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100 Best Things to Do in NYC

In response to the request on the Europe forum - here goes: 1. See a Broadway play. 2. Visit Ellis Island/Statue of Liberty 3. Eat a hot pretzel from a vendor. 4. Window shop. 5. Meet someone under the clock at the Roosevelt Hotel. Who has #6?

6. Stroll through Central Park. 7. View great art at the Metropolitan Museum. 8. Walk (run or bike) the Battery Park promenade. 9. Eat at an ethnic restaurant. 10. Have a beer on the 107th floor of the World Trade Center and look out at the lights over the Brooklyn Bridge and beyond.

Hasn't this thread been done before?

7. Take the Staten Island Ferry. 8. Go see a Yankee game. 9. If you "got game," go to a playground in Brooklyn or Harlem and take in a pickup basketball game. Better yet, see if you can get picked.

Visit the Empire State Building or World Trade Center Observation Deck at dusk. Sit by the Bethesda Fountain in Central Park. Stop by Rockefeller Center and St. Patrick's Cathedral. Eat a bagel at H&H Bagel (Broadway & West 80th Street). Take a tour of the New York Stock Exchange and see America in action. I also have to second the idea of riding on the Staten Island Ferry. It's free and the view is wonderful.

Watch, or join, the disco skaters in Central Park on Saturday. Take in the street performances in Washington Sqare. Visit the Cloisters in Upper Manhattan for a fantastic view of the Hudson.

walk through the village visit the 42nd st. public library eat a corned beef sandwich at the second avenue deli get a slice of pizza from your favorite pizza place check out the architecture in soho

See Black 47 live at Connolly's pub. Only wear clothes you can spill beer on.

See the Blue Men perform. See the toy soldiers and Fabrege eggs at the Forbes Museum. Sunday brunch at The River Cafe. Hear a dusk chamber music concert at BargeMusic while watching the lights of Manhattan come on. Go to the Bronx zoo.

Take the Roosevelt Island Tram ( Cable Car actually ) over the East River alongside the 59th street ( 'Feelin' Groovy' ) bridge. Buy a Knish or Hot Dog from a street vendor. Hail a yellow cab from the street & go anywhere ( Safe ! ).

Ride the subway EVERYWHERE! (forget cabs) Enjoy a Hot Dog from a street vendor Ditto Hot pretzels Visit St Patrick's Cathedral Visit the Vietnam Vets Memorial in lower Manhattan Visit the Wall of Honor in Battery Park Have a great time! Welcome to NY

Take a walk over the GW Bridge or Brooklyn Bridge. Have brunch outside at Bubby's See a great foreign film at the Angelika Have a Peach Dream w/soy milk (not apple juice) at Lucky's Juice Joint Try on anything over $100,000 in Tiffany's Gaze with admiration at the Dakota Catch a free concert by the philharmonic in Central Park Serendipity for dessert!

I agree with Ellen. . .Serendipity is the best place for desert. MoMA for Van Gogh's Starry Night Strolling through College Walk at Columbia University Seeing "Rent"

Staten Island Ferry!

Take the Lincoln Center tour!

Oh, I almost forgot... Take a tour of the New Amsterdam theater. The tour is free, takes about 1 hour, every weekday at 12:00 and 1:00 pm.

So many great suggestions, many of my faves already listed. Here are a few more. Go to Katz's deli for any artery clogging, yet scrumptious sandwich Stroll through Shakespeare Gardens In Central Park Sit an outdoor cafe/restaurant and people watch Eat a really good meal at Gramercy Tavern or Babbo (THE BEST!) Run, walk, bike or blade on the West Side down through Hudson River Park to Battery Park and have an icecream cone at Custard Beach

1. Eat at Il Mulino (maybe not number one but certainly a good choice)

Don't forget to eat cheesecake at Junior's in Brooklyn. Visit the Guggenheim. Walk through the lobby of the Waldorf Astoria. Do the walking tour of Grand Central Station. Anne in Australia

go to the Frick Museum check out the ceiling in the lobby of the Woolworth Building Look for free walking tour of Grand Central - usually friday at noon Free walking tour of Lower East Side - Sunday at 11 go to the Boat Basin at 79th & Riverside Dr. take the #5 bus all the way up. Best sightseeing for $1.50.

to the top for the "100 things" requester

Be sure to see the movie and museum at Ellis Island. Very moving account of why our ancestors came here! I second the walk, walk, walk! The Met is a fabulous place. See the action and lights at Times Square.

