We decided on staying at The Plaza, but would like to know if this a good choice with respect to the things we would like to do .
Arrive on a Thusrday 4pm. Plan on dinner around 8pm at Hearth / Otto .

Friday : am Marvelous Manhattan morning tour, starts in TS, 9am-1pm , lunch at Katz's Deli. Will likely continue directly from end of tour to afternoon plans.

Subway to Brooklyn and walk back across to Manhattan. I think the walk ends near City Hall, any recommendations for a pit stop nearby for coffee and dessert.
Supper in Meatpacking District. Around 8pm. Any suggestions?

Saturday; Shopping and Central Park. TOPR at around 6pm. Supper at Mesa Grill, love their Chile Releno.

Not sure if we are cramming in too much in 2 days and if distances make any sense. I am clueless as to various neighbourhoods in Manhattan therefore we opted to do a tour, but if anyone has a good walking guide they can recommend I would prefer to walk the city on the Friday rather than sit in a coach.

Thanks for any help.

I know there is a mania for walking cross the Brooklyn Bridge - but am not really sure why. Granted it is an old bridge and gives good views of Manhattan. And it is certainly worthwhile if you have substantial time but IMHO this is something you do if you have 6 or 7 days - not just 2. I mean - it's a bridge.

NYC has a host of world class museums that IMHO are FAR more worthwhile if your tim is very limited.

It seems to be all you are doing is looking at the outsides of things - not really getting into any content.

What are you going to do in Central Park? Have you picked out activities? Again, everyone seems to have this on their list - and it is certainly deserving. But the Park is bigger than the country of Monaco - the best part of a mile wide and 2.5 miles long with a host of things to see and do. Which will you see (unless you're spending a whole day exploring the park.)

If I had to make a list for the first trip to NYC for adults in only 2 days I would do:

Top of the Rock
Staten Island ferry (view of Statue of Liberty and Manhattan skyline on the way back)
The Met (use the web site to pick out 3 or 4 dept's at most)
Part of Central Park with lunch in the Boathouse (go to web site of Central Park Conservancy to map your visit)
1 or 2 Broadway shows
Museum of Natural History or MoMA depending on your interests
Smaller Museum (depending on interests do Frick, New York Historical Society, NYC Public Library or Tenement Museum)
Explore one of residential areas and have dinner in a sidewalks cafe and watch the world go by (Village, upper west side, east village) and check out stores that are open late

I don;t mean to be critical but y o are doing little more than looking at the outside of a variety of buildings.

As for shopping - you can shop anywhere. And unless you have something specific that can only be bought here it's a total waste of very limited time.

For dinner in the Meatpacking district take a look at Spice Market. We enjoyed it.

Thanks for the input nytraveler. I suppose I should have been more explicit in my request for some input, but,
we have already done Statue of Liberty, Staten island Ferry, in a previous visit.

Did not opt for any Broadway shows as having just returned from London have seen a number of shows already. Same applicable to museums.

I appreciate your comment re Central Park and will check out the website.
Re: Shopping, coming from Canada, no trip to the US is complete without at least some power shopping, as I find choices far surpass what we have and prices are cheaper as well.Thanks again tho apprecaite your insight and will reassess our plans.

Well - I guess my point of view is that a museum isn't a museum- they are all very different.

And to me shopping is a chore anywhere - and I never do it voluntarily.

If you had said you had been to NYC before I might have made different recos.

But if you have just seen a bunch of shows then I would explore a couple of differnet neighborhoods in the evenings.

realnewyorktours.com does a tour combining riding the subway and walking for an overview. I don't know that it's better than Marvelous Manhattan, just different.

But for your hotel choice, since the things you've listed are all over the place, you could just as easily stay in Times Square where the tour starts, W Union Square across from Mesa Grill or one of the hotels in the meatpacking district. Given your agenda, there's not one location that's better than another. The things you've picked to do have you doing a lot of traveling from midtown to downtown. What kind of shopping do you plan and where? Why have you selected the Plaza? (Not saying it's a bad choice, just want to understand how the decision was made).

Thanks for the suggestion HappyTrvlr ,have looked at menu and it seems like a good option.

mclaurie, opted for The Plaza as we like Fairmont properties and can get the rate cheaper than the list price at the W.
Stayed at W Fort Lauderdale in July and liked it but W Union Square does not have great reviews on TA. Did look at Intercon.TS, but have stayed at TS Marriott previously and would prefer a different location.

