HBird

Hi Everyone! I'm from New Mexico. Myself and 4 others will be going to NY for the 1st time and need help with an itinerary. We already have tickets for NY Yankees on June 18 @1pm and NY Mets @4pm on June 20th. We arrive on June 17th and leave June 22nd. I would like to see Time Square, Central Park, Statue of Liberty, National Museum of the American Indian, and catch the free concert on Friday morning hosted by GMA, Ground Zero, Brooklyn Bridge and maybe Coney Island and China Town if i can. I also like to shop, any suggestions, not expensive though, i like outdoor shopping and outlet malls. Is this doable? Any suggestions would be great.

maryanntex

The National Museum of the American Indian is in Washington, D.C., so you can take that off your list. I would definitely try to take in one museum while you're in NYC, though. The Metropolitan Museum is in Central Park, so you could combine a visit there with seeing the park. www.metmuseum.org is the website. Check it out and find a couple of collections or exhibitions that interest you.

Where are you going to be staying, and what time do you arrive and leave?

Going to the Yankees and Mets games will take a big chunk out of those two days.

The GMA concert that I went to a few years ago was a madhouse. Hilary Duff was performing, and you couldn't see anything. We thought we were getting there early enough. We were wrong.

I wouldn't recommend taking the time to go to an outlet mall. The Hell's Kitchen flea market--Saturday and Sunday from 9-6 on W. 39th between 9th and 10th (www.hellskitchenfleamarket.com) and/or the GreenFlea Market on Sunday from 10-5:30 on Columbus between 77th and 79th are fun and good for people watching, too.

Aduchamp1

There is a branch of the National Museum of The American Indain in Manhattan.

http://www.nmai.si.edu/subpage.cfm?subpage=visitor

There are no malls (one paltry one that cannot keep retailers) or outlet malls in Manhattan.

There is a window above that reads View By State. If you put in New York, you will see many suggestions for your trip. That way you can come back with specific questions.

nyer

A few somewhat random thoughts:
-Baseball games are about 3 hours long, plus time to and from the game, so as maryanntex mentioned, there goes much of those days.
-The small American Indian museum is not far from the downtown ferries to the Statue of Liberty and Staten Island.
If you want to visit the Statue of Liberty and/or Ellis Island, you need to budget about 4-5 hours. If you just want the view, you can take the free Staten Island Ferry which takes about an hour round trip and gives you a decent view of the Statue and of the NYC skyline coming back.
Times Square is best in the evening, with everything lit up. Go late when other things are closed, or go before or after the theater if you have that in mind.
-GMA 'concerts' in Central Park require you to be there between 6:00 and 7:00 am to hear a few songs being performed. You decide if it's worth it
-No outlet mall in NYC, and on such a short trip probably not worth taking a day to go out of town for it. But we have discount stores that may be new to you such as Daffy's (several locations in the city) and Century 21 (near the World Trade Center site, and walkable from the Manhattan side of the Brooklyn Bridge). Chinatown is also near-enough and you will be fine walking there and around for 30-60 minutes at most, I suspect. You can do much of the downtown stuff (including ferry, american Indian Museum, etc)on any day when you have enough energy!
-Coney Island is probably not worth it for such a short visit. It would take lot of time out of your limited schedule. What did you want to see there?

travelbuff

You have already gotten alot of good suggestions, so thought I would add a couple of ideas. Since you are going to be here just a few days, I would suggest getting a book on the city and a map so you can map out what you would like to see, and won't waste alot of time in transit. Pick and area, like "downtown" and you can Wall St., Trinity Church, Ground Zero, Battery Park, (stop there to see the memorial to the WTC), Century 21 (good shopping there, but go early, it gets REALLY crowed), Chinatown (some good shopping there too along Canal St),and Little Italy.

If you walk up Broadway you will see some of SoHo and then The Village.

Pick a museum or two, like the Met and the Museum of Natural History, you can walk across the Park from one to the other.

Hope this helps a bit, have a GREAT trip.

nytraveler

Hop On/Off bus is a really bad idea. They run only about every 30 minutes - versus 5 minutes for the city bus or subway - and spend a large part of their time stuck in traffic. (It's often faster to walk in NYC than to take the bus since the traffic is so heavy except late at night or early morning: 11 pm to about 7 am).

Best transit option is just to buy a multi-day MetroCard and jump on the subway. HopStop.com will tell you how to get from one place to another by various methods and how long it will take.

