Visiting NYC at 29 April
 

Dear forummembers,

In 3 weeks I will be traveling to NYC from the Netherlands with my brother for a week(First time NYC for the both of us). I've tried to research it all a bit, and trying to find some must-see spots. I just found this site, and I had some questions I would love to see answered.

1. We will be staying at the Americana Inn, at 6th Av. and 39th street. Do you have any experience with it, and was everything ok? We chose it primarily for location and the cheap-arse price, and saw some decent reviews, but another opinion doesn't hurt.

2. What kind of must-see's do you recommend? We've been wanting to see the Guggenheim, Natural History, Empire state building, the larger malls like Macy's and Bloomingdales for the 'feel' of it, and spending a sunday in Central Park. Statue of Liberty comes to mind, and other than that, we just want to walk through Little Italy, Chinatown, the Village, and that's basically it.

3. A question using debit cards (Neither of us has a credit card atm, working on it); I am guessing I can just pop them in the ATM just as the regular NYC'er, but am I able to use it to pay the check in restaurants and stores? Creditcards are widely accepted, but I never hear something about debit cards.

4. Lastely, we were planning to visit the Yankees vs. the Red Sox, but the last game is on the sunday we arrive. The next matches are against the Seattle Marines, but are they any decent? (Thus creating a interesting match ^^)

Thank you all in advance, and if you have any other advice, please post it, we'll be new to NYC and the US of A in general.

Forgot to mention:
Don't hesitate to mail me with advice and such, love to hear experiences of other people.
Thank you.

I am going next week with my children. I've been several times, but until you've been there a while, it can be pretty overwhelming. I decided this time to first take a tour, then plan my trip accordingly. After much research, we chose this company:
http://newyorkpartyshuttle.com/
It has small vans and has guides. I'll review it next weekend!

As far as the Yankee Game goes, I would guess that the Red Sox/Yankee game will be hard to get tickets for. This is a MAJOR RIVALRY. Watching the Yanks play Seattle will be just as much fun. Be sure to walk thru Memorial Park at Yankee Stadium. I think you may have to buy tickets for the bleacher section and if you do, you'll have to get to the stadium early enough to get on the line for tickets. Here is a link to the Yankee website: www.yankees.com

I've no experience with the hotel you will be using. The location is fine as far as getting around. You'll be able to walk to Macy's from there. Here is the website for NYC: http://www.ci.nyc.ny.us/portal/site/nycgov/

Just click on the visitors section and you should have a better idea of what to do and see. Enjoy!

last summer we took the night tour thru party shuttle and it was great. 15 people one guide on and off time and a great overview of the city. food tour in the village was great. history, tidbits, and good food. we had a bad experience with tv tour showing places we see on tv would not reccommend
to see broadway play cheaply get tickets near south street seaport. don't wait in time square lines.
water taxi from south street seaport to Brooklyn was neat and then walking back on the Brooklyn bridge was awesome

love the city
can't wait to return this summer

I also forgot to mention that yes, you can use debit cards here. You may want to check with your bank to let them know you will be in the USA. When I was in the Netherlands this past September, I had to tell my bank ahead of time so my card would work over there.

Here is another great website for walking tours: www.bigonion.com
You can sign up for a walking tour which is an excellent way to view the city and have a little history lesson as well. There is a tasting tour that a friend of mine took and recommends. It's called the Multi-Ethnic Eating Tour. It requires reservations ahead of time. Enjoy

The Americana Inn is basic budget hotel, but reviews are generally very good. http://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Rev..._New_York.html

The one thing I would alert you about using debit cards here is the hotel will probably ask to swipe your card when you arrive to over "incidentals." This is over and above the cost of the room-even if you already paid for it. With a debit card, they may put a block/hold on a certain amount of money that will not be available to you for use during your stay. So if this is something that will be a problem, find out how much they would require if you gave them cash OR make sure you have enough in your account to cover this and other expenses. Here's more info
http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/pubs/credit/credbloc.htm

While the Guggenheim is a good museum, it's not the one art museum I'd chose to visit. If you were interested in the Guggenheim for the building itself, it's currently being refurbished and the exterior is covered in tarp.

