Start spreading the news…this city lives up to the hype. New York is filled with history, art, architecture, museums and culture and is a town where you will never run out of things to do. As a millenial visiting New York, a lot of the places that appealed to me the most took me back to a certain time in movies, media, television and pop culture. While I might not feel super excited about spots where Breakfast at Tiffany’s or Taxi Driver was filmed, I loved recognising spots from Gossip Girl, Spiderman and Sex and the City. In ascending order, here are my ten personal favourite places to visit in New York.
10. New York Public Library
We just don’t have places like this on this scale where I’m from. This building is SO gorgeous and it’s free to visit. It’s also basically silent, which is such a welcome contrast from the hustle and bustle outside in central New York. When I walked in the Rose Main Reading Room, the building’s most famous space and a beautiful example of Beaux-Arts architecture, I felt like I stumbled into a movie set…let’s be honest though, a lot of places in New York City feel like that. If you want to rest your legs on a day of sight-seeing and write in your journal, no-one is going to stop you from taking a seat at one of the desks here to do just that.
The inside of this building has featured in a wide range of films, including good old Breakfast and Tiffany’s, Ghostbusters, The Day After Tomorrow and Spiderman and on TV shows including Law and Order, Gossip Girl, Smallville and CSI:NY. It’s also definitely worth visiting the Library’s children’s centre because here you can see original Winnie the Pooh, Tigger, Piglet, Eeyore and Kanga, who all belonged to the real-life child, Christopher Robin. Super special.
Opening Hours: 10am – 5pm Monday to Saturday. Closed Sundays.
9. Central Park
Central Park is oh-so-famous and iconic and in oh-so-heavily ingrained in pop culture, but it’s not higher up my list because it’s also…just a park?
It’s really lovely and calming and nice to walk around, but it’s also massive and a little overwhelming to know how to tackle it to get the most from your visit. I visited in autumn on a solo trip in New York and walked around pretty aimlessly and don’t feel like it was the best way to enjoy the park. If I went back, I’d probably plan to get a guided tour or rent a bike, have a picnic with friends, row a boat, hit up some key sites and do an activity like fishing in the lakes or have a go on a remote-control sail-boat.
You’ll recognise it from basically every TV-show you’ve ever seen based in New York, plus some of the over 350 films that have shot scenes in Central Park, including:
- Three Men and a Baby,
- Home Alone 2,
- You’ve Got Mail,
- Cruel Intentions,
- Almost Famous,
- Maid in Manhattan,
- Sweet Home Alabama,
- Elf,
- 13 Going on 30,
- Hitch,
- The Devil Wears Prada,
- Enchanted,
- 27 Dresses,
- Date Night, and
- The Avengers.
Phew.
Opening Hours: 6am til 1am daily. Best avoided late at night for safety reasons.
8. Bronx Zoo
Not what you expected on a list of top ten places in New York City, right?
I know zoos aren’t for everyone, but I’m a huge zoo fan and Bronx Zoo is known as one of the world’s best. The zoo also founded the first zoo animal hospital in 1916, so they have a long history of caring for animal welfare.
The zoo is over 265 acres big, has the Bronx River running right through it and has a staggering collection of over 10,000 animals. It’s a green, clean and leafy destination and features an amazing collection including gorillas, flamingos and black panthers. This is a great destination for everyone from solo travellers to families. I visited on a week-day in autumn and it was surprisingly quiet and not overly crowded at all. Definitely a great spot for any zoo enthusiast!
Opening Hours:
- 10am til 5pm weekdays April til November.
- 10am til 5.30pm weekends and holidays April til November.
- 10am til 4.30pm November til April.
Prices:
- Adult (13 & over) $33.95
- Senior (65 & over) $28.95
- Child (3-12) $23.95
- Child (2 & under) FREE
7. Grand Central Station
Call me a product of my time, but I can’t think of Grand Central Station without thinking of the pilot episode of Gossip Girl, when ‘S’ was spotted here on her return to New York. It also reminds me of the cute flash-mob ending of the romantic-comedy Friends with Benefits.
Aside from the pop-culture references, this building itself is a beaux-arts landmark, architecturally stunning and its ceiling features a beautiful zodiac mosaic which is a well-loved piece of public art. Everything in this building lives up to its grand name, from the staircases, to the windows, to the signage and the famous clock.
As well as being gorgeous and iconic, Grand Central Station is also the world’s largest train station by area and number of platforms. That’s right, you can – shock horror – actually catch a train here, which will make you feel like a real New-Yorker.
However, if you just want to pop in to have a look, you won’t be alone – Grand Central Station is the 10th most popular tourist site in the world, with over 20 million visitors in 2018, excluding train and subway passengers.
It’s a magical place.
Opening Hours: 5.15am til 2am daily.
6. The Financial District
If you’re a millenial of the western world like me, your exposure to the global financial market growing up probably went something like this:
- You remember growing up seeing your boomer parents benefit from a long period of economic prosperity;
- You entered your teens or twenties to the worldwide jolt of the Global Financial Crisis;
- You then saw thousands join the Occupy Wall Street movement on TV; and
- You watched movies like The Wolf of Wall Street, The Big Short and American Pyscho.
