Going to NYC for the first time for a long weekend with partner. I won’t have time to see everything; what stuff should I go do and or see? Thanks!
Are you familiar with Luigi?
If you like chicken, go to the corner of 53rd and 6th and find the halal cart with the longest line. Ask for the chicken and rice. Go around back and squirt half a gallon of white sauce and maybe a little red on it. Cover it up, walk about half an hour to work up an appetite, find somewhere comfortable to sit, and thank me later.
They have a chain now but nothing beats the OG cart. Even the pizza. Rose’s Pizza in Penn Station has my vote. May not be the best but it’s good! First pizza I had in NYC and while others were good, I haven’t found one I liked much more.
Go see a show at The Comedy Cellar. Book it in advance if you can. If it’s “sold out,” you can still show up and wait before showtime - I think they only sell about half the seats online, so if you show up 30-60 minutes before the show, you can probably get in.
Walk the High Line. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_Line
Check out Little Island https://littleisland.org/
These were definitely the highlight of my somewhat unplanned trip to New York. Without much planning, I didn’t get much interesting aside from overpriced restaurants.
Take the commuter ferry on the East River from Brooklyn to the Bronx. It’s far cheaper than the tourist ferries and the views are wonderful.
Native New Yorker here - do not take any tourist ferries whatsoever. Do take the commuter ferries or even the Staten Island Ferry (free) for a pretty great view of Lady Liberty.
Great views of the statue of liberty if you take the ferry to staten island and usually never crowded (non peak hours)
Awesome thank you!
Also, or perhaps instead, take the Staten Island ferry around sunset/twilight. Its free and has the best view of the city IMHO.
Also? If you see baked ziti on pizza I would highly recommend it.
If you’re into impromptu music with people on the street, try to bump into Ari! He’s dope. https://www.youtube.com/@ariathome
New York native fella here. Three days is a short trip, and it’s a very big city. There are plenty of guides out there for the big stuff - pick the things you want from there. If you have some niche interests share them, and maybe some Lemmy people will have ideas.
True true yeah don’t expect to see everything. I guess narrowing my interests:
- technical museums
- history
- food
- above all socializing, I have a hope that unlike the suburban life in my state there are still dens of humanity where people talk to each other and have spirited debates in the public square so perhaps bars? But not the loud sports kind.
And thanks! Was considering listing interests but was worried about missing out on things I didn’t yet know I had an interest in.
History + technical museums:
I’d recommend the AMNH and the Intrepid personally, I think they’re both full of cool stuff.
Food, as others have said, so many options. Doesn’t have to be expensive in any way shape or form, there’s a ton of food from any culture there. If you’re in Manhattan (assuming so tourism wise?) Korea town and China Town have tons of authentic food.
Social: chat away, especially at bars. It’s refreshing to see someone wanting that, not trying to avoid it :) it’s a city with loads of friendly people in my opinion.
Have fun!
Spirited debates in bars probably end in fist fights 🙃
NYC Transit Museum! It’s a sleeper but it’s very cool. If you can still get the tickets, the NYC Tenement Museum, which is in an actual tenement from like a hundred years ago.
Find someone who does in person cooking classes for something you’d like to make, and learn it together.
Friday nights my friend hosts this thing at her place Artsclub which I’ve done a few times and it’s fun. I always meet interesting people there, learn about some art history, and I’ve gotten some art that’s good enough that it’s hanging in my apartment lol. Unfortunately the next event is in September. https://www.artsclubstudios.com/east-village-events
If you fancy a good steak, go to Fraunces Tavern (reservation is recommended). The restaurant is the oldest restaurant in NYC and the founding fathers ate there as well. Reasonably priced to boot.
Ask people how to get to Carnegie Hall while standing in front of it.
To stand in front of it I need to know where it is— can you point me in that direction?
Practice.
We can all lie and give some cultural sites that you should totally go see but… food. All my real suggestions are food related. If you’re not from the immediate surrounding area, you absolutely have to get at least one slice of cheap pizza. Not from a fancy tourist place. Just literally find some random thing on a corner selling it for like a dollar or two and you will have the best pizza you will have had in your life (again if you live outside of the NY metro area).
After that, look to see if there are any street food festivals happening. Might be some interesting stuff.
There are quite a few touristy restaurants in the middle of the city that are going to be expensive and crowded, but they can still be fun to go to once if you don’t mind the cost and can get a reservation.
