First Time NY

Hi,

We are coming to America in Septemeber, staying 3 days in NY before flying to LA.

Could you guys recommend the best things to do here. There are 2 adults and 1 baby 9 months.

How do you go inside the statue of liberty?

Thanks

Onkar

First Time NY

1. The best things to do depend on your tastes. What kind of things do YOU enjoy doing when you travel?

2. Since 9/11, you can%26#39;t go inside the statue itself; you can only go into the base.

First Time NY

We like seeing the sights and sounds of NY. We would like to see Empire State Building.

You mean we cant go to the top of the Statue of Liberty? I thought it re-opened.

How far is Washinton and the White House from New York. Can we go by train?

Things like ground zerro, empire state building, Central Park? What are the good things to see??

Okay, so you want basic tourist sights, as opposed to shopping, or theater, or art, or off-the-beaten track neighborhoods, right?

I would recommend first of all getting a good guide book.

Then, plan your days with sights clustered by neighborhood. For example, you could do a midtown day, that might include any of the following: Rockefeller Center (including Top of the Rock observation deck), St. Patrick%26#39;s Cathedral, Fifth Avenue shops, Grand Central Terminal, Public Library, Times Square, Empire State Building, or the southern reaches of Central Park.

Another day could be a downtown day, that might include any of these: Staten Island Ferry, Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island, Wall Street, South Street Seaport, Customs House/Indian museum, Police Museum, World Financial Center %26amp; Wintergarden, Hudson River park, World Trade Center, St. Paul%26#39;s chapel, Brooklyn Bridge, Brooklyn Heights (including the Promenade)

A third day might involve exploring any of the neighborhoods south of midtown - Lower East Side (and the Tenement Museum), Chinatown, SoHo, Tribeca, Greenwich Village (both East and West).

In response to your questions, as I said before, you cannot go into the Statue of Liberty itself. What re-opened was the pedestal, whcih itself is 150 feet high.

Washington is 3 hours by train from NYC. It is an easy trip, and Union Station in Washington -- which itself is something to see -- is about four blocks north of the Capitol. I would certainly recommend taking time away from any visit to ugly, boring Los Angeles and spending the time visiting Washington instead.

Washington is about 3 - 4 hours by train, but the train is often late. check www.amtrak.com. Three days is not a lot of time, you will only scratch the surface of New York in that time. I would skip Washington.

I also want to know about Subways. I looked at the Subway map and am getting slightly confused. A green line may have numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, etc. What do these mean?

What is there to do in Central Park?

Is it worth going inside the Statue of Liberty?

And can anyone reeommend a good hotel?

Thnks

Onkar, while it may seem backwards to say this, on the subway map it is not the green line that has the nubmers 4,5, and 6, it is the 4, 5, and 6 that have green lines.

In the 1970%26#39;s New York had a subway map that gave each train line a different color. This made for very pretty graphics, but because of the way that subway lines cluster in midtown Manhattan, it made for a wildly distorted map that had little to do with geography. The decision was then made to choose one color for each of the streets in midtown Manhattan under which trains ran (Lexington/Park Avenue was green, Sixth Avenue is orange, etc.) All train lines that ran under those midtown streets shared a color in order to make the map less cluttered. While those trains do join up with other lines elsewhere in the city, you will get many colors clustered together (such as the multicolor rainbow of Queens Boulevard trains), but out there you have the room on the map to show all the trains separately without fear of bumping into an entirely different line.

Therefore, when you take a train you are NOT taking the ';green line';, you should think of it as the #6, or the #4. Do not think of it as the ';blue line'; (which would include both an express train to Harlem and a local train to Queens), but instead know whether you want the A, or the C, or the E, and so on.

Central Park is very green and pretty, and you can just stroll if you like. There is also a zoo, a lake with boats, a formal garden, a carousel, bicycle rentals, free concerts and theatrical performances, and the like.

If you want to go into the base of the statue of Liberty you can, although whether an activity can be described as ';worth it'; varies with the individual, and only you can answer this one.

Thanks for that..

I would like to know about Boat trips around Manhatten / NY. Which is better a day or evening trip? Something romantic.

Which boat company offers the best view around the city, and considering we are using the Subway, will be able to take the Subway to these places?

Many thanks

New York City in September - it can still be really hot and humid! Keep in mind that (this year, it%26#39;s always the first Monday of September) the 4th of Sept is a holiday throughout the US so if your trip includes that day, so things may or may not be open.

Do get a good guide book to NYC and begin making your plans around which neighborhoods you want to tour. With a 9 month old along, you won%26#39;t want to pile too many things into one day. Study your guide, decide what you must see, and then post a draft of your itinerary. Most of the good guides will also tell you what public transportation will get you to their site. Good luck and have fun. Ta. MMM!

I take the train to DC fairly often and have experienced little or no delay on those trips. But I agree with BobbyC that your brief time here means that a side trip to DC is not practical or advisable; you could eaisly spend more than 3 days in each city.

See this post and sub-posts:

tripadvisor.com/ShowTopic-g60763-i5-k499957-鈥?/a> Are_there_trip_reports_that_discuss_seeing_NY_w_small-New_York_City_New_York.html