As for shopping Manhattan doesn't have malls - it's a city, not a suburb. But you can get good deals often at Filene's Basement and Century 21 - as well as all the sales always going on at the regular stores.

You don;t mention where you will be staying and you need to figure out transit from there to wherever. I would get a couple of good guidebooks and detailed street and subway maps (you can download the latter from the mta website).

Have not been to the Indian Museum in NYC but have heard it's very small and not much to see. You might enjoy the Americna Museum of Natural History much more.

mclaurie

Get a decent map or print one from online (maps.google.com works) and plot your wish list on the map so you can see what's near what. You don't say what time you arrive and depart so we don't really know what time you have. If you'd like to walk the Brooklyn Bridge (which many do) take the subway over to Brooklyn and walk back toward Manhattan so the skyline is in front of you. hopstop.com is a good website for directions (and google maps will also offer directions).

There are lots of discount stores in Manhattan without heading to an outlet mall that will take up a day. Century 21 is downtown right at the WTC site. Loehmann's has 2 locations, one on the upper west side which you could combine with seeing Central Park. There's also a Filene's basement nearby. Coney Island is a 1 hr. trip from Manhattan. It's not what I'd do on a short trip, but you may feel differently.

mclaurie

What was I thinking? 6 days is plenty of time. If you want to go to SOL, book in advance with a monument pass at statuecruises.com The first ferry of the day always has shortest wait time for security. There's a minor league baseball team called the Cyclones in Coney Island. If you're a baseball fan, you might check to see if there's a game on while you're here and go to Coney Island then.

nstevey

I love watching whatever musicians are playing at GMA or the Today Show. It's usually only one or two songs, but it's free and if you are a big fan, it is worth it. I've seen so many on the way to work (and made up lame excuses to be late), I lost count. Last year, I saw R.E.M. and I was closer to them than I would be at any other venue. What a treat.

HBird

Hi, thanks everyone for your input. Yeah i know there is a Native American Museum in NY and i'm sure its small. We don't arrive till 4pm on Wed and we leave around 5pm on Monday. We are staying with some friends in Newark and live near Ground Zero. I like your thought Nyer, thanks! I do want to see the American Museum of Nat. History. Sounds like thats a big hit. I think i'll scratch off Coney Island. Just wanted to check out Nathan's but sounds like it'll be a waste of time. My brother is graduating from HS this weekend and since last year he asked me to take him to a NY Mets game for his graduation gift. He is a big mets fan as he is a bb player himself, HS that is. I will take in everyone's suggestions and see what kind of daily itinerary i come up with and post it soon. My boss just came back from NY and said he took the ferry to the Yankee game and sounded exciting. Feel free to make more suggestions. Thanks!! Very helpful.

HBird

would it be cheaper to rent a car from Laguardia for a day to get to Newark than getting a taxi or shuttle to service 5 people? Rental would be $81.00. Not sure what it would cost for public transportation.

ellenem

$81 to get 5 people from Laguardia to Newark sounds pretty good to me . . .

nyer

$81 plus tax plus a couple gallons of gas plus time picking up and dropping off the car at each end. And if you don't know the roads and get lost or delayed...
I would price a car service. Even if it's the same price or a little more, it would be worth to me.
When you get the car service price, don't forget to add in a tip (15-20%) plus any tolls (but if you rent a car you have to pay the tolls too]

(There aren't any public transportation options that make sense between those 2 airports)

HBird

car service??

travelbuff

A Car Service is a kind of taxi service. The difference is that you can call and arrange a car to pick you up at a specific time and it will drop you off for a set price, instead of hailing a cab on the corner and you pay the fare on the meter when you get out.

There are several good car services in the city, Dial 7 is one. If you google car service in NYC you will some up with several companies.

HBird

ok thanks travelbuff! i will google it.

HBird

Okay here's my itinirary:
Thursday:
-Boat Ride to Yankees Game 11:00am
-Yankees Game
-Walk the Brooklyn Bridge

Friday:
-GMA Concert @ Central Park
-Natural History Museum and Met,if time permits
-Back to Central Park for Comedy Nite w/Gabriel Iglesias

Saturday:
-Statue of Liberty
-Mets Game
-Time Square

Sunday:
-National Museum of American Indian
-World Trade Center
-Century 21
-China Town/Canal St./Little Italy

Monday:
-Maybe GMA
-Top of the Rock

Does this sound good or is it a little too much?