Don't take the subway! My Gosh, I made a bunch of New Yorker's day when I was there! The subway door began to shut on me. I screamed and jumped in. The the door shut on my purse and I couldn't get it out of the door. I was pulling really hard and then the door opened and I nearly fell over when my purse strap was released. Everyone on the subway had a good laugh. Then we went to go on another subway train and we went through the wrong terminal. When we went to go through the right one it kept beeping that we couldn't go through because we had just used our metro card on another terminal. I'd rather walk or take a cab and see the city instead of some tunnel anyday. If I lived in New York,I'm sure it would be different but if visiting, see the city!

Go down town to Battery Park have a drink at Battery Gardens, the view is amazing. I felt like a tourist looking at the statue of liberty, Ellis and Govenors Island. Watching all the boats go buy was great fun.

Eating dinner at Tavern on the Green in Central Park at night time.

Following are 100 things you can do
Financial District - south of Chambers Street, river to river
1. City Hall
2. South Street Seaport (on the East River)
3. Battery Park - ferry to Statue of Liberty/Ellis Island
4. Staten Island ferry - free ride
5. Trinity Church
6. World Financial Center -Winter Garden
7. Stock Exchange (20 Broad St.) - not open to viisitors
8. Museum of the American Indian
9. Museum of Jewish Heritage
10. Castle Clinton National Monument.
11. Brooklyn Bridge
12. Fraunces Tavern Museum (54 Pearl St.)
13. Vietnam Veterans Memorial
14. Century 21 - for shopping
15. Woolworth Building
16. St Paul’s Chapel

Lower East Side - Houston Street to Chambers Street
1. Little Italy
2. Chinatown
3. Lower East Side Tenement Museum
4. Orchard Street - shopping districtSoho and Tribeca - Houston to Chambers - west side (SoHo - south of Houston; Tribeca - triangle below Canal St.)
1. Guggenheim Museum (SoHo) -
2. Pace Wildenstein Gallery
3. Museum of African Art
4. New Museum of Contemporary Art.
Greenwich Village - 14th Street to Houston St., west side
1. NY University
2. Washington Square Park
3. Washington Mews (just north of the Park
East Village - 14th to Houston, east side
1. Joseph Papp Public Theater
2. Little India (restaurants 6th St. between 1st and 2nd Avenues)
3. Little Ukraine
5. Ukrainian Museum
6. 2nd Avenue Deli
Lower Midtown - Below 40 St. Street to 14th Street - West Side
1. Macy’s
2. Empire State Building )
3. Garment district (40th to 34th)
4. Flower district (27th, 28th, 29th Streets - between 6th and 7th Avenues)
5. Madison Square Garden
6. Chelsea Piers (sports complex on Hudson River and 23rd St.)
7. Museum at Fashion Institute of Technology (27th St. and 7th Ave)
Lower Midtown - below 40 Street to 14th Street - East Side
1. Morgan Library
2. Scandinavia Hous
Midtown - 40th to 59th Streets - west side
1. Theater district
2. NY Public Library
3. Bryant Park
4. Rockefeller Center )
5. Museum of Modern Art
6. Radio City Music Hall
7. Carnegie Hall ()
9. TKTS - theater discount ticket booth (47th St. and Broadway)
10. Museum of Radio and Television (52nd St. west of 5th)
11. Intrepid Sea-Air-Space Museum (46th and Hudson River)
12.Museum of Art & Design (53rd St.)
13. Madame Tussaud’s Wax Museum (42nd St. between Broadway and 8th Ave.)
14. Nasdaq Marketsite (tours - 43rd St. and Broadway)
15. Carnegie Deli (55th and 7th Ave.)

Midtown - 40th to 59th - east side
1. United Nations (43rd to 47th Streets, 1st Ave)
2. Chrysler Building (42nd St. and Lexington Ave)
3. Grand Central Terminal (42nd St. between Lexington and Vanderbilt Avenues)
4. St. Patrick’s Cathedral (50th St. and 5th)
5. Bloomingdales (59th St. and Lexington)
6. FAO Schwarz (toy store - 59th St. and 5th)
7. Atrium shops at Trump Tower (56th, 57th Streets on 5th)
8. Sony Wonder Technology Lab (55th St. and Madison Ave.)
9.. Roosevelt Island tram (60th St. and 1st Ave.)

