tbrown

We are ariving on the JFK red eye in NYC at 6:30 am and leaving at 7:30 pm from JFK. What can we see in a day? What is the best itenerary. We would love to see the State of Liberty, don't necessarily have to go on a tour. What else is good to see? We aren't really interested in museums? Any advise is very welcome.

Aduchamp1

Take the Staten Island Ferry and stay on the right side going out and the left returning to Manhattan, you will see the Statue.

New York is filled with things to see, you must give us some hints as to what you like and how much stanima you have. If you check New York in the View the State box above, there will hundreds of suggestions for you to peruse.

tbrown

We would like to see the Statue, Times Square, Central Stattion, Empire State building, any other suggestions. We expect to e on the go much of the time we are there.

Aduchamp1

You can see all those things by use of the subway and buses. You will ot have time to go to top of the Empire State building.

mclaurie

If you want to go inside the SOL, order tickets online with a monument pass. statuecruises.com It's time consuming though. The free Staten Island ferry is another way to see the statue from a distance. There are also cruises that will get you closer like nywaterway.com and nywatertaxi.com Top of the Rock is the observatory at Rockefeller Center and very popular with great views--faster and nicer than Empire State. GRAND Central Station is where you'd get out if you wanted to take the Express bus from the airport. How many are you and what day of the week is this? I assume you know you'll have to store your luggage at the airport. There is storage at terminals 1 & 4.

tbrown

We are coming in tommorrow morning. There are 2 adults. We might have 1 light backpack that we will keep with us. Should we take the bus or the train from the airport?

mclaurie

Flip a coin. The bus is designed for travelers and requires no changes. On the train you will be riding with commuters. There are 2 ways to take the train, AirTrain to the subway or AirTrain to the Long Island Railroad. The LIRR is faster but a bit more expensive making the total ride about the same as the bus ($15/person). I really think it depends on what you plan to do first. Decide that then people can advise best tranport/route. All the things you list open early so it really depends on what's most important to you.

ekscrunchy

You might want to keep the umbrella or hood handy because unfortunately the report says rain..

tbrown

The most important thing to us would be to see the Statue of Liberty. I think we would rather not spend the time going into the stautue but would prefer a ferry or tour? Next in importance would be Times Square, World Trade Center Site, Empire State Building. I would love to have an idea of what we should see in what order so we don't wander back and forth.

We are thinking of taking this tour:http://www.newyorkpartyshuttle.com/
Is anyone familar with it?

Any other ideas are ver welcome.

ellenem

I have heard good recommendations for this tour. The guides are supposed to be much better than on the hop on/hop off bus choices.

If you decide to take it, then your best transportation option would be to take the express bus from JFK to Port Authority Bus Terminal, which is at 41st St and 8th Ave--no messy changing from one train to another. From the terminal, you'll have a short walk right through Times Square to the tour pickup at 50th St and 7th Ave. From the bus terminal, walk east along 42nd St, then north along 7th Ave/Broadway through Times Square to 50th St.

nytraveler

Seeing the Statue of Liberty requires advance ticket and will take a least 4/5 hours. And the ESB will also hae horrendously ong lines. Suggest you vies the Statue from a distance from the free Staten Island ferry. also gives a great view of the skyline on the way back, the RT trip will take about an hour and the ferries elave every 15 minutes or so during the day. Instead of ESB buy advance timed tickets to the Top of the Rock (and save hours of waiting on line).

Also have a look at Rock Center/St Pats/ check out Grand Central Sation and spend a few minutes (no more needed) in Times Square. I wold also suggest a brief walk in Central Park - to get out the kinks of the previous flight.

Also, you need to figure out how much time you actually have - since you will need to leave the city at least 3 hours before your departure time to get to JFK on time.