OK, This might sound weird, but I need to know an average DAILY budget a tourist should have for a visit to NYC, eating at no-fancy restaurants, not shopping, but visiting in tours as many places as possible, and drinking of course!
Besides, is it dangerous to go around alone only with a map, a lot of time to spend and GALLONS of energy???

i'd bring about $50-$100 cash in my pocket each day.
That depends on how much you drink and how many BUS TOURS you take.. if you stick to pizza, mcdonalds, taking subways and seeing the sights for yourself, you can manage with $40 bucks a day or less.

Of course, that's assuming your drinks will be soda and water.

If you drink liquor and you get the liquor straight from a bar, add $5-$10 per drink you consume. This is NYC.

Try to see the sights on your own with the subways and just get on one tour bus that will show you everything.

You can catch the tour buses in front of the empire state building, on 34th street and 5th avenue. about $30 for a whole day tour and you see a lot.

then you can go back and see each thing individually on your own.

good luck.

Manhattan is very expensive, no matter how you look at it. I've lived in New York all my life, and even lived inside Manhattan as well. I honestly don't think $50-100 a day is nearly enough money if you plan on having a decent time. My husband and I go for lunch in an average restaurant and the bill is usually at least $40, and that's lunch. Dinner for the both of us, with a drink is an easy $100. I do agree that if you go the way of burger king, etc, you might get away with it, but honestly, who goes on vacation, especially Manhattan with the most wonderful restaurants in the world to eat fast food. I would definitely look into the entertainment book, which can be found at entertainment.com and see if they have any deals you can jump on. DO NOT RENT A CAR, unless you plan on leaving the city, you'll find the rates CRAZY, and parking is almost impossible anywhere you go.Cabs are not too expensive, which is probably the way to go if you don't know Manhattan at all, otherwise buses and subways are the way we travel. Be careful about walking around with a guide in your hand, (easy prey). I've always preferred the convenience of a cab, and its only a few extra bucks and it makes the ride much more enjoyable. Its very easy to get confused in the subway station if you don't know where you're going. The great thing about Manhattan, you can walk around forever and not spend a dime, if you're careful. Unfortunately, I'm not one of those people. Definitely head down to the Village and spend a day down there, 6th Avenue and 4th Street), thats the west village, all kinds of fun stuff to do and lots of shops, again, food will cost you. But, there are a lot of places you can go where you can walk in (they're deli type stores), and they have what they call salad bars, you can get some pretty decent food in there, and lunch can cost $10.00. There's a wonderful restatuant down there, and I think its on 6th Avenue called The Riveria, and you can get lunch for around $15.00, and eat outside and people watch, that's always fun. Dib;t forget to go downtown and visit the seaport as well. Either way you go, have a wonderful time, and make sure you hit some of the great Museums and art Galleries, if that's an interest to you, if it is, SOHO is the place to go,a very different type of artsy atmosphere. Have fun. To answer you're question about money, I never travel anywhere without a minimum of $200 a day, just in case.

Thanks a lot for your advices, I'm sure they are going to be very helpful for my trip!...I liked the idea of taking a bus tour the ifrst day and the days after just going around my way!...I don't want to spend too much money since I'll stay more than a week and I don't want to have any surprise, and since I'm only 23 years old I'm not thinking about wasting a lot of money in food, maybe 3 or 4 times a week, going for a nice dinner and a Broadway show, would be nice, but I can't abuse, ha!...and I'm definitely thingking about NOT DRINKING!...I'm used to drink wine but it's so cheap in here, I guess that there might be very expensive!!! NYC is amazingly expensive, but I think it worth, right?!...THANKS AGAIN!!!

As someone who has lived in NY since I was just starting out and on a very slim budget, I can tell you it's definitely possible to do NY on the cheap. Some tips:
Food:
- Eat at Dojo's in the village (i think there are two locations), you can eat well for $5.
- NY has the best bagels: order one toasted with a slice of cheese for a meal under $2. Deli meals in general are inexpensive and pretty good.
- Pizza by the slice!
- At night have drinks at happy hour. The East Village still has a few inexpensive places.
Place to stay: Hotel 17

You might go to amazon.com and pick up a copy of:
- Let's go: budget guide to NYC
- Mr. Cheap's New York

Have fun!

Marlena

Oh, another great book: Frommer's New York from $80 a day.

Marlena

Hotels in NYC are expensive. Food is not. You can eat extremely well in NYC for not a lot of money. Head to Rocky's in Little Italy. A little touristy, but great food and prices. Also, there are a million excellent delis. Live on bagels and sandwiches. There are also a lot of great bars tucked away in corners. Depending on your age, I would wander around NYU and discover the student hangouts. These tend to be less expensive. Also, run by the youth hostels. They always seem to know where things are cheap.

Have a great time!

Wow!, thanks Marlena and Annie for your advices!...Besides, I don't have to waste any money in hotels since I'm staying at a friend's house, but since she'll be working I want to go out alone and I just wanted to know how much money should I take with me each day, since it must be cash and I don't like to have to much cash with me when I'm walking around, you know, just for safety!...Again, thanks girls!!!