Summer New York Vacation
 

We will be going to New York City for the 4th time, 2nd in the Summer. We will be staying at the Jumeirah Essex House for 5 nights from the 29th of June to the 4th of July. We've basically done everything that a normal New York tourist would do, and we need to dig deeper. We've seen the Statue of Liberty, The Financial District/ Wall st, stayed in Battery Park, seen Soho and Tribeca, Times Square, saw The Lion King, Wicked, and The Addams Family, went to the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), stayed in midtown at 57th st, stayed in the Upper East SIde, stayed in the Upper West side, went to the Natural History Museum, walked through Central Park, and ate at a 3 star Michelin Restaurant (Daniel). Could you give my any ideas on what else to do? We were thinking the Metropolitan Museum of Art and rowing a boat on the lake? We love to shop and realize that we will shop all day, for one or two days and a little bit on the rest of them. Also, could you recommend a great place to have afternoon tea?

Take the Ikea ferry to Ikea in Brooklyn

Take the hop on hop off ferry around Manhattan and hop off and explore each neighborhood it stops at.

Visit the Museum of the City of New York and the Conservatory Garden in Central Park which is across the street from it.

Walk across the Brooklyn Bridge.

Visit St John the Devine Church

If you visit the Met you can also visit the Cloisters on the same day for the same price. If you do go to the Cloisters, spend a little while in neighboring Fort Tryon Park (http://www.nycgovparks.org/parks/forttryonpark)

See the tenement museum, the frick, take a walking tour of Chinatown.

New York has a ton of sights you haven;t listed:

Central Park - tour the park (go to the website of the Central park Conservancy) see Strawberry Fields, have brunch at the Boathouse, row on the lake and have a look at the Shakespeare or Conservatory Garden.

Check out the Botanical Garden in the Bronx, or the one in Brooklyn.

Tour Grand Central Station and have a look at the exhibit and reading room at the main branch of the Public Library (gorgeous)

Visit some of the other major museums - Ellis Island Immigration, New York Historical Society, Museum of the City of New York, Tenement Museum, Museo del Barrio, the Cloisters (fantastic remains from renaissance and earlier europe), the Frick, Guggenheim etc, etc. And perhaps look at a few of the less frequented ones.

Walk the high line.

Spend a day gallery hopping.

And there are a ton of great shows on Broadway - I would start with Anything Goes which is wonderfully evocative of an age more "innocent" in a very cynical way.

For tea, check out the London Hotel...just stayed there and the afternoon tea looked lovely.

Check out Joyce Gold tours.
She is a wonderful resource, sponsoring wonderful tours in various parts of NYC. Her tours are reasonable and informative, usually lasting about 2 hours. She is very knowledgeable about New York. Check out her website. Click on her Spring schedule of tours to get an idea of the kind of tour that she conducts

Im not to keen about taking the Ikea ferry, and have already seen the Grand Central Station, Ellis Island and the Public Library. Is the food at the Boathouse good? Is tea at The Plaza good? I would also like to stay in manhattan.

The Boat House has good food, not great, but the location is beautiful. The Met and Broadway shows could also give you a chance to be in some air conditioning while seeing fabulous stuff. The Museum of Art and Design is near your hotel and has some interesting exhibits.

There are literally dozens of museums for every possible interest - check out the web sites of New York Magazine and Time Out New York.

And one good restaurant doesn;t make NYC. Have a look at all of the variou options to see what its big at the moment - Vietnamese sandwiches? schnitzels? whatever.

Greenwich Village? East Village? Lower East Side?

"House" museums like the Merchant's House, Frick Museum, Theodore Roosevelt Birthplace, Morris-Jumel Mansion, Morgan Library, Mount Vernon Hotel Museum and Gardn (fromerly the Abigail Adams Smith house).

Thanks for all the recommendations, however, I don't want the whole trip to revolve around museum after museum after museum, etc.

Well leave Manhattan for Queens the most culturally diverse county in the country or head to the Bronx, Brooklyn, or Staten Island. You really haven't left the island of Manhattan, the smallest borough in the City!

thestarryeye.typepad.com/explorenyc

She said she'd like to stay in Manhattan - I took that to mean she isn't interested in the other boroughs.

That is correct, I want to stay in Manhattan

have you taken the staten islandferry? any of the othr boattrips? what special interests do you have that we can reco sights for?

do you want something athletic? try chelsea piers

Hi,
Look into spending part of your day exploring The High Line. It's an old railroad track that is elevated. They turned it into New York's first elevated park. It stretches across I think about 20 blocks and it's really beautiful. It has great sights of the West Side Highway. It goes now from 14th Street until 34th Street. It's really awesome.

