Hi, Everyone: I have seen /browsed so many fantastic ideas for NYC that I can almost predict any potential suggested changes to my itinerary for our first trip to Manhattan/ NYC. It will by my wife and I. We are fit 40+ and love to walk. We are northwesterners so we're used to some cold weather. We aren't museum LOVERS but very much LIKERS. My wife's birthday is New Years Eve. I've read a LOT of horrible things about Times Square on NYE, but we'll brave it anyway. We'll arrive on a redeye from Seattle at 6am at Newark. We are Subway/public trans fans so that's OK with us. We're not really 'foodies' so will catch our meals/snacks wherever/whenever includnig just grocery markets and deli's. We're also early risers (6/7am? and bedtimers at 11 or 12.

Flights are booked and so are hotels (upper west side for 3 nights/ midtown for 3 nights then 1 night at JFK before we leave at 6am on 1/2/10)

Please comment on my itinerary. Generally I'm concerned with timing, what's maybe NOT worth doing or suggestions. Also in the potential to move things around based on the amount of time available to us.

Thanks in advance! -DrToonz.

Day 1 /Dec 26/ Arrive 6am tired on the redeye at Newark. / Make our way slowly to Upper West Side hotel using public transportation/ Maybe Central Park/ Strawberry Fields/ Relax/ Find Tom's Diner/ Get our bearings. Sleep at Upper West Side hotel this and next two nights.

Day 2 /Dec 27/ Natural History Museum/ Walk around Upper East Side/ Maybe visit the Apollo Theater for the "Mo Divas" Show.

Day 3 /Dec 28/ E & W Village neighborhoods/ Walking around/ Highline Park/ Chelsea Market/ B&H Photo/ Then: Macy's Grand Central and Rockefeller Central in the evening.

Day 4/Dec 29/ MoMA/ Cloisters/ St. Patrick's Cathedral/ Ed Sullivan Theater/ NY Public Library/ Rockettes Xmas Show (we already have tix). Moving to midtown hotel for this and two more nights.

Day 5/Dec 30/ Battery Park/ Ellis & LIberty Isl's/ Financial District and Lower Manhattan/ WTC sight/ Brooklyn Bridge & Dumbo.

Day 6/Dec 31/ (Nw Yrs Eve): Empire State Blding in the morning/ Maybe walk around LIttle Italy and/or Chinatown/ Check out availability of a broadway musical for tonight/ Do Times Square for NYE.

Day 7/Jan 1/ Staten Island Ferry? Some ideas include the Polar Bear Club Swim at Coney Island or Poetry at the Bowery Poetry Club or just finding a place to watch football. Must make our way to the JFK airport to stay at an airport hotel tonight as we leave at 8am tomorrow. I intended to take the subway to Jamaica and then the air tran to the airport. (is this foolish?) we are 1-backpack plus maybe one bag (or maybe one each) in addition to our smallish backpacks)

Day 8/Jan 2/ Leave on a jet plane at 8:00am from JFK wiped out and tired as hell.

On Day 2 - you know that the Natural History Museum is on the West side, but you then propose to walk around the Upper East Side...this is OK, just wonder if this is what you meant. If it were me, I'd rather visit the Met Museum (also on the UES).

On Day 3 - looks like you've planned this out rather well moving from south to north. But I would insert the Public Library into this day (from Day 4) since it is roughly between Macy's and GCT. Day 4 looks hectic anyway...MoMa and the Cloisters alone will fill a day. Do you have tickets to Letterman's show? Otherwise the Ed Sullivan Theater is just a walk-by.

Day 5 - probably do-able. I found Ellis Island very absorbing and deserving of quite a bit of time, though.

Day 6 - just want to join the crowd who will recommend Top of the Rock over Empire State Building. Much less crowded, beautiful views. Just take the subway to the Chinatown/Little Italy area. Have you thought about the Tenement Museum? It's great.

I'm also from Seattle, but a big Manhattan fan!

We recently did the Chelsea Market/meat packing district tour. When we first arrived at Chelsea Market and did a quick walk through, my friends didn't think the tour was going to be very good. It's a great place but not touring Boston's North End where you visit a series of shops throughout a neighborhood. Much to their surprise, the tour was packed with historical information, fun food tastings, a walk on the High Line and a final short walk thru a residential neighborhood and final food tasting as a restaurant. The guide was great. I think you will enjoy Chelsea Market even more if you take a tour.

I would love to go back to take another foods of NY tour.

We also enjoyed the Tenement Museum. Unfortunately my friends nixed a visit to the MET. There's an older post on here about particular exhibits that sounded fascinating.

