New York Attractions: Sightseeing in New York

So I finally visited New York for the first time! It is a city I had always wanted to go to. I had just 4 nights in the city so thought I should see as much as possible.

 

How many New York Attractions can you cram into a short visit? Well the answer is lots……

This post might seem like a big list but I really did get round to seeing all the New York attractions below. In all honesty I didn’t plan on seeing so many New York Attractions it just sort of happened. I also did very little planning before my trip. New York is one of those destinations you can’t help to know a bit about. I already knew about its major landmarks and neighbourhoods so it was easy to walk aimlessly and tick things off as I went. I also had a CityPASS for New York which made things very easy too

So here is a day by day breakdown of my New York attractions and sightseeing

Day 1

I don’t recall who told me this but buried in my mind of travel knowledge I remembered someone telling me the best way to begin a trip in New York is with a walk across Brooklyn Bridge. So walk across Brooklyn Bridge was exactly what I did on my first morning.

It was a great welcome to the city, seeing Manhattan laid out in front of me and some amazing views.

After walking Brooklyn Bridge I ended up at City Hall and explored Wall St before spending sometime at the 9/11 Memorial. It was then onto Battery Park and Liberty Island which is included in the CityPASS booklet.

After a quick hot dog lunch from a side stall I jumped on the Subway to the Rockefeller Centre and headed to the viewing deck for the amazing views of New York, The Empire State Building and Central Park, again this is included in the CityPASS booklet. It was then onto Grand Central Station and the evening spent in Times Square. Phew Day 1 done and time for a good sleep!

Day 2

I actually overslept on Day 2 thanks to all the walking during my first day in New York. So it was off to Greenwich Village for some brunch before more sightseeing.

Today started off with us doing the Lonely Planet suggested walk around Greenwich Village it took in the apartment block that is used in the TV show Friends and also Carrie Bradshaw’s house from Sex and the City. Greenwich Village was a beautiful neighbourhood and I honestly didn’t feel like I was in a huge metropolis at all.

We decided to punish our feet a little more and walk the entire length of the Highline which gave some fantastic views from above street level. Definitely a different perspective of the city and a great use of space. It was then off to 5th Avenue for the new wife to drool over the jewellery in the Tiffany Store before we became kids again playing on the big piano in the  FAO Schwarz toy store.

Time for a quick hot dog stop again and a short stroll around the corner of Central Park by 5th Avenue before dinner and then onto a show.

We actually had tickets for Matilda. Personally I didn’t enjoy it and my wife was beginning to actually fall asleep so we left. Yes crazy huh we left a Broadway show!!! Anyway we headed to the Top of the Strand, which has incredible views of the Empire State, for a couple of cocktails before heading to bed and resting in preparation for day 3.

Day 3

Surprisingly I was up early so it was a quick breakfast and off out to explore some more of NYC. Today we had no plans really apart from wanting to see more of Central Park and go up the Empire State Building. So first thing we headed to Union Park and strolled around taking in the neighbourhood. Wandering aimlessly is one of my favourite things to do in a new city.

We ended up at the Flatiron building and enjoying some frozen custard from Shake Shack before heading up to the top of the Empire State Building. It was then into Central Park for a long walk (I’m not sure why I had this idea I’d done more than enough walking!) some lunch and some fun rowing on the lake. The afternoon was filled exploring the Natural History Museum and randomly coming across a red carpet event for the premiere of Romeo and Juliet in Broadway starring Orlando Bloom. We saw a few famous people arrive and I actually had the spot where the paps wanted to stand so got pushed around a fair bit!

Finally it was time to bring our last full day in NYC to a close so we had dinner in the Meatpacking District and headed back to the Empire State Building to view the city at night.

Day4

Departure day with just a couple of hours to kill so we headed to the Public Library where I got annoyed by American customer service for the 1st time ever.

 

So that’s it! That’s all the New York attractions and sightseeing I managed to squeeze in during three full days.

It felt like a huge amount at the time but looking back I don’t feel like I was rushing to get from place to place. I went naturally with the flow and spent quite a bit of time doing the things I wanted. Many people create huge itineraries to make sure they see exactly what they want whilst in New York but I would say leave a lot of open time for some of that aimless wandering that I like to do. Yes make sure you see the top things but don’t plan everything. I was quite amazed at how much I got to see in such a short space of time.

I loved New York and will definitely be back to explore some more. September also seemed to be a good month, queues were almost non-existent for the attractions I visited but perhaps I was just lucky!

CityPASS kindly provided me with a New York Pass for my visit to the city and to be honest whilst I had a complimentary one they offer good savings if you are planning on seeing all the attractions listed.