Hello my mom and I are traveling to New York the second week of December and staying for 6 days 5 nights.

We already have our tickets for the shows and we know that we want to see the christmas tree and go skating at the ice rink. Everything else we are open to suggestions.

The tours we want to do is the city/movie tour, the sex and the city tour and we found a double decker bus pass for two days that we were interested in.

We really need help on where to eat, we like american food, italian food, and chiense food. We were thinking about 100 dollars a day each. We are planning to do tavern on the green so that meal is planned, no matter how expensive.

We want to go to Brooklyn, little italy for sure. We also want to see the christmas windows.

Last but not least....we love shopping but we just don't know where all the fun places are to go, we know macy's and some shoe stores. Anything else that you could mention would be great.

Any other help or advise would be wonderful and gladly excepted.

Thanks a bunch, mom and daughter

The show at Radio City Music Hall is a must-see if you're visiting with children (fun for adults too!), but order your tickets NOW, because many shows sell out.

For shopping, there are a lot of great deals on Broadway both north and south of Macy's and the area around West 4th, Bleeker and the Village has many fun boutiques.

The Train exhibit at Citigroup Center is fun for everyone (as is FAO Schwartz (there's video on my Insider's holiday walking tour at www.travelmaven.wordpress.com)

I have not seen this suggestion yet, but have been told by many that the Tenement Museum at 91 Orchard Street is great. (www.tenement.org)

P.S. I'm not up on the restaurants anymore, but be sure to have dessert at Ferraro's pastries in Little Italy and You'd probably both enjoy the Popover Cafe on 86th and Amsterdam.

Enjoy!

At that time of year you will likely freeze on the open top of a double decker bus, even if it doesn;t rain/sleet. And from the bottom level all you will see are the streets and locals going about their daily errands.

Instead, you should pick out what you actually want to see/do (the Met, Natural History, Ellis Island etc) and just go and do them. See what's really there rather than the outside of buildings.

And given the traffic that time of year - your best bet for quick/convenient is the subway. (And bus or cab is unlikely to go at much faster than walking pace.)

Do NOT do Tavern on the Green. The food is mediocre at best and the service poor and supercilious. The only benefit it has is the pretty sight in Central Park, which will be leafless and dreary in December. There are many better places to eat for the money you would spend there. (Dinner of appetizer and main course with one glass of wine, tax and tip will be about $100 each if you're careful, more if you want the expensive main courses. They also have a pre-theater dinner for only $48 each - with very limited menu - but with drink tax and tip that's about $80 each). If you want something touristy and festive at that time of year head for the Sea Grill or the Rock Center cafe - so you can see the tree and the skaters. check menupages.com for actual menus with prices and diner reviews.

As for Brooklyn - that's a separate borough with a population of about 22.5 million people. What do you want to see and do there? And Little Italy practically doesn;t exist any longer - a couple of block so of restaurants is it.

As for shopping you need to give us info. Are you looking for discounts? Or trendy? Or upscale department stores? Or designer? They're all in different areas.

oops! i posted before i was ready.

just wanted to wish you and your mom a great time.
between thanksgiving and christmas, n.y. is at it's most fun.

Author: abranz
Date: 10/07/2008, 11:52 pm
christmas is such a fabulous time of year to be in nyc. the city is lit up with christmas and hanukkah lights.

there is great holiday shopping at bryant park as tents are set up for out of town artists to sell their art - from fun inexpensive to some quite expensive.

besides herald square area that has all the big box stores, there are a lot of small neighbourhoods that have a lot of small boutiques. nolita, chelsea and the village are fun to wander around.

soho is a fun area to walk and shop. it has a lot of little boutiques, some of them really cheap and some really pricey.
you could also pop into balthazar for a drink or a bite and people watch. happens to be a great place for celebrity spotting.

