New York Sightseeing in 3 days

[BreenM]

Hi all,

A friend and I are planning on going to New York in November for 3 days and now at the stage of trying to get a hotel. I am clueless as to the layout of the city (currently doing my research) but would like to stay somewhere fairly busy that is safe to walk the streets even late at night.

All I know is I want to do Empire State Building and see Times Square and the girl I am going with likes her shopping. Any ideas for locations would be helpful. I don't even know is Times Square and the Empire State near each other and also what is New York's equivelant of say Oxford Street in London?

Basically where is a recommended area to stay that would maximise what we can visit, preferebaly without too much Public Transport oh and so we are safe.

Any help would be appreciated. Thanks

[lilacben]

My husband and I are also goig in November for a few days before we go onn a cruise from there. We are staying just across the river in New Jersey.As the travel agent said it was the best place to stay, near to everything.

[whiskeysheri]

Hi, Breen! I answered a similar Q a week or so ago, so I've pasted my answer below for you:

We went for the first time at Christmas last year and I can't wait to go back. I would definitely recommend the Wellington hotel for it's location alone. It's close to everything! Moderate prices are hard to find, but this hotel was pretty good. You'll find that you hardly spend any time in the actual hotel, anyway, LOL!

http://www.wellingtonhotel.com/

The hotel is about a five minute walk from Times Square and in the other direction, ten minutes to Central Park and 5th Avenue. This page tells you exactly how far all of the attractions are from the hotel: http://www.wellingtonhotel.com/attractions_ny_ hotels.asp

We booked it through http://www.lastminute.com

It's a fantastic city; my favourite and you'll have the best time. We walked pretty much everywhere, even all the way down to Ground Zero, so that we didn't miss anything, but towards the end of the week we used the Subway. I would highly recommend the book, Brit's Guide to New York
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Brits-Guide-New-York-R e-written/dp/0572032773 We carried it everywhere with us.

Have a lovely time! :o) x

[jno]

somewhere near Times Square is generally best, it's very central. Subways (ie the tube) are quick and fairly easy; buses are ok but slower. The Empire State building is about 10 blocks from Times Sq I think, but it only takes a minute or so to walk each block. Plenty of shops around here, the fanciest ones on 5th Avenue. Macy's is nearby and Bloomingdales further north near Central Park. You might want to see the downtown area - ground zero, Wall Street South St Seaport - and that would probably need public transport.

[vehelpfulguy]

You say you have no idea of the layout of the city.

Here is a simple map that may help
http://www.usatourist.com/maps/nycmap.gif

New York City is made up of five main areas - Bronx, Queens, Brooklyn, Manhatten and Staten Island.

You can see where the 3 NY airports are on this map.

To be honest MOST of the things that the tourist wants to see are on Manhatten.

As you can see Manhatten is an island and MOST of the tourist things are in the South of the island.

Central Park is right in the middle of Manhatten.

The South of the Island includes Empire State Building, Twin Towers (as were), Times Square, Broadway, most of the shops, clubs etc.

The Status of Liberty is off the South of the Island.

But of course the South is the expensive part.

The North of Manhatten (above Central Park) includes Harlem which is an area worth avoiding (at least it was when I went through it by car about 8 years ago)

Here is a map of just Manhatten, and you can see Central Park right in the middle.

http://www.areahotelguide.com/new_york_city_ma ps_civ.gif

Manhatten is about 13 miles long and just over 2 miles wide. But most of the bits you will want to see are in the bottom 3 or 4 miles of it.

My guess is that most tourists spend ALL of their time on Manhatten and only go off it to get to the airport.

Try to get a hotel in midtown or downtown Manhatten.

[BBWCHATT]

http://www.theanswerbank.co.uk/Search/default. asp?SearchText=New+York+&searchType=site&x=24& y=4

[BreenM]

Thanks everyone for all the advice. My head is now buzzing more than ever but appreciate it nonetheless.

I have decided to go for a hotel called the Mansfield which is just round corner from Times Square i will need to check how close this is then to Empire State and Statue of Liberty etc. I hope I have not made a mistake and these places are still easy to get to.

The wellingtone was one I had considered but the reviews were still a bit mixed in tripadvisor.com.

I didn't even realise Manhatten was an island. Learns something new all the time eh.

[Pippa68]

We stayed in midtown Manhattan ~ a hotel called Thirty Thirty not too far away from 5th.

Don't worry too much about being close to anything. We walked everywhere...like Whiskeysheri we too walked all the way to the financial district (Ground Zero) and it was great to take in everything rather than whizzing around in a cab.

[GCN]

hi breen
we stayed in novotel ,in centre of times square, very central to travel on underground,and walking distance of theatres shops ect

[whiskeysheri]

Hi, Breen!

If you're still staying near Times Square, you could still use this page http://www.wellingtonhotel.com/attractions_ny_ hotels.asp as a rough guide to how far away thing are to you. Hope this helps. :o)

[sense4all]

Good eats while you are at Empire State we went at night too, see the view illuminated. Then a stop in here!
http://www.heartlandbrewery.com/media/heartlan dbrewery.html

[TeriBurress]

Since you only have three days, you might want to look at the gray line tours. You don't have to worry about taxis or tickets etc. They have one tour that lasts about 8 hours but it takes you everywhere, hits all of the highlights of NYC and then you can go back to the places you'd like to. Grayline.com

[bimbo123456]

Times Square and Empire State are fairly near each other. We stayed in a Hotel on 8th/43rd, just a short walk from Times Square. It was called Howard Johnson. Not a very high class hotel but quite adequate. Empire State Building is fantastic but get there as early as poss as queues are mad. Recommend the trips round Statue of liberty on the Circle Then if you are feeling fit you can walk up 42nd street and see Grand Central Station. Shops are everywhere. Bargains are harder to find. Bloomingdales a big disappointment. Apparently there are bargains to be had in the garment district. Enjoy!!

[BreenM]

Thanks again everyone. I've never had so many helpful responses for a posted question before. I am looking forward to it and hotel and flights are booked booked so no pulling out now! Can't wait.

Cheers