One night in NY city -- Where should I go?

[dRic2]

Hi, I'll be in NY city next week. I'll arrive at the airport at 3.30 pm and I'll leave the next morning at 7.30/8 am. What would you recommend me to see at all cost? I plan to sleep from 1/2 am to 6 am. My Hotel is in Manhattan and I intend to walk a lot.

Thanks
Ric

 

[phinds]

It depends entirely on your tastes since there is a HUGE amount of stuff to see.

Personally, I have a fondness for the North end of Battery Park where there a couple of different pocket parks within the park that have Tom Otterness's whimsical statures. I generally walk from the South end of the park all the way to the North.

That would definitely not be to everyone's taste. Here's a link to the larger of the two pocket parks, to give you an idea
http://www.tomostudio.com/artworks/the-real-world The statues shown in this link's pic are not among my favorites so here's a link to a bunch of his stuff
https://www.google.com/search?q=tom...jAhVtdt8KHWAmCqcQiR56BAgKEA4&biw=1139&bih=536

You could also take a subway up to the Columbus Circle stop and walk over to the Lincoln Center and then back to the South end of Central Park

 

[DennisN]

What would you recommend me to see at all cost?

Tough choice . I've been to New York once and spent a week there.

The part I personally liked most was Greenwich Village, because it felt more cosy and not as intense as other parts of the city.

I thought about your question and drew a sample route on a map which contains quite a few famous places.
If you would like to go on a quick route like this (doing quick stops) here and there, you could combine it with part walking and part taking the subway, because the city is very large.

Route from north (start) to south (end):

• Start at Central Park southwest corner (here a part of Central Park can be seen)
• Travel down Broadway to Times Square (I have drawn a green circle where the square is)
• Further down the route is Empire State Building
• Further down the route is Union Square Park and Greenwich Village
• Further down the route is Little Italy
• Further down the route is China Town
• Further down the route is City Hall
• Then I drew a route around the Financial district and Wall Street (not much to see there, in my opinion)
• and at the end of the route is Battery Park, with a nice view out over the Upper bay, and where you also can see Brooklyn and the Statue of Liberty from a distance.

I attach the map to this post.

 

[dRic2]

Thank you very much tp both of you. Thanks a lot @DennisN for thinking about a route! That would be very useful! I checked the route with Google Maps: if I sleep enough during the flight an I get something to eat along the way I probably could do it in 3/3.5 hours (around 8 Km). Maybe there is time for a little more (but I doubt it)

 

[DennisN]

Thanks a lot @DennisN for thinking about a route!

You're welcome! When I first read the thread title I got the impression you had an entire day to spend, and then I thought about the route. But then I read your first post and saw you had about half a day, so maybe there's too much on my sample route, I don't really know. It depends on personal taste too, like if you want to take it easy and see fewer places or do quick stops here and there to see more places .

 

[phinds]

Yeah, Times Square is a blast if you like crowds (I love them) and bright lights (I love them). You could not, on the other hand, PAY my wife enough to ever go there. She hates both. So ... again, depends on your preferences.

 

[diogenesNY]

Consider visiting the American Museum of Natural History (if you like that sort of thing, of course). Would be easy to spend a solid week there, IMHO. Might be difficult, but not impossible given your schedule.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Museum_of_Natural_History
https://www.amnh.org/

diogenesNY

P.S. Looks like your schedule might make it pretty impossible... sorry.

 

[dRic2]

It depends on personal taste too, like if you want to take it easy and see fewer places or do quick stops here and there to see more places

It depends. I remember when I was traveling Europe by train with my friends 4 years ago and we stopped one day in Paris. We didn't plan to stop at first, but then we thought it was better to take a break and spend the night there. I wanted to visit the city at all cost so at the and we spent the night walking through Paris form one end to the other. It was amazing. I think I'll do the same this time

 

[dRic2]

again, depends on your preferences.

Yeah... too much thing to see. I start to regret asking

@diogenesNY yeah.. guess I won't have time for museums Thanks anyway

 

[jedishrfu]

Night at the Museum!

 

[jtbell]

I'll arrive at the airport at 3.30 pm

Which airport?

It will probably take about an hour to get to your hotel and leave your stuff there, so you won't be able to start doing things until around 4:30. Rush hour will be underway about that time, which will make getting around by subway, bus, taxi, Uber etc. somewhat unpleasant. If your hotel (where? Manhattan is a big place) is in or near an interesting part of town, I'd just start walking, soak in the atmosphere, eat dinner somewhere, keep on walking, and then take the subway back to the hotel late evening.

The view from the observation deck of the Empire State Building (34th St and 5th Ave) in the evening is surely marvelous, if you're in that area.

 

[Greg Bernhardt]

See a Broadway show

 

[dRic2]

Which airport?

JFK Terminal 4. I estimated 2 hours before I reach the hotel (145 East 39th Street).

I think I'm going to go for the route @DennisN suggested me, with some slightly modifications depending on the time. I think if I start at 6 or 7 pm I'll be back at the hotel for midnight. According to Google Maps it would be a 8Km walk. Sounds doable.

 

[DennisN]

I think I'm going to go for the route @DennisN suggested me, with some slightly modifications depending on the time.

Now I also realized there is another famous place along the route, One World Trade Center (here on Google Maps) (between City Hall and Battery Park on the route), which is one of the buildings that were built after the terrorist attacks on World Trade Center (September 11, 2001). I visited New York a couple of years before this, and I remember that I walked up very close to one of the original "Twin Towers" to get a view straight up along the wall of it into the sky. It was VERY tall.

 

[DennisN]

@dRic2 ,
and now I remembered a bit more from my visit . I went up to the observation deck on the Empire State Building on my first day in New York, and got a very, very nice view out over the city in the evening.
Here is such a view on a photo from Wikipedia: