What to see in New York by neighbourhood

What to see in New York by neighbourhood

As we mentioned in the preparations for the trip to New York at Easter, planning what to see in New York is not always an easy task, if not quite the opposite. That was the main reason why we decided to write an extra post on this trip to New York to explain the itinerary, more or less detailed with all the places to see in New York by neighbourhoods.
The first thing to do is to get used to and identify the different neighbourhoods in Manhattan, the Bronx, Brooklyn, Queens and Staten Island, places that we will also get to know during these days, although to a lesser extent.

The day of our arrival in New York, given that we will land at JFK at noon and we have booked the New York Knicks - Chicago Bulls game at Madison Square Garden at 19:30 in the afternoon, we will dedicate it to this first contact with the city, taking the opportunity to enjoy the surroundings of the Holiday Inn New York City - Times Square, which will be our hotel in New York, located just 3 minutes walk from the most central area of the city.

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Day 2 - March 25th - Friday
(Morning) The second day of our trip to New York we will start by walking through a part of Midtown, approaching again Times Square, to have that early morning view that will allow us to take a few minutes to take some pictures without too many people, following Broadway until we get to NYC & Company where we will pick up our New York City Company where we will pick up our New York CityPASS and follow the route to the Upper West Side, passing by Hearst Tower, Columbus Circle, to then enter Central Park, to visit the Strawberry Fiedls area, the memorial to John Lennon and get to what will be one of the icing on the cake of the day, the Museum of Natural History, where we will spend the rest of the morning and one of the 10 best free things to do in New York.
Another good option to save time and money if you don't have a CityPASS is to book the New York Explorer Pass with free entry to 3, 4, 5, 7 or 10 of the city's top attractions, or book the New York Pass with entry to over 100 New York attractions, skipping the long lines with both passes.
You can find more information in this post about the New York Pass, in this post about the New York Explorer Pass and in this post about the New York CityPASS.

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Upper West Side Restaurants

Gray's Papaya: The best hotdog in New York
Levain Bakery: The best cookies for the best dessert.

(afternoon) After lunch, our tour will take us through Lincoln Center, back towards Midtown and then on to St. Patrick's Cathedral, open every day of the week. After lunch, we will go to St. Patrick's Cathedral, open every day from 6:30am to 8:45pm
After this visit, we will go to a symbol of the city, Rockefeller Center, where we will visit Rockefeller Plaza, Radio City Music Hall and of course enjoy the views from the heights of New York, visiting in the late afternoon, to have those views both day and night, Top of the Rock Observation Deck.

Restaurants in Midtown

These restaurants are close to our hotel, so they are the ones we will try to go to whenever we are in the area
-Ellen's Stardust Diner: Typical American food, everything in a big way. The waiters sing throughout the evening.
-Junior's Restaurant and Bakery: Excellent food for breakfast, lunch, afternoon snack or dinner.
-Marseille: Very good French restaurant. They recommend trying the tuna tartar
-BubbaGump: the place where trying any kind of prawn preparation is an experience.
-Carmine's: Very good Italian restaurant, with very large portions at a very reasonable price.
-ShakeShack: Small chain of hamburger restaurants, with several locations in Manhattan. They say they are the best you can try in New York.
-Waffles& Dinges - Waffles and coffees you can't miss.
-RLounge at Two Times Square: Amazing place, nicely decorated, with nice music and very reasonable prices. The views of Times Square and the service are outstanding.
-RumHouse: Perfect for drinks as they have live music.

Day 3 - 26th March - Saturday
(Morning) On the third day of the trip we will spend the whole morning on the pre-booked Contrasts Tour, the most famous tour of the city, which will take us to some of the lesser-visited places on conventional tours of New York, visiting Harlem, Bronx, Queens and Brooklyn, where we will finish this 4-5 hour tour.
Another good option is to book the VIP Contrasts Tour in a minibus for up to 15 people or the Contrasts Tour which includes the Gospel Mass.

