NYC Visitor’s Guide

We hope you have a great time visiting New York! Read through some of our tips and suggestions to help you make the most out of your trip. If you have some sort of plan before arriving, you will get more done in your time here and find it more enjoyable. We can’t give you all of the details of everything here so if something looks interesting, google it or ask us about it, we’re happy to chat. Neighborhoods below list sites north to south; food is in Italics; our favs are marked with “*”. There’s also way more to do than just these things, but these are some of our favorites. We can’t wait for you to discover the city we love so much!

-Josh & Carly

Tips

There are a few ways to get from the airports to the city:

  • Take the subway or train from JFK (public transport is faster and cheaper than a cab)
  • From JFK, take the airtrain and then the LIRR train to Penn Station for $10, even faster
  • Try a shuttle service, like NYC Airporter for around $13-$17 (call 24-hr in advance and they can drop you off right in front of your hotel, otherwise, they can drop you off at major hubs in midtown)
  • If you’re coming from LaGuardia to our house, you can take the M60 bus, it’s almost a straight shot  
  • Take a cab or an uber, but that may cost you a up to $80 if coming from JFK or Newark

General tips:

  • Buy an unlimited 7-day subway pass if you’re staying for 3 days or more; you only have to ride the subway 11 times total to get your money’s worth.
  • Unless there is a zombie apocalypse or it’s midnight and there are no cars on the road, cabs are never faster than the subway or public transportation, never. 🙂 Just be aware when planning to get around.
  • Bring great walking shoes, you’ll walk 4-7 miles a day, even when using the subway or cabs.
  • The weather in New York runs the gamut from torrential rain to freezing cold to blazing hot and humid; it may be similar to where you are from but you’re going to be out in that weather much more as you tour around than if you were home. Check the weather before you come and pack accordingly. Carry an umbrella or rain jacket if there’s any chance of rain.
  • Don’t try to cram in too many activities in one day; work in some breaks so you can enjoy yourself. I would recommend staying in Manhattan unless you’ve already seen all of the big sites.
  • Bring a stroller or scooter for kids under 8, and plenty of snacks and water; the walking will be hard for them.
  • Subway schedules are different on weekends: they are less frequent and there is often construction,maintenance and changes; be prepared and watch for signs.
  • Get a map of the subway to take with you or get an app; Google maps works fantastic for us, but not always perfectly accurate on weekend changes. iTrans NYC app (has alerts for construction and weekend changes.
  • Check out New York Pass for a deal to get into a lot of popular attractions at one price
  • Check out Goldstar.com, Viator.com or Groupon for deals on walking tours, attractions, food, and more
  • When we travel, we always buy a guidebook before we go and make a plan to make the most of our time. If you want more info than what we have below, try Frommer’s or Lonely Planet.
Top Ten Things To Do
  1. Top of the Rock: best view of the whole city (better than Empire State), go around sunset to get best pictures and view
  2. Central Park: boat rides, walks, beautiful sights and architecture, bike ride on the loop (take 102nd transverse to avoid the big hill). They have an app that shows all of the great stuff in the park called Central Park Conservancy.
  3. Juliana’s in Brooklyn for pizza and walk over the Brooklyn Bridge back to Manhattan, the view is amazing!
  4. 9/11 Memorial and Museum: leave about 2 hours for the museum (free tickets on Tuesdays, those free tickets are released online at 9am 2 weeks in advance and “sell out” within 5 minutes)
  5. Broadway show or TV show taping: even if you don’t like theatre, you’ve got to see one; I promise you’ll be amazed; Wicked never disappoints
  6. Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island: Just amazing, audio tour is great, too
  7. Bus tour: this is a great way to get a glimpse of a lot of great architecture and famous buildings; start early in the day to get your money’s worth (don’t do more than a single day pass)
  8. Grand Central and New York Public Library: beautiful buildings, inside and out, both free to see, amazing food court there too with some of our fav restaurants
  9. Metropolitan Museum of Art: wonderful but giant, don’t try to see all of it, just pick a few areas. They have a “suggested donation” so if don’t think you’ll be there long, you can pay less than the suggested price
  10. The Tenement Museum: apartment building from the 1870s, amazing tour guides, shows what life was like for immigrant New Yorkers in the 1870-1930 time frame (Carly’s favorite)
Top Ten Restaurants
  1. Juliana’s: it’s in Brooklyn but we think it’s the best in the city; get the No 1 Special pizza, Patsy’s favorite
  2. Jacob’s Pickles: amazing Southern food
  3. Norma’s at Le Parker Meridien: weekend brunch is a big deal in NYC and this is THE best; get the WazZa or the crispy french toast (kind of spendy)
  4. Joe’s Shanghai: hole in the wall place in Chinatown, best soup dumplings in the city
  5. Panna II: wonderful Indian food, eat under chili pepper lights and Christmas lights
  6. Wafels and Dinges: great waffle truck by Lincoln Center and base of Brooklyn Bridge, get anything with Spekulos
  7. Chelsea Market: lots of great restaurants and shops, we love Budhakan, Rana, Sarabeth’s
  8. Shalel Lounge: delicious homemade Mediterranean food, really fun vibe
  9. Eataly: restaurants and market with imported foods from Europe
  10. Bare Burger or Shake Shack: NYC burger chains: Bare Burger is really fresh and has really unique meats like bison or ostrich; Shake Shack is iconic, we love going to Madison Square Park location
Top Ten Treats
  1. Levain Bakery: Best cookies on the planet, closes by 7pm
  2. Dominique Ansel: love the cronut but if you don’t want to get in line by 6:45am; the rest of it is world-class: DKA, cookie shots and anything else is truly amazing and you don’t have to wait for the other stuff
  3. Momofuku Milk Bar: ice cream tastes like cereal and milk, crack pie is addicting, also love compost cookie
  4. Sugar Sweet Sunshine: cupcakes and bakery; our fav is the chocolate chip pudding–WHOA
  5. Donut Plant: Josh’s favorite, I even like it and I don’t really like donuts
  6. Eileen’s Special Cheesecake: Very best cheesecake in the city and the world
  7. Magnolia Bakery: banana pudding will knock your socks off even if you don’t like bananas, amazing frosting on cupcakes, great cheesecakes, anything is great
  8. Juniors: AMAZING black and white cookie, the best in the city
  9. Two Little Red Hens Bakery: most delicious cupcakes, the Brooklyn Blackout cupcake will haunt your dreams
  10. Dough: Great yeast doughnuts
The Bronx
Harlem

