PLEASE help with itinerary for our trip to NY

[mmhassa2]

Can those who know around NY help me finalise our itinerary for the trip? I have done some research and have found the distance for some of the attractions through mapquest from our hotel. Now there are a few I couldn’t find and was wondering if anyone can help fill these up.

Basically: we have entire Monday plan on starting the day by 8am and Tuesday until around 4pm to do these things and then we’re heading off to Atlantic city. How should we go about the attractions so we don’t go back and forth? Our plan is to see each attraction that falls on our way, and then when we’re done use the cab or bus to get back to our hotel. Am I making any sense?

Starting point is:

Murray Hill East Suites
New York, NY 10016

1.Empire State Building
(212) 736-3100
350 Fifth Avenue,
New York, NY 10118

2.Statue of Liberty
(866) 782-8834
Liberty Island,
New York, NY

3.Grand Central Station
87 E 42nd Street
New York, NY 10017

4.Central Park
(212) 310-6600
59th to 110th Streets,
New York, NY

5. Zoo in Central park

6.Madison Square Park (Garden?)
(212) 229-7607
Fifth and Madison Aves.,
New York, NY 10010

7.Times Square
42nd Street at Broadway,
New York, NY 10036

8.Ground Zero
New York, NY 10007

9.Brooklyn Bridge Park
718.802.0600
1 Main Street,
Brooklyn, NY 11201

[rogerrabbit168]

for the Statue of Liberty, make sure you get on the first ferry of the day, anything later, you'll be lining up the whole day before you can get inside

[CoffeeAddict]

The Way you've numbered things this is the way I would do it and you MIGHT even be able to do everything in one day if you skip actually going to see the statue of liberty up close (not worth seeing it I would say).

From Hotel take subway to Statue of liberty area

2, 8, 9, 1, 6, 3, 7

then leave central park for tuesday

To pack all this in in two days is pretty killer though
I did all the sights with my gf for her first trip to nyc and i think over 3 days it was just barely doable

[WhatADeal!]

I didn't find much interesting in the parks.

[adwoodw]

for the Statue of Liberty, make sure you get on the first ferry of the day, anything later, you'll be lining up the whole day before you can get inside

+1

You want to be there bright and early to ensure that you get a chance to also view the inside of the Lady. When we went, we had to get a monument pass by calling it in. You pick it up at a table inside the Castle Clinton monumnet, which is also where you get your ferry tickets.

Be prepared to spend at least half the day there if you include Ellis Island.

[Vivrant1]

The top of the Rock at Rockefeller Center (http://www.topoftherocknyc.com/welcome/default.aspx) has a better view than the Empire State Building. The view north into Central park is amazing. Plus, it's not as busy and it's within walking distance to Times Square.

J.

[Shaner]

For the statue of Liberty, don't waste your time going right down there. You'll easily waste half the day on that one attraction.

Instead, go to the pier on the west side of Manhattan. From there, there's mini-cruises as well as speed boat, thrill rides. Get yourself on the speed boat attraction. It'll probably be about $20-30 per person but it's worth it.

They'll take you up and down the river at very fast speeds, then they'll take you right up to the Statue of Liberty and will stop for a few minutes for pictures, etc.

Then they hit some more waves and take you back. It's a 30 minute ride tops, but you'll also get to fit in the statue of Liberty.

That's the best way to see it, IMO.

[dolphie]

JUST got back from NYC last month-first trip-had a fricking AWESOME time.

you NEED to book a City Sights tour. We booked ours online about 3 weeks ahead of time. When you arrive in NYC take your confirmation numbers to the Mme. Tussauds wax museum near times square to trade it in for your tickets.

i cannot say enough about this tour, but i'll try.

They have hop on-hop off tours on a double decker bus. the tours take you around a specified route telling you about points of interest. You can hop off at any one of the MANY MANY dedicated stops to see more, then pick up another bus that comes by 20 minutes later, at that stop, or any other stop, continuing the tour where you left off, or at another point.
You can hop on and off unlimited times.

The tours we did:
Uptown tour...hopped off at central park for a few hours, spent some time there.
we did the downtown tour which shows some awesome landmarks.....ground zero, financial district, empire state building, staten island ferry etc.
we did a night tour that wasn't a hop off (security reasons), but was awesome too. we went across the manhattan bridge, grenwich village, downtown, saw the museums, libraries, etc.

there are a zillion packages you can buy that contain the tours, and much more.

we paid 74 bucks(per person) and got
48 hours unlimited to do the downtown tour, uptown tour, night tour and harlem tour.
th night tour stopped at the harbour for 25 minutes so we could take pics and watch the sunset. awesome.
again, you can use the tours as a bus service almost, it's fantastic.
we also got a 3 hour harbour cruise that took us around Manhattan and past the statue of liberty, ellis island, etc
we got passes to the top of lady liberty
passes to the museum of new york
passes for the top of the rock.....
i feel like i'm forgetting something.........but i can't say enough about this tour. freaking fantastic-google em

with this tour, we hit everything on your list except #3, and #9. we were at the brooklyn bridge, and there likely was a stop near there, so you could probably knock off #9 too, although i can't say it was on my 'todo' list, so i didn't notice

[YLSF]

I have been a few times and I am going again this weekend. I never went in the statue of liberty but I did take a free ferry that runs by it (forget the destination now) and then just hopped on the next ferry and came back. It was a nice view of the water, statue, and free!

