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China3334 Posts
I'm going to New York City to watch a play by end of October. I will probably stay there for a week. I do search for previous threads about traveling to New York. Here is a rough plan I come up but I want to get more suggestions of all cool places in the city from you guys 
1. Visit TL headquarter (lol) office
2. Museums: MET, MoMA, AMNH
3. Outdoor: Time Square, Central Park
4. Rent a bike to go around Manhattan (too cold to ride a bike in late Oct?)
Since I will go to watch plays in the evening, I'm more looking for daytime fun here. Not planning any shopping but I love boutiques and interesting small shops. I would probably find a place around Chelsea or East Village (close to the theater I'm going to) to stay.
Two specific questions, any recommendation if I want to get a good bird view of city's landmarks? Say I want to see Empire State Building. Second, I'm traveling alone, is that safe that I hang out in late night and take taxi or metro? I was once warned by a Chinese restaurant owner in Paris that I was too "tourist", meaning easy target for robbers. I'm Asian, taking a big camera, held several paper bags of luxury brands (for friends) back then. I have no idea about the real public security situation in NY, I can't take what I see from movie/TV drama/fiction for real, right?
By the way, Hot_Bid, it would be great to wear a TL hoodie when I'm in town. You should start the production now! 
 
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United States1967 Posts
I wouldn't plan on going to all those museums, if you're only going to be here for a week. You could easily spend an entire week just on that. Renting a bike for travelling around Manhattan probably isn't the best idea, as a lot of places aren't really bike friendly. I'd maybe consider it for central park, but wouldn't otherwise, as you can get almost anywhere via subway + couple blocks walking.
Besides the things you have listed above, you should definitely plan to try out some of the really good restaurants NYC has.
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Buy a weekly unlimited metrocard. You will be able to use it on subway and bus. If you need good food recommendations I can put some up.
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TBH it's all about the food food and food. There are a few robbers but no one I know have been robbed. The only trick that I remotely hear about is the broken sunglasses where a person purposely bumps into you and drops their "luxury" sunglass and "breaks" it. Just ignore there people and walk away. Same with people offering you "free" CD's and etc. Don't even touch em because they'll bother you and follow you till no end. But besides that nothing too dangerous here.
I'd recommend Ippudo for lunch NOT dinner, Magnolias Bakery, 53rd and 6th ave Halal cart 7PM-4AM so after the play would be good. ST Marks is a great place to eat, and save some money for a one really really expensive meal at a really great restaurant. Momofuku Ssam Bar, Wolfgang, Peter Luerger, Etc. Yelp is your best friend!
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Just ditch the big ass camera at night and you'll be fine. There's more than enough tourists that you can blend in as long as you keep your head on straight and use a little common sense. You should probably just cab it just so you don't get lost on the subway, because that shit blows. Plus, you get to avoid the smell of urine that dominates the underground, and all the freaks that go down there and lick shoes and shit. God, I hate the subway.
also, I agree, only do the bike if you're just doing it to sight see or something. I wouldn't use that as transportation.
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Philadelphia, PA10406 Posts
NY is much safer that it sometimes gets credit for. If you're shuttling between museums and theaters in midtown Manhattan, you'll never have an issue. The subway is fine too, just keep your eye on the map, and buy an unlimited metro card. Taxis are more expensive and downright alarmingly dangerous sometimes.
I'd plan a full day for the museums. There's a lot to see. Central Park doesn't need to have a dedicated trip, really, I'd just grab dinner or lunch sometime and take it out into the park. I'd pick up a tall dark red Zagat guide immediately, and pick your meals out of that. There's also a smaller black book called NFT (Not For Tourists), which has actually been really helpful for friends and relatives when they've come to visit.
TLHQ is a must, of course. I'd also recommend going to see the High Line, which is a park built on an elevated train line. I'm biased because I've worked there, but it's a wonderful, wonderful spot.
Enjoy your time in NY!
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China3334 Posts
Thanks for all advice! OK, it seems I can remove biking and add some restaurants.
nullmind, go ahead please! I'd love to know some good restaurants in the city. Just skip Chinese restaurants for obvious reason lol.
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The Staten Island ferry is free (although it sounds like money may not be a big issue for you), and has great views of lower Manhattan and the Statue of Liberty. If you are 21, you can also buy beer on the boat as well - I recommend this trip to any tourist.
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China3334 Posts
No, money is always a concern! Just reading Staten Island Ferry on wiki, thanks for the recommendation. I'll add it to my list. It actually reminds me of Star Ferry in Hong Kong, very cheap (free), good for tourism and connecting a busy business area (Hong Kong island/Manhattan) to another terrain.
