I’m no stranger to the bright lights and skyscrapers of New York City. In fact, I’ve shared my travels to this city before, waaaay back in 2016, when I went on a road trip with the husband. This trip, though, was our first back to NYC in 8 years and wow has the city changed since I was last there (but I’ll get to that in a minute). This trip was all about the Big Apple though. Think all the usual sights with some new stuff thrown in for good measure. Consider this a whistle stop tour of New York City in 3 days, perfect for your first visit to the city that never sleeps if you’re planning one in the not-too-distant future!
A first visit to New York City
While this wasn’t my first visit (it was my fifth, actually!), our main reason for going was to meet up with our friend who wanted to go as part of her birthday celebrations this year. When she mentioned it to us, of course we said we’d be there. One, because it was New York City and we bloody love that place. And two, because our friend lives in the UK and we don’t get to see her all that often. It was a trans-Atlantic meetup, the halfway point for all of us, if you will!
Of course, being “old hands” with finding our way around the city, it fell on us to come up with a rough itinerary. We would be the guides! Our friend brought along her son and her Dad, too. So we had to make sure the trip included things for all of us to do.
Our Itinerary
Fun fact… I actually got ChatGPT to help with planning our trip! I had a rough idea of the neighbourhoods and places I wanted to take our friends, but figuring out how to squeeze it all into 3 full days was a challenge I was struggling to wrap my head around. Logistics make me go cross-eyed!
Here’s what ChatGPT came up with (with a few tweaks from yours truly to add in the specific locations we knew we wanted to visit).
Day 1: Staten Island Ferry & Downtown Neighbourhoods
Heading to the south end of Manhattan, we’d explore the Financial District, the 9/11 Memorial and World Trade Center site, walk to Wall Street, find the Ghostbusters Fire Hall, hop on the Staten Island Ferry for views of the Statue of Liberty, head up to Chinatown and Little Italy and then over to SoHo and Greenwich Village for the evening.
Day 2: Midtown, Hudson Yard and High Line
We’d start the day at the Intrepid Museum before heading over to Hudson Yard and taking in the views from Edge before strolling down the High Line to Chelsea Market. We planned to finish up with dinner in Times Square.
Day 3: Central Park, Upper East Side, Brooklyn Bridge
We planned to start with a stroll around Central Park before walking down Fifth Avenue, swinging by Rockefeller Center to see the Christmas tree and St Patrick’s Cathedral. Then we’d head over to Grand Central Station before making our way down to the Brooklyn Bridge. Later, we’d head out for dinner before taking in a Broadway show.
As itineraries go, I was pretty impressed! It covered all the main areas, as well as throwing in a few quirks like the Ghostbusters Fire Hall and Intrepid to please the boys in our travel group (although I was pretty excited about the fire hall too). It was, though, a loose plan and things changed slightly as the trip progressed. So, here’s what we actually got up to in the end!
Staten Island Ferry & Downtown NYC
After arriving late on the Saturday night to JFK Airport, we took the Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) into Penn Station which was right by our hotel. We stayed at The New Yorker Hotel right across from Penn Station on 34th and 8th which is actually the same hotel I stayed in when I visited New York back in 2003. Our room was pretty basic but the bed was comfortable and it was clean which is all I really ask from a New York hotel, especially one right in the centre of midtown at a reasonable price!
We met up with our friends the following morning down at the Tick Tock Diner which is a retro diner attached to the hotel where we got breakfast before hopping on the subway to World Trade Center.
World Trade Center & Staten Island Ferry
It was a glorious morning and the winter sun filtered through the trees beautifully. I love the 9/11 memorial site. Despite its history, it’s a peaceful and calm space and I always make a point to stop there whenever we go to New York.
After walking around the pools, we strolled south towards Battery Park where we got our first glimpses of Lady Liberty and joined the queue for the Staten Island Ferry. I first discovered this ferry more than 20 years ago when I was looking for cheap or free things to do in NYC and this one has never disappointed. The ferry is actually a free commuter ferry but it gives you some great views of lower Manhattan and the Statue of Liberty and it doesn’t cost a penny!
