New York City
 

I have long promised my daughter, mid twenties, a trip to New York for a few days of shopping and sightseeing. We are planning to come just after New Year and will probably stay for five or six nights. Suggestions please for reasonably priced and central accommodation and things to see and do.

There are lots of places in NYC that are centrally located but what seems reasonable to a seasoned NYC traveller may not seem reasonable to you. What is your definition of "reasonably priced"???? The answer will make a big difference on hotel recommendations.

It's very hard to make recommendations without having some sense of your interests: art, theater, museums, shopping, outdoor activities, history, TV shows, monumnets, tours, neighborhoods, etc, etc.

You're lucky - since those will probably be the lowest rates of the year. But - do give us a clue - are you looking for a budget chain, or moderate or upscale (you might get a good price for this using Priceline $8 or up).

For what to see/do - you need to tell us more about you. Have a look at destinations above.

At a minimum do Top of the Rock, the Met and a couple of shows (look for discounts on broadwaybox.com about 60 to 90 days in advance).

After that you need to tell us your interests.

Really want to do everything! Enjoy museums, natural history is a must. Also shopping and serious theatre and good musicals. Willing to spend $300 or so a night for a reasonable hotel. Is top of the rock a restaurant or just an observation place?
Also want to give my duaghter a sense of New York so a look at one or two neighbourhoods and maybe a bus tour would be good. Assuming we have five days we want to spend about half sightseeing and the other half shopping.
I was thinking of one trip round on the grey line bus, visits to a few museums, quick trip to see the Public library and a look at maybe Greenwich village and perhaps Brooklyn, any other neighbourhood ideas?
Where would be a good area to look for accommodation given we wnat to do this plus shopping?

I suggest you put your dates i in Kayak.com (website that compares prices on various other websites) and see what hotels they come up with. You can narrow down their results by a price range.

If it's just the 2 of you, you may want to consider using priceline fo r a4* hotel It should be well within your budget. Read www.biddingfortravel.com for more info.

Neighborhoods you daughter may enjoy besides GV, are East VIllage (many trending boutiques,particularly on E. 9th St between 2nd av and Av A), also lower east side, soho, and nolita. If you don't mine walking, you can cover all these neighborhoods, as they are all within the same area, and all have various dining options if you wander around during a meal time.

Brooklyn isn't a neighborhood - it's a separate borough (county) with a population of 2.5 million people.

If you want to explore neighborhoods - consider the village (traditional trendy), the east village (young, trendy still somewhat edgy) or the upper west side (mid/upscale residential - but lots of moderate shopping and good, inexpensive eating.

Shopping and sightseeing are spread out all over Manhattan (8 miles long and islands in the harbor) plus lots of places in the outer boroughs.

What's really important is being near the subway, since you'll be riding that a lot.

For $300 you could look at the afinia group of hotels (moderate, usually well regarded) and get a suite - since you'll be here a while it will be more comfortable to spread out a little, rather then be stuck in one small room.

Just booked direct The Time Hotel in Theater District for $167 per night - Jan 2/6. Great deals on hotels just after New Years. Also lots of good seats for shows. Have a look at www.quickbook.com with your dates.

The hotel website is www.quikbook.com. (no "c")

So right, Nikki, no "C" in this one. Spelling has become quite the challenge for those of us old enough to remember when there was a right and a wrong way to spell words. Now....anything goes. I don't know how children learn to spell or read anymore. At any rate...its a great web site for hotels in NY.

I live nearby, so I usually daytrip and do not stay in hotels.

You will definitely want to visit the Met Museum of Art. Plan on visiting there the whole day, as each section takes time. They might still have their tree up, which is beautifully decorated with hand-crafted Neopolitan figurines for the creche and angels on the tree.

It sounds like the Museum of Natural History is must for you. It is definitely one NYC's finest.

I am not a huge modern art fan, but the three biggies if that is your thing are: MoMA, Whitney and Guggenheim.

I just recently went to the Frick Collection, which is a small museum of terrific and rare European art. Highlights for me were paintings by Vermeer, Rembrandt, Bellini, Duccio, Ingres and a small bronze statue by Michelangelo.

