New York City has been on my bucket list for quite some time. I did a lot of research before going and had a huge list of places to see, eat and things to do. Some of the things on my list I never got to and thats OK cause I plan on visiting this incredible city again soon. I feel like I learned a lot from my first visit to New York so I want to share it with you so you are ready for your first visit. Okay here we go, I tried to be as detailed as possible and give you as many tips as I can.
This blog post is all bout New York City
PLACES TO SEE YOUR FIRST TIME:
911 MEMORIAL: Kinda had mixed feelings about going here but figured it was something I needed to see. I am sure everyone remembers where they were and what they were doing on 911. The memorial was incredible, they did such a good job at paying tribute to all that lost their lives and all that were effected. You can visit the memorial without doing the museum, the 2 pools signifying where the 2 towers stood are outdoors and can be viewed for free. If you choose to go to the museum there is a fee for a ticket and I have to say it is very extensive. We spent a couple hours in there exposing but you could easily spend an entire day there.
TIP: Visit on a weekday and purchase your ticket online to save you time. You will skip the line for purchasing tickets and go directly inside the museum.
BROOKLYN BRIDGE:
It started raining when we started walking to the bridge and we almost decided not to go, but I am so happy that we did. We pretty much had the bridge to ourselves. Definitely do take the time to walk this bridge, the views of the city are super great and forget to snap some great pics of this iconic New York City landmark. I wish we walked all the way across to Brooklyn but the rain was coming down so hard we decided to just walk to the midpoint. Next time I plan on going across I hear the city views are incredible from that side and also heard there is a great pizza place under the bridge in Brooklyn.
CENTRAL PARK: It is so amazing to see this massive park in the city. Pictures don't really do it justice at all. You can walk through, bike through or even take a carriage ride through the park. I would highly recommend walking it as if you bike you really miss a lot of the picturesque beauty. As you walk through there are so many great picture spots and you will see so many places where that you will recognize from various movies.
TIP: Make sure you get a map before you enter, there are so many winding trails you could easily get lost, and be in that park all day. Also make sure you wear comfy shoes and layers, it can get hot as you walk though.
METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART: I made a point of visiting this place, it is just outside of Central Park on the upper east side and we walked through the park to get there. This is a great activity to do when it is raining outside. We spend about 4 hours in here and did not even go through the entire place. I have never seen this many artifacts in one place.
TOP OF THE ROCK: We went back and forth about doing this VS The Empire State Building but after reading many reviews we decided on this for a couple of reasons. One it was the only way to have the empire state building in the photos and the view was much better as there is glass railings as appose to the mesh wired ones on the empire state building.
TIP: Book a time and your tickets online before you head out.Sometimes when you get there the tickets they are selling could be at a time that is a few hours away and then you are sticking around wasting time waiting.
TIME SQUARE: This is a iconic place to visit. Be sire to visit at night and during the day. We stayed about 10 minute walk away so we visited several times The shopping is so great, even though there are stores you may have at home I found there were items there that my store did not carry. There are so many restaurants to choose from you have pretty much everything there, casual or fine dining.
BROADWAY SHOWS: I am a huge theatre buff and New York has been on my bucket list because of the renowned shows, we saw a show every night and they did not disappoint. We saw Mean Girls, Waitress, dear Even Hansen, and Friends. All were so great but I have to say there is a huge difference between broadway and off broadway which is what Friends was.
TIP: Take the time to research the shows before you arrive and book your tickets online months before, they sell
out fast.
PLACES TO STAY:
We decided for the first time in New York we wanted to stay close to Time Square and Central Park and so we decided on Park Central Hotel. It was about a 10 minute walk to Time Square and about the same to Central Park. We loved being able to walk to both. It was also located close the all the different theatres so it made it easier to go back to our hotel and freshen up before dinner and our show. Since this time we did all the tourist things I think I would like to stay is either Soho or closer to downtown area where it is more quiet.
GETTING AROUND NEW YORK CITY:
Obviously Uber is always a great way to get around and we did use it, however New York is a walking city and I highly recommend doing it that way. it is the best way to see the city, you never know who you will run into. The Subway system is also great, don't be afraid to get on and explore the google maps app is actually great for letting you know what train to get on and and where to get off, I found it super easy, fast and convenient.
There is honestly so much to share with you guys, I am going to do a separate post on places to eat as well as my top 10 tips for visiting for the first time. If there is something you would like to know please leave me a comment and I will try to include it in my future posts about New York....
This post was all about New York City.