Posted on 05/08/2022 4:25:35 PM PDT by The Louiswu
Wife and I are planning a weeks trip to NYC, I’ve never been so I’m looking for recommendations on things to see or do. We’re planning on at least 1 broadway show and the MOMA but if you know of a cool thing or something really interesting I’d love to hear your suggestion, thanks in advance.
Central Park is wonderful, but never after dark. Not even in your car while driving through.
Yes! Greenwich Village. Just a great place to hang around. Good food, odd people, little bistros. We would often drive there if we couldn’t sleep. There was a small cafe that ran Charlie Chaplin & Keystone Cops movies. We’d sit and play chess all night, then take the Staten Island Ferry home. There was fantastic pizza where the ferry docks. That was years ago, so I don’t know what’s there now.
Ping to #179 & #182
I recommend seeing New York City in your rear view mirror as you drive out of that crappy place.
First Time Visit To New York City Recommend Things to See and Do
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To See: the mess; To Do: Leave.
TURN AROUND..
Yes, I would still recommend NYC as a good place to visit. In fact, with the crowds down somewhat and the weather finally starting to warm up, it's an ideal place to visit.
Lot of great suggestions on the thread already. I would make sure Grand Central is included, it's really worth checking out.
Definitely walk the Brooklyn Bridge. Also take the Staten Island Ferry. It will give you a great view of the Statue of Liberty without having to actually go there (which is not worth the money in my opinion). The Staten Island Ferry is FREE so do not buy tickets from scamsters trying to sell you tickets to it. Just ride to Staten Island, look around a bit and get on the next ferry back.
There will be scamsters trying to sell tickets on the street for things like Empire State Building, Statue of Liberty, etc. The people selling them will look official too, with uniforms and such. Never buy tickets that way. They are a ripoff and you will go to the back of the line like everybody else, despite what they tell you.
The fear of crime in NYC is greatly exaggerated by people who just don't know the city. It is extremely safe here, especially in Manhattan south of say 110th Street. Though you can go to any of the boroughs (to the commercial areas) with no hassle. Just stay out of the residential areas, especially those with housing projects. You will definitely stick out and be watched. I only go there when I have business there and then I get right back out. Brownsville and East New York (Brooklyn), for example, are no-go zones but there's nothing for a tourist to see there anyhow.
The subways are getting sketchy - I would stick to ground transportation. Also, it can be tricky for a tourist to learn the subway. If you do get on it though, know that uptown will take you north and then usually to Bronx and/or Queens and downtown will take you south and eventually into Brooklyn (as a general rule). Do use Taxis and Ubers if it is too far to walk.
Plan on a lot of walking in Manhattan. While it looks small on a map, it's deceivingly big. Figure a mile for every 20 blocks (going north/south) and about a mile every 6-8 blocks going east/west) as those blocks are typically much wider. So make sure you have comfortable shoes. Nobody cares what shoes you wear. Even when I wear a suit, I'm wearing sneaker type shoes.
Eat at the local restaurants. Avoid the chain restaurants that you can eat at anywhere. The food trucks are generally amazing but stay away from food on the carts, especially around Times Square.
Absolutely see Central Park and plan to spend at least half a day there. I do not recommend the horse drawn carriages you will see at the bottom of it (59th Street) - way overpriced.
Stay out of the various "gift" shops, they are a rip-off and if you don't want to stick out like a tourist, never wear that "I Love NY" clothing with the hearts on them and things like that. You want to look like a local so you are less of a target (for the scam artists). The scam artists are harmless if you just avoid eye contact and walk right past them and pretend you are not hearing or understanding them as they try to get your attention.
You will see a lot of homeless people and panhandlers. Some of them can get aggressive about asking for a handout, especially if you make eye contact. Don't let them tug at your heartstrings. Trust me, you are not helping them by giving them your loose change. Just keep on walking and they will move to their next target.
Also be aware of the well dressed people who usually hang out at Penn Station, Grand Central or the bus terminal giving you a sob story of how they had their wallet stolen and need train/bus fare home. That is 100% a scam.
Don't feed the pigeons either!
New Yorkers can come across as cold and heartless but we are actually quite friendly and happy to help tourists find their way around. The NYPD are especially very friendly and approachable so don't be afraid to ask them for directions if you are lost. You can also ask well dressed businesspeople types but also don't be offended if some of them blow right by you - some of us need to make a train or an appointment somewhere.