The New York Financial District is the back-drop to all of the above. There’s lots to do in the area for free – you can walk down Wall Street, visit the famous charging bull statue, see the New York Stock Exchange, pay your respects at the Vietnam War Memorial and visit the nearby Battery Park to get a glimpse of the Statue of Liberty, or jump on the Staten Island Ferry to get a closer view.
The Financial District is also, of course, the location of the 9/11 terrorist attacks on what was the World Trade Centre. This event changed the world and for a lot of millenials, it was one of the biggest and most shocking news events of their youth. The memorial to the site of the fallen Twin Towers is extremely moving and for those who want to gain further information, there is a museum next door as well.
September 11 Memorial Opening Hours: 9am til 8pm, daily.
Staten Island Ferry Operating Hours: 24 hours a day. Frequent services (every 15 – 20 minutes) during commuter hours.
5. Times Square
I’ve heard some travel guides on New York say Times Square is awful, but in my opinion, Times Square is fun. It’s the New York of today, rather than the New York of the past, and it reminds you that you’re in the living and breathing, wild, loud, glorious, consumerist America!
When you’re in Times Square, there’s no second guessing you’re in New York or in the USA. It’s the backdrop of the famous New Year’s ball drop and so many movies and pop culture moments and it’s just wonderful to walk through as there’s so much to see.
Buskers and people in dress ups walk around offering photo snaps for money, scalpers sell tickets to comedy shows, yellow taxis whizz past, buses drive through with people on board singing ‘New York New York’ and kicking their legs up and shimmying their hands (at least that happened when I was there) and billboards flash up rolling, bright, adverts. When I visited, one of the boards was a live feed of the square, so I got to see myself on a billboard in New York. My brush with fame.
One of my favourite things about Times Square is that it’s located near so many other famous sites. You’re only a short walk from the Rockerfeller Plaza, St Patrick’s Cathedral, Radio City Hall and Broadway. I met a local New Yorker over dinner at a burger joint when I visited Times Square and he gave me a spontaneous free tour around the surrounding area, which was awesome. I had read in a guidebook that Americans will ask you to tip them for anything (like giving you directions at a train station), so I kept nervously waiting for him to ask me for a tip for the spontaneous tour or aggressively hit on me, but neither of those things happened. As we strolled the busy streets, he pointed out places I wouldn’t have noticed, told me New Yorker ‘in-jokes’, talked rent prices and about the time he was an extra on Law and Order. I don’t know many places with so many tourists where the locals are as welcoming as that.
In general, I found New Yorkers extremely friendly, particularly in the area around Times Square, and any stereo types about them being otherwise were blown out of the water. In a queue for a breakfast at a subway sandwich shop in Midtown Manhattan, when the people behind me in the queue heard my Australia accent as I ordered my sub, they all basically chorused ‘Welcome to New York!’.
Opening Hours:
Times Square is open 24 hours and great to visit by day or by night, although the billboards really pop in the evenings.
From 11.57pm to midnight every night, a digital art display is splashed across all the digital billboards in the main square.
4. Greenwich Village and West Village
To be honest, if I visited Greenwich Village and West Village by myself, I probably would have thought it was nice, but that’s it. I hadn’t researched the area and wouldn’t have known what to look at or what to see, other than the nice leafy streets and rows of brownstone houses.
Instead, I went on a walking tour offered through Hostelling International New York, as I stayed at their hostel, and I absolutely loved it. The guide took us to see famous pop culture and historic sites, including Carrie Bradshaw’s stoop from Sex and the City, the apartment where Friends was set, and the rainbow-flag clad Stonewall Inn, which is an important site in the history of LBGTQ+ movement in the United States. He also walked us over to New York University and Washington Square Park nearby. The Greenwich and West Village areas also have cute boutique, galleries and vintage shops that are great for exploring.
In one vintage clothing shop our guide took us to, Patricia Field, the stylist of Sex and the City and Emily in Paris, even popped in while we were there. Our guide quietly pointed her out to us (and I said ‘hi’ to her dog).
I loved walking around and exploring this area and would highly recommend visiting it, especially with a guide.
Stonewall Inn Opening Hours: 2pm to 4am weekdays. 1pm to 4am weekends.
Washington Square Park Opening Hours: 6am to 12am daily.
3. Brookyln Bridge
After catching a ferry across to Brooklyn, I walked the 1.1 kilometers across the Brooklyn Bridge over East River back to Manhattan and absolutely loved it. I totally felt like I was Miranda walking to meet Steve in Sex and the City, but I also really enjoyed the views, the architecture and the history.
To be clear, you don’t need to watch Sex and the City to enjoy this bridge. It’s a beautiful piece of engineering, gives you great views of New York City and marks the first connection point between Manhattan and Brooklyn, being completed in 1883. Walking across it from either direction also gives you the opportunity to enjoy the Dumbo (short for down-under-Manhattan-bridge-overpass) area of Brooklyn.
