first time visit to New York City
 

My daugther in law and I are taking a day trip from Baltimore to New York City. We will be there for 8 hours. She has never been before. What should we do? I don't think we will do museums this trip. She is interested in sight seeing. We might take in a matinee. Any suggestions for how to tour New York in 8 hours

What time are you planning on getting to NY?

are you taking a train? where do you arrive? grand central? penn station?

We are coming on a bus that lets us out at Time Square or Rockerfeller Centre at about 10am and picks us up at 6;30pm. I think that Times Square is the better drop off if we want to get 1/2 price show tickets

Rather than waste part of your 8 hours standing on the half-price ticket line, check out the offers at broadwaybox.com or theatermania.com. You can use the discount codes found there for good savings well before your trip.

8 hours is very limited time, assuming the bus runs on time. If you want to do a matinee (definitely get tickets in advance) you have the time to do Top of the Rock, see Rock Center, a little of Fifth Ave and St Pat's, grab a very quick lunch and then do the show and see a little of (uber tacky) Times Square. Can;t do much more than that in so little time.

I think nytraveler has it totally right. And I agree to get some discount tickets ahead of time -- why stand in line for an hour or two (or even more) using up precious time, when you can basically do just as well in advance?

On the other hand, I'm one of the few who says that an open top bus tour (if the weather is right) really shows the highlights of the city. A first timer will get more of an impression of the sights that way than trying to get to several places on your own.

if we did the hop on, hop off bus and skipped a matinee, what could we see? She is really interested in the Statue of Liberty but I think that would take too long. From another post I got the ipression that it is closed. I would like to take her to Katz Deli or Carnegie Deli. I remember the wonderful hot pickled brisket Sandwich at Katz (who eats like that anymore) and the look on my young son's face at the size of the meatball at the Carnegie

You can get a really good view of the Statue of Liberty on the Staten Island Ferry, and that is a free ride.

Honestly, I think the view of the Statue of Liberty from the Staten Island Ferry is good, but not great (certainly better than not seeing it at all). You just don't get that close.

To see the Statue of Liberty will take at least 4 hours - and that's if you've bought ferry tickets in advance. You need to wait on a security line for the ferry (like airport security), take the ferry to Liberty Island, wait on a line there to get into the base (you can't go up inside for safety reasons), tour the lower inside, then take the ferry to Ellis Island and back to South Ferry. With the to and fro from Times Square it would take almost all your time - and IMHO isn't really worth it.

I would rather see 2 or 3 things instead.

nytravler - that is good to know - I was considering going there when I am there next week with my 17 yo daughter. I have seen it from the ferry but never went to it. She wants to see but not on the top of her list.

I would agree, scratch the Statue of Liberty for this trip. If the theater is your top priority, go with advance tickets so you won't waste time or be disappointed. If the weather is good and you decide to skip the theater, I would think about visiting one major museum and then walking. Get a pop-out NYC map, it'll show locations of interest in relation to each other & are easy to carry. You'll be within walking distance of the Whitney, MOMA, the Guggenheim, the Frick, the Met, the Museum of Natural History.... but choose just one of those... maybe walk in Central Park (we like to walk to the Dakota & through Strawberry Fields) and down 5th to see St. Patrick's, Rockefeller Center (Top of the Rock is well worth visiting) and over to Times Square. Christie's (auction house) is right across from the Rainbow Room, often interesting auction items to see & the cleanest bathrooms in NYC! From there it's a short walk to Times Square. That's easily done within your time span. NY has so much to see, enjoy your stay.

So sorry - just realized you said no museums, so scratch the above. Even without, you won't run out of things to do.

KatieR:if it was just me I would go to Brooklyn to see Judy Chicago's "Dinner Party", but in our time frame and for a first timer, museums take up too much time. Thank you for your suggestions. Your itinerary makes good sense. I am always interested in clean bathrooms.

If this bus trip works it is something we could do on each of my visits to Baltimore

thanks to Fodorites we are taking the megabus and saving over $60 US (I am Canadian) and planning to take a walking tour through Central Park, then a matinee (if we can find good priced tickets) and go to the top of the Rock. We will also probably have time for a museum because Megabus has a more flexible schedule with more time options, so we can stay longer. How late are museums open on Wednesday?

Museum opening and closing times vary--you must go to the websites of the particular museums you want to visit and check.

I have 3 questions that I will ask here before I start a separate thread.
1.-Carnegie Deli-I was planning on taking my daughter-in-law here for the experience, but the menu doesn't appeal to me. Is it worth going for the atmosphere?
2. How much time should we allot for the Top of the Rock?
3. The subway-I have never been on the NY subway. Is it worth figuring it out for 1 day or is it better to take a few cabs-eg. Central Park to Palace Theatre, Rockerfeller Centre to Penn Station, etc?

1- If you are not interested in the menu, then skip this.

2-One time we took 30 minutes at Top of the Rock and another 2 hours. I'd allow minmum of 30 minutes, mre toward an hour to be sure.

3- The subway isn't as difficult as many think, but you are talking about short trips in a relatively small area. Taxis and walking should suffice.

I've never been to the Carnegie Deli actually.

Regarding taking cabs, most of your locations are midtown or midtown west, so I think that taxis should be ok. I'd probably avoid going crosstown in a taxi. The traffic jams can be pretty harrowing.

And the subway isn't that difficult. There's a BDFV stop and an N/R stop near Rockefeller -- and also a 1/9 stop on 50th. All of these will take you to Penn Station (at 33rd/34th Street). There are no switches. You want the downtown train.

However with two people a cab really shouldn't be much more expensive.