We will take advantage of the end of the tour to tour this area of Brooklyn, following one of the itineraries recommended in Lonely Planet's New York guidebook, in which we will follow a route that will take us through DUMBO, Down Under Manhattan Bridge Overpass, a district of New York located on the banks of the East River, the St. George Hotel, the Plymouth Church, the Plymouth Church, the St. George Hotel, the Plymouth Church and the St. George Church. We'll pass by the St. George Hotel, Plymouth Church, Truman Capote's house, Montague Tce, Brooklyn Heights Promenade, Fulton Ferry Landing, Fulton Ferry Landing, and the famous Brooklyn Bridge, before passing the Empire Stores.

Restaurants in Brooklyn

Grimaldi's Pizzeria: Historic place where you can delight your palate with the best pizzas in NY
-ShakeShack: Small chain of hamburger restaurants with several locations in Manhattan. Said to be the best burgers in New York.
-BrooklynIce Cream Factory: The best ice cream in town. It's not particularly cheap as a one scoop ice cream costs about $5, but it's delicious.

(Afternoon) After lunch we will go back to Empire Fulton Ferry Park, to see one of the area's attractions, Jane's Carousel, and then to some of the many observation decks which offer beautiful views of the city and the Manhattan Bridge.
We will then make our way to Front street and continue along Jay street, finishing our tour by crossing the impressive Brooklyn Bridge, before dusk, to enjoy the view of Manhattan by day and night.

From here, the only thing left to do is to take the underground back to the area where we will be staying, to enjoy a dinner to recharge the energy lost in this full day.

Recommended travel cards

Remember that to avoid paying commissions and to always have the current exchange rate, we recommend you use the Revolut card and the N26 card, which are the ones we use, are free and will save you a lot of money.
You can find more information in this article about the best cards to travel without commissions.

Day 4 - March 27th - Sunday
(Morning) The first Sunday of our trip to New York at Easter, we will dedicate it to visit Harlem, one of the most famous neighbourhoods in New York, among many other things for being a destination to delight with a Gospel Mass or a jazz concert.
The idea is to take the blue underground line first thing in the morning so that we can be at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine at 7 a.m., opening time, and after visiting it we will go to Columbia University and then to the Apollo Theatre, one of the symbols of Harlem.
From here we will continue our visit to Harlem, preferring the area located from east to west between
5th Avenue and 7th Avenue, also called Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Boulevard, where we will be able to see the classic stone houses, with the typical stairs with railings at the entrance, and from south to north between 125th and 138th Streets.
A good option to explore the neighbourhood and learn about its history is to book this tour with a guide in Spanish, where you will also attend a gospel mass.

After this tour, and of course, we will go to Bethel Gospel Assembly, where we will have the experience of living an authentic Gospel Mass.

Restaurants in Harlem

-AmyRuth's: A good place to enjoy an authentic brunch.
-MakeMy Cake - Ideal for breakfast or a snack, beautifully decorated and with a chocolate smell that is hard to resist. Their most famous cake is the Red Velvet.
-HarlemTavern: Brunch. Menu around $15 per person
-RedRooster Harlem: Excellent food and great fries. Reasonably priced, with live music.

(Afternoon) After enjoying brunch in Harlem, we'll take the underground to the start of Columbus Circle Park to enjoy a Sunday in Central Park.
Even though we know that it will be practically impossible to cover the whole area, we leave you with what will be our itinerary, which if we don't finish, we will start again the following Sunday.

We'll start our tour at The Pond, one of the park's great lakes, located just a few steps from 5th Avenue. After walking around it, we'll go to Wollman Rink, the legendary skating rink, the setting for films such as Love Story.
Then we'll go to the Carousel, another great classic of Central Park, from where, looking south, you can see an area of baseball fields.
From here we will continue our walk along The Mall, the park's main promenade, which borders Sheep Meadow to the west, a vast green area perfect for enjoying a picnic.
After this slightly longer walk, we will reach Bethesda Terrace, one of the most famous areas of the park, near Strawberry Fields, John Lennon's memorial, which we passed by on the first day of the trip.

From here we will go to The Lake, another of the large lakes in the park, where you can rent small boats.
From here, of course, we will go to Alice In Wonderland, the most famous statue in Central Park, to continue our walk to Belvedere Castle, the most emblematic building in the park, which houses an observatory.
From there, we will go to Shakespeare Garden, which is especially beautiful when spring begins to dawn and the first flowers of the year appear.
From here we will reach the oldest monument in the city, the Obelisk or Cleopatra's Needle, built around 1450 BC, next to another one like it, which today is in London and which was a gift from Egypt.
Finally, we will go to the Great Lawn, the most famous green lawn in Central Park, which we have seen so many times in the movies.

