Hi,
This is a first draft - I%26#39;m not really a fan of scheduling things but I guess it won%26#39;t do any harm to have an itinerary - especially as there is so much we want to do!! Please feel free to make suggestions and/or tell me if this is realistic or not. (Except for the first day, will just refer to them as day 1, 2, etc as we have no order established yet! We will wait to see what the weather/energy levels are like, etc.)
Day One 鈥?Monday July 13th:
Touch down in JFK at 4.40pm
Take Airport Express Bus to Grand Central Terminal
Take taxi from Grand Central Terminal to hotel *Is this ok to do? It seems a very short distance but with luggage, etc. walking probably isn%26#39;t too practical!*
Check in at Hotel 鈥?Eastgate Tower Suite
Briefly checkout surrounding area - get drinks for room.
Walk to Times Square
Eat dinner at Dave %26amp; Busters
Walk back to Hotel 鈥?Earlyish night.
Day 2:
Walk from hotel to Grand Central
Take subway to Bowling Green Station
Statue of Liberty
Ellis Island *If time allows - Not too bothered*
Wall Street
Lunch
Ground Zero Site (%26amp; possibly tour at Info Centre)
Century 21
Walk by Woolworth Building and City Hall to Brooklyn Bridge
Subway back to the Hotel
Change, etc. at hotel
Dinner
Either Caf茅 Wha? *do we need to eat here, or can we just go for drinks and music?* or gig (Poss Dead Weather at Terminal 5).
Day 3:
Breakfast
TKTS Booth
Walk from hotel to Central Park Zoo
Go to Columbus Circle to get picnic food
Picnic in the Park
MoMA
Back to Hotel
Ellen鈥檚 Stardust Diner
Broadway/Off-Broadway Show
Top of the Rock
Day 4:
China Town
Little Italy
Lunch
Coney Island 鈥?Fair ground rides and Nathans hotdog
Back to Hotel
Dinner - Mexican?
Possibly movie?
Go for dessert - Serendipity
Day 5:
Bleeker Street 鈥?Magnolia Bakery for cupcakes and shopping
St Marks - Shopping and Lunch (Pommes Frites and Bamn!)
Empire State
Back to hotel
Max Brenner for Dinner
Bars in East Village - Beauty Bar, Nurse Bettie, Welcome to Johnsons, Lakeside Lounge, 7B
Day 6:
Shopping/Catch up Day
Lunch at a Jewish Deli - Katz or Carnigie
Subway to Williamsburg
Back to Hotel
Dinner
Comedy Club
Day 7:
Breakfast
The UN
Last minute shopping
Street vendor for lunch
Check out and get to La Guardia airport
Also - based on the cafes/restaurants we are tentatively planning on.. any other suggestions? And I thnk we have one night where we are kind of at a loss (cinema night!) - other suggestions would be welcomed!
Thanks guys!!
Itinerary - Is this realistic?
Welcome:
I do like the way you spaced it out. Lookin%26#39; good.
Just a few thoughts.
If you feel like taking a taxi, take it. There is no minimum distance. It%26#39;s one of NY%26#39;s little luxuries (only avoid if there%26#39;s s much traffic you can walk faster...)
Re: Statue of Liberty/Ellis Island - many prefer Ellis Island to SOL because there is much more to see/do. SOL offers, basically, the lower inside of the statue. Ellis offers a wonderful museum dedicated to immigration. You will see info on Irish immigrants as well as many many other places.
What%26#39; s Dave %26amp; Busters? Never heard of it... Oh I just checked it online. Chain. Looks eminently average. You can do better unless all you want is a burger/fries.
Columbus Circle/picnic food - I guess you mean the Whole Foods market in Time Warner Bldg. Great place - but expect long lines (they move quickly tho)
Mexican food - don%26#39;t expect much. This is not California or Southwest.
Max Brenner%26#39;s for dinner? The chocolate place? I never knew they had dinner. If that is it, it is overrated - you probably want a ';real'; restaurant. (You can always stop in for ';dessert';).
If you tell us what you like to eat, we%26#39;ll have alternatives for you...
Anyway, so far, so good, keep it loose.
Itinerary - Is this realistic?
I have some suggestions: Don%26#39;t go to Dave and Buster%26#39;s - near Times Square go to Carmines, Tony di Napoli or someplace on Restaurant Row, but not a chain. I%26#39;m not sure Cafe Wha is actually a restaurant - check it out though. There are lots of good places to eat in NYC - try Supper in the East Village, Peasant on Elizabeth, La Mela in Little Italy (touristy but fun. A fun mexican place is Tortilla Flats - very not fancy but good. Loud, so don%26#39;t go for a romantic night. There are so many good places in the Village - try the Spotted Pig%26#39;s gnudi or hamburger, Cuba for cuban food, if you are near Bloomies. I have a lot of places if you want to let me know I can give you more suggestions.
