In addition to visiting the various places you’ve seen in movies or heard about, (Empire State building, historical event sites, Grand Central Station, 911 Memorial, Statue of Liberty, etc., etc.), you might enjoy a current Broadway show such as Music man with Hugh Jackman. There are some great art museums…
But there are also some cool but less well known places such as the old Tenement Museum building which is a restored old building showing what it was like when waves of (legal) immigrants came and lived their in the 1800’s and 1900’s, along with copies of the actual US Census records showing the names and countries of origin of the people who lived packed into those crowded accommodations. It is a very interesting museum, IMHO.
Also, a helicopter ride around Manhattan can be fun… and the hop-on-hop-off day bus tours around the city can give you a good initial visual orientation.
I would recommend checking Trip Advisor to tailor your time there.
I typically enjoy an hour at Time Square, although the painted topless females sometimes present are annoying. Once we encountered a totally naked woman there in body paint, which was a shocker, especially to my wife.😱
Trip Advisor: https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attractions-g60763-Activities-New_York_City_New_York.html
Thanks!
“there,” not “their” 🙈