This weekend I am lucky enough to have gotten David Letterman tickets on Monday... (I say, lucky even though I am not a huge fan of his ,but, will be a cool experience! Adam Sandler is on)...

I would give yourself time to walk around Central Park. Columbus Circle is close by one corner and there is a shopping plaza there with the "Samsung Experience" which displays all their products, etc... Kind of neat. Especially if the weather turns crappy.

If one of the people in your trip like to shop, Century 21 is right across teh street from Ground Zero. From a girl who I travelled with the first time, I have heard it has good deals! I might stop by this time and pick up a pair of jeans

[JeffTaylor1985]

NYC is great, and there is so much to do but it is always busy! You have a great list of spots to visit, but I would add some restaurants.

A lot of nicer restaurants in NYC are booked up weeks in advance, so you'll have much better dining if you plan some of it ahead.

Check out http://www.yelp.com/c/nyc/restaurants
They have the best real reviews of restaurants in NYC, since the reviewers are regular people, not "paid reviewers"

Enjoy the trip!

[torlou]

I have been a few times and I am going again this weekend. I never went in the statue of liberty but I did take a free ferry that runs by it (forget the destination now) and then just hopped on the next ferry and came back. It was a nice view of the water, statue, and free!

Was it the Staten Island Ferry?

[GemInite]

you could easily skip Grand Central Station as it is just a transit hub and I personally would skip Central park/Zoo.

Since you have only a day and a half you could probably afford to cut out MSG.

Just decide which sights are the most important to you and then build your itinerary from there.

[robertalan]

The top of the Rock at Rockefeller Center (http://www.topoftherocknyc.com/welcome/default.aspx) has a better view than the Empire State Building. The view north into Central park is amazing. Plus, it's not as busy and it's within walking distance to Times Square.

J.

+1

I've been to both and Top of the Rock was amazing - if you can only pick one, I'd recommend it, unless you have "An Affair to Remember" fetish.

Also, you can buy combo tickets for it and other attractions - we got it with our MOMA tickets and saved ten bucks each!

[JeffTaylor1985]

The Rockefeller Center is best at the very start of your day. You go up there and get a "big picture" view and understanding of how the city is laid out, which helps a lot when you are off visiting different attractions later on in your vacation.

Book tickets online ahead of time. It sometimes has long lines if you get tickets at the door!

[adwoodw]

JUST got back from NYC last month-first trip-had a fricking AWESOME time.

you NEED to book a City Sights tour. We booked ours online about 3 weeks ahead of time. When you arrive in NYC take your confirmation numbers to the Mme. Tussauds wax museum near times square to trade it in for your tickets.

i cannot say enough about this tour, but i'll try.

They have hop on-hop off tours on a double decker bus. the tours take you around a specified route telling you about points of interest. You can hop off at any one of the MANY MANY dedicated stops to see more, then pick up another bus that comes by 20 minutes later, at that stop, or any other stop, continuing the tour where you left off, or at another point.
You can hop on and off unlimited times.

The tours we did:
Uptown tour...hopped off at central park for a few hours, spent some time there.
we did the downtown tour which shows some awesome landmarks.....ground zero, financial district, empire state building, staten island ferry etc.
we did a night tour that wasn't a hop off (security reasons), but was awesome too. we went across the manhattan bridge, grenwich village, downtown, saw the museums, libraries, etc.

there are a zillion packages you can buy that contain the tours, and much more.

we paid 74 bucks(per person) and got
48 hours unlimited to do the downtown tour, uptown tour, night tour and harlem tour.
th night tour stopped at the harbour for 25 minutes so we could take pics and watch the sunset. awesome.
again, you can use the tours as a bus service almost, it's fantastic.
we also got a 3 hour harbour cruise that took us around Manhattan and past the statue of liberty, ellis island, etc
we got passes to the top of lady liberty
passes to the museum of new york
passes for the top of the rock.....
i feel like i'm forgetting something.........but i can't say enough about this tour. freaking fantastic-google em

with this tour, we hit everything on your list except #3, and #9. we were at the brooklyn bridge, and there likely was a stop near there, so you could probably knock off #9 too, although i can't say it was on my 'todo' list, so i didn't notice

Took the words right out of my mouth. This is the Grey Line Tour.

http://www.coachusa.com/newyorksightseeing/

We purchased our tickets on line and had to walk to the office on 8th ave to pick them up. We didn't use the 'hop on, hop off', too much. Basically, we got on in Times Square and 'hopped off' at the 'south ferry' stop for our Statue of Liberty tour.

Here are a couple of pics I took riding on the top of the bus:




This pic is of the tour guide giving descriptions/stories of the landmarks.




Marked area for tour busses. We hopped off here and got back on after visiting the Lady and Ellis Island.




It was starting to get dark. This is a shot looking north on 5th ave near Central Park.