Hi Everyone,

I'm in the processing of putting together an itinerary for NYC. I'll be visiting in late July for 4-5 days depending on how much time you guys think I need. Any input you can give me would be helpful as I'm a first timer and not sure how long everything will take. I tried to include some indoor activity each day since I hear it's incredibly hot this time of the year. Is there anything I've left out that you think is a must see? Or do I have something that is worth skipping? Also, do you guys have any recommendations for shows?

Day 1
Liberty Island (scheduled to reopen Jul 4)
Federal Reserve tour
9/11 Memorial

Day 2
Chinatown
Grand Central Terminal
Rockefeller Center/Top of the Rock (is the guided tour worth it for this?)
Times Square

Day 3
Central Park
The Met

Day 4
Bronx Zoo
Brooklyn Bridge

Day 5
Shopping
MOMA

A couple of notes:

If you want to get to SoL shortly after it opens you need to start lokingnow to see when they will start selling ferry ticksts - since you need to get them far in advance. As long as you ar egoing to SoL you should also see Ellis Island - the next stop on the ferry - and a brilliant museum. Figure this process will take 5 to 6 hours including the RT ferries

There is no reasons to do the Rock Center tour - it doesn;t get good reviews - to do Top o fthe Rock. You can get acombo discount ticket with MoMA and they are closr together.

The Bronx zoo is a very good one - but not the way I would spend a whole day in NYC unless you have small kids with you or really love zoos

There are a ton o fother things that I would do - including the Museum of Nat'l History/Planetarium, NY Historical Society and a couple of b'way shows

Also you will want to explore some of the quaint neighborhoods (Chinatown is primarily a place for dining and buying tschotkes none really wants) - like the Village, East Village, SoHo etc - and definitely plan on eating in some sidewalk caes of which there are hundreds

Yes, it will be hot - but not sure how bad - depends on the weather where you are from - and everything except the outdoors has AC.

Ellis Island is NOT reopening in July, so it won't be possible to see that. For that reason, I think this is the must-miss event on your itinerary. See the Statue on a Staten Island Ferry ride, which is free.

See the Brooklyn Bridge on the same day you see Chinatown. It's just a few blocks from there and more like 30 miles from the Bronx Zoo. That combination makes no sense.

But if you just want to see some animals, there's a nice, much cheaper zoo in Central Park, though it's not nearly as big as the one in the Bronx and has no tigers, gorillas, etc. Do realize that the best things in the Bronx Zoo require a separate charge once you're there, so it may be worth it to buy one of the expensive combo tickets if you want to spend the whole day.

I agree with nytraveler that it makes more sense to see TOTR and MOMA on the same day with a combo ticket, and it saves you some money.

I disagree that the way to see the statue is on the SI ferry. You get a distant view. You decide if you want to actually visit the statue (and possibly climb to the top if it's offered). But even if you decide not to actually visit, any of the paid cruises whether the harbor cruise from statuecruises.com or nywatertaxi.com, circleline.com, shearwatersailing.com, sail-ny.com or a nice cruise with a meal on bateauxnewyork.com will get you a lot closer than the SI ferry. I assume you know you need tickets for the 911memorial.org

Chinatown is nowhere near the other things you list on day 2. I always think it's best to go there for a meal. Be warned it gets very smelly in the summer there. What isn't far from Chinatown and imo is a must are the areas of Greenwich Village, the lower esst side and Soho; even if you only do one of them (I'd pick the village) GV is totally different than the rest of Manhattan and many people's favorite area. Soho has lots of shopping. The other option is to tack Chinatown onto your downtown day (1) since it's adjacent to the financial district. You need to look at a map. To that point the Brooklyn bridge and the Bronx zoo are totally opposite end of Manhattan and will have you exhausted if you try to do them on the same day. Unless you're a real zoo fan, it may be something you can drop.

There's shopping all over the city. Rather than saving it all for the last day, I'd do it as you see it. Imo it's also less tiring that way.

Thanks for your feedback, everyone! I really appreciate it.

mclaurie - Yes, I really want to see up close views of the Statue and I heard the museum is pretty good. Do you think the museum is worth going to? I mostly want to go to Chinatown as I heard there is pretty good dim sum there, do you have any recommendations? And I plan to incorporate the shopping throughout the trip, thanks for the great advice.

Just a thought...Perhaps depending on when you finish up with the trips from Day1 you might be able to visit/walk the Brooklyn Bridge during sunset. It's right there, downtown. You get a great view from Dumbo and on the walk back to the city.

With Day's 4 Bklyn Bridge to Bronx, it's on the opposite ends and quite a trip from one to the other. The Zoo is also quite huge and you could be more tired after visiting the Zoo than Day's 1 itinerary. I haven't visited in 10 years but in July if it's a hot day, many animals might be hiding in the shade. So you could be spending sometime looking for them.

From the 9/11 memorial the bridge is a quick pace of a 10-15min walk away.

if you have time check out Washington Square park and St. Patrick's cathedral across from the rock