I agree, I would substitute Met for Natural History Museum. Even if you aren't huge art lovers, there is sooo much interesting stuff there...it is a voluntary donation too so you don't have to stay all day to feel like you are getting your money's worth.

Enjoy...even if you just walked around all day without a plan (one of our favorite things to do in NYC)you will love it!!!!

I know that NYC is really for walking, but I'm not sure you've allowed for the weather. While you may be lucky and get temps around 40 - it's also possible you'll get temps in the 20s and snow. You need to be ready with some additional indoor activities if the weather doesn't cooperate.

I love the Museum of Natural Hist - but would suggest you look at the websites of this and the Met before you decide which one to visit. Also, the upper east side is not really the most interesting neighborhood to walk around. Except for Museum Mile it's really all residential - and most of it is newer and not to any great architectural interest. The West side has a lot more to see/do (unless you're doing museums on the east).

Realize that you MUST have advance tickets to climb the SoL and they sell out far in advance (may be gone already) and the trip to both islands will take about 6 hours total.

You can;t do a musical in the evening as well as Times Square on New Year's Eve. To do Times Square for New Year's Eve yo have to be there from about 4 or 5 in the afternoon to get even close to the center. If you do a show that evening (not sure if they have them) you would be MANY blocks from Times Square by the time the theater let out.

Make sure you buy a 7 day MetroCard - they are good on buses as well as subways and you can get in from the cold by boarding a bus and it might be easier to schlep bags between your hotels by bus.

DAY 1} Where/what are your Upper West Side and Midtown hotels? Tom's Diner was the outside shot of what was a hollywood set. I'd suggest you read menus and have a look at the many neighborhood restaurants in that neighborhood before making your choice AND go out of your way a block to 112th and Amsterdam to visit St John the Divine. www.stjohndivine.org

The CLOISTERS are in the North End of Manhattan and not a side trip between MOMA and St Pats. The Cloisters are part of the Met and whatever you pay for the Cloisters will get you into the Met on the Same Day and the A train gets you to the cloisters and the M4 bus gets you between the Cloisters and the Met www.metmuseum.org and on your way down to the Met, I would stop in the Conservatory Gardens in Central Park and the Museum of the City of New York to see the Joel Meyerwitz (sp) photos of New York City natural space (as well as which ever other places interest you.

Do Top of the Rock rather than the ESB and buy a combo ticket for MOMA.

Somewhere in your travels stop in at the Library for the Performing Arts at Lincoln Center. It's FREE just like the other main library branch that you are already visiting. The Apollo is in 125th Street. Manna's Soul Food and Salad bar is nearby as is the Studio Museum of Harlem.

Have fun. You'll have a great week.

As you've already been told, tickets to New Year's Eve shows on Broadway are very hard to get, so I think you should do a show on a different night. If you really want to see one and care about which show you see, book the tix now. Don't wait as this is one of the busier weeks. It's much easier to get tickets for a show on Jan. 1 (I'm even going to the theater that night).

I'd second, third, and fourth the recommendation to skip the Empire State Building. It's really a sub-standard, overly expensive experience.

Not sure you can still get tickts to Mo Divas if you wait until the last minute. It might very well sell out.

Definitely look into Statue of Liberty tickets NOW. Don't wait. I actually think you can get the tickets if you do it soon, but they will certainly not be available because of extra tourists. And be prepared for significantly cold weather ... that island can be very windy in the winter. Of the two, Ellis Island is a much more worthwhile experience, and if you stay on the ferry, you won't be missing much at the statue itself unless you can get a reservation to climb to the top.

Otherwise, I think your itinerary looks good for a first-timer, though you may underestimate the uncomfortableness of walking around NYC in the winter. But I think that's easily adjusted. Definitely buy a subway/bus pass for the week. You don't seem like taxi people to me.

And do take time to search out some of the cheaper, interesting food options here like good banh mi sandwiches, great burgers, Pret a Manger, Cosi, dim sum, Bouchon Bakery, Veneiro's, etc. There's never a need to spend a fortune on food unless you want to.

Taking the subway to your JFK hotel isn't foolish and will save you money if you have the time, especially without a lot of luggage. The Airtrain/NJ Transit combo from EWR is even easier and faster, albeit more expensive. On your last day, I'd recommend having a hearty, early dinner before heading to JFK, where there will be awful options for food.

Finally, I do think you're nuts for going to Times Square, but c'est la vie, and it's a once-in-a-lifetime experience (because no one would ever do it twice). Just dress warmly and be prepared to stand in the cold weather with no food or bathroom breaks for 7 hours. Enjoy?!?

