Hello,

There are four of us going on this NY trip and it will be all our 1st time. We made a list of places that we would like to see but we do not know how many and what to do on each day. We feel it would take us a while to figure out how far some places are from each other and traveling time. So we were hoping somebody out there could give us a rough itinerary so we are not trekking all over the city in one day!

Here are the places we would like to see:
Times Square
Empire St. Bldg
The Met
Greenwich Village Food Tour
Chelsea Mkt & Meatpacking District Tour
Central Park
Rockfeller Observation Deck (Top of the Rock)
Natural History Museum
Circle Line &/or Staten Island Ferry
Broadway show
Battery Park (Statue of Liberty?)
WTC: Ground Zero Museum
Brooklyn Bridge
MOMA
Soho $ the Village
Chinatown

and any other places you would suggest!

THANKS IN ADVANCE!!

michelle

My first suggestion is to get a good map of NYC that has the major sights on it. then get a copy of the subway map.

People can make recos and try to help you organize - but things can take longer than you think - or you may see something you like better - or you may be bored by something - so you need to have the basics of geoegraphy in your head to adapt to that.

Also - you don;t say where you're staying - which may make a difference.

Uptown is the Met, Natural History and Central Park - but you won;t want to do bothmuseums in one day. Suggest doing one with the Park, then leave the other for another day. Also - go to the websitres of the museums to see which departments you want to see (each could eeasily take 2 days).

Do Top of the Rock and don;t bother with Empire State - it's a lot of duplication and lines can be horrendous.

To do the Statue of Liberty you must take the ferry (get tickets in advance - or another huge wait). But I would just look at the Statue from the boat and go on to the Ellis island Immigration Museum - which is brilliant - and has no lines.

You can do midtown attractions - Times Square when you see a show (get tickets now via discount codes from Broadwaybox.com to save time and money) and the same day do Top of the Rock and MoMA.

Everything else on your list is downtown - and I think you need to divide them up when you see how much energy you have left - and how the weather is each day.

And you don;t need to do Staten Island ferry, Circle Line tour AND the ferry to Statue of Liberty - just too many boat rides

nytraveler has given you good advice. Tell us where you're staying and whether you have any of the travel days available for sightseeing. Who are you (all adults, kids??)? What about doing some sort of overview tour at the beginning that would pass by most all of these?
kingofnyc.com
nypartyshuttle.com

Do you have priorities?

You might want to check with either Circle Line or NY Waterway. One of them I believe offers a July 4th cruise.

That way you could see the fireworks up close and get great evening views of the city, statue, etc.

Hello,
Thanks for the replies. We are staying in Manhattan and we are all 27 yrs old. Thanks nytraveler for the advice, i will definetly get a map and go from there. Its more that we want our days to be full but not a strict schedule. If we see something along the way then we can take more time there than the place we had originally planned.

Thanks again!!

michelle

I hope you realize Manhattan is HUGE so staying you're staying in Manhattan is not really helping us help you in terms of how to arrange your sights.

Hi. Everything on your list looks great. I definitely recommend going to Rockefeller Center and walking over to Barney's or Henri Bendels --great shopping. Don't miss the Met--it's incredible and next to central park and go to Pastis for lunch in the meatpacking district. a broadway show and times square at night is so much fun --mamma mia is a good time. have fun

The best way to see the city is to organize what you want to see in each part of the city ie:

Wall St/Dowtown - World Trade Center site, Century 21, Wall St. South St Seaport, Staten Island Ferry, Trinity Church, Fraunces Tavern (great place to stop for lunch or a drink), Battery Park (to see the centerpiece that was at the WTC) These are all within a few minutes walking time of each other.

Chinattown/Little Italy/SoHo.
For great Dim Sum, try the Mandarin Ct. on Mott St or for Peking Duck the Peking Duck house also on Mott. Walk north from there to Little Italy.

From there N. to SoHo on Broadway to Prince and turn left, and wander SoHO. From there walk N again through the Village This pretty much will give you a tour of the lower part of Manhattan.

The Met Museum is a MUST see and if you have the time The Cloisters is a part of the Met way uptown and worth a day in itself.

Hope this helps a little, as someone else mentioned get a map of the city, so you have a idea of where you are in reference to what you want to see.

Have a GREAT time.

Exactly where in Manhattan will you be staying? South Ferry - and islands in the harbor - are more than 8 miles from the uptown museums. Never mind upper Manhattan sights like the Cloisters - and activites in the outer boroughs.

I know Manhattan is an island - but it's a sizeable island.

More info would help a lot.

We are going to NYC the exact same time as you and, with alot of research and help from Fodorites, I have compliled this itinerary:
Day 1 Arrival, check in, evening-go to Top of the Rock, or ride Staten Island Ferry at sunset
Day 2 SOL, Ellis Island, WTC, Wall St. Area Evening-Little Italy
Day 3 Central Park West, Amsterdam Ave, Riverside Park, Window Shop 5th Avenue Evening-Yankees v. Twins game
Day 4 4th of July Visit parts of the Met, Central Park Zoo, Walk around Upper East Side, Evening-East River Fireworks
Day 5 Greenwich Village, Chelsea Market Tour Evening-this one is still open for debate
Day 6 The Today Show Leave for home right after lunch
We plan to buy a 7 day Metro Card. Also, we are going to try to see places in and around the named spots, if there is time. We are staying at the Hampton Inn, on 31st Street. We tried to do a certain area each day.

My friends around your age always like:
-Sushi Samba on 7th downtown
-Comedy Cellar in the village
-Gingerman Bar in the 30's
-H&M (everywhere practically)
-Streets around West 4th (Christopher Street/Bleeker)
-Little Italy
-Bars like Rose's Turn in the Village

Hope that helps