Central Park - covers area 59th Street (Central Park South) to 110th St. (Central Park North) and from 5th Avenue to Central Park West.
1. Belvedere Castle (near 79th St.)
2 Wollman Skating rink (near 65th St.)
3. The Boathouse (near 72nd St.)
4. Central Park Zoo (near 64th St.)
5. Conservatory Garden (105th St.)
6. Carousel (mid park near 65th)
7. The Dairy (mid park at 65th St.
8. Carriage ride (can find carriages along Central Park South from 5th Ave. to Central Park West)

Upper West Side - 59th to 110th - west side of Central Park
1. Lincoln Center (62nd to 65th Streets and Broadway)
2. Children’s Museum (83rd St. east of Broadway)
3. Natural History Museum and Rose Center ( 77th to 81st Streets on Central Park West)
4. American Folk Ar tMuseum (66th St. and Columbus Ave.)
5. Cathedral of St. John the Divine (112th Street and Amsterdam Ave)
6. New York Historical Society (77th St. and Central Park West)

Upper East Side - 59th to 110th - east side of Central Park
1. China Institute (65th St.)
2. Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum (91st St.)
3. El Museo del Barrio (104th St.)
4. Metropolitan Museum of Art (82nd St.)
5. Museum of City of NY (103rd St.)
6. Jewish Museum (92nd St.)
7. Solomon Guggenheim Museum (89th St.)
8. Whitney Museum of American Art (75th St.)
9.. Frick Collection (70th St.)
10. National Academy of Design (89th St.)
(All the museums are either on 5th Avenue or just off 5th Avenue)

Harlem - 110th to 145th Streets - west side
1. 125th Street shopping district
2. Studio Museum in Harlem (125th St.)
3. Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture (515 Lenox Ave - 135th St. )
4. Apollo Theater (125th St. near Broadway)
5. Grant’s Tomb (122nd St. and Riverside Drive)

Other Boroughs
1. Bronx Zoo
2. NY Botanical Garden (Bronx)
3. Brooklyn Botanical Garden (Prospect Park)
4. Cloisters (northern end of Manhattan, Ft. Tryon Park)
6. NY Aquarium (Coney Island, Brooklyn)
5. Prospect Park Zoo (Brooklyn)
6. Staten Island Zoo
7. Wave Hill (Bronx) - Gardens
8. Brooklyn Museum

1. shop Maximilla & Mandiville (sp?) near Natural History Museum.
2. get last minute tickets to Met and sit near front. Have Pavoritti sit in the balcony.
3. Have drink (martini) at Cafe Caryle.
4. Have lemon tart and glass of wine at bar at Balthazar.
5. Visit Judith Leiber shop on Madison Ave.

Walk, walk, walk...walk everywhere! Absorb the vibe of each neighborhood...turn down a street you've never seen...(even if you live here, which I do)

Enjoy a heavenly cupcake from Magnolia Bakery

Visit the Brooklyn Botanic Gardens (particularly when the roses are in bloom)

Stumble upon a random street festival

Stand under the blue whale at the Museum of Natural History (and see the other exhibits too)

Walk across the Brooklyn Bridge on a beautiful day

Enjoy a free movie or concert in Bryant Park, Central Park, or Prospect Park

This list is obviously old. It should be re-done to remove the references to things to do at the World Trade Center.

I agree with GoTravel. It's a wonderful list - nostalgic and yet current. It is an ever expanding tribute to what the world loves about The Big Apple.

Take a walk starting in Central Park, then:

• Rockefeller Center
• Times Square and Broadway area
• Herald Square (Macy’s) and Penn Station
• Chelsea
• Greenwich Village and Washington Square
• SoHo and Canal Street
• Little Italy
• Chinatown
• South Street Seaport
• Brooklyn Bridge
• Wall Street
• Battery Park and ferry to the Statue of Liberty

You will have a day that you will never forget.
Take a walk starting in Central Park, then

See Letterman or Regis & Kelly

Original thread was April 2001, but the additional up to date posts will be great for anyone going to NY in this time period.

The Frick Collection
Tour the St. John the Divine catedral
Metropolitan Museum, don't pass up the scupture garden on the first floor with all the original Tiffanys.
Central Park Carriage Ride
Boat Cruise at night
Statue of Liberty
Chocolate cake at John George in the Trump hotel.
The Four Seasons Pierre - heavenly
The spa at the Peninsula
Dinner at Tavern on the Green

Enjoy a beer at Gingerman.

Love adding to this list. Wouldn't update a thing, lest we forget.

#64 Drink Wicked Hot Chocolate at JT's chocolate shop in Dumbo and then walking the Brooklyn Bridge munching on chocolate covered cornflakes!

I can't believe Cafe Wha down in the Village hasn't been brought up yet...

Hands down - Best Place for "You're going to have a great time, every time!"

They're Dancing in the aisles again!

Walk through as many neighborhoods as possible--and Central Park--across the Brooklyn Bridge. Snack at fruit stand, bagel shops, ethnic places, etc.