The fireworks and watching the run in Central Park are much more fun!

>>

Regardless, they make a very good tuna sandwich and excellent french fries.

Consider as an alternative to any of the upper west side or upper east side museums instead the Frick Museum. You say you are not museum people really but this is the house of one of the turn of the "barons" which he turned into an incredible display of art and furniture etc. It really is unique and yet a small and manageable size. The museums own web site (www.frick.org) doesn't explain it very well, but see this also from www.frommers.com

"Henry Clay Frick could afford to be an avid collector of European art after amassing a fortune as a pioneer in the coke and steel industries at the turn of the 20th century. To house his treasures and himself, he hired architects Carrère & Hastings to build this 18th-century French-style mansion (1914), one of the most beautiful remaining on Fifth Avenue.

Most appealing about the Frick is its intimate size and setting. This is a living testament to New York's vanished Gilded Age -- the interior still feels like a private home (albeit a really, really rich guy's home) graced with beautiful paintings, rather than a museum. Come here to see the classics by some of the world's most famous painters: Titian, Bellini, Rembrandt, Turner, Vermeer, El Greco, and Goya, to name only a few. A highlight of the collection is the Fragonard Room, graced with the sensual rococo series "The Progress of Love." The portrait of Montesquieu by Whistler is also stunning. Included in the price of admission, the AcousticGuide audio tour is particularly useful because it allows you to follow your own path rather than a prescribed route. A free 22-minute video presentation is screened in the Music Room every half-hour from 10am to 4:30pm (from 1:30pm on Sun); starting with this helps to set the tone for what you'll see."

Enjoy planning your trip!

Wow, such a great bunch of replies so quickly! All are great and one of the suggestions I just KNEW that I'd get was dropping ESB from the itinerary in favor of the Top of the Rock. I will do that! @Azzure: I did know that NHM is on West but walking 'round East was proposed. I think that the suggestion that the UES may be boring along with all the suggestions of the MET being so great, I will likely to that instead.
I do NOT have tickets for Letterman, that was just a walk-by idea anyway. Good tip on moving the library between Macy's and GCT.
I think Ellis Island sounds fascinating so I'll try to give it plenty of time. Tenement museum comes pretty recommended too so maybe I'll try to fit it in!

@dfrostnh: Can you tell me exactly which tour you took in Chelsea Market? That sounds fun and incorporates some of those sights we intended to see anyway.

@Mamamia66: The MET it is.

@nytraveler: I had thought of that as I am a skier and have been to many a town where walking times/distances/difficulties were doubled or tripled by the weather. If that happens, we'll do what we can. I think the itinerary will be more of a 'guideline' than a rule especially taking potential weather problems into account.
I have already looked into climbing the SoL and they are already sold out. So sad. I also, however, found reviews of going there without climbing that were favorable so I thought we'd go anyway.
We'll fit the musical in on a different night than 12/31. Thanks for that tip.

@SueNYC: Will buy the MetroCard. What is "The Run" at Central Park? Love subway systems and just wish that we had one in Seattle. I'll look at the St. John Divine site too. Are the Conservatory Gardens a good wintertime item?
Is going to the Apollo for a show something that you'd recommend?

@Doug_STallings: Mo Divas tix are avail now...do you know about the show? Should we go? / You're right, we're not taxi people and will buy a subway pass. Great tip on local food too...nothing worse than boring cheap food when so many interesting things are available! I even know that we're nuts for doing Times Square. I'm really going to leave that up to my wife after she is involved in making that decision. Maybe Central Park would be better as SueNYC suggested.

I also would suggest the Frick Collection. It only takes about 2 hours. A beautiful collection in a beautiful space.

A friend and I were in NYC for the first time in Sept. You can click on my name to see my trip report. Read as many reports as you can. I found them very helpful with planning.

One more question: I am considering a show on 1/1 at BBKings (the Billy Joel Tribute). The problem is that our hotel is at JFK and that will be our first night at that hotel. We then leave at 8:00am the next day. We'll need to be at the airport by lik 6 or 6:30. Would it be safe/reasonable to get from Midtown all the way to that hotel via subway that late in the evening? (I'm not sure how late the show goes, maybe I should call BBKings?). Hmmm....Maybe I'll have to skip that show. Also, no one commented on the Bowery Poetry Club or the Coney Island Polar Bear Swim on 1/1. Thanks ALL! I'm sure more questions will follow as I hone this itinerary (all the time preparing for it to be thrown out and instead 'winging it'.

@MichelleY: I'll look into the Frick. I already had read your trip report! Thanks a lot! I did find it informative (others were too). I'll keep on reading! ~DrToonz.

