My wife and I have an opportunity to be in NY in mid-June for about 4 days including a weekend. We're celebrating anniversary. We're for sure staying a couple nights at Sheraton Towers(lodging paid for by company). What should we see, do? Where to eat? What's the easiest way to get tickets to see Les Mis? Should we take a couple days out of the city, if so where? Thanks for any help you can give.

New York is a very large and exciting city. Make sure to walk in Central Park and just people watch. The lake in the park is lovely and the Methropolitan Museum is right on the edge of the park. Its really hard to give you an answer - what kinds of things do you like. Soho is nice- trendy, touristy but nice. If you love flowers, the Botanical Gardens in the Bronx is beautiful and in June the Rose Garden should be exquisite. Its a tranquil place to walk- but Wednwesday is a free day, so if you can afford the admission (I think it's five dollars per person) go on a pay day - its quieter. Nice place to have lunch. But agin, what are you looking for in the city- I've lived here all my life and would like to be more of a help. If you want you can e mail me directly

Not knowing your likes or dislikes I will make a few suggestions.
1 - Don't leave Manhattan because on this tiny island there is enough to do for a lifetime.
2 - Explore lower Manhattan - Wall St, Trinity Church, Battery Park. There is a color coded walking tour of Wall St.
3 - Take the Staten Island Ferry from it pier near Battery Park. It is free and you get the famous profile of lower Manhattan, Ellis Island, and the Statue of Liberty.
4 - In the East Village eat at The 2nd Avenue Deli and then go to (nearby) Venerio's for the best cheesecake.
5 - Get a walking tour book of Greenwhich Village and take a whole day to explore.
6 - Further North is Central Park and the Met. Museum and walk down 5th avenue to look at all the shops.

Good luck, Greg

Adding to the already excellent list of suggestions:
One of the first things you should do is take the Circle Line cruise around Manhattan Island. Your hotel concierge can direct you there.
There are several options for getting tickets to Les Miserables:
1. You can order by phone (800-432-7250) now. You'll pay a $5-$5.50 surcharge per ticket that way, but you're pretty sure of getting good seats.
2. You can wait until to get to NY and have the hotel concierge get them for you. Again, you'll probably get good seats this way, but it will cost you more.
3. You can go the the TKTS half-price booth in Times Square (five blocks from your hotel) on the day of the performance and get tickets for 50% off, plus a $2.50 service charge. These seats won't be as good.

some other ideas:
1) stand atop the World Trade Towers IF the day is clear. The view is spectacular.
2) visit the Museum of Natural History.
3) take the tour of the New York Stock Exchange. It's blatant propaganda, but fascinating to view the economic center of the world.

On a four day visit, skip a trip to the Statue of Liberty. DO take the Staten Island Ferry to see it, but DONT take the boat ride out to it. Unless you stand in line for three hours, you won't do anything more than the stand at the bottom of it.

I disagree w/ the response above in regards to the Statue of Liberty. A great tip is to be at Battery Park and make sure you're on the first boat out to the island (tip given to me). In addition, stand near the front of the boat (you'll see others posturing) and when the boat stops head straight for the lady. While the view is not that great from the top and the climb is somewhat severe. It's a must. The boat ride back automatically stops at Ellis Island (another must see) and then back to Battery Park where I suggest walking the Wall St. area and even going to the very place where George Washington was inaugurated (next to Wall St.). They even have the very bible he used on display. Then head over to the Twin Towers (World Trade Center) and go to the top (much nicer than empire state building in my opinion). By now you should be able to catch subway back to TKTS and get your half price seats. It's a busy day but speaking from experience, it can be done. To top off the evening then head over to the empire state building for a romantic view of the city. I believe the observation deck stays open till approx. 11:00.

You will have a great time here, there is SO MUCH to see and do.

If you are near the Empire State Building and a redhead asks if you need directions, that's me, one of the things I like to do is help tourists who look confused or lost and believe me that is easy to do here.

The earlier posts have given you lots of info, but I would suggest getting a book on the city and read up before you get here that way you will be a bit less overwhelmed.

I would suggest trying to tackle the city in sections, like
1. Wall St up to Canal St. (that's from the ferry up to China Town - oh and a MUST is dim sum in China town for lunch at Hop Kee on Mott St. That will also include the South St. Seaport area, which is fun for siteseeing and a bit of shopping.

2. Canal St to 34th St. That's Noho, and Soho and the Village up to Macy's,
lots of shopping on 34th St and in the Village and Soho and fun siteseeing, also some great old buildings like the Flatiron Building on 23rd and 5th Ave.

3. 34th to 59th That includes shopping areas, historic churches, the Public Library, The Empire State Building, Carnegie Hall and Times Square.

4. 59th to 83rd This is the museum area of town and on 5th Ave you have Museum Mile with lots including The Met, the Museum of the City of NY, The Gughenheim (don't think I spelled it right) designed by Frank Lloyd Right.
and the Central Park Zoo. That is all on the east side of the park and on the West side is the Museum of Natural History.

One more hint no one mentioned for a very romantic evening take the Staten Island Ferry at dusk, the trip back to Manhattan is worth your whole trip.

Have a great time and if you need any mroe info or suggestions, please let me know.

tweedy

Thanks for all the great ideas! My wife is a big Regis & Kathie Lee fan, does anyone know if there's a way to find tickets on such short notice? Looking forward to visiting....

Have sunday brunch at The River Cafe (www.therivercafe.com)underneath the Brooklyn bridge and then go next door to BargeMusic (www.bargemusic.org) for fabulous chamber music on a restored barge in the East River. Both have an awesome view of the Manhattan skyline and the Statue of Liberty. A very romantic day or go to River Cafe for dinner. They have a great prix-fix menu that is quite reasonable by NY standards. Try Playbill.com for advance purchase discounts on theater tickets. Might find Les Miz. I did on our last trip.

My friend Dawn and I picked up our Les Mis tickets at the World Trade Center. They close at 3:30pm on Saturday - so get there early. We had seats in the orchestra area on the far left side, about 15 rows back. If you get your tickets in the a.m., you might get better seats. We paid $42.50, which included the service charge.

My husband and I are making our first trip to NYC on Monday. I've been reading your posts on Fodors and wondered
1. What are your favorite top 5 sites, and
2. Your favorite restaurants? We're open to price range; looking at Becco (which I understand didn't impress Monica and Dawn) and Picholene, which has been much written-about recently. Would love a great Chinese meal. . . Plan a major dinner out on arrival Monday, late lunch before 'Cabaret' Tuesday, siteseeing and matinee Wednesday (depending on availability from TKTS @ World Trade Center on Tuesday), major dinner Wednesday, Metropolitan Museum, late lunch Thursday before flight home. Would love any suggestions you can offer ---- Many thanks!
Harriett