Around 6-7pm, we have an appointment at a place that has been recommended to us to enjoy a live jazz concert, which will end another day full of everything to see in New York.

Day 5 - 28th March - Monday
(Morning-Afternoon) Monday will be devoted entirely to exploring Lower Manhattan and the financial district, any weekday being the ideal time to enjoy the atmosphere in this area of New York.

We will start the tour at the World Trade Center, then have one of the most extreme experiences at the 9/11 Museum, one of the best museums in New York, and then follow the itinerary on page 70 of the Lonely Planet, which will take us through the most important points of this area of the Big Apple.
If you are interested in everything that happened on 9/11 it might be interesting to book this 9/11 tour with English speaking guide.
We will pass by 8 hook & ladder, the Ghostbusters movie building, the Woolworth Building, St. Paul's Chapel, the Singer Building, Trinity Church, and then we will arrive at one of the most remarkable buildings in the city: the NY Stock Exchange.
From here, we will go to the Federal Reserve and then to the Wall Street area, a perfect place to watch the brokers going out to lunch between 12 and 14 p.m. and of course, we will go to the Wall Street Bull.
Before lunch we booked this Helicopter Tour of New York, so that we could enjoy it at the best time and not run out of seats.

Restaurants in Wall Street - Financial District

-PisilloItalian Panini: hard to find if you're not looking for it. But once there, the experience of trying their sandwiches will be unforgettable. For about $10, two people will eat without any problems.
-TheDead Rabbit: The food menu offers sandwiches, burgers, salads and fish and chips.
-Delmonico's: A beautiful classic restaurant, very close to Wall Street. The price is about $30 a head.
-Adrienne's Pizzabar: One of the best pizzerias in Manhattan. The pizzas are rectangular and huge, definitely for sharing.
-PierA Harbor House: Ideal for lunch after spending the morning visiting the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island.
-Luke's Lobster: Delicious lobster sandwiches. Also highly recommended is the crab, lobster and prawn combo.

After lunch, we'll go to the Fraunces Tavern Museum, then walk through Battery Park and take the Staten Island Ferry an hour before sunset, to enjoy one of the most incredible views of New York and the Statue of Liberty.

After this tour, we will return to Battery Park, to enjoy the views at dusk and then have dinner in the area, before taking the red line 1 underground to Street Penn Station or Times Square Station, next to our hotel.
A great way to see New York by night is to book this Spanish-language tour of the city's best illuminated sights.

Christopher Penler / Shutterstock.com

Travel insurance for New York

When travelling to New York, there's nothing better than having good travel insurance, especially in a destination like the United States, where health services are very expensive, with a simple visit to the doctor costing $500 and any operation costing several thousand dollars.
We always travel insured with Mondowith whom we take an insurance policy fully adapted to the needs that we will have on the trip.
By taking out your insurance with Mondo herejust for being a Viajeros Callejeros reader, you get a 5% discount.

Day 6 - March 29th - Tuesday
(Morning) The first part of the morning will be spent touring part of the Upper East Side, heading first by underground to 81st Street, where we will cross Central Park, taking the opportunity to visit the places we didn't have time to visit on Sunday, up to the Metropolitan, where we hope to visit its most famous works.
From there we will go to the Guggenheim, leaving the visit for another occasion, to then walk along 5th Avenue, pass by the Frick Collection mansion and then arrive at Temple Emanu-El, an impressive synagogue that we do not want to miss.

(Afternoon) After this visit, we'll head back into Midtown, this time taking a tour that will take us past the Seagram Building, the Citygroup Center, the Waldorf Astoria, until we reach Grand Central Terminal, from where we'll begin a tour of the area, following a route marked on page 180 of Lonely Planet's New York guidebook.

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On this route we'll pass the iconic Chrysler Building, the New York Public Library, then finish in Bryant Park and wait for dusk to fall before climbing another of New York's symbols, the Empire State Building, from where we'll bid farewell to the day with a sunset that is sure to become unforgettable.

