aussie_10

We ( 4 adults) will be in New York city for 1 week from the 8 September.

So very excited but now unsure what things to book.
Highlights to consider:
- the crown of the Statue of Liberty
- Empire State building
- Observation deck of the Freedom Tower (World Trade Centre)
- 9/11 Memorial and museum
- Top of the Rock
- Broadway show we have tickets to Chicago but thinking of seeing another show. Should we wait until we get there for cheap tickets?
- Sporting game. Would there be any baseball, basketball or NFL games on?
- Food Tour? recommendations

Obviously we cannot do everything. But just trying to piece together ideas and some things may be already booked out for our dates of our visit. We will be back in NYC for 2 days late October as well.

All suggestions appreciated

nytraveler

You should book tickets for the Statue of Liberty right away to get those for the crown at a time you want.

Not needed for ESB, TOTR or WTC - can get a couple of days in advance if you want - but need to make sure it isn;t a rainy day.

If you want a hit show get tickets now. If you don;t care go to Broadwaybox.com and you can get discount tickets for many shows now - no waiting online and a better choice of seats.

Mets and Yankees will be playing, and you can get some tickets a week or so in advance (except for the best tickets which are sold for the season). Too soon for basketball and NFL will be in preseason. If you want that look for tickets now as well. In all cases go to the team websites for information on what seats are available and prices.

HappyTrvlr

Check NY Giants, Mets and Yankees.
Do book your tickets for the Statue of Liberty as soon as possible.
I wouldn't wait for discount theater tickets as you would waste some of your valuable time trying to buy them. September is a busy month in NYC with many visitors.

aussie_10

Thank you for your suggestions.

Do the baseball teams all play out of the same stadium?
If not which is the easiest one to get to?
Our hotel is near Times Square.

ekscrunchy

There are two baseballl stadiums. Both are accessible by subway. Although Yankee Stadium is closer to midtown (and home to the better team), your hotel is well situated for subway access to the Mets Stadium as well.

One advantage of seeing the Mets is that there are very good ethnic restaurants located along that train line, so you can leave the hotel early, hop off the train along the route to eat, and then get back and continue to the stadium.

But Yankee Stadium is far more iconic and as I mentioned, is home to the better team.

ekscrunchy

http://newyork.yankees.mlb.com/nyy/b...ss_transit.jsp

To the Mets, take the 7 train:

http://newyork.mets.mlb.com/nym/ball...transportation

Mets Stadium is in Flushing, Queens.

Yankees play in Highbridge, in the southern part of the Bronx.

nytraveler

Note that baseball teams play almost every day - but usually only one of the teams is in town at once - unless they are playing each other (only about 6 games per year out of the 162 they play). And many baseball games are at night.

aussie_10

Thank your for all the information and links about the baseball.

It looks like the Yankees are home on our first day in NYC to the Orioles and then the next 4 days against the Blue Jays.

The crown tours of the statue of Liberty are all booked for our dates, only the pedestal has vacancies. Is it worth it? I have also read it is good to do the Staten Island Ferry.

Any food tour suggestions?

I have also been looking into Big Apple Greeters. Not sure whether to try and choose an area or let them choose. We did this in Paris and met a lovely lady.

elberko

I've done food tours with this company a number of times, and recommended it to others. We all enjoyed them!

http://www.foodsofny.com

I especially like the original Greenwich Village tour, because it's an area of the city people are interested in seeing, and this tour gives you a good feel for the area.

vincenzo32951

Regarding football: The NY Jets will be playing at home while you're in NYC, but I wouldn't put that at the top of my to-do list. The stadium is actually in New Jersey and, with transportation time, you're probably talking about killing the whole day just on the game. I'd recommend baseball instead. (BTW, whether the Yankees are the better team is a matter of debate, but Yankee Stadium is the more historic venue.)

I would recommend Liberty Island and Ellis Island, even if you can't get to the crown. Ellis Island is an interesting and informative spot re the immigrant experience.

There are various ferry tours around Manhattan that are worthwhile and a nice break from the crowds in the city.

doug_stallings

Here's your list with my recommendations on how far in advance to book things ahead. If you have a full week, you have time to do everything on your list, but the timing of your trip will mean you're here on 9/11, and that means you should completely avoid the WTC area on that day. The museum and area will be closed to everyone but dignitaries and families for the majority of the day (at least the first half). And it will just be difficult to manage, so do something uptown on the 11th.

I'd urge you to be more creative in your views of Broadway shows. It's not as if Chicago is bad, but it's not even my 12th choice of best shows on Broadway or off-Broadway right now.

If you like to eat well (i.e, at a good restaurant), book a top table a month out (more if you can). For other restaurants, definitely make dinner reservations as soon as you settle on where you want to eat. At a casual neighborhood place, I always make a reservation on a weekend night even if it's the same day because I don't want to waste an hour waiting for a table to open. But not all restaurants accept reservations. Do book pre-theater meals in advance if you want a sit-down meal at a nice place. But if you're going to grab pizza, fast food, or eat at a fast casual place, that's obviously not an issue.

Popular restaurants (even if they aren't top tables) need to be booked a week or two in advance. For example, Five Napkin Burger in Times Square gets pretty busy, and you should make a reservation if you want to eat there. Or Tony's Di Napoli, a popular family-style Italian restaurant near Times Square that takes reservations and is better than Carmine's, really requires a reservation at least a week in advance for busy times.

