New york city travel tips

Misc Tips

• I recommend booking flights snd hotel separate vs together as its more expensive booking together (tried to tell my family that but they didn’t listen) it ended up being over $1000 just for the flights alone.. yeah not impressed about that. If we booked it separate the flights would’ve been $850ish

• I think midtown is a great place to stay, we stayed in the Hyatt grand central. Perfect location! Beds were small and sucked though. 

• Go to trader joes or grocery store of your choice and get a bunch of snacks as well as get yogurt cups/ granola/ smoothies for breakfast it will save you a lot of money if you’re trying to travel on a budget.

Food + Drink Suggestions 

• Joes pizza! I feel like the one in downtown Manhattan is less busy then Times Square, I would have liked to go to that one but my family voted for Times Square

• Valerie restaurant! We only ate at a restaurant once because of how incredibly expensive it is especially with currency exchange for 4 of us it ended up being $300ish CAD

• Just salad, like a subway for salads and reasonably priced as well! 10/10

• Trader joes for snacks and yogurt cups + granola for breakfast

• Katz deli, From the movie when harry met sally. Classic for sandwiches.

• Ralphs coffee shop on Madison avenue , the cutest coffee shop i’ve been to

Transportation

• You have 4 options when arriving at the airport you can Take the train or take a taxi, get a personal driver or take an uber. All are great their transit system is amazing in my opinion and its the most cost friendly however if you’re training it with luggage there is lots of stairs so beware. We ended up taking a taxi

• Travelling within the city id opt for the metro and buy a metro card for the week as well as walking over taxis or Ubers. That will drain your bank account real quick and plus there is so many nice things to see while walking and the metro is fast and efficient just make sure to bring hand sanitizer. There’s also officers in the metro stations to help you with direction and to monitor everything.

 Things to do

• Statue of liberty (duh!) you can take the Staten Island ferry for free and it’ll go around it or you can take statue city cruises and it takes you straight to ellis island, that you have to pay for though! We actually ended up not going on either and just seeing the Statue of Liberty from the ferry docs. next time im going though!!

• Times Square, just to say you’ve done it. Way nicer at night and if im being honest superrrr touristy and expensive avoid eating or buying anything in Times Square 

• Walk or bike in Central Park , let me tell you though these bike paths are literal roads to bike on. Its not a nice scenery bike ride is the most intense workout you’ll ever get so if you aren’t looking for that id opt for walking over biking and plus its free

• Sooo many museums to visit, I didn’t get to go to any as my family doesnt really like that stuff but it’s def on my bucket list . Love love museums 

• New York City public library!! Too beautiful inside and is kind of like a museum mixed with a library in a way and its doesnt cost anything

• Bryant park, getting your morning coffee/tea and sitting in the sun in Bryant park is a must

• Visit places your fave movies/tv shows were filmed

• Brooklyn bridge!!! Ive heard sunrise/sunset walk is amazing I wish we would’ve done that, again its something you just have to do if you’re visiting

• Yankees game, the tickets are quite reasonably priced and even if you arent a sports person its fun

• The met steps especially if you’re a gossip girl fan

•  Shopping on 5th ave and Madison Ave (even if its window shopping) the victorias secret shop is crazy insane 

• Also shopping in SOHO

• Observation deck, we forgot to book the ticket still it was too late so make sure to book them online in advance!

Places to avoid

Overall I felt really safe there, I will say some of the more sketchy areas were;

• The bronx

• Lower east side (Katz deli is there that’s the only reason we went)

• Times Square Friday night/weekends

• China town

This is what I have for you, I hope this helped you and that you have a magical trip xoxo