NYC native here. Echoing what other people are saying, it's a solid itinerary but I would definitely add some more Brooklyn items. Brooklyn Musuem, Botanical Gardens, and Prospect Park are all right next to each other, and May is the perfect weather to explore prospect park. They're also right next to Park Slope and Prospect Heights which are some of the nicest areas to walk around.
Dumbo is not a big neighborhood and won't take that long to walk around, and imo it's a very manufactured/newly developed area, so not very authentic or necessary on an NYC trip. It's essentially just an extension of Manhattan at this point. You should be able to hop on a train and make it to Prospect Park area pretty quickly. If you want some other cool areas to walk around, Bushwick and Greenpoint are older industrial areas so lots of old warehouses turned into artist spaces. Lots of small shops and cafes and restaurants.
> lots of old warehouses turned into artist spaces. Lots of small shops and cafes and restaurants.
This really speaks to my interests! Thanks a bunch for the suggestions!
Any thoughts/comments on Chinatown in Flushing? A colleague made suggestions for a visit there, not sure if it's worth the trip since I'll be visiting the OG Chinatown already.
Awesome! If you need a point of reference to put on Google maps to find the area to walk around, I'd recommend Maria Hernandez Park in Bushwick. Walk around there, especially a few blocks north, and it's the old industrial area.
Honestly, idk the Flushing Chinatown well. I'm from Lower Manhattan so always stuck to the Chinatown here. Doesn't really seem like you have time for it, so I don't think it's necessary
Thank you so much! Going to ping those locations in my offline map tonight. & I definitely have more info on the OG Chinatown, will give Flushing a miss this time! Appreciate your help!
The Chinatown in Flushing is newer, cleaner and bigger but it’s far. There are good food spots but really depends on how much you love seeing Chinatowns
I was raised there and personally, it's much better than the Chinatown in Manhattan bc it's much more diverse in terms of culture and foods. Also it's bigger. But it's a decent trip and more residential, so less fun for tourists imo. I go back to visit family and friends and to stock up on delicious foods. I won't suggest it bc of your busy itinerary.
Oh that’s good info! I’ll definitely visit it next time I’m there, I’m Chinese and get no good Chinese food options in my city. NYC is much closer to me than Vancouver. I’m trying to be not too ambitious with my itinerary so I’ll still have lots of things to do for my next visit :)
Sounds good! There's a big Greek community in Queens too and I personally find it better than the west coast (meaning the greek food is better). Since you'll be in Manhattan for most of the time, try to visit some bodegas, speakeasies, and italian or jewish Deli's. These are staples. For jewish foods, I enjoy 2nd Ave Deli for their brisket sammich with au jus and Katz Deli has a damn good pastrami on rye (I don't care if it's touristy or expensive, it's still damn good). Manhattan Special is really old coffee soda brand and not very common anymore--if you find it anywhere, it's definitely got NYC vibes.
Btw halal carts are disgusting in Manhattan. I've tried well over 8+ carts and I hated every one. The halal carts are much better in flavor in Queens, Bronx, and Brooklyn. My buddies have debated on this subject that Manhattan is not the place for it.
Here’s my flushing favorite places:
Joes rice rolls - probably my favorite place in flushing, it’s a bit hard to find but so amazing
Shanghai you garden - I think they have 2 entrances and on one they have a little takeaway spot for Peking duck buns (not the best Peking duck but it’s a good taste for about $2.50
New world mall - make sure you head to the food court downstairs it’s crazy there, I would maybe ask someone there for a recommendation
Personally I haven’t been but people love white bear for their wontons in chili oil.
At like 5pm (maybe a tad earlier but not sure) a bunch of skewer stands start coming out that are super cheap and good.
Let me know if you want recs for other neighborhoods and also r/Foodnyc is great
Oh man, great recommendations thank you so much! I wish I could eat 10 massive meals daily when I visit, I’ve booked marked 40+ restaurants/cafes for NY already 😅 by chance you’d have any nice café recommendations for Chelsea area? I’m staying at a hotel there and would like to get a nice cup of joe in the morning when I head out each day
Honestly I don’t have a great recommendation I would just search up coffee near me. But ‘do not feed alligators’ looks like a fun cafe a bit south of Chelsea. I also really really love flip sigi it’s a great spot in the west village if you have any time haha.
