New York was somewhere high up on my bucket list, it always had been. We had originally planned to visit for my 30th birthday, but having a three month old baby at the time, it wasn’t practical, so we booked for my 31st birthday instead. We went for 3 nights, and knowing we didn’t have a huge amount of time (or an endless pot of money) I did so much research, reading blogs, watching vlogs, looking up places on Trip Advisor, and overall we were pleased with the choices we made. It is a huge city, and by creating an itinerary, and knowing what we were doing on each day we saved a lot of time instead of aimlessly walking around looking for somewhere to eat, or something to do. It made sense to make a geographical plan too so we weren’t going backwards and forwards, from one end of the city to the other. There is still so much we didn’t get chance to see, so we will certainly have to go back at some point!
Getting there
We flew from London Heathrow direct to JFK, with Virgin Atlantic. It was my first long haul flight so I have nothing to compare it to, but I thought they were a great airline to fly with. A huge array of entertainment to choose from and what felt like an endless stream of food and drink! Gin and lemonade and pretzels at 9:30am isn’t my usual but it was my birthday! We then had a lunch, and later on an afternoon tea box. As we flew on my birthday, the crew brought my husband and I a glass of champagne each, as well as a birthday card signed by all the crew – a really nice touch. They also sent me on my way with a bottle of prosecco to enjoy in New York. We had been warned to expect customs at JFK to take an eternity but they really didn’t and we were on our way into the city in what felt like no time. We booked mini bus transfers with our travel agent which made life a lot easier here.
Where to stay
We stayed at the Kixby Hotel (formerly known as Hotel Metro) on 35th Street – just one block away from the Empire State building and just down from Macy’s. Our room was surprisingly large with a massive window with an amazing view of the Empire State Building. The hotel had a large roof terrace, again with views of the Empire State Building. In the summer the roof terrace has a bar called The Lookup and is quite lively, but this is seasonal and wasn’t open in February when we visited. The hotel was so conveniently located with a subway station right at the end of the street, just a few blocks from Times Square. I would choose to stay there again in a heartbeat.
Food
Is it wrong that the food was possibly the best bit of the break for me…more specifically, the breakfasts.
Andrews Coffee Shop – Pancakes, French Toast, Eggs, Sausage, Bacon and the most incredible banana nut muffins, their warmth showing how fresh they were. I could eat it all again right now! I’ve no idea how American’s make their French Toast so wonderful but it truly is one of the best things I’ve ever had!
Stage Door Deli – This place is great if you are visiting the 9/11 museum and memorial. It’s right across the street, in fact on 9/11 the deli was used for the firefighters to take shelter. Again, we had pancakes, French toast, eggs, bacon and brisket. Not sure I would order anything else for breakfast in New York as this was just our favourite thing we ate out there!
Black Tap – This restaurant specialises in burgers, and milkshakes! It was next door to our hotel and we chose it for convenience in our hangry and jetlagged state on our first night but we were really pleasantly surprised, we enjoyed the burgers here tremendously.
Dollar Pizza – I have to mention dollar pizza! Surely this is a must do when in New York! We tried it on our first venture out into the city as we were ravenous. Truthfully, it was clear to see why it was only a dollar! I think next time I’d “splash out” and spend a few more dollars on a better snack!
Shake Shack – I maybe shouldn’t include fast food, but I cant forget about Shake Shack…like literally can’t forget...I want it every day! The day we visited the 9/11 Museum and memorial and the One World Trade tower and observatory was a very long day, both on our feet and emotionally, and we couldn’t face the thought of going out for dinner, so on the way back to our room we stopped off and grabbed burgers and fries from Shake Shack. The food was probably the best fast food I have ever had in my life! We don’t have anything comparable in England
(that I’m aware of, please let me know if you’ve found anything that compares!) so I would highly recommend if you have a “tired feet” evening, to check Shake Shack out. We enjoyed it so much in fact that when I realised they had a Shake Shack in JFK airport I did a little happy dance!
Street Food Carts – These are literally on every street corner, but we didn’t get chance to try too many. Word of warning though, the vendors seem to see tourists coming - confirm a price before making your purchase or they seem to make it up as they go along and completely over charge.
Things to do
There are literally thousands of things to do in New York City, and we just scratched the surface! Here are the things we managed to squeeze in.
Hop on Hop off bus – I highly recommend this, we definitely got our moneys worth. We used it as transport as much as anything, it was a slower way to get around but we saw so much by doing it this way. If you can get to the front of the queue, and get to the front of the bus you will get the best view. It is chilly though if you are there in winter so make sure you wrap up warm!
Chelsea Market – Located in New York’s meatpacking district, this little market is so cute and quaint, a really nice place to visit to see what is on offer. It was nice to find somewhere that wasn’t too touristy too. There are lots of small “Etsy” style shops, as well as an abundance of places to eat. We chose to eat tacos from Los Tacos No.1 which were just like mouthfuls of heaven!
The High Line – The High Line is an elevated park, created on a disused railway line. Whilst classed as a park it really is more of a “walk”, and is quite a surreal place to visit above the busyness of New York City. Whilst we thought this was really charming, I’m not sure I’d class it as a must-do for a first timer.