I'm hopeless with sports, so I'm not going to be much help to you there, but Yankee Stadium is iconic, while Citifield has the best food.

And please save some time to walk the Highline and Brooklyn Bridge, and to spend some quality time in Brooklyn at a place other than a touristy pizza place.


- the crown of the Statue of Liberty - BOOK YESTERDAY (AND REALIZE THAT THIS WHOLE TRIP TAKES 2/3 OF A DAY SO SET ASIDE ENOUGH TIME)
- Empire State building - ONE WEEK AHEAD
- Observation deck of the Freedom Tower (World Trade Centre)- PERSONALLY I'D SKIP (TOO EXPENSIVE AND JUST NOT WORTH IT), BUT BUY A FEW WEEKS AHEAD IF YOU REALLY DESPERATELY WANT TO DO THIS. I DON'T KNOW HOW FAR IN ADVANCE YOU CAN BOOK, BUT TICKETS ARE TIMED AND WAITS RIGHT NOW ARE EXTRAORDINARILY LONG. HOPEFULLY, IT WILL BE CALMER BY SEPTEMBER.
- 9/11 Memorial and museum - BOOK ONCE YOU ARRIVE AND DECIDE ON TIMING
- Top of the Rock - AN HOUR AHEAD
- Broadway show we have tickets to Chicago but thinking of seeing another show. Should we wait until we get there for cheap tickets? WAIT FOR SAME DAY CHEAP TKTS TICKETS IF YOU WANT TO SEE CHICAGO. BUY NOW IF YOU WANT TO SEE SOMETHING THAT HASN'T BEEN PLAYING FOR 7 YEARS (SORRY FOR THE SNARK, BUT I WOULD SIMPLY NEVER GO SEE CHICAGO UNLESS I HAD NO OTHER CHOICES BECAUSE THERE ARE SO MANY TRULY GREAT SHOWS RIGHT NOW)
- Sporting game. Would there be any baseball, basketball or NFL games on? AS OTHERS HAVE SAID, BASEBALL. BUY AS SOON AS YOU CAN.
- Food Tour? recommendations - A WEEK AHEAD, BUT I DON'T HAVE RECS ... SORRY. I AM DOING AN ICE CREAM WALKING TOUR ON FRIDAY, SO I'LL REPORT BACK ON THAT.

elberko

I wouldn't wait till a week ahead to book a Foods of NY tour, but you can check the calendar for the dates you need. Number of spaces left on a given tour is listed.

doug_stallings

I think elberko makes a good point about Foods of NY, and it may apply to other tours as well. In the summer, walking tours in general are popular so you should decide what you might want to do and book it as far in advance as you are willing to commit.

NewbE

Are you absolutely certain you want to see baseball game? I know, it's an iconically American thing to do, but a game lasts, on average, three hours, and of course that doesn't include travel time. (In fact, the growing length of the games, and the slowness of the pace, has been written about quite a lot.)

If you're fans of the game, great! But if not, you may wish to reconsider, perhaps in favor of another Broadway (or off-Broadway) show.

Lovey2209

I wouldn't waste my time going to the Statue of Liberty. It's a big chunk of time.

Take the FREE Staten Island Ferry and you go right past the Statue.

One of the best views of NYC is TOR (Top of the Rock). I would spend my money and time going there.

If you're cheesecake lovers you must go to Grand Central Terminal and how cheesecake. It's in the lower level with the food court. Best cheesecake we've ever had!!!

Definitely do the hop-on-hop of bus tour. We did it first day and it was great. It gives you a good overview of the city and where things are.

ElendilPickle

>>The crown tours of the statue of Liberty are all booked for our dates, only the pedestal has vacancies. Is it worth it? I have also read it is good to do the Staten Island Ferry.

aussie_10

Wow! Thank you for the wonderful ideas and very helpful comments.

The Chicago tickets were part of a package deal so that show is locked in. But we will definitely go to at least another show, there are so many to choose from.

We are staying at the Westin Times Square, so hopefully close to other shows.

I have looked at the Baseball tickets, they are very expensive for behind the catcher $300 ($400 Aus) so if we do go it will be further out on the sides which seem to be about $65US. But I will talk to the others we like sports and it would be good for the iconic experience.

Thanks for the restaurant booking advice, we will make a list of some favourites and recommendations. Yes cheesecake is a favourite so will look into Grand Central Terminal.

The free ferry looks like a good idea too. I had also read somewhere about travelling out to Brooklyn and walking back along the bridge for best views? The Highline is also in the list.

I really appreciate all of the great suggestions. Our friends have never been to NYC and my husband and I were last there 33 years ago. On that occasion we went to the top of the World Trade centre for the views.

NeoPatrick

I'm guessing lovey was referring to Juniors Cheesecake at Grand Central. There's another, even larger one just over a block from your hotel on Schubert Alley between 44th and 45th.

nytraveler

Tickets behind home plate are not $350 =unless you are pretty far up i the stands. Be aware of how large the stadium is and the view from where you will be sitting. Bot the team web site and stub hub.com allow you to see the view from any seats you might want to purchase.

We are big fans but don't have much time to get to games. The tickets we buy are close to the field usually between home and first (much better than view from the outfield) but we typically pay about $500 per ticket.

rncheryl

Another recommendation for a food tour in Greenwich Village. Delightful host, good food and history,

http://www.foodsofny.com/greenwichvillage.php