Restaurants in Midtown for breakfast-lunch-dinner

-Dough: the best doughnuts
-Earl's Beer and Cheese: A small but cosy place, with the charm of a typical New York restaurant.
-Dean& Deluca: All very fresh, delicious, well prepared and excellent service. Highly recommended
- Shake Shack (Grand Central Terminal): It's worth it just to try the best burgers in the city and to be one of the best places to eat in New York.
-PretA Manger (Union Square): The best place to have breakfast in NYC if you like healthy food.

Day 7 - March 30 - Wednesday
(Morning) On the seventh day of this trip to New York at Easter, we'll enter the Union Square, Flatiron District and Gramercy areas, three areas that are not too big and that we're really looking forward to getting our hands on.
The idea is to start with the route on page 157 of Lonely Planet's New York guidebook, where we'll begin our itinerary in Madison Square Park, continue through the Flatiron Building, Gramercy Park, Roosevelt's birthplace and Union Square, and then finish in DSW, a department store we want to enter, not to shop, but to go up to the fourth plaza, from where we've read there are some great views of the Big Apple.

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After this walk, we'll head to the SoHo, NoHo and Nolita neighbourhoods, where we'll follow the route indicated in the guidebook, passing the Cable Building, St. Patrick's Old Cathedral, the Singer Building, the Haughwout Building and The New York Earth Room, a gallery designed by Walter de Maria.
From here we will continue our route to Washington Square and The Cage and then continue on to Greenwich Village.

In Greenwich Village we will follow the route on page 129 which passes by Cherry Lane Theatre, 90 Bedford Street, where the Friends building is located, 66 Perry St., where we will see Carrie's house, Christopher Park, the Jefferson Market Library and finally Washington Square Park. If you're a fan of the series, you can't miss this Sex and the City tour.

Restaurants in Greenwich Village to eat

-Arturo's Restaurant: Small but cosy, with excellent service and live music.
- The Spotted Pig: excellent burgers
-Cafe Wha?: Special mention to this place, a famous institution for many musicians. We will try to come back here in the evening for dinner.

(Afternoon) After a very full morning-afternoon, we will enter Chinatown and Little Italy, two neighbourhoods that we have been recommended to visit in the late afternoon, passing through Mott Street, Mulberry Street, Canal Street, the Mahayana Buddhist Temples and Eastern States to finish the tour in Columbus Park.
To get to know the history of these two neighbourhoods and not miss anything, it can be very interesting to book this tour with an English-speaking guide.

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Restaurants in SoHo, NoHo and Nolita for breakfast, lunch or dinner

-Eataly: Charming Italian, almost a must-visit.
-Joe's Pizza: Small place to try Neapolitan pizza. Simply spectacular and affordable prices. Very small place.
-TheCity Bakery: Excellent choice for breakfast with a very warm and cosy atmosphere.
-Chocolateby the Bald Man, Max Brenner: A very nice atmosphere of locals, groups of friends and families. The food is absolutely delicious and the desserts even better.
-CafeGitane: Original French-Moroccan café. It's a bit small, but it's an excellent choice.
-FerraraBakery & Cafe: Excellent place, nicely decorated. Both the food and the ice cream are very good.
MulberryProject: Incredible drinks and delicious food
-L'Artusi: Very busy restaurant with amazing food. Highly recommend the pasta dishes.
-Magnolia Bakery: Going to NYC and not having a Magnolia cupcake is like not going at all!

How to have internet in New York?

If you want to have internet in New York, a good option is to buy a Holafly SIM card, with which you will have internet from the moment you land, several Gb of data, keeping your WhatsApp number and support service in Spanish.
You can buy it through this link with a 5% discount for being our reader using the coupon VIAJEROSCALLEJEROS.

Day 8 - March 31st - Thursday
After a day like yesterday, in which we didn't stop for sure from the beginning of the day, the plan for today is for a somewhat quieter morning that we will start in the same area as yesterday, arriving at the Chelsea Hotel, visiting some of the areas that yesterday we might have been less familiar with due to lack of time, to then go to Chelsea Market, buy some food and walk the High Line, one of the things to do in New York that we most want to experience and that has been recommended to us so much.