Will we encounter a lot of traffic in evenings from hotel to restaurants.(I know this is variable depending on day, times etc)My previous trips have always been 1 day so we have seen the city in a piecemeal manner, so any advice is appreciated.

rehopping , we have 2 stops to make on 5th ave.will likely take us 3 hours max.
One last question is the decision to dine at Mesa Grill after TOPR feasible or will we be spending too much time in a cab back and forth.Thanks.

Sorry that was not the graphic I wanted to insert at that point.Also should read shopping.

I have checked the Plaza website for October. The lowest rate I saw was $1095 per night. Is that the going rate or am I looking in the wrong place?

People who've stayed at the Plaza have mostly raved but only you know how much you're paying and what other options there are at that price or less. I grant the W Union Square doesn't get raves, but the location is good for some people. If the shopping you're doing on 5th ave. is near the Plaza and you're happy with the price, it's a good idea. While I like Mesa Grill, it's no longer a destination restaurant and I wouldn't go out of my way to go there for dinner. What about having lunch there on Sat.?

mclaurie, I'm just curious, has Mesa Grill's quality gone downhill, or have people just moved on to the next "star" restaurant?

I think a bit of both, sf7307. In NYC it's always about the next new thing. But the big problem is Bobby Flay is a REAL TV star and obviously a great chef when you watch him cook; but that's not the same as running a restaurant with other people cooking. I think the food is good, not great.

IMO, Mesa Grill is just not what it used to be. I used to go there 2-3 times a yr when I was in NYC for work frequently in the late 90s (when it was great, imo) through about 2005. I stopped going then, as it really started to suffer and get boring around 2005. I gave it another chance for brunch in 2009 and it was really disappointing.

The Plaza is very convenient for Midtown shopping and for Central Park, but not really for much else you want to see.

If you are Bobby Flay fans, he has a restaurant much closer to the Plaza, Bar Americain, though it's more American rather than Southwestern fare. I've eaten at both Bar Americain and Mesa Grill, and I'd have to agree with emd3. Mesa Grill isn't bad, but it's not really that special, and it's still as expensive as ever. For that kind of money, you can do much better. Marea (on Central Park South), though more formal than Bar Americain, is great, though more expensive and certainly not Southwestern.

Frankly, I'd skip the Marvelous Manhattan tour and do the Tenement Museum over the Brooklyn Bridge. It's a different kind of museum that gives you a sense of what NYC living used to be like. There are many specialized tours offered. Then you could have a bite to eat on the Lower East Side, perhaps at Freeman's Alley (good for lunch, though really packed and difficult for dinner) or keep to your original plan of Katz's, which is not far.

Though if you did the Tenenment Museum in late afternoon and walked around the Lower East Side (lots of good shops now, especially around Orchard), you might have an early dinner at Freeman's Alley. I'm not sure about their reservations policy.

If you've never been, another good place to see is the UN, assuming the General Assembly isn't in session.

The Central Park Conservancy does offer several free walking tours in Central Park, if you'd prefer a walking tour. Or loads of companies offer different kinds of walking tours (all better, in my opinion, than a general bus tour, which I'd only recommend if you are a first-time visitor with limited mobility).

Thanks for all the info. We will reassess plans and try to spend more time ambling thro a couple of neighbourhoods.We like the idea about The tenement Museum and have already been on the site. For now have scrapped the Marvelous Manhattan Tour.

Still must have a sandwich at Katzs. Does anyone know if the Katzs in Toronto ,is a branch of the one in New york?

The only reason I go to Mesa Grill if I happen to be in a city with one is for the Chile Releno. Have the recipe ,but just cannot get it to taste like theirs.

Katz's: I have no idea if they are affliated with the Toronto place, but please, don't go to the bathroom there. It is the worst public restroom in a restaurant or food place that I can think of. Horrid.

I like the food, but hate the bathroom.

>>

Honestly, I've been in much worse. Maybe it's the places I visit. (I just don't recall being horrified, and I am loathe to frequent gross bathrooms!)

I do not think The Katz's in Toronto is related to the one in New York.

The best sandwich is the pastrami. Put a dolalr in the tip jar of the slicer for larger sandwich. Bribery is legal at Katz's.

Freemans = quaint alley + taxidermy + hipsters + celebrity spotting + overpriced food + so-so service. Walk by take a picture, comment on the novelty of a place like this being in NYC, then find another place to eat.