Hello,
I'm wondering if there is enough to see and do in Times Square for a 3 to 4 hours?
I will be visiting the city soon and while I am at the Hamilton show my friend who has never been to NY before will be on her own to entertain herself.
Her plan, for simplicity I think, was to hang out in Times Square for that time. (She has a tendency to get lost �� So we have a few different apps in place to find each other if need be)
But now she has been reading different posts on Pinterest and such that Times Square is a place she shouldn't spend much time. She has never traveled alone and what little travel she has done with family she hasn't had to navigate. I think she'll surprise herself in what she can manage but she is questioning if there really is enough for her to keep entertained for the amount of time I will be at my show.
Any help/suggestions would be awesome! Thank you

Off the top of my head, I'd say No, because you can cover the main portion of TS in about 30 minutes. But TS is also an area, so if she ventures a few blocks off the Square itself in every direction, and likes to shop or window shop, people watch, take a LOT of pictures...maybe an hour or two? OTOH, if it's raining, she'll end up sitting in a coffee shop.

So 3-4 hours? No.

If it were me, I'd get to Times Square a little early, go to TKTS & get something for half price and sit in a theatre watching some other play while you were in Hamilton. Sometime you can do quite well buying a single ticket, especially if you don't really care what you see and are willing to be adventurous. Other than that, if it's a matinee I was going to say she could also wander over to the library, Grand Central, etc. to kill some time once she was tired of Times Sq.

If she's not comfortable wandering, perhaps she could take a cab to a museum? I could happily spend 3-4 hours at the Met, MOMA, Natural History, et al.

heavens, no. There is almost nothing to do there if you aren't going to a show. Yes, some people like to look at the neon signs, I believe. Still, that can't take more than maybe 10 minutes at most, I'd think.

I'm just curious, what does she think she's going to do in a city square in the middle of two streets for 3-4 hours? THere are a few places to sit there (very few as they get taken easily of course), and of course you can buy some junk food or browse in the nearby stores. She can sit there for that long, sure, but it would be very very boring to me. A lot of people sit on those bleacher type things near TKTS but 3-4 hours is a very long time.

I honestly had wondered the same thing lol (what would you do w 4 hours?) Each time I've been to NY, Times Square was visited but it was also kinda just something we passed through to get somewhere else. Idk what she had in mind so I am hoping I can get her comfortable enough in the two days prior w feeling more comfortable wandering.
She isn't much of a musical theater fan but perhaps she'd be able to find a play so thank you for the TKTS suggestion I hadn't thought of that. And the cab idea to a near by museum is excellent as well, we plan to go to the MoMa the day before but perhaps there will be something else she'd want to visit. Great ideas thank you!!
I'm feeling better that she will have options to think about in advance so she doesn't end up doing nothing and feeling stuck while she waits for me

If it was my friend, I would put her on one of the CITY SIGHTSEEING BUSES. They all stop in Times Square probably every 15 to 20 minutes and make a big loop and come back to Times Square. The length of the tour varies among the different bus lines but here is one example:

Downtown Loop – 2 ½ hours
Uptown Loop – 2 ½ hours
Brooklyn Tour – 1 hour 30 minutes

This way she could kill some time and get a great overview of the city.

Lord, no. It would be horrendously boring. It's just chain restaurants and cheap shops. I like NewbE's idea of taking a cab to a museum. Personally, that's what I'd do. Your friend can always just sit in a coffee shop and read a book if she's overly concerned about being on her own, though. I'd happily do that at home

This is turning into a strange series of posts. Of course there's enough to occupy a person in the immediate Times Square area for 3 or 4 hours, but it depends on what the person wants to do. I wouldn't recommend standing out in the middle of the pedestrian plaza for that amount of time, but there are literally hundreds of stores, restaurants, and Starbucks in which to spend some time hanging out.

If it's a nice day, your friend could walk straight up Broadway, not making any turns (it's a diagonal street) and reach Central Park in about 15 or 20 minutes depending on how quickly she walks. She could walk around there or visit the Time-Warner Center mall and then walk back down. If she stopped and got a bite to eat, she could easily spend 3 or 4 hours wandering and looking at the scenery.

Or she could walk to Rockefeller Center and hang out there for a while, have a bite to eat, and come back.

In Times Squares itself, the Discovery at Times Square has exhibits on Star Wars, the Hunger Games, Vikings, and Marvel's Avengers (there's an admission charge, but it's easy to find coupons ... though it's still expensive). There's also an interesting Saturday Night Live exhibition a few blocks away that is worth seeing (I've seen it). It's worth about 90 minutes of her time.

Or she could go to a movie since there are over 20 movie screens in the two theaters across from each other near the corner of 42nd and 8th Avenue. Or as others have suggested, she could get a cheap ticket and see a show herself.

I think people took "Times Square' waaaay to literally.

Of course there is a lot to occupy someone for a few hours in/near Times Square.

Some of the places Doug mentions for instance. Rockefeller Center/Top of the Rock, window shopping, actual shopping, a meal/drinks, etc. Easy to spend 3 or 4 hours in the area.

I'll be sharing all these ideas with her! I hope she feels she'll have a ton of options and will feel comfortable enough to go exploring. thanks all for the options!!

Be sure to get a map of NYC, esp midtown, to show her how very, very easy NYC is to navigate. Remember to tell her that 5th Ave divides the city into east and west. I personally prefer a real, paper map instead of one on an iPad or phone, but to each his own !

Are some of you seriously thinking we are talking about standing out in the middle of the plaza for four hours without moving? Go and wonder in every direction for three or four blocks.

Yes, some take Times Square way too literally!