NYC - City guide for a long weekend in the Big Apple
- anna
- Nov 18, 2018
- 8 min read
Last May me and Francesco went to NYC for long Bank Holiday weekend.
Sharing a few suggestions on what to see in 5 days and good restaurants/ bars to visit.
Despite living in London, which is already quite a big city, I really like New York, especially because, differently from London, it is always active, 24/7. When walking around the streets of New York you can really feel a different vibe and energy at whatever hours of the day.
Also, in Spring/ Summer time there is a very good weather and there is a lot happening open air, which is something that I find less common in London.
All in all both London and NYC have their peculiarities that make them unique... I hope this guide will help you a bit in navigating the NYC jungle and get the most from this amazing city!
Day 1 - Arrive in NYC, stroll around Times Square and Chelsea
We decided to leave from London pretty early in the morning, in order to leverage the arrival day to explore New York. We were lucky enough that our British Airways flight arrived on time (around NY lunchtime), so we settled in our hotel in Times Square and decide to go for a walk in the surrounding.
We have really been lucky with the weather in this trip, almost every day it has been super sunny and warm (28-30 degrees), which means we walked a lot avoiding when possible public transports to enjoy the city and the weather.
Having said that, we decided to walk around and at a certain point we arrived in Chelsea, a very nice and quite posh part of NYC. There are 2 things you should absolutely see there:
1- The Highline: a ~3 km long elevated park, which used to be an abandoned rail trail and in 2009 (the first time I have been to NYC in 2008 It was not there!) was converted in this urban modern green walk. The walk is really amazing, with a very good view of NYC, bars along the way and lots of people chilling out and sunbathing. It is really worth the visit!
2- Chelsea Market: a food (but not only) market, which is really huge and varied, having both shops and restaurants inside.
When walking down the Highline, we decided to stop for a drink with an (amazing) view at The Standard at the Highline, one famous rooftop in NYC. The place is very cool, but we had to cue for at least 30 min to get a drink. All in all worth the visit though.
Finally (especially because we were still with London time zone), it was time to eat.
The first night we stayed in Chelsea, eating at Seamore's, a laid back seafood restaurant which was pretty good for the price we ended up paying (~$50-60 p.p. for a starter to share, a main with sides and beers).
Day 2 - Grand Central, Empire State Building, Little Italy and China Town and Brooklyn Bridge
This was probably the most productive day ... we really walked a lot and saw a lot of spots and places by going from Times Square to Brooklyn walking. With the amazing weather we found, it was really worth it!
As first stop of our hectic day we did Rockefeller Plaza and Grand Central Station, which is one of the biggest stations in NYC. Beyond this, it is also very suggestive and well maintained, with the big clock at the entrance being what it is most known for.
From there, we walked down to the Empire State Building and went up to see the 360 degrees NYC skyline. Even if it is a bit touristy, I believe it is worth the visit, especially if the weather is good.
From the Empire State we continued to walk south Manhattan, passing through Soho and Nolita, which are the very cool and hipster parts of Manhattan and then Little Italy and Chinatown, which instead, despite having their attractiveness, look a bit 'fake' and touristy. Being Italian, I can say that this is definitely true for Little Italy and do not suggest to try any restaurant pretending to be Italian there!
Walking and walking we finally reached the south side of Manhattan for a nice walk (again! :)) across Brooklyn Bridge, which I strongly recommend.
Being quite tired and looking for some alcohol to restore our energy, we took an Uber and went back up to Lexington Avenue, were there was a rooftop I wanted to try (Pod 39). Unfortunately the place was super busy and we did not manage to get in, so we opted for a less cool, but still expensive rooftop ... not everything can always go they way we want :)
For dinner we had booked in advanced a Mexican 1 star Michelin restaurant called 'Casa Enrique', in Long Island.
The food was good overall, but I think definitely not deserving a star, as it is a simple, good Mexican restaurants as many others. Also the price was a bit too high for what we ended up eating (a few starters to share - guacamole and crab tostadas - one main each - Francesco quesadillas with mole and a shrimp dish for me), so I believe it is not worth the trip to Long Island.
By the way, in my last visit to NYC for work this October I went to another Mexican place called 'Rosa Mexicano' that I found much better, so suggest to visit this one instead!
Day 3 - Wall Street, Ground Zero, Statue of Liberty, Staten Island and Williamsburg
Another beautiful, sunny and warm day in New York, means a lot of walking around NYC to get as much as possible from this vibrant city! This time we decided to head South with the underground first and explore the area walking then.
