Julie

We will be arriving in NY on Thursday, 8-30 around noon and staying until Tuesday AM,9-4. We are staying in a hotel in Times Square. I would appreciate any help in helping us break down the city into sections so we can see as much as we possibly can during our stay. We have tickets for shows on Thursday and Friday night, dinner reservations for Fri. evening. We also have the Grand Tour scheduled for whatever day we choose as well as tickets to the Met Musuem of Art. We want to see all the usual tourist sites and some shopping, see Little Italy and Chinatown. Please help in the best way to divide the city. We had hoped to see it by sections and see all the sites in each. Thanks so much for any advice.

Gail

Take a double decker bus tour for three hours and then decide which areas you would like to see again. I don't see Soho or the West Village on your list of must sees. I live here and I think any trip without this is a miss. Also, I would consider Guggenheim, Frick, Closters. I know you only have a few days but double decker bus tour would take you to all but cloisters. There are also Circle line boat toars that give you wonderful city views at night and also float just under statue of liberty. I would skip Little Italy for Cloisters. Balthazars is fun for a simple French meal. What about Ellis Island. We are mostly known for our European food. The Chinese is good but if you are coming from the west coast chances are you can get better Asian Cuisine at home. The community here has been here longer (about 200 years)so I am told by residents of China Town. They have their own brand of cuisine which is good I am just not certain how authentic it is. My experience in Hawaii tells me it is better and more authentic there. Just a thought. The bus tour would help you with your planning. Also remember less is more with such a short time.

Girl

The 200 years comment has to be off but I was given this remark by a very very recent Chinese immigrant to the U.S. I think a better estimate might be 100 years or less. This immigrant told me the community has not assimilated into White American culture and has created a new culture. She told me the cooking and some social customs are different than what she grew up with. She said they are not the Chinese I know they are something different. Just a thought I know you are not looking for this kind of detail. I just thought this was interesting when I learned this. Sometimes the language barrier can keep you from seeing what is obvious and also has a presences with other 19 century immigrant groups.

nyer

I don't know exactly what sites you're hoping to hit, but I hope this will give you a VERY brief outline of what's near what:

Downtown sites: Little Italy, Chinatown,
Soho, Tribeca, South Street Seaport. All walkable areas to shop, admire buildings and eat. While you're at the southern portion of manhattan, why not take the Staten Island Ferry round trip (FREE) to get a nice view of (but not stop at ) the Statue of Liberty ) and the NY skyline. Going to Statue/Ellis Island is a whole day affair-- many people would skip if you're on a limited time schedule.
Midtown, say 34th to 59 th
street includes Times Square, Rockefeller Center, Empire State
Building, Grand Central Terminal as well as Museum of Modern art and some smaller museums like the Morgan Library, International Center of Photography. Pick the must-sees for you and they will all be within a walkable,(or short bus ride) area.
Upper east side includes the Metropolitan Museum of art, as well as many others (The area from the Met to about 20 blocks north is dubbed "museum mile" for the amazing concentration of world class art here). Shopping/maybe window shopping at high end european boutiques on Madison Avenue (59th street to about 79th). From East side, you can easily hop a crosstown bus to
the Upper west side, filled with many more moderately priced stores and restaurants, as well as The Museum of Natural History/Rose Space Center and Lincoln Center (performing arts)

From Times Square, Upper west side is a 15 minute subway ride; East side a little longer (train or bus cross town then uptown, Most downtown areas 15-20minutes, most of midtwon walkable or short bus or train hop.

If there are specific places not mentioned above that you do want to fit in to one of these neighborhoods, let us know and we'll try to plot a good route for you.

Girl

Go to citysearch.com and look up renting bikes for Central Park. Did this with a vistor this summer and had a blast only 20 for 2 hours I think 30 for the day. You can cover a lot of ground on a bike, they give you locks also. Pick up is at columbus circle.

rqf

Financial District - south of Chambers Street, river to river
1. City Hall
2. South Street Seaport (on the East River)
3. Battery Park - ferry to Statue of Liberty/Ellis Island
4. Staten Island ferry - free ride
5. World Trade Center - Observation deck, free music performances during the summer
6. World Financial Center -Winter Garden
7. Stock Exchange (20 Broad St.)
8. Museum of the American Indian (1 Bowling Green)
9. Museum of Jewish Heritage (near Battery Park, Wagner Park)
10. Castle Clinton National Monument. (Battery Park)
11. Brooklyn Bridge
12. Fraunces Tavern Museum (54 Pearl St.)
13. Vietnam Veterans Memorial (near 55 Water St.)

Lower East Side - Houston Street to Chambers Street
1. Little Italy
2. Chinatown
3. Lower East Side Tenement Museum (90 Orchard St.)
4. Orchard Street historic shopping district (Visitor Center, 261 Broome St.)

Soho and Tribeca - Houston to Chambers - west side (SoHo - south of Houston; Tribeca - triangle below Canal St.)
1. Guggenheim Museum (SoHo) - 575 Broadway
2. Pace Wildenstein Gallery (142 Greene St.)
3. Museum of African Art (593 Broadway)
4. New Museum of Contemporary Art. (583 Broadway)
5. Plenty of art galleries, restaurants and shopping

Greenwich Village - 14th Street to Houston St., west side
1. NY University
2. Washington Square Park
3. Washington Mews (just north of the Park)
4. Coffee houses, shopping and lots of restaurants

East Village - 14th to Houston, east side
1. Joseph Papp Public Theater 425 Lafayette St.)
2. Little India (restaurants 6th St. between 1st and 2nd Avenues)
3. Little Ukraine - a small neighborhood that is home to many Ukrainians - 6th to 12th Streets
4. 2nd Ave Deli (considered by many to be best deli in NYC - 156 2nd Ave - 10th Street)