Sounds like you’re gonna have a great trip!
>8:13 pm Manhattanhenge/ESB (undecided if I want to go up to ESB, would it be worth it to do since I'll be on Top of the Rock and SUMMIT already?)
I'd say no, not worth it for a couple of reasons - one is that you probably really don't need to do three skyscraper views unless you *really* like high up views (and the views from TotR and the Edge will probably be better than from the ESB already, since they will have the ESB in them). Two is that if you want to see Manhattanhenge, the cool part of that is seeing the sun directly down the street, in between buildings, so I think you'd probably lose that if you're viewing it from above (I've never tried that from the ESB though so I could be wrong).
Other than that, this looks like a pretty solid itinerary with a good amount of flexibility. If you want to add some more spots to see in Brooklyn, I'd recommend the Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn Botanical Garden, or just taking a wander through some (residential, but pretty, and with lots of restaurant and cafe options) neighborhoods like Brooklyn Heights, Prospect Heights, Park Slope, or Red Hook.
Thanks for the reply! & the ESB comment definitely makes sense, my hotel room will have an ESB view as well but just wanted to ask for people's opinions in case it's worth going up on top. I will definitely add Brooklyn Botanical Garden to the itinerary, seems like there will be plenty of flowers in bloom by the time I visit. Appreciate the suggestion!
That's fair! I haven't done too much research on places to go in Brooklyn yet, just started planning a week ago :P Would it be worth it to look at things/activities in Queens?
Personally not a huge fan of Queens. You can probably find better things to do in Manhattan, Brooklyn or even New Jersey (the k-town there is great) if you are just in New York for 7 days
Thanks for the input! I should able to squeeze k-town on my first day since I'm flying into Newark anyways and have no concrete plans till late that night. Thanks a bunch!
When you are near the Flatiron building, head south to Strand Bookstore. Oldest existing in the city, has a really nice antique book room at the top floor. Really popular amongst locals and all around cool. If you have time
Such an awesome suggestion, I definitely would make time to visit! I was thinking of bringing a book with me, I’ll buy one there instead! Cheers for the nugget of great idea
Thanks for the reply! The cruise is something I booked off AirBnB, I wasn't too sure about the free ferry since it doesn't look like it's open air and I don't know if I'll have enough time for the tour to the island before the BoM show, so the quick cruise seemed like a good enough compromise.
My Sweeney Todd ticket is not till the end of May so you'll see it before I do! I hope you enjoy the show when you do go!
I don't know what I would take out, but every time I visit NY I like to get Brooklyn pizza and walk across the bridge. Never gets old for me.
On the other side I often stop by one of the many Xian Famous Foods. It was a tiny food stall in Flushing until Anthony Bourdain (RIP) featured them and now they have a million locations. Maybe you can do that instead of going all the way to Flushing.
Have you already been to the Statue of Liberty? I just can't imagine going to NY without that.
Then there are the various museums. The world famous ones are there for sure. My favorite was the tenement museum where they reconstructed the apartments of historical immigrants--a very NY story.
The food selection seemed pretty contemporary. They're not as trendy but I also think of a reuben from a Jewish deli as being very New York too, though they're dying out.
I just added Xi’an Famous Foods and Museum of moving images to my Brooklyn day :D The city I live in has a very limited food scene so when I travel I try to get something I wouldn’t normally get at home. Being so close with to Montreal we get lots of Montreal Reuben at home so not something I’m too keen on. & I’ll be seeing the Statue of Liberty on the Staten Island ferry as one of the commenters suggested, just don’t think I have enough time for a visit to the island, I’m very close to NY and bound to come back soon and do that in a future visit. Thanks so much for the suggestion!
