SJ_Skyline

I'm thinking about taking the other half to NY for our wedding aniversary next year. I've never been to NY before so:

Where to go? where to stay? where to eat? what to do? where to avoid

I'm pretty sure that shopping will feature on her list of things to do so I guess close to 5th Avenue would be good.

(Budget of £1k to £2k for a week to cover flights and hotel)


Cheers

Reality

A week is too long in New York IMO.


Parmount Hotel just off Times Square is OK - but there's plenty that are much better.

The Revolving restaurant / bar at the Marriott on Times Square is good for a hour or two.

Jump in a taxi and get the driver to follow another one - better than any roller coaster I've ever been on .

Walk a lot.

Blue circle boat cruise around manhattan on first day will get you familiar with the place.

You'll need at least the same again (money) for spending

Go cheap for hotels - you wont be in them for long !

InvisibleMan

Land in JFK and forget that you are leaving from Newark. The taxi ride across the New Jersey Turnpike is quite a ride

Andy Tang

iTrader: (3)

The hop on hop off tour bus was handy for us.

Romantic carriage ride in Central Park is a must!

YHPM

Dream Weaver

I dont agree with 1 week being too lon, I love the place and could stay there indefinately. Ironically my Mrs is on a BA flight to JFK as I type, dropped her off this morning (though its a work thing).

Great place, so much to do, see etc. Southstreet Seaport was my fave place when we were there.

Reality

I meant a week at a time - I never tire of going back - but after a week the next septic that says "have a nice day" or that pushes past you as they rush about would have to get a lamping .

After a week they really start to get on your **** - go away for a couple of months then go back and it's fine

InvisibleMan

ice skating in central park when its all snowy is very nice too. boat and/or helicopter ride around manhatten. boat trip to Stantton island if you still can climb up the statue.


funny, not once did i hear someone say have a nice day...

SJ_Skyline

Cheers guys

Tango - YHPM back mate

Tiggs

week is tooo long.

i go every xmas and cant handle more than 3 days.

Drunken Bungle Whore

I'd agree with the week at one go - Manhatten drove me nuts after 3 days! Go see Grand Central Station (it's an awesome building), then get on a train and go see someplace else for a day! Philly is only about 100 miles away.


Eat as much as you can - you can diet when you get home! After a full stack of pancakes, bacon and syrup I defy you to be able to manage anything before at least 8pm!
Oh - and find somewhere really cheap to stay - then you can take her to Tiffanys......

AndyK

I live 10 minutes away from the empire state building and I still read these threads to find out where I should go.

Has to be said though that NY around christmas is a nightmare and can not stand it for more than a day. Far too busy and too cold as well. Easter is a good time to go because there are parades and it is not overwhelmingly busy.

If you are going to be there a week you would be able to fit in a trip to this place

http://www.premiumoutlets.com/outlets/outlet.asp?id=7

I am not a fan of outlets but this is the best. It is an hour away from Manhattan but the hotel will be able to sort out coaches and they will probably be free.

Other places are the usual such as Macy's and Bloomingdales. As a tourist they will give you an 11% discount card so that you do not pay the 8% sales tax. I still do this and the best part is that in New Jersey the discount is still appicable but there is no sales tax. Soho is a good place to go for shopping and food. There is a second bloomingdales on broadway and if you search the area hundreds of upmarket shops and restaurants.

Empire state building is impressive but if you see a queue outside do not bother because your week will be up before you get there. You can pay extra and skip the queue at $35 each instead of $14 or you can get a tour by film narrated by Kevin Bacon and go up for $35. The advantage of doing this is that there is no queue for the tickets and the only waut would be for the lifts. Took us about 45 minutes to get up at sunset on a Saturday doing this.
Alternatively, there is "top of Rock" at the rockerfella that has only just opened and you can specify a time and come back after getting a ticket.

But, if you are like me there are more fun ways to see the skyline. One is the rainbow room, again at the rockerfella. The next is at the time warner aol building and the last I know of is the gansevoort in the meat packing district. All of which are bars on the top of buildings. Be warned though that the beer is extortionate and the dress code at the rainbow room is black tie. If you are there in the summer the Gansevoort is good for smokers because the roof and walls retract so you can smoke in the bar.

Never understood why south street sea port is popular. Smells of fish and the shops are poor. Maybe i missed something. Good view of the east side bridges though and nice ship.

I would also recomend going to the "blue man group". It is at a small theater and tickets are a pain to get hold of but very entertaining. I would say booking before you go is the best way but you can get them in Time squre by queuing. $70 on line and about $35 at times square.

Reality

Ground Zero is worth a visit. As you look around you remember that the twin towers used to be approx twice as high as any of the buildings around you .

Ian_S

yhpm

SJ_Skyline

Ian,

Cheers chap!

YHPM back

JCScooby

as an alternative u could go to Toronto & Niagra falls. Split it 3 nights at each place. Its cheaper, the canadians are far nicer people and its alot safer(in terms of street crime i mean).
Just my opinion.

Freak

One of my favourite places in the world- im off again in a couple of weeks.

Enjoy it!

john_s

iTrader: (1)

I actually felt safer walking round NY than I did walking through London.

I loved NY... can't wait to go back.

John.

EP82

Have my trip booked for late december just after Autosport International

Quite looking forward to it. The g/f has been before, we are hoping to catch a hockey game at madison square would it be wise booking tickets online before we leave?

Freak

In my experience it is not necessary - always plenty at the box office, unless its a cup tie or some other major game.
Ignore the touts on 7th avenue!!!!! Plenty of them!

You can however see the seating plan online, so it does have that advantage. some seats are far better than others, but you pay lots for them!

p.s- im there dec 30th->jan 4th. Jan 2nd is knicks vs phoneix, and jan 3rd is rangers vs tampa bay. Dont know if that helps? www.madisonsquaregarden.com/boxoffice.jsp

fast bloke

If you do go, be careful where you go drinking - we went a couple of years ago for 3 days. £1400.00 for flights and accomodation. Taxi driver took us to his mates Irish bar on the way to the hotel. We left the bar three days later, having not spent a penny. Craic was great, but we didn't see anything at all

EP82

I was hoping to catch the new jersey game a bit of a derby in all resecpts. Sold out from what i can see.

I'm there from the 21st for 5 nights so hoping to catch the buffalo game