I live in Columbia, MD, so Baltimore, MD is prolly closer, so i guess i ll pick up a bus up there. My post cut off. What is listed is everything in midtown. Im not really a museum person and have been to many natural history museums, so i might cut the American Museum of Natural History out of the mix. So, here is the list:

Midtown:

Empire State Building 86th Floor Observatory

Central Park

Times Square

Top of the Rock

Rockafeller Center

UN Building Tour

Grand Central Station

St. Patricks Cathedral

Lower Manhatten:

Battery Park

World Trade Center Site

Wall Street

Staten Island Ferry

South Street Seaport

Walk across Brooklyn Bridge

Should i do the tour and wait in the lines to go to liberty island and ellis island? Or should the Staten Island Ferry be enough to get a Lady Liberty experience?

Thanks-

Oops, I posted this from another forum. I plan on taking 3-4 daytrips up to new york to do all this stuff. In a couple weeks im going on a trip with my college to NYC. They say the trip takes about four hours, drops us off at Times Square, and it leaves at 8 AM and comes back at 12 AM Midnight. So, i guess 12 PM to 8 PM in NYC. So, eight hours. I was thinking of doing the Empire State Building, Times Square, Canegie Deli for lunch/dinner, and Central Park on this trip. Is this reasonable for the amount of time and are the walking distances reasonable?

If you arrive at Times Square and leave from there, you don't really need to plan a lot of extra time to see it. Lots and lots of people pushing and shoving and taking pictures, lots of bright lights, not too much else.

You also need to realize that the weather may be bad, so make some alternative plans for that.

The World Trade Center site is now just a constuction site. Not anything to see there, but you may want to go by it just to see where it was.

You really might reconsider not going to any museums. If you look on the Metropolitan Museum's website www.metmuseum.org you could pick one or two areas to visit and only stay for an hour or so. It is in Central Park, so you could work your Central Park visit around that.

With just one day, I'd definitely skip the Empire State Building and go to Top of the Rock. The trip to the ESB takes at least 2 or 3 hours with the very long lines, while Top of the Rock can be done in 1/3 to 1/2 the time (and gives you a better view, in my opinion). Skip both if the weather isn't clear.

I'm also not a fan of Carnegie Deli. Way too expensive and mediocre, in my opinion. Unfortunately, the other deli spots that I like aren't convenient to a person with just a day. Second Avenue Deli is now on 33rd Street just off 3rd Avenue. If you go to the ESB, it's a reasonable walk (less than 15 minutes) and during a weekday might not be too busy. The best thing there is corned beef (not the lean kind, either). Marginally cheaper than Carnegie. Much cheaper is Sarges (3rd Ave. between 36th and 37th), but not quite as good ... I prefer the pastrami there. If you do Central Park, then I'd actually recommend lunch at the Boathouse or in one of the more casual restaurants in the Time-Warner Center at Columbus Circle. (Or you could go to the new Shake Shack on the Upper West Side ... it's not far from the park.0

If i do top of the rock, what else should I cover on this trip? I am bringing teenagers on this first trip, do the UN Building, St. Patricks Cathedral, and Grand Central Station would be impractical. I think Top of the Rock is also farther away from the Port Authority where the bus drops us off. The Empire State Building looks closer. I have 7 hours in New York. I arrive around new york around 12 noon. And I want to do the Empire State Building on one trip or the other or vice-versa. So, i want to do the ESB on one trip and the TOTR on the other.

Since you don't really like museums, most of your activities are going to be experiential, so you don't have many options if the weather is bad. Both the ESB and Top of the Rock are open-air (Rockefeller Center is a couple of blocks closer to the Port Authority than the ESB ... both are on Fifth Ave., but Rock Center is on 48th where the ESB is on 34th).

You could see Top of the Rock, walk up 5th Ave to Central Park, see as much of the park as possible, and have lunch someplace up there. You might consider Pastrami Queen on the Upper East Side ... I think it's in the 70s now on Lexington. It's pretty small, but there are a few eat-in tables, and it's closer to the east side of the park than the Time-Warner Center.

What do your teens like to do? Places like Max Brenner (a chocolate restaurant) near Union Square and shopping in the stores around NYU are often on teen itineraries, and then it's within striking distance to go down to SoHo, walk halfway across the Brooklyn Bridge, pop over to St. Paul's Chapel, and if you really feel the need see the construction site that used to be Ground Zero, though there is literally nothing to see there but cranes. You could then have lunch either at Max Brenner or in Chinatown.

A minor correction on Doug's last posting. While Rockefeller Center "begins" on 48th Street, the Top of the Rock entrance is actually on 50th Street, so the distances to there and the ESP are about the same from the Port Authority.

Hi

My wife and I have been to NYC a couple of times. Here is a trip report with pictures from last year http://gardkarlsen.com/NYC_travelogue_2007.htm and one from 2004 http://gardkarlsen.com/new_york_city_trip_report.htm . Maybe you can find some useful info there Get in touch if you have any questions.

Regards
Gard
http://gardkarlsen.com - trip reports and pictures

If you go to Top of the Rock, you could also see the Museum of Modern Art (which the kids might actually like) along with Radio City and St. Patrick's. The kids might also like the NBC tour, and Grand Central, which has an impressive food court, is nearby.

I definetly want to do both the Empire State Building and Top of the Rock, not in the same trip of course. I have seven hours in New York on this first trip. Would the Empire State Building, Times Square, Central Park, and lunch/dinner at the Carnegie Deli be doable in this amount of time? And are all these places, within walking distance of each other? And what order should I do it in? And for the Statue of Liberty, I think I will do the Downtown itenerary i mentioned on one of the trips. and just do the Staten Island Ferry to see the Statue. Then, take a fourth trip just to see the Base of the Statue and Ellis Island and do this from the New Jersey side. So heres a summary:
1st Trip:
Empire State Building
Lunch at Carnegie Deli
Central Park
Times Square

2nd Trip:
Top of The Rock
Rockafeller Center
St. Pattricks Cathedral
UN Tour
Grand Central Station
Lunch in Grand Central
Maybe more of Central Park

3rd Trip:
Subway Ride from Bus Stop
Battery Park
World Trade Center Site
Wall Street
Staten Island Ferry
South Street Seaport
Lunch at a pizza joint in Brooklyn
Walk accross Brooklyn Bridge

4th Trip:
Drive up to New Jersey
Take Ferry to Liberty Island from New Jersey Side
Go inside the Statue
See Ellis Island