How you usually decide which your next destination is? My boyfriend and I usually decide the next destination on turns meaning that one year is my turn to choose the country and in the next year, he has the privilege to do choose. Even being a huge fan of series and movies and most of them taking place in the big apple, NYC was never considered in my travel-wishing list. Luckily, my boyfriend had and was his turn to choose 🙂 Therefore we went to NYC, the city of dreams and the city of so many things.
If you are Portuguese, the only thing you need to have is a valid passport, a ESTA authorization for which you apply online, a credit card that is supported aboard (I strongly recommend you to get your revolut card, never failed me in many destination from America, Africa and Asia) and well a flight ticket.
The flight prices from Europe are not prohibitive and we paid more or less 500 euros. The most difficult part for us was finding a good place to stay without pay a fortune for that. After reading a lot of blogs and recommendations about “Where to Stay in NYC” and put together a list of places we want to visit we decided that the better option was to stay in Manhattan somewhere near a metro station. After we check all of the options available and compare prices, we decided to rent an apartment in Airbnb. This way we could save some money because the apartment was cheaper and we could cook a few meals at home and avoid a struck with all the fast food options that the city offers.
Note: The accommodation in NYC, in particular, Manhattan, is expensive. Moreover, most of the booking websites present the prices without taxes, so pay attention to that to avoid bad surprises at arrival.
As I said I have never considered NYC as a preferred destination, but I truly enjoyed the stay and definitely will come back one day. The city is HUGE and very familiar (we saw most of the sightseeing places in movies) also has a lot to offer so it fits almost everybody interests. Below I will share our itinerary.
Day 1 – Brooklyn and Midtown
In our first day we decided to go to Brooklyn, we crossed the Brooklyn Bridge by feet seeing the skyscrapers passing by while we moved away. In the other side, we walked through Brooklyn Bridge Park and Dumbo. The view to Manhattan is stunning and luckily, it was an amazing sunny day.
After lunch and back in Manhattan, we went to explore Times Square that is probably the most famous place in town.
Once it was Saturday, by the end of the day we went to visit the Guggenheim Museum. On Saturdays between 5:45 PM and 7:15 PM, the visitors set the entrance fee. Make sure you arrive early (we arrived 1 hour early) otherwise you might miss the opportunity.
Day 2 – Financial District, Chinatown and Little Italy
NYC is quite expensive once we wanted to do the most things we could, we needed to prioritize and search less expensive ways to visit the main sites, that’s how we found that most of the museums have “Pay what you which” days and also we found the Staten Island Ferry.
The Staten Island Ferry runs frequently between lower Manhattan an Staten Island, the trip takes ~25 minutes and is a good solution to see the Statue of Liberty and have a skyline view from the water FOR FREE. In my opinion, it is a better option than taking the ferry to Liberty Island, that is always extremely busy. Additionally, we saw the statue from a reasonable distance to take a good picture.
After we get our feet back on the ground, we continued our day wandering in the Financial District, starting with a picture with the charging bull and the Fearless Girl, followed to a walk in Wall Street up to the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) and Federal Hall finishing with a visit to Trinity Church.
At lunchtime we went to Little Italy and Chinatown, as the name suggests Little Italy was once a neighbourhood full of Italian immigrants, today it’s better known for its concentration of Italian restaurants, bakeries and stores than for its Italian/American population and is being gradually swallowed up by Chinatown.
Chinatown, it is both a home and a destination for the city’s Asian population, is full of grocery stores, restaurants, cultural organizations pillar of the Chinese American community.
These neighbourhoods are trendy among tourists and young people and you can see many cultural demonstrations. For foodies like my boyfriend and me is an awesome place to grab a pot of noodles and as dessert, an Italian ice cream.
We ate Xi’an Famous Foods a chainlet that highlights the cuisine of Xi’an, an ancient capital along China’s Silk Road and a place suggested by Anthony Bourdain.
Our day ended with an emotional visit to the World Trade Center and 9/11 memorial followed by a shopping tour in the Oculus before getting back “home”.
Day 3 – NY Library , Buildings of New York, Top of the Rock and Stand Up comedy night
The day started with a sweet slice of NY cheesecake at Two Little Red Hens. With a full belly, we went to visit the giant New York Public Library, the third largest library in the world followed by a visit to the central station. For lunch, we stop by a Five Guys to get a deserved cheeseburger.
New York is known by skyscrapers and high architecture. During the afternoon we had the chance of stalking a few of the Buildings that across time helped to define the city namely Flatiron Building, Empire State Building, United Nations Headquarters, Chrysler Building and ending up at the Rockefeller Center, where after being a while in a ticket queue, we managed to climb to the Top of the Rock TO HAVE THE MOST AMAZING VIEW OF MANHATTAN (empire state building included). Ok, it’s true that the most of the tourists climb to the empire state building instead, however after reading a bit we decided for Top of the Rock, the ticket is cheaper and you are able to see the Empire State in the landscape.
At night, we went to Broadway Comedy club to watch a stand-up show. I strongly recommend this considering that was a nice evening with a lot of laughs while having a few drinks
Day 4 – Museum of Natural History, Chelsea, High lane
Another recall from movies, namely night at the museum, is the Museum of Natural History! We spent all morning there exploring all the rooms and was fascinating, the museum is complete and provide you with a picture of the natural evolution as well as a glance of the tribal history of the USA.
After spending so much time in the museum, we were starving and we made a break for a cookie in Levain bakery near the museum.
At lunchtime, we went to Chelsea zone, visited the neighbourhood and the market. The Market has plenty of different vendors selling everything from coffee to wine and tacos to Chinese food, is a good place to go for lunch and maybe to buy some souvenirs.
Chelsea is mostly its galleries, restaurants, gymnasium and shopping spots. Another attraction of the neighbourhood is the High Line, an elevated walkway far from the chaotic traffic, a nice escape for walkers. The high line provides a great city view and is being used as a street art gallery considering that you can see much graffiti on our way.
Day 5 – Washington – National Mall
We could not miss the opportunity to see the Capital!
Washington is not near to NYC but is not far enough to be prohibitive. At that time, we were already tired of planning and we just bought an organized tour. We had the chance to see the Capitol, Senate and White House and understand the core of the US government. We continued our visit and we saw Lincoln, Korea, and Vietnam Memorials. At the afternoon, we went on a tour to Arlington National Cemetery where we saw the Kennedy family graves. The trip ended with a visit to the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum.
When in National Mall we felt that is there where the past, present and future come together.
Day 6 – Greenwich village, Broadway
Still a little bit tired from our day trip in Washington we decided to “take it easy” and take a day to know the bohemian Village of Greenwich, strolling down Washington Square Park until the “Friends” Apartment (outside scenario of the TV sitcom “Friends”) followed by a shopping session on Macy’s. To end up the day we went to see the “Phantom of the Opera” and believe me you could not miss the opportunity of assisting a Broadway show, the expectation was high but the show was even better than I thought. We bought our tickets on our first day at the cinema for the last queue. Once the theatre is not that big we could saw the show perfectly. If you have time and patience you can try to buy promotional tickets at TDF’s TKTS Booth, the biggest Broadway shows are on sale there, mostly at 50 per cent off. In addition, you can try to buy the tickets at TKTS or in the today tix app, unluckily the days we wanted were sold out at the app.
Day 7 – Central Park , Harlem Tavern
At our last day, we took the time to stroll in Central Park, the park is big and has a lot to see so plan a few hours there. At lunchtime, we did a break to go to Harlem most specifically to Harlem Tavern to lunch and see a jazz performance.
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