The Metropolitan is far more interesting. You might consider taking a highlights tour. Metmuseum.org

Macy's and Bloomingdales are department stores, not malls. Both offer visitors an 11% discount if you register at the customer service desk before shopping.

Top of the Rock is a newish observatory at Rockefeller Center and a much nicer experience than the Empire State building. If you visit both, go to TOTR during the day or at dusk (for great views of Central Park) and ESB at night.

Little Italy is a few short blocks and very touristy. The village is very charming and you should plan to spend more time there. Soho and Tribeca are also worth a visit.

You should plan on seeing some sort of live performance whether it's a Broadway or off Broadway play, a concert, an opera etc. Broadwaybox.com is a website that has discount codes for some things (including exhibits). If you're interested in anatomy, there's a popular exhibit called Bodies at the South Street Seaport and Broadwaybox has a discount for it. You can also find theater discouts at the TKTS booths. Info at tdf.org/tkts

I agree that some sort of overview tour is a good idea. In addition to NY Party Shuttle, mentioned above, Kingofnyc.com also gets very good reviews.

Sounds like we'll be in NYC around the same time! I've never been before either, but I can offer some advice from my previous posting regarding the Yankees game, just click on the link:
http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34944414

As already mentioned, you'll be fine with Credit and Debit cards, but do make sure to let your bank know.

A few other things to maybe check out:
- Empire State Building
- Top of the Rock
- The Tribecca Film Festival
- a Broadway show
- World Trade Center site/memorial
- United Nations

Have fun!

Yankees/Red Sox tickets were sold out the day they went on sale - and to get some from a scalper will be 2 to 3 times the face value of the ticket. It's an incredible experience - if you're willing to pay big $$. If you want to see the Mariners get tickets now (most Yankee games sell out) or you could get shut out for that too.

Some places will let you pay with a debit card - but many will not. Does your ATM card have a Visa logo on it? If so, it can also be used as a charge card - if not you'll have to carry lots of cash. (And how did you reserve the hotel without a credit card? They won;t let you check in without putting a hold on one for incidentals.)

Also Top of the Rock is much beter than Empire State (which usualy has lines hours long). TOTR has timed tickets and no wait - and views are at least as good.

Macy's and Bloomingdale's are not malls - each is a separate store. NYC doens;t really have Malls - just large separate department stores - or smaller boutiques. (There are a few, VERY upscale, vertical malls - Trump tower and Time Warner Center.)

Not sure why you want to see the Guggenheim (which is OK) versus the Met - which is brilliant - the most important cultural institution in the wetern hemisphere.

For Central Park consider spending time in a boat on the lake - or renting bikes (to cover more territory - it's bigger tha Monaco).

Little Italy (practically gone) and Chinatown (some good restaurants and a little shopping) are really not the most intresting areas of NYC. Spend one or two evenings in residential areas (upper west side, the village, or lower east side) as the locals would. Have dinner in one of dozens of good, ethnic casuale places, have a drink or dessert in a couple of the hundreds of outdoor cafes and even do some shopping (most areas have some shops open until midnight).

Thank you all for your replies.
Indeed, after I posted it I realised Macy's and Bloomingdales aren't malls but stores, sorry for that.
I'll try and convince my brother to go to the TotR and not the ESB, or at least visit both.
We wanted to go on those red tourbusses where you hop on and off all day, but we'll check out these other sites you all mentioned too, especially that bigonion.com sounds nice.
With the Guggenheim being covered up (Thank you for that info!) we'll think about it if we want to visit it. The Met sounds great too, heard some about it, but the Guggenheim is just more famous all around the world ;)

If you have any stores or sightseeing locations, or recommendations like walking across the Brooklyn Bridge at sunset, please reply ^^

Just a comment on the debit card system here versus the rest of the world. I know in South Africa you can get debit cards that are not linked to Visa or Mastercard. Those will not be accepted here in the US. And also you will need to have the debit cards with the raised numbers usually. As far as ATMs go they work just fine, just contact your bank and also make sure that your PIN number is only 4 digits, most machines in this country will not accept a 5 digit PIN.

I'm planning my own trip about a week later than you, so right now I don't have any suggestions for the other stuff, but I have enjoyed reading the advice you're getting.