I wasn’t alone on the bridge – turns out the walk across is a popular thing to do; but I enjoyed myself a lot and even took some time sitting up on a side railing out of the main pedestrian thoroughfare to write in my journal.
Walking across the Brooklyn Bridge was one of my highlights of New York City.
Pedestrian walking opening hours: 24 hours, but best to avoid walking alone at night, particularly after 11pm.
2. The Empire Station Building
If you want to get really high in New York City, you have options. There’s Top of the Rock (the Rockerfeller Centre), the Empire State Building, or One World in the Financial District.
Top of the Rock is popular as it has views of the Empire State Building, One World is popular as it is the highest viewpoint in New York City, and the Empire State Building is popular because it’s the Empire State Building. It’s an Art Deco icon, and was the world’s highest building until the Twin Towers were built. The building famously featured in King Kong in 1933 but millenials will remember it from where Tom Hanks meets Meg Ryan in Sleepless in Seattle, where Buddy goes to meet his father in Elf and where Chuck Bass was meant to meet Blair Waldorf in Gossip Girl.
When I visited New York, I bought a two-visit ticket to the Empire State Building which allowed me to access the observatory for a day-time and night-time visit and I would highly recommend this option.
My day-time visit was on a clear day, but unfortunately, at night, the fog had rolled in. It was my last night in New York City, so I decided I would still use the ticket (it was prepaid) so I went up despite the lack of views. While I would have preferred a proper scene of the lights of New York, it was actually a really interesting experience to have the observatory almost entirely to myself, as there were only a handful of people up there with me. We chatted and sat on the benches, skyscrapers dimly surrounding us in the mist. I loved it. It was my second favourite place to visit in New York City.
Opening Hours:
10am – 10pm Monday to Thursday
9am to 10pm Friday to Sunday
AM/PM Experience prices starting from $64 for adults and $54 for children.
1. The Metropolitan Museum of Art
And the number one spot on my list of favourite places in New York goes to…the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Ahhh the Met. I spent hours in here and I could have easily spent hours more. Yes, the steps out the front are where Blair Waldorf and her clique sit and eat their yoghurts for lunch in Gossip Girl. Yes, it’s where Meg Ryan and Billy Crystal shot part of their will-they won’t-they classic, When Harry Met Sally and yes, it’s the site of the world’s most famous red-carpet event for fashion – the Met Gala, but it’s also just a really really fantastic museum, with so much to see.
There’s armour, weapons, ancient statues and vases, period clothing, Egyptian pillars, gorgeous Tiffany glassware, rooms set up in various periods of American history, musical instruments, modern art and more. The internal architecture itself is also stunning. You should allow at least three hours to explore this museum and afterwards you can thrown yourself onto the grass in the adjacent Central Park to recuperate. Wear good shoes. Hydrate before hand. Factor in time to stop in the cafe for a coffee. It’s just great.
I think part of the reason I loved the Met so much is that I like museums, but I don’t usually love them as much as outdoor spaces. I went with limited expectations and didn’t really know what to expect inside, but I loved this place.
Opening Hours:
- Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday 10am – 5pm,
- Friday and Saturday 10am – 9pm,
- Wednesday closed.
General admission is $30 for adults, $22 for seniors, and $17 for students
Other New York City Gems:
Some of my other highlights in New York that didn’t quite make the cut but I also loved were:
- FAO Schwarz – This huge, iconic toy store is so much fun. One of the highlights is the walk-on piano where Tom Hanks plays in the movie ‘Big’. You can also build your own teddy bear.
- Cathedral of St John the Divine – Visit for the carvings outside the front, that depict modern New York being overtaken by natural disasters. The artwork on this church is like nothing I have seen anywhere else.
- Harlem – Visit on a walking tour and learn about Rosa Parks, sing along with a Gospel Choir in a local church and see the Apollo Theatre.
Things that I thought were over-rated:
Here’s some things I’ve heard people recommend but that I found ‘meh’:
- The pizza. I’ve heard Americans say New York has the best pizza in the world. I can’t agree. Maybe I just didn’t hit up the right spots, but in my opinion, the pizza is better in Italy and Croatia for sure. I also prefer Australian pizza, but I’m obviously biased.
- The Highline. I feel like this is a reasonably nice walk for people to check out on their second or third trip to New York, but I wouldn’t call it a must see for your first time through. There are so many more iconic and exciting places to see in New York. Chelsea Market, at the end of the Highline, is the highlight of the Highline walk in my view, so you could just visit that.
- Catching a baseball game at Yankees stadium. I went to a Yankees game at Yankees Stadium when I visited New York, and while I had a good time as I was catching up with friends, I didn’t pay much attention to the game. I’m not into baseball and it didn’t make me suddenly into baseball! If you’re not into sports, you can probably skip this one and know you’re not missing out.
Have you been to New York? Do you live there? What are your favourite spots? Let me know in the comments.