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Hey Emlary,
To help you out with possible places to look at and have the best experience in NYC as a tourist, here's some popular awesome tourist sites to go to:
1. Grand Central Terminal (It's literally big, REALLY big and an awesome sight inside)
2. Rockfeller Center
3. Time Square
4. Staten Island Ferry
5. Central Park
6. Empire State Building
7. New York Water Taxi (cost money for this but it's already awesome)
8. New York's Piers (have some fancy boats floating around)
9. Columbus Circle
10. New York Public Library (the extremely big one that you saw on the first Spiderman movie and on the movie "Day After Tomorrow", it's on 40-42nd Street) and also has a park behind the library.
11. Union Square (There's a lot of street things that go there, you can see the US total debt going up every second there. Also I recommend chocolate factory Max Brenner)
12. Coney Island (Luna Park amusement park, NY aquarium, broadwalk, etc. It's pretty fun if you go there for the first time. It's at Brooklyn though..)
That's all I can think of on top of my hat this instant so I'll think some more and get back to other nice places to go to...
But if you are going to museums, there is one particular museums I recommend all tourists and New Yorkers to go to..... the "Museum of Sex" (an actual museum in NYC, yea, it's there lol)
If you have any questions or places to go to, feel free to contact me, I'll be more than willing to help! ^_^
Oh one more thing, if you're planning to come around mid October, I highly recommend coming to this year's New York Comic/Anime Con they have every year which will be 10/13 - 10/16. A lot of fun when I went there last year and so many people cosplaying and etc. Though if you want to get in for free.... I'll shoot to get a press pass like I did last year...
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NYC is all about food and performing arts. And then there's like random hidden gems everywhere of diverse cultures.
Ok, prepare for data dump:
Performing arts:
*You can catch a 1hr long jazz club set at 9pm or 11pm (and sometimes 1am) around west and east village (~$10-$30)
*see the NY Philharmonic (all seats ~$40-50)
*see an opera or musical or ballet (cheap seats are $40-50, good ones $125).
*watch Amature Night at the Apollo Theatre, quite entertaining, pretty cheap if I recall, just make sure you don't go east-side Harlem... one of the few places in NYC I think that are legitly dangerous and I'm actually a little scared to go to be honest
Food: ($10-20)
*I'd recommend St. Mark's for Japanese (i.e. Yakitori Taisho very popular bbq grill, Ibusa is a great slighly pricey sushi place I love, and ramen shops are all over the place); however, there's an amazing Japanese stew place at 45th Street and Lex called Menchanko's I think they have a downtown location too, it's so good and so cheap, <$10
*Midtown West 9th ave for Thai (Pam Real Thai, Won Di Siam 2 are my fav and both popular, try Pam Real Thai's curries and Won Di Siam 2's basil chicken Pad Kra Prow)
*for Indian there used to be a couple great places on Curry Hill around 28-33rd St but they've gotten worse over the years so I recommed this place on 53rd and 9th ave I think it's called Kirin, I just get Chicken Tikka Masala as always =P
*Upper West Side Cafes for Dessert like Mozart cafe, Cafe lalo (although there are some Dessert trucks that are really, really good too, literally called Dessert Truck and Waffle Truck)
*there's a great Paella place in midtown village and a great taco place right next to it; can't remember the name, but I could ask a friend
*of course there's K-town at 32-35th Street (I recommend Madangsui for bbq, Ho Dang Gok for jja jja myung, and Gang Suh Hweh Gan for regular korean food, Han Bat is solid too)
*I don't know Chinatown very well but there's Dim Sum (Jing Fong solid choice, most well known)
*For a decent soul food place, I like Sylvia's on 125th and Malcom I believe; but if you want really amazing fried chicken you have to go to Soul Flavors in Jersey City (just a few stops on the PATH train), Kanye West himself said it's one of his favorite places
*I'm not a fan of the "best pizza places" in nyc, I feel like they're all hyped up... I was sorely disappointed by every single one. For burgers, I recommend Shake Shack which consistently is ranked in everyone's top 5 list; Corner Bistro used to be the best imo (14th and 7th ave), but I think quality has gone down over the years
*Ok that's Manhattan, there's a lot of relatively cheap but great quality places in Brooklyn like Du Mont (best Mac and Cheese), Al Di La (best Italian in the city imo), basically anything in Park Slope, these are all <$20 but really nice places
Whew. Now if you're the wandering/exploring type, there's a lot of cool small cultural festivals that go on all around the city, and to be honest if you just wander around certain areas, you'll find really cool stuff. If you're a shopper, it's all about Soho. If you're a bar hopper, tapas, it's all about the village. Just an FYI though, the places that Quickstriker suggested are all the big sights, so can be pretty touristy, but by they are kind of the major landmarks of NYC. Up to you Emlar, what kind of traveler you are and your preferences.