the canal area is not too far from soho - the home of cheap knock offs. the police are clamping down quite a bit but you will still be able to find some fake stuff.
you may also be approached by sellers asking discretely if you are interested in a rolex, gucci - you name it. what is amazing is that they will show you a legitimate catalogue to choose your knock off from.

brooklyn is supposed to be the new shopping mecca although i have never been.

as a tourist, i would say tavern on the green is a classic n.y experienc - not for the food but for the opulence of the place and the snottiness of the staff. kind of fun actually!
you may want to take a carriage ride to the tavern. after dinner, there are plenty of cabs waiting to take you to your next destination.

i am not into traditional italian or chinese food. but if you are interested in hip trendy places with eclectic food, i can name quite a few.

I used menupages.com for my trip to NYC last fall. It has ratings and listings by both cuisine type and location.

Agree with nytraveler. Double decker bus not a good idea at that time of year. Since you're already doing 2 bus tours, I think you'll cover a lot of the main sites anyway. What you might want to do is a nightime holiday lights tour. Grayline (the hoho people) give one but so do onboardtours.com There's also an area of Brooklyn called Dykman Heights that has over the top lights and there's a tour for that too http://www.asliceofbrooklyn.com/christmas.html

And absolutely don't go to Tavern on the Green. Food is terrible, expensive and service not good. If you want a special meal, go to rivercafe.com It's got a fabulous view of the NY skyline, very good food and very good service.

You haven't told us where you're staying for food recos.

When you go to Macy's, make sure to register at their service desk for the 11% visitor discount. (Bloomingdales has the same). I agree we need to know what kind of shopping (discount? middle of the road? boutiques?) and we have no idea if you're 16 or 46.

Well my shopping is really anything I buy whatever I like. I want the discount but also the stuff you really can't get anywhere else. You name it and I will probably go there.

I am 24 and my mom is above that. Tavern on the green is a have to do just because that's what my mom and I want to do and my mom's paying for it.

I do have a question about the knock-offs, with the police being around can you get arrested for buying these things?

Thanks for everyones help.

Sorry forgot to mention I'm going to Brooklyn because my mom was born there and she just wants to reminise. So I was just thinking about where I should eat.

The knock offs are worth even less than you pay for them. If you want good at a bargain price fo Centruy 21 oe Filenes's Basement (my step-daughter recently got a $300+ handbag for only a little over $100).

If you want real designers then head for Madison Ave - but then your talking $ thousands for anything.

Brooklyn is huge, bigger than Manhattan. If you tell us what area you're visiting, we can help with restaurants. Grimaldi's is a famous pizza place near the Brooklyn bridge (long lines). Pete's Downtown is an Italian restaurant next to the River Cafe that's casual and a lot less expensive. Junior's is famous (Mom probably knows it) and while they now have locations in Manhattan, many say the original in Brooklyn is still much better.

Walking the Brooklyn Bridge (from Brooklyn toward NYC so the skyline is in front of you) is a popular tourist activity.

Can't remember if anyone has mentioned menupages.com a good place to do some of your own restaurant research.

SoHo has much fewer boutiques than it used to. I would try lunch or dinner at Momofuku and then wander around the East Village for some great shopping in boutiques. If you watched Project Runway, Emmett McCarthy has a well-edited store with great clothes and shoes called EMc2.

Have a great trip.

Don't miss the opening of Top Shop. The first US location will open in NYC in November. Up until now, only in the UK.

http://www.topshop.com/webapp/wcs/st...atalogId=32051

I like Century 21, Bloomies, Prada Soho, Bergdorf Goodman, shoe salon at Saks, H&M, Mexx, A/X, Takashimaya, Kiehls, Manolo Blahnik, Fish's Eddy just to name a few. What are you looking for?

Thank you everyone for all your help.

Last year I went on a day trip to NY. My friend and I found the Holidays shops at Bryant Park. I got quite a few presents here (for myself and others!) Unique items and many hand-crafted items.

http://www.thepondatbryantpark.com/