For actual activity suggestions… highly dependent on what you like. Museums? Parks? Shows? They’re all there, it just depends on what you want. I guess one recommendation in that regard is that if you want to see a broadway show and are willing to be flexible, there is a ticket counter in Time Square that you can go to day of to get discounted tickets for a show that day.
Pizza has been added to the list! There seem to be some city festivals in Central Park on the weekend— and awesome for the discounted tickets was interested but wasn’t sure about $200 tickets but day of discount sounds perfect since I’m not picky about which show per se! Thanks a bunch!
Local here:
If pizza is on your list then I suggest Lombardi’s in Little Italy. Classic New York pizza you can get anywhere but Lombardi’s makes a more Neapolitan style using the only coal oven still allowed in NYC so it’s totally unique. It also likely the oldest pizzeria in city. Gets kind of busy but worth it.
As others have said, take a commuter ferry. Staten Island ferry is cool but the east river ferry takes you under the Brooklyn, Manhattan and Williamsburg bridges and offers good views of lower Manhattan.
DO NOT under any circumstances walk across the Brooklyn Bridge. A lot of tourists think that sounds cool but that is the problem. Waaay to many tourists think that. It’s a nightmare.
Definitely ignore the guy that said stay close to Times Square. It is tourist hell and gives you absolutely no insight into what New York is really like. Unless you like huge crowds and chain stores then by all means. There’s plenty of locals in this thread with much, much better advice. Listen to us.
Brooklyn Bridge is fine. They moved the bicycle path down into the roadway, so there is twice as much pedestrian space now.
Oh cool. I didn’t know that.
Two of my favorite spots were the New York Transit Museum in Brooklyn and the Tenemant Museum on the lower east side (make an appointment if you go to this one).
I second the tenement museum. Really great for New York history.
I do long weekends in NYC about four times a year. It is really my go to for vacations.
I am assuming you are staying in or near Times Square.
For your first visit Stay in the tourist areas. As you get more familiar with the subways you can venture out.
- There is so much to do in the TS area.
- See the madness that is TS.
- See a broadway show.
- Eat at John’s Pizza. The pizza is great and the building is awesome.
- I highly recommend you do Big Bus Tours or any of the top off tour buses. They have routes that take you all over the city and they will drop you off at all the main sights to see and the pick you up. The big bus tours will take you through all the various areas, flat iron, Clinton (Hell’s Kitchen), Wall Street, The World Trade Center.
- Eat on restaurant row, it is two blocks from TS and there are so many restaurants to choose from. Unless you go to really high end places, the restaurant scene in NYC is really reasonable.
- If you have done all of that, just talk a walk to Central Park or better yet take a cab to the Natural History Museum, see the museum and the walk back to TS.
- REMEMBER stay in the tourist areas. You are a tourist.
This is solid advice, except for the big bus part. It sounds good in theory but I found it way more fun and rewarding to walk around.
The bus is usually full, loud and you have to wait in lines and traffic… Literally the least fun part of NYC.
Unless you can’t for mobility reasons, just walk around, it’s so much fun and you’ll see / experience so much more.
Or all else like you said walk as far as you can and take a cab back to base if needed.
The Big Bus is walk on walk off. You can walk around everything you want and make your way back to the stop. The buses come every 30 minutes so if one is full take the next one.
They are seeing the city with training wheels.
The bus is usually full, loud and you have to wait in lines and traffic… Literally the least fun part of NYC.
UUHH
Name one thing in NYC that isn’tFull and loud waiting in lines and has traffic….
That is kind of the point of going to NYC.
Like I said, in my OPINION it’s not worth it. I’ve been there and used them, the bottom has like no AC and is loud as shit.
And waiting 30 min is beyond a colossal waste of time, in 30 min you can probably walk to where you wanted to go anyway and enjoy a snack on the way and actually enjoy the city.
They come every 30 minutes so it is just a matter of timing.
Walk everywhere you want to go… in NYC…. In August…. As a first time visitor.
lol dude are you working for the company or some shit?? Walking in NYC is awesome and super easy and safe. Riding on a old ass stinky bus crammed with a 100 other tourists isn’t as awsome as you seem to think.
I love NYC and trust me walking around that city in August is not something a first time visitor wants to do.
I usually just buy a transit card and ride the subway. It’s immersive to the local NYC culture and safe *some limits apply. I’ve seen and met some interesting locals in my visits, but I always go with “If its late, take a cab” is my rule for transportation, and also if the train car is empty it’s for a good fucking reason so avoid it as well.