The Coney Island Polar Bear Swim is best seen on TV - and worth about 1 minute. Coney Island is more than an hour from Manhattan and the beach on New Year's Day will likely be horrific (remember this is the north atlantic).

Buy tickets in advance online for Ellis Island (and SOL) at statuecruises.com The first and second ferries of the day have shorter wait time/security lines. If you don't buy tix in advance, you'll wait on 2 lines and waste a lot of time.

Foodsofnyc.com is the co. that does the food walking tours referenced above. I've actually heard the Greenwich Village one is even better than Chelsea Market but there may be a combo.

Tenement Museum is very popular and should be booked in advance online.

If you haven't already checked it out, maps.google.com is very good for distances, walking and public transport directions. Harlem has an east and west side. East Harlem is aka Spanish Harlem. The Appollo is on WEST 125 st. north of where you're staying. I wouldn't assume you can just drop in for tickets. Also on the west side north of where you're staying is Morningside Heights where Columbia University is located. Campus is lovely if you have time. It's not that far from Tom's Diner. The Cloisters is even further north of these and not, as someone has already said, a side visit from midtown. It's part of the Met Museum actually so if you go to the Met on the same day, your entry into the Cloisers is paid. Both the Met and getting to the Cloisters involve a substantial amount of time. The Met is open late Fri/Sat. MOMA is open late on Fri. I don't think AMNH or the Frick are open late any more.

While you may not be foodies, it's worth your time to do some research for decent food near where you'll be. Typically near the touristy places like Rock Ctr. the food is overpriced and not very good. Avoid chains you might recognize like Applebees, TGI Fridays etc. b/c they're not as good in NYC as elsewhere and often much more expensive. There are some iconic breakfast places on the UWS like Popover Cafe, Barney's Greengrass (for smoked fish-but maybe not like what you have in the nw), Good Enough to Eat. Zabar's is a gourmet food shop. Go in just to look.

Before you make your final decision on NYE, have a read here http://timessquarealliance.com/nye/nye.html The theater is not a bad idea but I was surprised to see a LOT of shows are not doing a NYE performances. There's a concert on NYE at St. John the Divine uptown you might consider. http://www.stjohndivine.org/NewYearsEve08.html

BB King's might have an early show, and I"m not sure when it gets out. The subway is fairly safe until late-night, but the train to JFK goes through a couple of dicey neighborhoods on its way through Brooklyn. Plus, it doesn't run very often. What I'd suggest is that if the show gets out at 11 or later, you take the LIRR/Airtrain combo, which will get you out to the airport in less than an hour in all likelihood (the trains will all be local by then, so it will take longer than if you went earlier in the evening) and will just cost $10 or $12 per person (a taxi would be triple that). Then you can get a hotel shuttle from the car-rental center stop. I think that's where the hotel shuttles go, but check on that; I don't think they go into the terminals.

Look, Times Square on NYE is a right of passage for some. But I think it's crazy. But that's just me. I see people on TV looking ecstatic at the thought of being there, so who am I to decide? but I'm too old to play those kinds of games now. I prefer the comfort of my living room on New Year's Eve.

Sorry, I see that some of my comments were already mentioned and I neglected to give you some websites.

for restaurant research- menupages.com
for theater-
playbill.com--
for what's on Broadway and links to tickets http://www.playbill.com/events/listing/1.html
for theater discounts
broadwaybox.com (left column)
Since you plan to do MOMA and TOTR, consider the combo pass which must be bought in person. http://www.topoftherocknyc.com/speci...how.aspx?ID=20

It's perfectly safe to ride the train out to JFK at night BUT since you're going to a hotel out there rather than the airport itself, you'll need a shuttle bus (or taxi) from the AirTrain to your hotel. Since it's a holiday, you might want to double check whether the hotel will have service. I can't imagine not doing something you want to do because of transportation. Worse case scenario, splurge on a taxi out to the hotel. While I've not seen the Billy Joel tribute, the shows at BB King's are usually very good.

Here's an idea of what was open on Jan. 1 last year. http://www.newyorkology.com/archives...open_new_1.php

OK - Here's the information on "The Run"

http://www.nyrr.org/races/2009/r1231x00.asp Much more fun than Times Square and you can walk it if you wish

Yes you should cross the Columbia Campus at 116th Street - long route between Tom's and St John the Divine but you should do it.

And DO visit the Cloisters but not between St Patricks and MOMA

You might try Amateur Night at the Apollo - Also re the Bowery Poetry Club - I've never been there at night but during the day it is the headquarters for the Lower East Side History Project -- good tours too!

http://leshp.org/home