new york advice
 

I am going to the big apple in mid oct for 11 days.I have never been there.I was wondering about things like,what will the weather be like?If I want to see a taping of a show(preferably conan or snl)do I have to wait forever to get tix?Is there lots to see on coney island?I also have a vague question about places to eat,but for manhattan,what places are famous(for delis,italian,etc)I heard lombardis is famous for its brick oven pizzas.Any other adivce I should know for travelling to new york for the 1st time I would appreciate hearing it,thx.

Buy a guidebook and read this board. Tickets to SNL are pretty much non-existent unless you are a relative of an employee or guest. I've found some of the best restaurants and best deals are in Alphabet City, Lower East Side, and the Village. Weather should be great fall days.

Coney Island is in Brooklyn, you might spend a couple of hours there at most then wander down the boardwalk to the Aquarium. Other than that, I don't think you would want to bother spending much of your time in that area.

For the Conan Show:
You may request up to four free tickets by calling the NBC ticket office at (212) 664-3056 in advance.
Ticket requests are no longer accepted via U.S. Mail.
A small number of standby tickets are available on a first come, first served basis on the morning of taping days. Limit one per person.
Gather under the "NBC Studios" marquee at the 49th street entrance of 30 Rockefeller Plaza no later than 9:00 a.m. on a taping day for standby tickets.

Saturday Night Live:
There are currently no advance tickets available for Saturday Night Live for the 2002-2003 season.
For standby tickets, arrive no later than 7:00 a.m. on the morning of the taping, under the "NBC Studios" marquee at the 49th street entrance of 30 Rockefeller Plaza.
You may choose a stand-by ticket for either the 8:00 p.m. dress rehearsal or the 11:30 p.m. live show.
Only one ticket will be issued per person.
No one under the age of 16 will be admitted.
Stand-by tickets do not guarantee admission.

Have a great time!!

11 days is a long time to spend just in manhattan. You can either choose to spend a full day in each area seeing all as you go (i.e. Little Italy/Chinatown/Tribeca, Central Park, Upper East Side, Midtown, Battery Park/downtown/Ellis Island etc)and see some Broadway shows by visiting the TKTS booth in Duffy Square for same day 1/2 price tickets. But you might also want to consider day trips. Coney Isalnd is in Brooklyn and not much more than an amusement park. In my opinion it's not worth the trip to Brooklyn. October is a fabulous time to vist NY. The leaves are all changing and the air is crisp - bring a light jacket and a few sweaters for sure. If you are interested in wine and farm stands consider taking a trip out to Long Island North Shore. You will need a car and plan on a FULL day (2 hours to the beginning of all the vinyards), but you can pack a picnic, go pumpkin/apple picking and sample many great wines. It could be a great way to break up the URBAN city. Whatever you do it will be great. We New Yorkers are still recovering and could use all the support from visitors - Thanks for coming!!

Or, take a train a couple of hours north to Rhinebeck!http://www.rhinebeckny.org/

"11 days is a long time to spend just in Manhattan". Huh?? I've been to New York many times, usually for just 5 days to a week. Two years ago I managed to spend a full month in Manhattan, and just yesterday I arrived for the beginning of 4 full weeks. I never run out of things to do.
Time Out and New York Magazine are two excellent sources of tons of things to do.

Hey qman,

The one thing I would recommend for a first time visitor to the City is to take a Gray Line bus tour. You can buy a 48 hour ticket so that you can take the Lower and Upper Manhattan tours as well as the Brooklyn tour. At the same time you buy your Grayline tickets, you can also get tickets for the Statue of Liberty/Ellis Island tour as well as the Empire State Building. One piece of advice for the Statue of Liberty/Ellis Island boat tour: I would not recommend getting off at the Statue of Liberty since it has been closed to visitors since 9/11. You get an great view from the boat. You'll probably want to spend about a half day at Ellis Island. There is so much to see there.

http://www.graylinenewyork.com/

Some famous delis in Manhattan include Katz's, Stage, and the Carnegie Deli. For Italian I really like going to Little Italy's Mulberry Street. One of my favorite restaurants there is IL Cortile. Of course you can't go wrong with just about any place there.

http://www.littleitalynyc.com/

In addition to Lombardi's for pizza, I have also heard good things about Grimaldi's in Brooklyn, right near the Brooklyn Bridge.

Sorry I can't be of much help with the Conan or SNL tapings, as I have never attended one of those before. From what I have heard you will have to spend quite a bit of time in line in order to get tickets. Of course the advantage is that you have 11 days in the City. If you had limited time in NYC I probably would not recommend it.

As far as the weather is concerned, October is one of the best months in NYC. Last year I took my Dad into the City in mid October and it was sunny and 75 degress with low humidity. You couldn't ask for better weather.

Hope this helps.

Have a great time in NYC.

thx for the tips guys,I love wine so I'll check out that suggestion.I was also wondering are the hamptons a good day trip get away?I also want to check out a club or 2,I love techno & trance.Which clubs are good for this type of music?I always heard abour twilo,but I understand that has closed.

The Hamptons are DEAD in October (great, though, if you just want peace and quiet.) Plus It's kind of far for a day trip...about 2-3 hours by train or bus, depending on which Hampton.

I agree with Patrick, I've never run out of things to do in Manhattan and I'm there at least once a month.

Skip Carnegie Deli and go to Second Avenue Deli. Katz's is also good.

I agree with Patrick. 11 days is NOT too long in NYC but it is a nice amount of time to venture outside the city once or twice as others have mentioned. newyorkmetro.com is the New York Magazine website with great info on everything.

I would not consider either the North fork vineyards or the Hamptons as a day trip unless you want a VERY long day. It's 2-2 1/2 hrs in each direction. While it's doable in a day, it's a lot of driving. Public transport (Long Island Railroad or the hampton jitney) is a better option. But once you arrive, you really need a car. You could go to Hampton Bays (by train or jitney) & rent a car there for the day. There's a place right across from the train station. There are also vineyards in the Hamptons-some quite good-Wolffer (aka Sag Pond Vineyards), Channing Daughters and Duck Walk vineyards. Ofcourse you could always stay overnight.

Another nice trip is up to the Tarrytown area. I've posted info on this trip elsewhere here if you do a text search for Tarrytown. There's even a boat cruise up the Hudson River from NYC to Tarrytown with sightseeing included in the price. Rhinbeck is also lovely.

I'm not up on clubs but if you do a text search here for NY AND clubs I believe there have been some recent post with suggestions & websites. Have a great time.

BTW, it might be easier for people to respond if you separated some of your questions into separate threads. Also try doing text search on your different questions as most, if not all, have been discussed.