New York City

New York City is an unbelievable place – at least for us. It’s a city like no other with skyscrapers everywhere integrated with buildings with unique roman-like designs, and parks between it all. The scale of things blows your mind if you’re not used to it, especially coming from the UK, or anywhere in Europe.…

New York City is an unbelievable place – at least for us. It’s a city like no other with skyscrapers everywhere integrated with buildings with unique roman-like designs, and parks between it all. The scale of things blows your mind if you’re not used to it, especially coming from the UK, or anywhere in Europe. And I’m sure most of America doesn’t even look like that either.

It may seem like it’s just big buildings, concrete jungle – and it might not be everyone’s vibe. But there is so much to see and do, that I think everyone would find something for them, even if you wish to not come back after your trip.

For us it is our second trip and we could go every year. The limiting factor is the cost but this may depend on where you are coming from and what time of year.

But before we get into the details, this blog has various links embedded so you can quickly access the things I talk about. Some of those links may be affiliate meaning I earn some commission through them however this is a disclaimer that this does not influence my opinion, or the price of things. I will still share my honest thoughts and only recommend what I would do myself.

It cost us approximately £800 each for the flights and hotel. I manged to find this deal by booking through travel agent sites like lastminute.com during their black Friday or new Year sales but also recently by DIY in airline sales, and booking a cheaper hotel on Booking.com with their deals as a member.

If you book through a travel agent, just double check that the flights and conditions suit you – in the past we have been put on a basic fare which meant no choice in seats or no check-in luggage, which was fine with us but just a warning!

Both times we have booked for 5 nights. The first time we stayed with Manhattan Hotel which was a good location, close to central park, which we liked, but was not very updated in its style. Unless you’re lucky and get one of their newly renovated rooms. The second time we stayed with Moxy Times Square. The style of this one is nicer and modern, the location more central to everything, but the rooms are on the smaller side compared to the first hotel we stayed in. Next year we are staying at Hotel St. James, closer to central park – and this one doesn’t have resort/hotel fees! We booked this through booking.com and got a discount as a member.

What are these fees? And why am I excited? Well most hotels in NYC also now charge a ‘resort/destination fee’ on top of what you have already payed. It’s usually between 30 and 40 dollars per night, plus your city tax so between 35 and 45 per night EXTRA. Both times we have asked if we can opt out but you can’t, they say you get these extra benefits of things like gym pass, food credit at the hotel etc but for us it was all useless and a waste because we didn’t need them. And the food credits got complicated so out of frustration we didn’t utilize them. I would always email the hotel to double check for a chance to opt out of this.

Additionally you will also have to pay a deposit, for both the hotels it was 50 dollars a night so 250 in total but this does get refunded to you after your stay if you didn’t damage anything.

As we have done 2 trips, I have combined all the spots we’ve seen and been to and created an itinerary – this is not a day by day itinerary, but more focused on areas and attractions that can be grouped together for most efficient exploring. You can then pick and choose what you want to see.

Grouping 1:

Central Park + Central Park Zoo

Times Square

Radio City – especially at night when it’s lit up!

St. Patrick’s Cathedral – you can go inside, just wear appropriate clothing as it’s a church.

Rockefeller Area + Top of the Rock

We love the observation deck here for the views of central park and Empire State Building

Top of the Rock – Central Park view

Top of the Rock – Empire State View

We booked tickets through GetYourGuide to pay in £ so we didn’t get charged fees, but also makes it easy to cancel if needed – you can book yours here!

Empire State Building

It also has an observation deck if you’re interested but we decided to skip this one as observation decks can get expensive.

But you can book your tickets here, if you’re interested.

Bryant Park

Sometimes there’s performances or film nights!

Grouping 2:

The Edge

Highest outdoor observation deck and our favorite!

We booked tickets here 🙂

The Vessel

It has re-opened so you can now pay to go up it.

The High Line

Chelsea Market and Little Island – you can walk along the High Line, see Chelsea Market and then pop over to Little Island

Grouping 3:

Statue of Liberty

We did go over to the Liberty Island on our 2nd trip, although we spent more time in queues so I don’t think it’s worth it, especially if you don’t have many days in NYC – I would advise getting the free ferry or going on a small cruise that will go past it.