First stop: Wall Street, which is worth a visit, especially for people as me and Francesco who work in Financial Services. We walked around to see the iconic New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) and paid a visit to the golden 'Charging Bull' to try to get some luck for this year by touching his balls :))
After having walked around Wall Street, we moved towards Ground Zero, which is pretty close and can be reached walking. Ground Zero is really worth the visit and it is really touching: where there was the basement of the Twin Towers, two huge and black fountains were built with names of people who died in the attack engraved. If I think about it, during my first visit of NYC in 2009 both the Highline and Ground Zero were still under development and now they are 2 iconic symbols of New York; this tells you how fast this city is moving, in some cases shaped by the fast pacing real estate development (as the Highline), in some other ones by less fortunate events (as Ground Zero).
From Ground Zero, we continued moving South in order to get the ferry to see the Statue of Liberty. Unfortunately, there was a really long cue for the normal ferry, so we decided to take the one for Staten Island, which allows you to see the Statue of Liberty during the commute (I do not think it is worth to spend half day to cue to visit the Statue of Liberty!). Once reached Staten Island, we had the not great idea to stop there to visit it, but the place was quite desert and not really charming so we want back to the mainland.
After a nice lunch with a cold beer in sunny Battery Park, we went to one of the NYC areas on our list, pretty popular among the hipster population of New York: Williamsburg.
The place is really hipster and cool, in particular we stopped (for a few hours and beers in reality :)) at a place called 'Diviera Drive', previously a garage and now a bar/ restaurant with a large patio outside and a really cool clientele and vibe.
Time flies when you are having fun, so time for dinner! The place we booked, Sakagura, is one of the oldest sake bars and is very authentic.
The place is located in the basement of a residential building in East Village, but when you enter it looks like a Japanese garden full of Japanese people, which is a good sign.
Food is really delicious, in particular worth trying the soy brushed grilled squid, chilled tofu with ginger, scallions and bonito flakes, maguro tartar and the miso salmon with salmon roe (for the ones who like meat, Francesco really liked his pork belly too). Price was it is not cheap, but for the quality of food it is pretty reasonable (~$70-80 each, tip included).
Day 4 - MoMa and visit to New Jersey
(Not many pictures here, given the weather)
This was the only rainy and cold day of our NY trip, so we can't really complain! Given the rain, we decided to take it a bit more easy, stay a bit more in the hotel gym in the morning to then head to the MoMa for a visit.
MoMa is for sure worth the visit in order to see both the permanent collection and the exhibitions (in our case we saw Stephen Shore, Tarsila Do Amaral).
We stayed in MoMa until lunch, then went walking and shopping in 5th Avenue and we then met with one of Francesco's relatives, who lives in New Jersey and brought us to his place for a family reunion.
This was a funny evening, where we met a lot of the family members and it was surprising how people that are originally from Italy, but born and raised in America, care much more than us Italians about producing their own food (as sausages, passata, limoncello). The sense of belonging to the Italian community is still very strong for these people, which is a fascinating thing.
Day 5 - Central Park, Guggenheim, Dumbo and Chelsea Market for dinner
Last day in NYC before leaving the morning after to London. One of the few attractions we were still missing was Central Park, so decided to head straight towards the park to rent some bikes to visit it.
Central Park is really huge and, even with the bikes, I believe we were able to see just a smallish part of it. However, the visit and bike ride was very enjoyable and relaxing. The get some energy back after the ride, we stopped at the bar in Central Park to get some lunch and a cold beer :)
After we left the bikes, we went to the Guggenheim Museum close by to Central Park, but unfortunately there were major refurbishments ongoing for an exhibition, so we were not able to see much of it.
We decided, therefore, to go back to hipster Brooklyn to explore one other area on our list, Dumbo, another underground area of NY, which sits between Brooklyn Bridge and Manhattan Bridge. The areas is nice, especially to one overlooking the bridges, with a nice waterfront with restaurants and shops.
After a nice walk in Dumbo, we went up to Chelsea to have something to eat in the famous Chelsea Market. While originally we wanted to try the amazing chilled seafood (crab claws, shrimps, oysters ...), we then opted for a sort of gastro pub, which revealed itself a pretty good and filling choice. My Asian Salmon salad was very tasty and also Francesco's burger with sweet potato fries was good.
After dinner we walked back to the hotel, passing from Times Square for a last view of the 24/7 shining lights of this amazing city.
Day 6 - Back to London
Not much to say here: bright and early wake up to take the flight back to London, but after having had an amazing time in NYC :)
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