockefeller Centre, or both. Top travel tip: they are very close to one another, so instead of having to pay to go up to the top of both, I would go for just one. Then maybe on your second trip to New York you could go up the other one. It’s a beautiful view over Manhattan, must do!
- Brooklyn Bridge
The next must do in New York City is Brooklyn Bridge. No tour is needed to take you across, you just find the start of it, and start walking. Get your tripods ready as it’s a great base for some fantastic New York City shots; either looking away from the city, or even better, when you look back at the New York City skyline.
- Grimald’s Pizzeria
So after you have just walked your first direction across the Brooklyn Bridge you can stop off at Grimald’s Pizza Parlour. A family fun business which started off very small in Brooklyn, which has now grown with two restaurants side by side. There will be a queue, just to warn you, but the Pizza, oh man the Pizza was incredible. I remember reading somewhere from a local it was the best in the city, hence why we gave it a go. The 15 minute wait was not an issue.
- 9/11 Museum & Memorial
Now I know this one is not going to be for everyone, or you may not want to go for the pure fact it is a very sad memory for America. But this is a must do, I’m sorry, it is. It’s so informative and gives you the real impact of the event. Which for me, being so young when it happened, I needed to hear it. I did cry half way round, just as a pre-warning to you.
- One World Observatory
The One World Observatory is right next door, most tickets for the 9/11 museum will mean you can go up here as well. As we had already been up the Empire State building we didn’t feel this was necessary but if I was to go back I would definitely add it to my list.
- Loopy Doopy Bar
The reason I added this in here is that it’s a great bar to visit and close to the 9/11 Museum. So when you have had a bit of a trying day, why not head to the Loopy Doopy Rooftop bar and have an ice lolly in your cocktail? AN ICE LOLLY! Yes, an Ice Lolly. We went to New York in June so it was warm and a perfect place for an evening drink.
- A Baseball Game
A baseball game is so much fun and another one in my top things to do in New York City. It’s a very lighthearted evening. We were lucky enough to see the Yankies vs the Mets, both the New York teams, so the atmosphere was incredible. The games last for about 3 hours so you don’t even have to turn up at the beginning. We realised this when I accidentally told the taxi driver to take us to the Yankie stadium not the Mets stadium. Opps, we turned up 30 minutes late for the game and I thought OH GOD we are going to have missed the whole thing. Not quite. We had a blast, games, beers, free t-shirts, hot dogs.. a classic New York event.
- Central Park
Central Park has got to be on the list of top things to do in New York. Have you ever seen a TV show or Movie based in New York City and not seen Central Park? I don’t think I have. If you don’t have time to walk around the whole thing, we had 4 nights and we didn’t have time. It’s very big but we wanted to see it all. Cycle bikes are your best option for this. Any side you are coming onto the park you are bound to find a cycle bike. Whether this is a hire for a couple of hours from a shop (recommended) or one of the city bikes (more expensive and give you a 30 minutes time limit). Just cycle and enjoy.
- Just Walk
Just walk, walk everywhere. This is what we did, it’s so easy. Why New Yorkers want to hall a cab and sit in traffic for an hour when you could walk the journey in 30 minutes in beyond bizarre. It’s a beautiful city, lots of different areas, architecture and street life to see.
You can also travel around New York via their Metro, very easy to use, a bit like the London Underground. You can grab a Metro card from a local off-license with a top up of $5 and off you go. Just 4 stops gets you from Central Park to the One World Observatory, about a 20 minutes total ride. We took the Metro from the Baseball game in Brooklyn back to Manhattan, this was the latest train we took. We didn’t travel on them at night as we heard that they aren’t particularly safe, as some questionable characters head down to the different stations. Just be a bit careful. If you are with a crowd of Baseball fans you will be fine.
If you have any further questions about what to see in New York City just hit me up on my contact me page.
LEAH HANCOX 