I should save this post and just refer to it whenever someone asks about NYC, heh. So long T_T Hope this helps...
Edited: tone and word choice
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If you like mexican and fresh, ballin as hell quac, go to iguana. it's somewhere in the theater district, i was there after a show not too long ago
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You're in Manhattan, not the Bronx, it's not that criminally-intensive so long as you avoid the obvious places.
Oh and don't bring fanny packs ;D!
Take pictures of TL HQ plzzzzzz
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On July 16 2011 02:36 happyft wrote:NYC is all about food and performing arts. And then there's like random hidden gems everywhere of diverse cultures. Ok, prepare for data dump: Performing arts: Show nested quote +*You can catch a 1hr long jazz club set at 9pm or 11pm (and sometimes 1am) around west and east village (~$10-$30)
*see the NY Philharmonic (all seats ~$40-50)
*see an opera or musical or ballet (cheap seats are $40-50, good ones $125).
*watch Amature Night at the Apollo Theatre, quite entertaining, pretty cheap if I recall, just make sure you don't go east-side Harlem... one of the few places in NYC I think that are legitly dangerous and I'm actually a little scared to go to be honest Food: ($10-20) Show nested quote +*I'd recommend St. Mark's for Japanese (i.e. Yakitori Taisho very popular bbq grill, Ibusa is a great slighly pricey sushi place I love, and ramen shops are all over the place); however, there's an amazing Japanese stew place at 45th Street and Lex called Menchanko's I think they have a downtown location too, it's so good and so cheap, <$10
*Midtown West 9th ave for Thai (Pam Real Thai, Won Di Siam 2 are my fav and both popular, try Pam Real Thai's curries and Won Di Siam 2's basil chicken Pad Kra Prow)
*for Indian there used to be a couple great places on Curry Hill around 28-33rd St but they've gotten worse over the years so I recommed this place on 53rd and 9th ave I think it's called Kirin, I just get Chicken Tikka Masala as always =P
*Upper West Side Cafes for Dessert like Mozart cafe, Cafe lalo (although there are some Dessert trucks that are really, really good too, literally called Dessert Truck and Waffle Truck)
*there's a great Paella place in midtown village and a great taco place right next to it; can't remember the name, but I could ask a friend
*of course there's K-town at 32-35th Street (I recommend Madangsui for bbq, Ho Dang Gok for jja jja myung, and Gang Suh Hweh Gan for regular korean food, Han Bat is solid too)
*I don't know Chinatown very well but there's Dim Sum (Jing Fong solid choice, most well known)
*For a decent soul food place, I like Sylvia's on 125th and Malcom I believe; but if you want really amazing fried chicken you have to go to Soul Flavors in Jersey City (just a few stops on the PATH train), Kanye West himself said it's one of his favorite places
*I'm not a fan of the "best pizza places" in nyc, I feel like they're all hyped up... I was sorely disappointed by every single one. For burgers, I recommend Shake Shack which consistently is ranked in everyone's top 5 list; Corner Bistro used to be the best imo (14th and 7th ave), but I think quality has gone down over the years
*Ok that's Manhattan, there's a lot of relatively cheap but great quality places in Brooklyn like Du Mont (best Mac and Cheese), Al Di La (best Italian in the city imo), basically anything in Park Slope, these are all <$20 but really nice places Whew. Now if you're the wandering/exploring type, I highly recommend you stay away from all the places that QuickStriker mentioned, those are all tourist traps for sure. There's a lot of cool small cultural festivals that go on all around the city, and to be honest if you just wander around certain areas, you'll find really cool stuff. If you're a shopper, it's all about Soho. If you're a bar hopper, tapas, it's all about the village. I should save this post and just refer to it whenever someone asks about NYC, heh. So long T_T Hope this helps...
Funny how you derailed my post and told OP to stay away from the places you mentioned when you mentioned some of those places indirectly as well. ie. Upper West Side cafes = Columbus Circle.
Secondly, I've taken my relatives coming from other countries to those areas all the time as well as my occasional trips to those areas I mentioned and there weren't any problems. And those areas are tourist traps? There aren't 100% tourist only zones anywhere in NYC. Native And besides, isn't she going to NYC as a tourist? I'm only offering my view of a popular must-go places a visitor to NY should definitely visit since she's not LIVING there and she's only there for a week.
And there are people who already mentioned what I mentioned and where she want to go so she can't go Central Park and Time Square?
2 more added to the list I do recommend:
1. Union Square (There's a lot of street things that go there, you can see the US total debt going up every second there. Also I recommend chocolate factory Max Brenner)
2. Coney Island (Luna Park amusement park, NY aquarium, broadwalk, etc. It's pretty fun if you go there for the first time. It's at Brooklyn though..)