Little Italy & Chinatown
After coming off the ferry, we took another subway up to Little Italy where we found somewhere for lunch and to rest our feet a little bit. I kinda wish we’d walked a little further because it turns out we didn’t quite make it to the central area where there were lots of little Italian restaurants we could have taken our pick of!
But fed and watered, we wandered around the streets and into Chinatown for most of the afternoon.
A Greenwich Village Ghost Walk
As evening fell, our friend’s son was starting to get tired so they decided to head back to the hotel for the evening. But Stu and I had tickets for a ghost walk tour with US Ghost Adventures* to get to!
When I visit a city there are a couple of things I love to do. The first is a visit to the highest point or building so I can get a good look of the place from above. The next is to book some kind of walking tour with a guide who really knows their way around. I’ve done a few “ghost themed” walking tours over the years, and I have to say this one was a lot of fun!
We met our guide, Marlina (I hope I spelled that right!) in Washington Square Park which is actually a spot I’d never visited before in my previous travels to New York City. It’s a beautiful space that’s almost 10 acres in size in Greenwich Village. So named for George Washington, there’s a beautiful archway there and the park was buzzing with activity with the many students in the area.
What commenced was a solid hour of wandering round the village and being told the tales of various ghostly apparitions and appearances. It was a whole lot of fun and we got to see a part of the city we’d never really explored before. It was a 10/10 experience that I’d highly recommend!
By the way, the US Ghost Adventures have various tours in New York City and through the United States so do check them out if you’re looking for something to do on your next trip!
Quick Tip
Getting around New York is really easy by subway and not nearly as scary as it might sound. We got ourselves metrocards for the week which were around $25 and that covered all our subway rides for the entire duration of our stay.
Intrepid, Edge and the High Line
Intrepid Museum
When the idea of visiting the Intrepid Museum was first put on the table, I have to admit I wrinkled my nose up a bit. It definitely didn’t feel like it’d be my thing at all.
You have to know something about me to understand why that is. I grew up in Malta as a teenager, a tiny island in the Mediterranean with a large harbour where many military ships would come into. By the time I was 17, I’d already stepped foot on a number of aircraft carriers and so they were a bit “old hat” to me. My friend and I were mostly interested in the American and British sailors, to be fair. Being young women, we’d usually manage to swing a free tour of some of these ships and they really were quite impressive! I was fortunate enough to be able to get a tour of the US flagship, the USS America, which was an incredibly memorable experience.
Frankly, I was pretty done with the whole aircraft carrier thing. But I agreed to go along because the boys wanted to visit and it turned out to be a really good experience!
The ship was well laid out, with some really excellent exhibits inside. We learned about the history of the ship, the missions it had been on and got to walk over the flight deck. I was really impressed to see the Enterprise space shuttle on board. And we paid a little extra to take the tour of Concorde while we were there too, which was amazing! I’d never had the chance to experience Concorde when it was still flying but I do remember how, when I lived in Devon, England, our windows would always rattle at the same time every day which I was told was Concorde hitting the sound barrier as it left the UK and made its way to New York!
I opted out of touring the submarine and sat in the sunshine while everyone else went on it. But all in all, it was a really fun experience. If you’ve got anyone in your group that loves militaria, ships, planes and things of that ilk, it’s a fun place to visit.
Edge, Hudson Yard
After spending a morning at the museum, I was ready for lunch and a trip up a high rise. We took an Uber over to Hudson Yard (not the longest walk but I was struggling with plantar fasciitis a bit on this trip) and went and got some lunch before taking the ride up Edge to enjoy the views from the tallest observation deck in the western hemisphere. I believe it’s about 100 storeys high!
I fully expected it to be a cold, windy experience up there but it was the complete opposite. Clear, dry, warm and calm. We sat out on the observation deck for quite a long while. I even got a bit too hot sitting in the sunshine!
I’ve done a few observation decks in New York City now. The Empire State Building, Top of the Rock, and One World Observatory. As experiences go, I’d say this is a good one if you’ve already done the others, but it wouldn’t be my first choice, mostly because the other buildings have the weight of their history and events behind them while this is just a nice, kinda cool looking, tall building with an alternative perspective over the city. I will admit that it did feel like I was going up the Avengers Tower a little bit 😉
Go City Pass
Before I carry on, I just want to mention that we used a Go City Explorer Pass* to visit these attractions. I’ve never used a city pass before so I wasn’t really sure what the experience would be like but it was actually super easy and convenient and I’d one hundred percent use them again!