Top of the Rock – We debated long and hard about whether to visit Top of The Rock at the Rockefeller Centre, or the Empire State Building, but decided to go for TOTR as you get the views of the New York Skyline, with the iconic Empire State Building in view, and you also get a good view of Central Park to the North. We visited at 2pm on a clear day, it wasn’t overly busy and the views went on for miles. A viewing tower is essential when visiting New York, it really gives a good perspective of the size and scale of the city.
Times Square – I have to say, this was my least favourite part of our trip. I found Times Square to be very underwhelming. We visited twice, once at mid-afternoon, when it was just extremely busy, and the next day very early in the morning. My advice is if you do want to see Times Square go very early before it gets busy, take your photos, and get out of there!
9/11 Memorial – I feel that if you are visiting New York, you should visit the 9/11 Memorial. Two large pools with waterfalls have been created in the footprint of the Twin Towers, honouring the 2,977 people killed in the terror attacks on 11th September 2001, as well as those killed in the terrorist attack in 1993. It is a very overwhelming place to visit, but also very surreal. Whilst you are there you can’t escape the thoughts of the horror of that awful day in 2001, but at the same time it is such a calm and peaceful place to visit. We took an early subway and got to the memorial at about 8am which is something I cannot recommend enough. We were almost the only people there which really enabled us to take our time without the memorial feeling like a tourist attraction (which it did when we passed by later in the day - people taking selfies doesn’t feel right at a site where so many people have their final resting place) We did also visit much later in the day, around 6:30pm, to see the memorial lit up at night. I would recommend doing both if you can, as this was a totally different experience, and the pools lit up are beautiful. There is a tree at the memorial – the Survivor Tree – which is quite remarkable, it survived the attacks and the collapse of the towers and is still there now. Each year, seedlings from this tree are given to three communities that have endured tragedies in recent years.
9/11 Museum – The National September 11th Museum is located right by, and beneath the 9/11 memorial pools. It is without a doubt the best museum I have ever visited and I would recommend it to everyone visiting New York. I won’t discuss the content of the museum too much as its something that really needs to be seen, however I will give a few recommendations. There is a cloakroom where you can check you coats in. I would recommend this, as you will be in the museum quite a while, and we found it a lot more comfortable to be without our coats and bags. There is an app which I suggest you download on your phone before you go called the 9/11 Memorial Audio Guide. This is a complete guide to the museum and is really worthwhile. Downloading before you go means you wont have any data issues whilst in the museum. It really is worth setting aside at least half a day for the museum. In fact, I could have spent a lot longer there. It is vast, interesting, informative and incredibly sad.
One World Observatory – This is the second observation tower we did in New York and definitely my favourite. The whole experience is incredible – even the lift ride is exciting and a show in itself – it climbs 102 stories in 47 seconds. We visited just before sunset, so we could watch the sun set from the viewpoint and see the city in daylight and at night. The major advantage of this tower, especially in the winter, is that it is completely indoor, meaning it is warm and you can spend a lot longer there – we were there for around an hour and a half. The views are out of this world. You can see for miles. Sunset is definitely the time to go, seeing the city in day and night is amazing, and completely contrasting. There is a gift shop and a restaurant but we didn’t check these out.
Staten Island Ferry – We were told this was the best way to see the Statue of Liberty. In truth, it doesn’t get close, and in winter it is Baltic which makes it difficult to be on the deck, and not a lot can be seen from inside the ferry. Truthfully we felt this was a bit of a waste of our precious time in the City.
Dumbo – Dumbo is an acronym, standing for “Down under the Manhattan Bridge overpass”. It is an area of Brooklyn beneath and between the Brooklyn Bridge and the Manhattan Bridge. There is a very famous photo spot which people head this way to get, of the Manhattan Bridge perfectly framed by the apartment buildings either side of the street, and with the Empire State Building in the background. This can be found on Washington Street. This is another spot we headed to early in the morning, which is advisable to beat the crowds. To reach Brooklyn, we took the NYC Ferry which departs from East 34th Street, which we were able to walk to from our hotel. This is a ferry I would highly recommend! The views back towards the city were exquisite. The ferry only cost $2.75 as its main purpose is as public transport for the locals. This is a far better option than taking the subway!
Jetlag – I wanted to mention jetlag, and how I found it, having never flown long hall or experienced it before. Before we went, we had a lot of people say to stay up on the first night until a normal bedtime New York time, which would help us adjust for the time we were there. By about 8pm, I was dead on my feet, and I knew I wouldn’t stay awake much longer. Having been awake 20 hours, lets just say I wasn’t good company! We caved, and went to bed by around 8:30pm! I slept like a baby…and predictably, woke up at about 5am! However, this worked out to be the best thing for us! We were showered, up and ready for the day by 6am, and by 6:15am we were heading out for breakfast. This really allowed us to get ahead with the day, and we spent the next few days having early nights and early mornings. We were totally ahead of the crowds, and being out in the city so early meant we made the most of our days. So I would definitely say its not essential to stay up to avoid jetlag!
Summary
What an incredible city, but huge. Assess what you want to do whilst you're there, and then work out which bits you don't mind missing! I'm fairly sure you wont have time to do it all!
My top tip! Take comfortable shoes!
If you have any further questions about travelling to New York please do not hesitate to get in touch.
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