Hope you have a great time.
Don’t go to New York.
Go instead, go to America.
I think you watch too much TV news.
I've been coming to NYC just about every day for years on public transportation and never had an issue. The worst a tourist can expect here is aggressive panhandling and the usual scam artists you will find in any big city.
Last summer my wife and I went to Minneapolis, which everybody told me was the epicenter of the BLM/Fascist riots. I saw no signs of that anywhere and we had a great time there. Ditto for Chicago.
It always looks worse on the TV because they are always focusing on the absolute worst things that happen and play them over and over again.
I was in DC on January 6 and all I saw was an exuberant Trump rally with 800,000+ great patriots even though the TV would have everybody believe a full scale insurrection was going on.
In March of 1977, when New York City was much worse than today in terms of crime and decay, my high school class took a weekend trip there and in our yearbook were photos of us walking through Times Square when it still looked like something out of Taxi Driver with the X-rated movies everywhere. All of us were just fine.
I'm 60 years old and the worst crime that ever happened to me was a mugging - in Cedar Rapids, Iowa!
We need to stop being slaves to the mass media who only want to scare people and keep them cowering in their houses.
Get out and live your life. Mind your own business, take common sense steps like keeping your wallet in your front pocket, stay away from the obvious sketchy areas and you'll be just fine vacationing in NYC.
(LOL) While generally true today, that has not always been the case. In the '70s and '80s I developed a foolproof method for finding my way around NYC. I'd find the most obvious wise ass and ask him for directions to wherever I wanted to go, say Penn Station, for example. Then, I'd simply go the opposite way. This scheme never failed.
One last suggestion: bring a pocket compass. Even with a map in your hand, it is often impossible to orient yourself if you haven’t been there before. This is true in the East Village, below Canal St., and especially when coming out of the subway. There are so many twisted and poorly marked subway exits that you cannot know whether you are emerging on SW, NW, NE or SE corner, and you’ll waste time walking several blocks in the wrong direction before you figure out that something is wrong.
The Daytrippers is a great comedy from the 1990s, which has a beautiful shot of the Twin Towers at night.
Left NY about 8 years ago and never returned. Sad how things that were simple and civil have been violated. TR was an exceptional human being.
Flying boxcar! HELL YEAH!
In (1982) jump school... my first jump was out of a C-123 Provider. A baby version of a C-130 Hercules.
In jump school, we also jumped out of C-130’s, and... the Jumpmaster said with a great big smile on his face, that we would be jumping from the Cadillac- a C-141 Starlifter, known in Viet Nam, as the Freedom Bird!
AIRBORNE!
Nice enough storytelling to put the reader into a panic! WOW!
In 1983, I wrecked my car and was in the hospital at Ft Bragg for 4 days, with a compression fracture of lower lumbar #3.
An airborne infantry battalion made a unit jump and over 50 paratroopers that wound up injured on the jump were admitted to the hospital with me in a hospital bed nearby, surrounded by their good graces.
I will never forget a Colonel that was going bedside to bedside to check on the injured paratroopers, and even visited me. He found out in short order that I was not in the hospital due to an airborne jump injury, but from a car wreck, and left my bedside as fast as he found it when he learned that I was in the hospital with a self-inflicted wound.
No sympathy for incompetence however, and I couldn’t have agreed more with his reaction to my situation.
At nearly the same time frame, a personal friend wound up in the hospital (Womack) with two broken wrists that he had received during a sport parachute jump at a weekend MWR jump club on base.
When I found out that he was in the hospital with me, I left my bed to go see him down the hall. Unbeknownst, an Army doctor came by to see me when I was out of bed and deduced that I was ready for discharge upon seeing my newfound walking capabilities.
All The Way and Then Some!
I would suggest
Grand central station
Rockefeller centre
Empire state
Wander around central park
Visit Kate delicatessen
St Patrick’s cathedral
Museum of natural history
Moma
Statue of liberty
Frick museum
Catch a show on Broadway
“I think you watch too much TV news.”
Cool. What a totally brilliant observation.
But, just for the record, I don’t watch TV news at all. Ever.
There was no point in reading what you had to say past that.
So I didn’t.
I do admit to wasting 45 seconds of my time writing this reply to you, however.
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