I, too, LOVE the Museum of the City of New York. It's not too overwhelming, and it always has great sights.

A carriage ride in the park followed by lunch at the Boat House in Central Park is also nice.

Boat Basin on the West Side has water views as well as The Frying Pan in Chelsea.

For Tea there is Tea and Sympathy which is an English place in the village (http://www.teaandsympathynewyork.com/home.php) and I just read about The Kings Carriage House on the Upper East Side does tea too.

Maybe take in a baseball game? Both stadiums are accessible by subway.

Enjoy!

I don't see the East village, lower east side, alphabet city, harlem or washington heights mentioned. Digging deeper means leaving the island of Manhattan - so far you a New York Tourist. Have fun whatever you do.

I'd definitely put the Tenament Museum on your list. Then you can spend the rest of the day shopping in trendy boutiques on the Lower East side. And have lunch in a trendy LES restaurant for some celebrity spotting or just eat at the Meatball Shop. But Schillers Liquor Bar has a big celebrity following. Julia Roberts was having lunch there last time my partner went (it's near his office).

Understand you want to stay in Manhattan, but get yourself down to Chelsea Piers and take one of the great boat rides around the island, either day or evening. You will learn a lot of history, see the bridges and a lot of historical bldgs, w/good educational and interesting commentary from the historian on the boat, and on the evening cruise you see the lights go up in the city which is magical.

I have been to NYC over 50 times in the last 10 yrs. and I still have not scratched the surface on the city. And I am not one to visit a lot of museums either. What have you liked most about the city in the past aside from shopping (not just what you've done, but what have you enjoyed?) That would help in deciding what you;ve missed so far that would interest you.

And who is "we?" Is this two adults, or are there children or young adults involved?

It's been mentioned above but we took a wonderful walking tour (free) given by the Central Park Conservancy. We took the one that started at the east side at 75th and ended up at the Imagine garden on the west side at 72nd. It took us through many beautiful and interesting parts of the park that we didn't even know existed!

Get tickets to a tv show? Last time we were there we went to a taping of The Daily Show which was lots of fun.

Make reservations to see the 9/11 Memorial. It is a beautiful and moving tribute, and I recommend it.

We (two adults) have enjoyed everything that we've done, and have also seen the memorial. I don't like tours, because you stand out like tourists then.

The Frick is my favourite NYC museum - I read a book once that said it has "one perfect example" of everything.

You mentioned that you've stayed in Battery Park, but did you walk up the waterfront boardwalk? I find that to be a relaxing and pleasant walk, and it doesn't feel crowded even when there are a fair number of people there. Others have also suggested the High Line, which I like but found unbearably crowded on the weekend, so go on a workday morning.

Have you been to a jazz club? There are the standards (like Blue Note), but I also like the Smoke Jazz and Supper Club on the Upper West Side. Decent food (not fabulous, but better than average for a jazz club) and not touristy.

Since you've seen a few big musicals, why don't you try an off-Broadway show?

Also, since you seem to like good food, how about exploring some kind of theme in food that New York is supposed to do well? For example, over the course of your visit, try pizza by the slice at some of the highest rated pizza places? Or the best non-chain coffee chops with good pastries? Or a tour of high-end Asian restaurants (e.g., Jungsik for Korean, Red Egg for Chinese, etc.)

If you don't like traditional tours, what about some kind of personalized, theme tour, like a running tour of the city, or a photo safari (where a professional photographer will take you out)?

I also quite frankly find it odd that you love NYC but don't want to visit anything other than Manhattan. New York is more than Manhattan.

"I don't like tours, because you stand out like tourists then."

But who around you would care? For the hour or so that someone is guiding around someplace, be a tourist and enjoy. Then leave the group and go look like a New Yorker. It's not that I don't understand your feelings -- I do -- but it would be sad to miss out on a great experience because of that.

That said, if you can get over that limitation, another thing I'd suggest is going to the Tenement Museum on the lower east side and taking one of the temement tours. There's a website.

lhenry: are you sure you want to go back to NY? You've nixed several suggestions and I'm wondering just what types of activities you are looking for. Could you share what would interest you?

Looks like the OP has either seen it all, or is not interested in anyone's suggestions. Thus, why not see Long Island, or Atlantic City, or Upstate NY? Or the Polish or Russian hoods in Brooklyn, or see Coney Island. Seen Intrepid, Pier17, Belvedere Castle, Sheepshead Bay?