New York In 3 Days
I'm a west coast girl who had never been to NewYork until this last fall when I got to spend 3 days exploring Manhattan. Really it was 1/2 a Friday, Saturday, Sunday and 1/2 Monday. I love the energy of cities but I have to be honest, the thought of going to NYC added some anxiety. So for those of you in that same place of fear of being overwhelmed by the thought of NYC I'm here to tell you that is was truly the best experience and not scary at all.
There are literally so many things to see and do and with the limited time we had to make the most of it. Thankfully the city doesn't really sleep so we took advantage of late nights. With some prior online searching, we found options for a City pass & the Sight Seeing Pass. Both of those options are good to get you into a lot of attractions for far less than if you purchased separately. We chose about 6 attractions which included a trip on the open city bus exploring uptown and downtown, which took forever, but was nice to rest our feet and see where we wanted to return to. I could write a whole separate blog about annoyances of the Sight Seeing Pass and the small print, but we were able to get our monies worth and one of the choices was a shuttle back to the Airport.
As for getting around, there are many options. We found the subways were the easiest and quickest to get through the city. When our feet were too tired of walking and we wanted to get somewhere quick we'd hop on one of the blue city bikes. It's easy to download the app, rent a bike and leave it at numerous bike drop-offs. I'd say by far this was the most fun way to see the city and neighborhoods quickly. The bikes were super easy to use and there's nothing like riding through NYC, wind blowing in your hair, with the Big Apple as the back drop for super amazing fun pictures.
We packed so much in 3 days so planning how to see the most in one section is important and not lingering too long in one spot. For instance, we like museums but we are not going to spend 6 hours reading everything in the Natural History Museum. Thankfully both of us were on equal tolerance for when we had seen enough. We knew this trip was about seeing as much as we could in a short time, and eating as much pizza as we could along the way. We found some amazing little pizza places and our favorite on the corner near our hotel. We felt like regulars by day 3 and even had a nice visit with the owner who was more than happy to tell us everything about the history of the shop. Our second favorite pizza shop was near the 911 Memorial. The next time we go, we definitely have to see a Broadway show, visit the Met, boat around the Statue of Liberty, SOHO and other off the beaten path neighborhoods.
Journal:
Great day 1 in NYC we logged 10.2 miles and 22,481 steps and our feet hurt so bad!! Pics are top of the rock, Rockefeller center, Times Square, Hershey store, and empty sky memorial on New Jersey side. We ate our first NY Pizza at Fluffys 😍
Day 2 Historical museum, walk through Central Park, biking 🚴♀️ through the city.. so fun, more pizza, ride in the double decker which was great but so cold, 911 memorial which I completely burst into tears which was unexpected for us both , 911 museum was so well done, subway back.. and now to a comedy club.
Day#3 We are so tired we walked 11.8 miles today!! Even with riding the sub and bikes. Run/walk in Central Park, brunch In Greenwich, financial district, biked over Brooklyn bridge, Brooklyn Flea market, Chelsea market and high line park. SOOOO tired!!
Here's the list of what we did:
Chelsea Market
Brooklyn Bridge & Brooklyn Flea
Financial District
Greenwich Village
World Trade Center Memorial
Rockefeller Center Top of the Rock
Central Park
American Museum of Natural History
The Highline
Comedy Show
Open Air Bus Tours
The Today Show
Times Square
Citibikes
Hotel: Hudson New York This swanky little hotel gave us a great deal through Hotels.com and was in a great location to central park and other hot spots. Right across from CNN and a quick block to the subway. The rooms looked a little bigger online but the price was great. Not a ton of extras in the room and the bathroom was just okay. The perks of the hotel was the general lobby vibe and the fantastic restaurant and bar where the sliders and fries were amazing!
There are literally so many things to see and do and with the limited time we had to make the most of it. Thankfully the city doesn't really sleep so we took advantage of late nights. With some prior online searching, we found options for a City pass & the Sight Seeing Pass. Both of those options are good to get you into a lot of attractions for far less than if you purchased separately. We chose about 6 attractions which included a trip on the open city bus exploring uptown and downtown, which took forever, but was nice to rest our feet and see where we wanted to return to. I could write a whole separate blog about annoyances of the Sight Seeing Pass and the small print, but we were able to get our monies worth and one of the choices was a shuttle back to the Airport.
As for getting around, there are many options. We found the subways were the easiest and quickest to get through the city. When our feet were too tired of walking and we wanted to get somewhere quick we'd hop on one of the blue city bikes. It's easy to download the app, rent a bike and leave it at numerous bike drop-offs. I'd say by far this was the most fun way to see the city and neighborhoods quickly. The bikes were super easy to use and there's nothing like riding through NYC, wind blowing in your hair, with the Big Apple as the back drop for super amazing fun pictures.
We packed so much in 3 days so planning how to see the most in one section is important and not lingering too long in one spot. For instance, we like museums but we are not going to spend 6 hours reading everything in the Natural History Museum. Thankfully both of us were on equal tolerance for when we had seen enough. We knew this trip was about seeing as much as we could in a short time, and eating as much pizza as we could along the way. We found some amazing little pizza places and our favorite on the corner near our hotel. We felt like regulars by day 3 and even had a nice visit with the owner who was more than happy to tell us everything about the history of the shop. Our second favorite pizza shop was near the 911 Memorial. The next time we go, we definitely have to see a Broadway show, visit the Met, boat around the Statue of Liberty, SOHO and other off the beaten path neighborhoods.
Journal:
Great day 1 in NYC we logged 10.2 miles and 22,481 steps and our feet hurt so bad!! Pics are top of the rock, Rockefeller center, Times Square, Hershey store, and empty sky memorial on New Jersey side. We ate our first NY Pizza at Fluffys 😍
Day 2 Historical museum, walk through Central Park, biking 🚴♀️ through the city.. so fun, more pizza, ride in the double decker which was great but so cold, 911 memorial which I completely burst into tears which was unexpected for us both , 911 museum was so well done, subway back.. and now to a comedy club.
Day#3 We are so tired we walked 11.8 miles today!! Even with riding the sub and bikes. Run/walk in Central Park, brunch In Greenwich, financial district, biked over Brooklyn bridge, Brooklyn Flea market, Chelsea market and high line park. SOOOO tired!!
Here's the list of what we did:
Chelsea Market
Brooklyn Bridge & Brooklyn Flea
Financial District
Greenwich Village
World Trade Center Memorial
Rockefeller Center Top of the Rock
Central Park
American Museum of Natural History
The Highline
Comedy Show
Open Air Bus Tours
The Today Show
Times Square
Citibikes
Hotel: Hudson New York This swanky little hotel gave us a great deal through Hotels.com and was in a great location to central park and other hot spots. Right across from CNN and a quick block to the subway. The rooms looked a little bigger online but the price was great. Not a ton of extras in the room and the bathroom was just okay. The perks of the hotel was the general lobby vibe and the fantastic restaurant and bar where the sliders and fries were amazing!
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| Central Park |
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| Washington Square Park |
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| Financial District |