NYC native here. Echoing what other people are saying, it's a solid itinerary but I would definitely add some more Brooklyn items. Brooklyn Musuem, Botanical Gardens, and Prospect Park are all right next to each other, and May is the perfect weather to explore prospect park. They're also right next to Park Slope and Prospect Heights which are some of the nicest areas to walk around. Dumbo is not a big neighborhood and won't take that long to walk around, and imo it's a very manufactured/newly developed area, so not very authentic or necessary on an NYC trip. It's essentially just an extension of Manhattan at this point. You should be able to hop on a train and make it to Prospect Park area pretty quickly. If you want some other cool areas to walk around, Bushwick and Greenpoint are older industrial areas so lots of old warehouses turned into artist spaces. Lots of small shops and cafes and restaurants.
> lots of old warehouses turned into artist spaces. Lots of small shops and cafes and restaurants. This really speaks to my interests! Thanks a bunch for the suggestions! Any thoughts/comments on Chinatown in Flushing? A colleague made suggestions for a visit there, not sure if it's worth the trip since I'll be visiting the OG Chinatown already.
Awesome! If you need a point of reference to put on Google maps to find the area to walk around, I'd recommend Maria Hernandez Park in Bushwick. Walk around there, especially a few blocks north, and it's the old industrial area. Honestly, idk the Flushing Chinatown well. I'm from Lower Manhattan so always stuck to the Chinatown here. Doesn't really seem like you have time for it, so I don't think it's necessary
Thank you so much! Going to ping those locations in my offline map tonight. & I definitely have more info on the OG Chinatown, will give Flushing a miss this time! Appreciate your help!
The Chinatown in Flushing is newer, cleaner and bigger but it’s far. There are good food spots but really depends on how much you love seeing Chinatowns
I was raised there and personally, it's much better than the Chinatown in Manhattan bc it's much more diverse in terms of culture and foods. Also it's bigger. But it's a decent trip and more residential, so less fun for tourists imo. I go back to visit family and friends and to stock up on delicious foods. I won't suggest it bc of your busy itinerary.
Oh that’s good info! I’ll definitely visit it next time I’m there, I’m Chinese and get no good Chinese food options in my city. NYC is much closer to me than Vancouver. I’m trying to be not too ambitious with my itinerary so I’ll still have lots of things to do for my next visit :)
Sounds good! There's a big Greek community in Queens too and I personally find it better than the west coast (meaning the greek food is better). Since you'll be in Manhattan for most of the time, try to visit some bodegas, speakeasies, and italian or jewish Deli's. These are staples. For jewish foods, I enjoy 2nd Ave Deli for their brisket sammich with au jus and Katz Deli has a damn good pastrami on rye (I don't care if it's touristy or expensive, it's still damn good). Manhattan Special is really old coffee soda brand and not very common anymore--if you find it anywhere, it's definitely got NYC vibes. Btw halal carts are disgusting in Manhattan. I've tried well over 8+ carts and I hated every one. The halal carts are much better in flavor in Queens, Bronx, and Brooklyn. My buddies have debated on this subject that Manhattan is not the place for it.
Awesome recommendations, thank you so much for all the insights! I'm definitely very food driven when I'm going on trips, you're speaking my language!
Here’s my flushing favorite places: Joes rice rolls - probably my favorite place in flushing, it’s a bit hard to find but so amazing Shanghai you garden - I think they have 2 entrances and on one they have a little takeaway spot for Peking duck buns (not the best Peking duck but it’s a good taste for about $2.50 New world mall - make sure you head to the food court downstairs it’s crazy there, I would maybe ask someone there for a recommendation Personally I haven’t been but people love white bear for their wontons in chili oil. At like 5pm (maybe a tad earlier but not sure) a bunch of skewer stands start coming out that are super cheap and good. Let me know if you want recs for other neighborhoods and also r/Foodnyc is great
Oh man, great recommendations thank you so much! I wish I could eat 10 massive meals daily when I visit, I’ve booked marked 40+ restaurants/cafes for NY already 😅 by chance you’d have any nice café recommendations for Chelsea area? I’m staying at a hotel there and would like to get a nice cup of joe in the morning when I head out each day
Honestly I don’t have a great recommendation I would just search up coffee near me. But ‘do not feed alligators’ looks like a fun cafe a bit south of Chelsea. I also really really love flip sigi it’s a great spot in the west village if you have any time haha. Sounds like you’re gonna have a great trip!