For shopping, I usually browse stores on Fifth Avenue, starting at the Plaza and working my way to Saks Fifth Avenue. I might stop at Bloomingdales before going down Fifth. FAO Schwartz is near Saks if you want to do some toy shopping. Also, Bergdoff Goodmans seems to have the prettiest store windows for Christmas. Saks Fifth Avenue is popular for their display windows.

You might consider ice skating since it is the holiday season. Rockefeller Center's rink has been packed lately with holiday-goers. Another nice option is the rink in Central Park. You can view the whole NYC skyline while skating.

For shows, you might consider purchasing tickets for the Radio City Christmas Spectacular featuring the Rockettes. It is a very popular show and will definitely sell out. For Broadway shows, I usually pick up at my bookstore a New Yorker magazine for show recommendations. I understand, though, that a good website to purchase tickets are at the www.TKT.com. Anyway, the website might prevent an hour long wait in the cold to get tickets at Times Square.

Whoa. I had never heard of TKT.com so just went there. Are you serious? They have $180 tickets for Hairspray that you can buy for $60 several other ways. They are a "broker" or "scalper" whatever you want to call them. The best way to buy full price tickets is to call Ticketmaster or Telecharge, whichever is the OFFICIAL ticket seller of each show.
Or find discount codes and buy the tickets through those same agencies at discounts.

Go to www.playbill.com for full listing of current shows as well as information for buying tickets the sensible way, including registering and getting discount codes. www.broadwaybox.com is another good source of getting discount codes to use with Ticketmaster or Telecharge, or at the box office in person.

If you are interested in seeing part of Brooklyn, I do encourage you to do a search on here for related threads. (I for one have posted a lot on my home borough! ;) )

A recent thread where I wrote of some areas of Brooklyn is this one:
<i>Escape Guest House, Brooklyn</i>
http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=35061198
The OP is staying at that particular guesthouse, which is a great non-Manhattan option, being just a few subway stops out of Manhattan. But even if you stay in Manhattan, the neighborhoods I mention are easily accessible. (DUMBO, especially, is on the Brooklyn waterfront and a good starting point or destination for a walk on the Brooklyn Bridge - weather permitting!)

:) ggreen

What about visiting some of the most famous landmarks in the world, including the Empire State Building and the Statue of Liberty? I am a NYer and the view from the Empire State Building is still breathtaking to me. my favorite time is at dusk when the city is beginning to light up...it's magical.

In addition to the suggestions posted here, what about a trip through some of the ethnic neighborhoods, maybe for dinner, including Chinatown and Little Italy?

To get a sense of historic NYC, take a guided tour of the Tenement Museum on the Lower East Side: http://www.tenement.org/index.htm. Really interesting. We also enjoyed a 3-hr. &quot;food tour&quot; of the Village, which gives you a taste of NY pizza, old style Italian bakeries, a store with a cheese cave,etc. The tour also visits local historical sights like an original speakeasy, the city's skinniest house, hidden garden courtyards, and an old live music venue from the Beat generation underneath a great neighborhood restuarant. http://www.foodsofny.com/greenwichvillage.php (Okay, just remembered you're visiting in January, maybe not) You can't go wrong at the Met....even if you just pass thru the Greek/Roman section. Also, medieval art not my thing, but walked past that section on the way to another, and was wowed by the entrance to the medieval sculpture hall &amp; the stained glass. Finally, if you haven't already bought tix, we went (unexpectedly) to see Legally Blonde, &amp; it was better than I would have thought. Actors were great.
Have fun!

I agree with travel gato that the Tenement Museum is a must. My mid-twenties daughter loved it.

I would say go to both the Met museums and the Museum of Modern Art, but don't stay all day. Check out their websites and pick out several collections that especially interest you.

Also on Broadway we both liked Avenue Q, Mamma Mia, and Hairspray, among others. Check out reviews on NY Times website.

If you don't have these in your home town, be sure to go shopping at Loehmann's (7th Ave. and 16th) and Filene's Basement nearby. Also there are lots of cute stores in Chelsea and the Village and NYU area.

We love the Chelsea Flea Market. Saturday and Sunday on two floors of a parking garage on W. 25th between 6th and 7th. Saturday morning early is best. No telling what, if anything, you will find, but always fun.

We loved dinner at Barbuto. http://barbutonyc.com/