Wandering New York neighbourhoods
 

For my upcoming trip I plan to just wander through some of the more interesting New York neighbourhoods Chelsea, the village, Little Italy, SoHo etc. Last time I tried to do that in Chinatown, but without prior planning I found I didn't know where to go, and it wasn't a very successful exercise. So this time, I am trying to make a bit of a plan - what's worth it? What's not? Recommendations of which streets/ areas/ specific days. I am looking online at tours offered, but would like to just wander myself. Any suggestions?
thanks

See if you can get a copy of the AIA Guide to NYC from your library. Deven the paperback version weighs a ton. It is a complete (except for the most recent buildings) guide to architecture in NYC. I juist bought the tablet version and I live here.

The West Village is most intersting because it has some of the most beautiful residential architecture, terrific restaurants and cafes,the remains of Italian and Beat neighborhoods, The Washington Muse, and one of the best people watching spots in Washington Square Park.

The East Village which is more gritty has many designer/owner boutiques, scores of inexpensive ethnic restaurants, and is a very diversified neighborhood.

Chelsea has the Highline, Chelsea market, a few nice blocks, great restaurants and scores of aart galleries.

Forget Little Italy it is a shell of what it once was, John Gotti's old "social club" is an exepensive boutique.

Agree not to bother with "little Italy" - nothing left but a few not very good restaurants. Also not sure what expected to see in Chinatown that you were disappointed. These are not Disneylands - there are living neighborhoods - mostly stores, restaurants and small businesses - not recreations of Beijing or Hong Kong - or a "cutesy chinese street" as in SF.

Big Al is correct - you need to do some work on the architecture of the area to determine what you things you want to see. And naturally the shops and restaurants area big part of it - and those are constantly changing.

You might find this self-guided walking tour of Greenwich Village useful as a start. It's a little out of date but it might give you some ideas. http://www.galttech.com/research/tra...lking-tour.php

Last December we were there with some friends who hadn't spent much time in NYC, so we started at the northern end of the High Line around 30th St & 10th Ave, walked down the High Line to Chelsea Market, walked through the market, then took Hudson Street down a few blocks to Bleeker, then Bleeker through the West Village. Then we caught Washington Square in Greenwich Village, then moved south of Houston into SoHo via West Broadway, eventually making our way over to Broadway. Nice walk. If you have the time and you like to walk, you could cut east from SoHo to Little Italy, Chinatown or NoLita, then up to the East Village & continue to Union Square.

Last time we were there, we walked from Grand Central Station to Rockefeller Center, then on the east side down to the Flatiron District (seeing someone there), then through the West Village, Tribeca, and finally down to the World Trade Center Memorial. Fantastic walk/day (and many calories burned!)

Those are both long but rewarding walks.

I used MapMyWalk to figure out how far we went - it was a 7.5 mile walk.

book marking

Walkingoffthebigapple.com is a helpful site for any neiborhood or pick a theme that interests you like movie locations or writers and cover a few areas.

Might take that Astoria walking tour.

Where do you see an Astoria walking tour?

If you go the site McLaurie offered there is a button for recommended walks and the Astoria walk is one of them.

http://www.walkingoffthebigapple.com...-brothers.html

Thanks - I didn't see the link to the walks on my phone, but I've got it now (and saved it!)

Thanks to both Fra Diavolo and McLaurie. Great sites and I will do my homework...

If you want to cover more ground and are comfortable riding a bike, the citi bike share is very handy.

That is - comfortable riding a bike in heavy city traffic. (Some streets have bike lanes but many don't.)

Here is the pricing and time constraints for Citibike. It seems that it is geared for a quick trip rather than a tourist.

It would be helpful it I actually included the site:

https://citibikenyc.com/pricing