After this morning at altitude we will go to pier 81, where we will take a New York City Cruise, which is included in the New York CityPASS, at 15:30 in the afternoon, which we think is the ideal time for this type of activity.
Other good and romantic options are to book this New York City Cruise by night which includes dinner or to book this New York City Cruise at sunset.

Chelsea Restaurants

BrooklynBagel & Coffee Company: The best bagels in New York
-FatWitch Bakery: Great brownies! Inside Chelsea Market.
-LosTacos nº1: Not to be missed if you are in this area of the city.
-LeGrainne Cafe: Everything about this place is amazing. Location, exquisite food, unique service and a reasonable price
-Eleni's cookies: Great cookies, amazingly decorated.
-Sarabeth's Bakery: In Chelsea Market, an ideal bakery with a great variety of sweets and incredible cakes.
-L'arte del Gelato: Stop in Chelsea Market for a delicious gelato.
-GiovanniRana Pastificio e Cucina: Excellent Italian food in the heart of Chelsea Market.

Day 9 - 1st April - Friday
As we approach the weekend, today, if the weather is good, we want to go to the Statue of Liberty. Although we have read and have been given mixed opinions, we believe that on a first trip to New York, we should go here, although we will not go up to the crown, because when we went to see if there were tickets, logically it was already quite late, and it was impossible to get them.

After this visit, we will go to the East Village, where we will start a tour that will take us through The Cube, CBGB, one of the most famous concert halls in the city, Joey Ramone Place, Cooper Union, Trash & Vaudeville, an emblematic shop that we are not sure if it has closed or not, Filmore East until we reach Tompkins Square Park.

Restaurants in the East Village

-Katz's Delicatessen: The world's best pastrami sandwich.

After lunch, we want to head to one of the most interesting places in New York, the Museum of Modern Art, MOMA, which is free admission (will) on Fridays from 4pm to 8pm.

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After this afternoon visit, we'll head over to the Lincoln Center area to enjoy the evening lights.

Upper West Side restaurants

-BurgerJoint at Le Parker Meridien: the best burgers are hidden away at Burger Joint, a burger joint inside the Le Parker Meridien hotel.

Day 10 - April 2nd - Saturday
As you can see, as we move through the days of this trip to New York, the itineraries of the day are much more relaxed and knowing that the first few days are going to be quite marathon, we have preferred to leave the last few days a little free, to take it easy if we are too tired.
This last full day in the Big Apple we will go to the Queensboro Bridge, scene of the film Manhattan Woody Allen, and then take the Roosevelt Island Cable Car, to enjoy the views of Manhattan, we have been told, impressive.

After spending the morning in this area of the city, we'll make our way to one of New York's most famous landmarks, where we'll enjoy brunch at 230 Fifth.

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After enjoying a hopefully unforgettable brunch and some exceptional views, we'll spend the rest of the day strolling along Broadway and Fifth Avenue, taking those few hours off to enjoy the city, just watching life go by.
At 8 p.m. we have a date with Broadway to see Aladdin at the New Amsterdam Theatre, which will end the day. Other famous shows include: Aladdin, The Lion King, Phantom of the Opera, Blue Man Group, Hamilton, Wicked or Chicago.

Eating at 230 Fifth

On Saturdays and Sundays you can brunch from 10am to 4pm for $29 per person.
230 Fifth open from 4pm to 4am, and can be reached by taking the N or R line to the 29th Street & Broadway underground stop.

Day 11 - April 3rd - Sunday
This will be our last day in New York, but with a flight at 17:20, we will still be able to spend the whole morning in the city.
And our best way to say goodbye will be to have a picnic in Central Park, one of the most beautiful places in the city.

This is just a small, albeit extensive, sketch in which we have tried to capture the places and itineraries that we have prepared for this first visit to New York. As we mentioned in the preparations for the trip, after our experience, we believe that there is so much information on the internet that it is practically impossible to compile it all, so we advise you to take a blog that you like or a guidebook as a reference and, based on it, make your initial itinerary. Once you have it, adding details or interesting points that you discover in other guidebooks or blogs will be much easier.