Things to do:

Restaurants:

  • Restaurant row in Harlem: Frederick Douglass Blvd between 110th-120th: Sylvia’s, Roosters, Chez Lucienne
  • Dinosaur BBQ
Upper West Side

Things to do:

Restaurants:

Upper East Side

Things to do:

Restaurants:

Central Park (and nearby)

Things to do:

  • Bike Ride (take 102nd St crossover to skip the giant hill at the NW corner)
  • Canoes (so fun, usually need to get there before noon)
  • Walk with the app or a map (so many things to see)
  • Picnic, frisby
  • Carousel
  • Lots of amazing playgrounds for kids
  • Walk around the massive reservoir (can enter around 96th on the east or west side)

Restaurants:

  • Tavern on the Green (delicious sit-down fresh American, inside of the park)
  • Le Pain Quotidien (chain in the city with a location in the park, great bakery and salads)
  • Landmarc at Columbus Circle (American, view overlooking Central Park)
  • Luke’s Lobster and other food court restaurants under the Plaza Hotel, across street from Park (lobster rolls and shrimp rolls)
  • TAO uptown: upscale Chinese food
Midtown

Things to do:

Restaurants:

  • Grimaldi’s Pizza (in Manhattan or under the Brooklyn Bridge)
  • Norma’s at Le Parker Meridian* (favorite brunch spot, a bit pricey but worth the splurge, try WazZa or crispy french
  • Fig and Olive (Americanized Mediterranean fare, delicious gourmet olive oils for dipping, yummy salads)
Midtown East

Things to do:

Restaurants:

Times Square, Theatre District, Hell's Kitchen

Things to do:

  • Times Square
  • Bus tours*: you can get on at many places but this is central location to find the best tour out of many
  • Broadway shows* (I recommend seeing a show that you haven’t before or that isn’t likely to go on tour):
    • Hamilton (awesome but good luck getting tickets)
    • Aladdin
    • Fiddler on the Roof
    • School of Rock
    • Waitress
    • Something Rotten!
    • The Fantasticks! (off-broadway, smaller theater, more intimate feel)
    • These change often and there are many more, so check out what’s current online
  • USS Intrepid (retired aircraft carrier and submarine on the Hudson, also has a retired space shuttle)

Restaurants:

Chelsea

Things to do:

Restaurants:

SoHo, Little Italy, Chinatown

Things to do:

  • Washington Square Park
  • Ritzy, high-end (and some mid range) shopping on cobblestone streets
  • Chinatown: mostly cheap shops; great, inexpensive souvenirs on Mulberry St close to Canal St
  • Little Italy: mostly restaurants, get pizza, pasta, cannolis

Restaurants:

West Village / Greenwich Village

Things to do:

Restaurants:

  • Donut Pub
  • Magnolia Bakery* (several locations in the city)
  • Dominique Ansel Bakery* (for cronut, need to be there 90 min before opening in summer, one hour before in winter, the Cronuts sell out fast; don’t need to be there early for other stuff which is world class: try DKA or cookie shots, knock your socks off!)
Lower East Side

Things to do:

Restaurants:

Financial District

Things to do:

Restaurants:

Queens
Brooklyn

Things to do:

Restaurants:

  • Juliana’s* (best restaurant pizza in the city, owned by the guy who originally started Grimaldi’s)
  • Brooklyn Ice Cream Factory (on the pier with stunning views of Manhattan, great before walking over the Brooklyn Bridge)
  • Roberta’s (bee sting or meatwad pizzas are killer amazing)
  • Emily (2nd best pizza and very best burger, also have a smore calzone; get there when it opens at 5 to get the burger, they have limited supply)
  • Bagel Boy Brooklyn
Kids (and they young at heart)