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United States1967 Posts
I wouldn't take anyone I knew to any of the places you listed either, maybe indirectly because there's a good hidden gem of a restaurant in that area. If anything, with the short time frame she has, I'd skip most of the touristy places and go for more of what happyft recommended. You would get a much better experience of NYC that way.
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Not only the "city" has good restaurants. Marlow & Sons in Williamsburg is really good
edit: Williamsburg, Brooklyn.
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Braavos36392 Posts
On July 16 2011 04:14 TheMango wrote:
I wouldn't take anyone I knew to any of the places you listed either, maybe indirectly because there's a good hidden gem of a restaurant in that area. If anything, with the short time frame she has, I'd skip most of the touristy places and go for more of what happyft recommended. You would get a much better experience of NYC that way.
agreed, unless Emlary specifically wants to go somewhere, take 1 photo, and then leave, going to most of those places QS mentioned are like 99% travel time 1% actual stuff to do
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On July 16 2011 08:26 Hot_Bid wrote:Show nested quote +On July 16 2011 04:14 TheMango wrote:
I wouldn't take anyone I knew to any of the places you listed either, maybe indirectly because there's a good hidden gem of a restaurant in that area. If anything, with the short time frame she has, I'd skip most of the touristy places and go for more of what happyft recommended. You would get a much better experience of NYC that way. agreed, unless Emlary specifically wants to go somewhere, take 1 photo, and then leave, going to most of those places QS mentioned are like 99% travel time 1% actual stuff to do
I agree as well. A lot of the places mentioned, you just 'see' it and then its over, like Hot_Bid says. I take the subway to Grand Central every day and I almost never actually go inside it. It's neat, but I've seen it in movies and its literally exactly the same as it looks.
I see tourists taking pictures of it a minimum of five times a day and I just don't understand the value of taking a picture of something that's been photographed so many times. I can GIS nice pictures of it right now, and I don't have to be anywhere near it.
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On July 16 2011 08:26 Hot_Bid wrote:Show nested quote +On July 16 2011 04:14 TheMango wrote:
I wouldn't take anyone I knew to any of the places you listed either, maybe indirectly because there's a good hidden gem of a restaurant in that area. If anything, with the short time frame she has, I'd skip most of the touristy places and go for more of what happyft recommended. You would get a much better experience of NYC that way. agreed, unless Emlary specifically wants to go somewhere, take 1 photo, and then leave, going to most of those places QS mentioned are like 99% travel time 1% actual stuff to do
This is true and reflects the fact that New York is a big place and it actually takes a while to get anywhere especially if you don't know the city well. I'd recommend trying to be very strategic; go to a particular area every day and see/eat/do stuff in that one little area. Try not to ride the subway six times a day. Also stay out of the bad areas at night; be conservative. (Last time I was mugged in New York was 1993, but still.)
Your own original list is frankly the best list in my view. The Metropolitan Museum of Art and Museum of Modern Art are world-class institutions rivaled only by museums in London, Paris, & Vienna. I could spend a week at the Met. Read a guide in advance and target the things you're interested in. The permanent collection at the Met is to die for; whatever special shows they have there are what they are.
Broadway is not replicated anywhere but London--see as many shows as you can. Matinees too if possible.
Someone mentioned jazz clubs: Village Vanguard is classic, classic. Also Smalls.
Lower Manhattan has the greatest concentration of "sights" like the statue of liberty, ellis island, battery park, Wall Street (New York Stock Exchange), Ground Zero. If those things interest you it's a good way to spend a day and it's all in one place.
DO NOT bike. You will get killed.
Plan on the possibility that it will be cold.
Go to Times Square if you must, but don't waste time trying find a decent place to eat there--there isn't one (I used to work at 50th and 7th Ave--trust me on this one).
In terms of dance/classical music by all means do those things if they interest you but I would not go out of my way to see the New York Philharmonic. American Ballet Theatre and New York City Ballet are world-class. Metropolitan Opera is a destination for opera lovers but if you don't like opera you're not missing anything. (Once upon a time I lived 2 blocks away and had season tix...sigh.)
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China3334 Posts
On July 16 2011 01:56 QuickStriker wrote:
Oh one more thing, if you're planning to come around mid October, I highly recommend coming to this year's New York Comic/Anime Con they have every year which will be 10/13 - 10/16. A lot of fun when I went there last year and so many people cosplaying and etc. Though if you want to get in for free.... I'll shoot to get a press pass like I did last year...
Seriously 10/13? That will be the same opening day of the play I'm going to watch! Actually my colleague asked me yesterday if I want to go to NY Comic-Con and I was like "I don't know, maybe" since I didn't know the schedule. Hmm....consider moving my whole schedule a week ahead now because Comic-Con sounds fun!
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