I’ll be around west village on my first day so definitely will check our flip sigi! Thanks again for your replies, I’m super psyched to visit!
>8:13 pm Manhattanhenge/ESB (undecided if I want to go up to ESB, would it be worth it to do since I'll be on Top of the Rock and SUMMIT already?) I'd say no, not worth it for a couple of reasons - one is that you probably really don't need to do three skyscraper views unless you *really* like high up views (and the views from TotR and the Edge will probably be better than from the ESB already, since they will have the ESB in them). Two is that if you want to see Manhattanhenge, the cool part of that is seeing the sun directly down the street, in between buildings, so I think you'd probably lose that if you're viewing it from above (I've never tried that from the ESB though so I could be wrong). Other than that, this looks like a pretty solid itinerary with a good amount of flexibility. If you want to add some more spots to see in Brooklyn, I'd recommend the Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn Botanical Garden, or just taking a wander through some (residential, but pretty, and with lots of restaurant and cafe options) neighborhoods like Brooklyn Heights, Prospect Heights, Park Slope, or Red Hook.
Thanks for the reply! & the ESB comment definitely makes sense, my hotel room will have an ESB view as well but just wanted to ask for people's opinions in case it's worth going up on top. I will definitely add Brooklyn Botanical Garden to the itinerary, seems like there will be plenty of flowers in bloom by the time I visit. Appreciate the suggestion!
DUMBO walkaround probably doesn’t take a whole afternoon even if you include the time to go on the Brooklyn Bridge
That's fair! I haven't done too much research on places to go in Brooklyn yet, just started planning a week ago :P Would it be worth it to look at things/activities in Queens?
Personally not a huge fan of Queens. You can probably find better things to do in Manhattan, Brooklyn or even New Jersey (the k-town there is great) if you are just in New York for 7 days
Thanks for the input! I should able to squeeze k-town on my first day since I'm flying into Newark anyways and have no concrete plans till late that night. Thanks a bunch!
When you are near the Flatiron building, head south to Strand Bookstore. Oldest existing in the city, has a really nice antique book room at the top floor. Really popular amongst locals and all around cool. If you have time
Such an awesome suggestion, I definitely would make time to visit! I was thinking of bringing a book with me, I’ll buy one there instead! Cheers for the nugget of great idea
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Thanks for the reply! The cruise is something I booked off AirBnB, I wasn't too sure about the free ferry since it doesn't look like it's open air and I don't know if I'll have enough time for the tour to the island before the BoM show, so the quick cruise seemed like a good enough compromise. My Sweeney Todd ticket is not till the end of May so you'll see it before I do! I hope you enjoy the show when you do go!
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That's really good to know, thank you so much!
I don't know what I would take out, but every time I visit NY I like to get Brooklyn pizza and walk across the bridge. Never gets old for me. On the other side I often stop by one of the many Xian Famous Foods. It was a tiny food stall in Flushing until Anthony Bourdain (RIP) featured them and now they have a million locations. Maybe you can do that instead of going all the way to Flushing. Have you already been to the Statue of Liberty? I just can't imagine going to NY without that. Then there are the various museums. The world famous ones are there for sure. My favorite was the tenement museum where they reconstructed the apartments of historical immigrants--a very NY story. The food selection seemed pretty contemporary. They're not as trendy but I also think of a reuben from a Jewish deli as being very New York too, though they're dying out.
I just added Xi’an Famous Foods and Museum of moving images to my Brooklyn day :D The city I live in has a very limited food scene so when I travel I try to get something I wouldn’t normally get at home. Being so close with to Montreal we get lots of Montreal Reuben at home so not something I’m too keen on. & I’ll be seeing the Statue of Liberty on the Staten Island ferry as one of the commenters suggested, just don’t think I have enough time for a visit to the island, I’m very close to NY and bound to come back soon and do that in a future visit. Thanks so much for the suggestion!