What To Do In NYC
‘ What to do in NYC ‘, well, perhaps there’s too much to do.
New York is big.
So big I don’t think our short trip could have ever truly done it justice; but that didn’t stop us from trying!
My top travel tip would be to bring comfortable walking shoes/trainers as you will inevitably get a LOT of steps in.
There are surprising amount of cheap flights to New York these days so keep an eye out, do your research and try to be a bit flexible on dates for the best bargains.
We arrived on Friday night after a comfortable flight with plenty of films and got quickly set up at our hostel in Chelsea.
We opted for location thinking we wouldn’t be spending too much time in the room as there was so much exploring to do. True to that sentiment, we were back out within 15 minutes of dropping off our bags to meet some friends in Greenwich. Highlights were the Stonewall Inn and Duplex. Stonewall for a bit of LGBTQ history and Duplex for some cheesy piano sing-a-longs to accompany our cocktails.
So our trip started off with a bang and a mild, inevitable hangover the next day, which we quickly shook off; too much to see – too much on our What To Do In NYC list!
A good little routine I got into was waking up a bit early and picking a different unique coffee shop each morning to have breakfast and people watch whilst coming up with a plan for the day. If it was a morning after a bit of drinking I would opt for another coffee to go and go on a stroll around the block.
New York isn’t short on coffee shops so it was easy to go to an independent every time, avoiding Starbucks.
Unfortunately it was a bad day for weather that afternoon, so we missed most of the good weather during breakfast. Still we went on an amble in our anoraks to further get our bearings via the Flatiron building, Empire State building and the High line before ending up in the Chelsea Market to take shelter from the worst of the weather.
The High Line is an old elevated train track that has been converted into a park scattered with wall art and sculptures – we highly recommend it as a cheap and pleasant activity!
We went to Hell’s Kitchen that evening for dinner and drinks.
Sam, who was in San Francisco at the time, dropped me a message to say that Alcatraz was exactly the same as a level on a Playstation game (Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 4) and I thought it was funny that I was thinking New York is exactly the same as Spiderman 2 – another playstation game we used to play!
The next day we did a bit more local exploring around Chelsea before getting ready for an 11 mile run around Central Park.
It’s a little tradition of mine to do a big run when I’m on holiday – to get a feel for the place and also reduce the guilt from the amount of eating and drinking that always happens!
That night we had a classy drink at the Copper Still (a friendly and up market Irish pub) before going to a Hocus Pocus themed drag show at Rebar in Chelsea. The New York Drag scene is world famous and I would argue going to a show is a must-do activity – there are that many to choose from.
The following day required a bit of a lie in to recover from an excellent evening then a hearty meal at the Meatball Shop before going to see a show on broadway – Dear Evan Hanson.
One of the newer musicals but utterly fantastic with a brilliant soundtrack and an emotional story.
Although expensive, trying to see a show feels like another must do activity in New York.
A cheaper option is to try for rush tickets each morning to be entered into a lottery for shows that evening, but you’ll have to be lucky.
The day after this we made plans to go and see some friends up in Long Island, which is only an hour and a half train ride (the same as Manchester to London). It was great to get out of the city and see some leafy autumn countryside and stroll along some beaches. It was good to remind ourselves that New York is more than just New York City.
The next morning was our last day so we thought we’d tick off some of the big things we hadn’t seen; Wall Street, Ground Zero, Brooklyn Bridge and the Statue of Liberty.
So as you can see when thinking about what to do in NYC you have an endless amount of options. Hopefully this post has been helpful for you, maybe inspired a trip to NYC or allowed you the opportunity to relive some of your own memories.
Either way, thank you for taking the time to read this – I shall see you next time!
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