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My wife and I (in our early 50's) are arriving in NYC on Sat evening, 2/20, from CA, and flying on to India on a tour Monday evening, 2/22. So, we will have all day Sunday and most of the day Monday to enjoy NY. We/ve been there before, but have not been to Ground Zero, the Met, or MOMA. Would also like to see a play. I assume that staying at an airport hotel is a bad idea? What part of town would you recommend? Ideas on an itinerary?

MFNYC

staying near the airport is a bad idea. I think most midtown areas would be fine. Many tourists stay around TImes Sq, but it is very 'touristy' around there and very crowded and hectic. Midtown SOuth or East, or near Central Park west are convenient as well. As long as you are near a subway line, you can get almost anywhere easily, non one spot is near eveything.

MFNYC

Considering your interests, I think East side somewhere between Mina and Met, nearer to 5th avenue would be a good location.

MFNYC

excuse my type, Mina should be MOMA.

GoTravel

I would do both the Metropolitan Museum of Art and MoMA (which will be back home) and wait on a play until you are in NYC for a longer period of time.

Don't forget you will be jet lagged from the trip and you don't want to exhaust yourself before you fly to India.

Find a nice hotel and nice restaurant and pamper yourselves.

Anonymous

But eastbound jet lag means that when it's 8 PM in NYC the Californians will feel like it's only 5 PM. Might as well enjoy a show!

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Actually, we will be arriving Saturday morning, not evening - the Jet Blue redeye has the only direct fight from Sacramento and the only return flight late enough to avoid another hotel night in NY on the way home. So, we will have the 3 hour time difference in our favor, but the lousy night's sleep on the plane against us, but time for a nap, so....we will probably be OK Saturday night for a play or definitely a Sunday matinee. We've seen the Producers, MamaMia, Phantom, Chicago, but not Hairspray, Rent, or Wicked. What do you think?

michelleNYC

I would stay Midtown East. Perhaps the Sheraton on Park Ave btween 36th and 37th or the Kitano on Park Ave. and 38th, I believe. You can walk to the Theater district and can catch the subway uptown (6 train) at Grand Central (42nd and Park) for the Met and Moma (or you can walk to the Moma). I'm biased since I do ALOT of walking here in Manhattan but... cabs are fairly easy to come by on Park in the 30s as well.

michelleNYC

As far as a play is concerned... I'd go for Wicked.

MFNYC

WIcked is the toughest ticket right now, so if that's what you want to see, buy advance tickets. Hairspray is still popular but I don't think as hard ot get tickets anymore. Rent you can always get discounts to. You can print out coupons on playbill.com, theatermania.com, broadwaybox.com, etc and buy the discoutned tickets at the box office, probably day of. You can also buy the discounted tickets in advance (you'll just have to pay service charge).

I recommend you go to one of the museum in the late afternoon the day you arrive. They will be less crowded than midday. On SUnday, in the morning, go to the other museum and see a show later in the day (sunday showtimes vary depending on the show). Monday you can spend the day downtowm, see the WTC site, maybe have lunch in little ITaly or CHinatown.

mclaurie

I think you have enough time to do all your wishes. I would stay in the 50s near Fifth ave. (The Blakely, the Omni Berkshire, the Rhiga Royal etc.) Do one of the museums on Sat. afternoon/early evening. Take it easy Sat. night, have a nice dinner somewhere and get some sleep.

Do Ground Zero on Sunday morning. There are some Sunday morning walking tours that would cover it but not sure they're on in Feb. Here's one

http://www.nycvp.com/ground_zero1.html

Then do the other museum and a Sunday afternoon matinee ( they start at 3). Of the 3 shows you mention, no question Wicked if you can get it. But there are several things soon to open. Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (with John Lithgow) sounds good to me and the new version of La Cage Aux Folles is evidently getting good word of mouth.

nytraveler

mclaurie has done a great plot for you. Give us some ideas of budget and cuisine and people can make specific restaurant recos for you.