Our Go City passes included access to three attractions from a long list of choices in New York. For Intrepid Museum and Edge it was literally as easy as downloading the app to our phones and waving our passes at the entrance. We also used it to go up the Empire State Building which we did have to pre-book for a specific time slot but it was easy to do online.
It’s worth noting that there are sometimes limitations with the passes. For example, we couldn’t use the pass to go up Edge when it was sunset. But if that kind of thing doesn’t matter to you, it’s well worth grabbing a pass for your trip! Go City offers a variety of options and numbers of attractions so it’s entirely flexible. And it works out as a saving on individual ticket prices too.
By the way, the Go City passes aren’t exclusive to New York City. They cover many major cities all over the world, from Amsterdam, Stockholm and Rome to Dubai, Sydney and LA (and a lot more besides!). Check them out and see if they cover a city you’re travelling to soon!
The High Line
After coming down from the heady heights of Edge, we decided to hop onto one of my all time favourite (and free!) New York City attractions, the High Line. This 1.5 mile long public park sits elevated above the streets of New York and follows the line of an old railway. It’s in a part of the city that you might not normally visit but it’s well worth taking the stroll because there are some really beautiful view points along it and some great architecture to admire along the way.
The High Line is easily accessible to all with elevators at various points and I’d say it’s one of my absolute highlights of the city!
By the time we got to the other end of the High Line, it was already dark and we’d walked around 17km that day. My poor feet were done, so we hopped back on the subway up to 34th Street and found a great Cantonese restaurant where we had a great dinner before I hobbled back to the hotel for the night.
Midtown and a Journey Back to the Future
After a bit of chat the day before, we rearranged our final full day slightly so that we could start off the day at the top of the Empire State Building. I’ve visited the Empire State Building before, but it was a first for everyone else and I had no issues heading back there. I love the art deco feel of the place and it still has some of my favourite views over the city. And who can say no to a Sleepless in Seattle moment (or the possibility of one)?! Certainly not me!
Empire State Building
The Empire State was just a few minutes walk from our hotel so we got breakfast on the way at a diner before making the journey to the viewing gallery at the top. This was another attraction we booked through the Go City Pass but it’s worth noting you do need to pre-book this one as they do timed entry here.
Rockefeller
After descending, we took a subway up to Rockefeller Plaza where our friends used their passes to head to the Top of the Rock. Stu and I decided to hang out at ground level, watching people taking tours of the famous Rockefeller Christmas Tree which was in place but not yet lit.
We wandered over to St. Patrick’s Cathedral to get some photographs of the gorgeous frontage (and I had fun capturing some of the motion of the city flying up and down the avenue in front of it). Then we made our way into the Lego store for a wander. Did you know they have a full size yellow taxi in there made out of lego?!
Once our friends came back down, we went to the Magnolia Bakery and bought some delicious NY cheesecake because how can you come to the city and not have some cheesecake while you’re there, right?
My feet were pretty bad at this point so I opted to head back to the hotel for a rest before we went out that night instead of heading to Central Park (which I’m still a bit sad about!), because we had an evening planned that I was very much looking forward to!
Times Square & a Broadway Show
Taking the subway uptown, we arrived at the craziness that is Times Square and went and got dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe. Then it was time to see our first ever Broadway show! Our friends went off to see The Lion King while we walked to the north side of Times Square to the Winter Garden Theatre to see the Back to the Future musical!
And what a show it was!
If you’re a fan of the movie and you get the chance to go and see this show… DO! It was so much fun and the effects were incredible. My husband is a long-time fan of the trilogy (seriously, he knows the entire script of all three films!) and he was totally wowed by this musical version. Quite possibly a highlight of the trip for me, although I loved every moment of the whole thing.
At the end of the night, we met our friends again in the hotel bar and wrapped up our trip with chats and quite possibly the most expensive Baileys I’ve ever had.
But it really was a wonderful trip and I’m already hankering to get back there again as soon as I can!
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