Coney Island is a little run down - you may be disappointed. I would not have street vendor food before getting on a plane - try it another day but sometimes it can be hard on the stomach - I don%26#39;t eat meat but I know others who find it a little heavy - but they say it%26#39;s delicious, especially the vendor on 6th avenue and betwen 50th and 53rd - not sure exactly. Have a great time!!
To clarify, I meant to say near Bloomies you might want to try Serendipity 3 for ice cream.
Thanks for your responses!
We are actually keen on going to Dave and Busters because of the arcade games. We don%26#39;t have them here in N.Ireland. We definitely want to check out Times Sq/Broadway on the first night (it%26#39;s my first time in NYC, my friends second) and it seems better than going to TGIs/Planet Holywood. But suggestions of any other similar restaurants would be very welcome!!
Maxx Brenner does real food as well as dessert. The reviews seems to suggest that their main courses aren%26#39;t great so it might be an idea just to go there for dessert as we really are only going there for the dessert! Do you have any suggestions of places in the same area? Anywhere a bit quirky would be especially good.
How long would a trip to Coney Island take? If you had one day to see one part of Brooklyn - either Coney Island or Williamsburg (as it seems might be our dilemma) which would you recommend?
I will check out the restaurants you listed e61st - Thanks! We like most foods and are pretty open minded - I guess suggestions for Pizza, Tacos, Indian, and just American really. We need to find a good lunch place in either Chinatown or Little Italy.
Thanks!
When you go to Coney Island, get of at the Brighton Beach subway stop two stations before. Brighton Beach is also known as Little Odessa, and is an interesting neighborhood to visit. It is as if you have left the country. Russian is the language in the street and on the signs.
From Brighton Beach, hit the boardwalk and make a right turn. It%26#39;s about a 15 minute walk to Coney Island. Coney Island is currently in a transitional phase, but you can still ride the Cyclone and the Wonder Wheel, and you can still get a good hot dog at Nathans.
Williamsburg is a great neighborhood to visit, and is very accessable from Manhattan. Just take the L train at 14th Street and head one stop into Brooklyn [Bedford Avenue]. This is an area best visited after dark, and is chock full of restaurants, pubs and cool stores.
Hope this answers your Brooklyn questions.
Forgot about the second part of your question. I would hit Chinatown and avoid Little Italy. The Italians who made Little Italy a vibrant neighborhood have long moved on, leaving their restaurants behind - essentially for tourists. On the other hand, Chinatown continues to grow.
Here are two suggestions. For a nice space with well prepared food, I like Amazing 66 at 66 Mott Street. Some of the best prepared salmon I ever ate. For a cheaper meal in a somewhat divier setting, hit the Excellent Dumpling House on Lafayette Street. MMMMMMM dumplings.
For dessert you have two excellent choices. The first is the Chinatown Ice Cream Factory on Bayard Street. http://www.chinatownicecreamfactory.com/. The second is the Dragonland Bakery at the intersection of Walker and Baxter near Canal.
Day 3 you say your are having breakfast and then going to TKTS. Note they open at 10AM BUT being first doesn%26#39;t guarantee the best selection. They always open with some inventory and as it gets closer to show time they sometimes get additional shows. What are you hoping to see?
Thanks Mel - Those suggestions are really helpful.
Perhaps it would be a good idea for us to venture out to Williamsburg the night we were kind of at a loss and tentatively planning the cinema! It seems that Bedford Avenue in Williamsburg is the place to be, right?
rdglady - We aren%26#39;t really decided! Hear good things about the Lion King and Shrek but I think both shows aren%26#39;t often discounted! If we go off-broadway, we wouldn%26#39;t mind seeing %26#39;my first time%26#39; - but need to do some more research!
But the reason breakfast isn%26#39;t scheduled is that we have a kitchenette at our hotel so some days we might just grab a cereal bar or something before heading out - plus we aren%26#39;t sure we will have huge appetites in the heat!!
Glad you are reducing Max Brenner (you can also just walk in, look around, go to take out counter and grab a few chocolates to munch on the street.
Bklyn: the Brooklyn Bridge walk is a good one. One advantage of Coney Island, run down as it is, is that the ride out F or Q train to get a ';rooftop'; view of Brooklyn, since these become elevated trains in mid-Brooklyn. The ride to Coney Island takes an hour but if you take different trains, you can see Bklyn. But if your time is short, stay closer to Manhattan
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