New York City

New York City might be my favourite city in the world and I was lucky enough to visit it twice, already.

Details

Visits: Aug 23rd - Sep 4nd 2013 & Dec 29th 2015 - Jan 5th 2016

Season: Spring & Winter

Transport: Public Transport, Taxi, Walking

My first visit was in summer of 2013. We stayed with family of my friend outside of the city, so we hopped on a train for an hour each morning to explore another part of New York. It was hot, 30-35 degrees most of the time, and my friend and I almost had 10 days, so there was enough time to get a good overview, but still not enough to really get out of Manhattan and explore the other areas.

My second visit was in winter of 2015, just after the Christmas holidays and a few days left of the year. My girlfriend Caroline and I wanted to spent New Years Eve somewhere else and we decided to do that in New York City. We booked a hotel on the Upper East Side to be able to reach most destinations in a short amount of time. It was my second and Carolines first visit, so we went to many places that I’ve seen already two years earlier but also to some new ones that I missed the first time. We still didn’t really get out of Manhattan, again, though we made it to Brooklyn once. It was also great to see the city in a different season, especially with all the Christmas decorations. Still haven't seen it all (how could you), but it's also fun to just hang around and do "normal" stuff.

Hope to come back again soon!

Top 5 places / experiences

View from Rockefeller Center
Walk along the High Line
Brooklyn Bridge
Watching a Broadway show
Views from Staten Island Ferry

Midtown

The place to be. There is so much to see and so many famous spots that it doesn’t really need any explanation why to go. You’ll find the Empire State Building here, the Rockefeller Centre, as well as the Chrysler Building, the Radio City Music Hall and many other. The Flatiron Building is iconic and you’ve probably heard of St. Patrick’s Cathedral. Then there’s Times Square, Broadway, the big Macy’s, 5th Venue, the Museum of Modern Art (though I’m not a fan) and Grand Central of course.

And if you want to „escape“ some of the crowds, you can take a walk along the High Line. I could spend days and even weeks only exploring this area and I wouldn’t get bored, though it would get a bit expensive, I guess. Try to go watch a broadway show. We bought ours at TKTS. We also went to see Late Night with Seth Myers which was a great experience. Back in 2016 (don’t know if that changed) they would hand out tickets to the show early in the morning and we were lucky enough to get some.

View from Rockefeller Center

When I first visited NYC we had to choose going up Empire State Building or Rockefeller Center. We went for the latter so we could photograph the Empire State Building, which is a little more photogenic than Top of the Rock. It was very crowded (probably always is), especially at sunset, but these are some of the best views in town.

View from Empire State Building

My second visit was dedicated to go up the Empire State Building. Unfortunately, we had to hurry to be in time for sunset, so we weren’t able to look at anything on the way up, but I‘ll try to do that next time. Sunset from the top is magical, as you‘d expect, and I really liked being up there, but I‘d prefer to include the building on my photos. So if you can, do both. If not, go to Top of the Rock first. Or try something else, like 1 WTC, though I can’t compare the view as I didn’t go there.

Lower Manhattan

There is a lot to see in Lower Manhattan and together with Midtown it’s probably one of the most visited parts of New York City.

Famous parts are of course the Financial district, including Wall Street, the stock exchange, the 9/11 Memorial and 1 WTC, the Charging Bull and St. Paul’s Chapel. We also went to Greenwich Village including Washington Square Park with Washington Square Arch and Central Fountain.

It also includes the three bridges that connect Brooklyn and Manhattan: Brooklyn Bridge, Manhattan Bridge and Williamsburg Bridge, probably the probably least famous of the three. The first two are located in the Two Bridges district.

The Brooklyn Bridge is an Icon of NYC. You have to walk on it. It’s crowded, too, of course, but it’s a great experience. Also, it’s very photogenic from every angle, but it’s hard to find unique compositions. On my first visit parts of it were under constructions, so I was happy to take some more photos two years later with no covers the bridge.

The Manhattan Bridge is not as famous as the Brooklyn Bridge, but it’s still beautiful and photogenic. It provides some great views, too. We combined walking on the Manhattan Bridge and Williamsburg Bridge with a trip to Brooklyn. If that’s too much walking, you can take Brooklyn Bridge instead of the Williamsburg one.

The Williamsburg Bridge connects Manhattan to Williamsburg (surprise), apparently a "Lilttle Berlin" in Brooklyn with art, hipsters and vibrant nightlife. The bridge is the longest of the three, but the views are not as good. It’s still worth the trip and you can combine it with a trip to Brooklyn or Manhattan, depending on where you stay.

If you don’t want to take a trip to the Statue of Liberty because it’s too touristic, crowded or expensive, I can totally relate to that. But there’s another way to get a closer look for much less: taking the Staten Island Ferry. It’s no insider tip, of course, but I wanted to mention it anyway, in case you didn’t know. We didn’t do much on the island, though, it trip was really only for the views.

Central Park & around

It’s fun to explore the fancy streets of the Upper East and West Sides. You‘ll find some Museums to visit like the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Guggenheim Museum. If you‘ve had enough of Museums, you can take a walk though the huge Central Park or even escape Manhattan for a little bit and take The Tram to Roosevelt Island , an Island in East River between Manhattan and Queens.