Trip highlights
- 1MoMA before the weekend crowds
- 2High Line walk and Chelsea Market
- 3Brooklyn Bridge morning walk
- 4Staten Island Ferry Statue of Liberty view (free)
- 5Smorgasburg food market
Daily spend
Where you're going
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Day-by-day plan
Arrival & Lower Manhattan
Tuesday, October 5
Est. spend
$180
per person
🌅 Morning
Arrive at JFK or Newark (EWR)
JFK International Airport, Queens
From JFK, take the AirTrain to Jamaica station then the E/J/Z train to Manhattan — $10.25 total. From Newark, take NJ Transit train to Penn Station — $17.50. Both around 60 minutes. Avoid taxi unless price-sharing.
Buy a 7-day unlimited MetroCard ($34) immediately — covers all subway and local bus rides for your entire stay.
☀️ Afternoon
Staten Island Ferry to see the Statue of Liberty
Whitehall Terminal, 4 South Street, Manhattan
The Staten Island Ferry is free, runs 24 hours, and gives an unobstructed close-up view of the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island from the upper deck. Best views on the southbound (leaving Manhattan) crossing.
Stand on the right side of the boat (facing Brooklyn) as you leave — that's the Statue of Liberty side. The return trip has different views.
Financial District and Wall Street
9/11 Memorial, 180 Greenwich Street
Walk Fulton Street to the 9/11 Memorial pools — two enormous reflecting pools in the footprints of the Twin Towers. The museum is an additional cost but the memorial is free.
The 9/11 Museum ($30) is extraordinarily moving but emotionally demanding — plan it on a day when you have nothing else scheduled.
🌙 Evening
One World Observatory at sunset (optional)
285 Fulton Street, One World Trade Center
The top of the Freedom Tower — 102 floors, 360° views of the city and harbour at golden hour. Expensive but the view is genuinely spectacular.
The elevator ascent shows a time-lapse of New York's history — impressively done. Book sunset slot online.
Dinner in Tribeca
Tribeca, Manhattan
The neighbourhood south of SoHo has some of Manhattan's best restaurants — The Odeon (legendary brasserie since 1980), Locanda Verde (Robert De Niro's Italian), or Augustine at the Beekman Hotel.
The Odeon (145 West Broadway) is New York City without the pretension — open from noon, no reservations needed at lunch, excellent at dinner. The onion soup and steak frites are reliable.
🍽️ Meals
Airport food
Various · $15
Eataly Downtown lunch
Italian · $35 · The Italian food hall at 4 World Trade Center — affordable pasta counter and excellent coffee.
The Odeon, Tribeca
American brasserie · $75 · Where the 1980s New York art world ate. Still excellent.
MoMA & Midtown Without the Clichés
Wednesday, October 6
Est. spend
$230
per person
🌅 Morning
Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) — first entry
11 West 53rd Street, Midtown
The most important modern art collection in the world. Van Gogh's Starry Night, Picasso's Les Demoiselles d'Avignon, Pollock's drip paintings, Cindy Sherman photographs. Go on a weekday morning.
Friday evenings (5–9pm) are pay-what-you-wish. The Design Store on the ground floor sells excellent gifts. Skip the café upstairs — expensive.
☀️ Afternoon
The High Line
High Line (access from 14th Street), Manhattan
The elevated park built on a disused 1930s freight rail line — 2.3km of gardens, public art, food stalls, and Hudson River views running from Meatpacking District to Hudson Yards.
Best entered at Gansevoort Street (southernmost point) and walked north. October has the best colours and fewer tourists than summer.
Chelsea Market
75 Ninth Avenue, Chelsea
A 19th-century Nabisco factory converted into New York's best indoor food market — Lobster Place (best lobster roll in the city), Los Tacos No.1, Chelsea Thai, and artisan coffee.
Los Tacos No.1 has the best al pastor tacos in Manhattan — the queue moves fast, eat at the standing counter.
🌙 Evening
Meatpacking District cocktails and dinner
Meatpacking District, Manhattan
The Meatpacking's nightlife is sophisticated and expensive — Good Bar at the Standard Hotel, or Le Bain rooftop for Hudson views at dusk.
Pastis on Little West 12th Street is the neighbourhood institution — French brasserie, excellent moules frites and steak. Book a week ahead.
🍽️ Meals
Joe Coffee
Coffee/café · $12 · New York's best local coffee chain — multiple locations, excellent flat white, decent pastry.
Chelsea Market lunch
Various · $25 · The lobster bisque at The Lobster Place is $12 and worth every cent.
Pastis, Meatpacking
French brasserie · $85
Brooklyn: Bridge, DUMBO & Smorgasburg
Thursday, October 7
Est. spend
$250
per person
🌅 Morning
Brooklyn Bridge walk at 8am
Brooklyn Bridge, Manhattan Entrance (Park Row)
The 1883 suspension bridge is a genuine engineering marvel. Walk from the Manhattan side (City Hall Park) to Brooklyn — takes 30 minutes. The view of the skyline looking back is the most photographed in New York.
Go at 8am — by 10am the bike lane conflicts with the pedestrian lane and it's chaotic. Face east on the return walk for the best light.
DUMBO neighbourhood (Down Under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass)
DUMBO, Brooklyn
The cobblestone neighbourhood under the Brooklyn Bridge has the most photographed street in New York (Washington Street with the bridge framed by buildings). Also: Brooklyn Roasting Company, Time Out Market.
The exact spot for the famous bridge photograph is Washington Street between Front and Water Streets. Go before 9am — it's a line by 10am.
☀️ Afternoon
Smorgasburg (Saturdays only) or Brooklyn Flea
Smorgasburg, East River State Park, Williamsburg
Smorgasburg is the world's largest open-air food market — 100 vendors, every cuisine, stunning views of Manhattan from Williamsburg Waterfront. Saturdays 11am–6pm, April–October.
The Ramen Burger and the Lobster Roll are always present and always worth the queue. Go hungry.
Williamsburg walk — Bedford Avenue
Bedford Avenue, Williamsburg, Brooklyn
New York's hipster neighbourhood at its most concentrated — vintage stores, independent bookshops, excellent coffee, and some of the city's best bagels.
Bagel Pub or Shelsky's on Grand Street — the best bagels in Brooklyn. Eat with lox and cream cheese.
🌙 Evening
Dinner in Williamsburg
Williamsburg, Brooklyn
Peter Luger (legendary, cash only, the original New York steakhouse since 1887) or Lilia (the best pasta in New York City — book 6 weeks ahead or take your chances at 5:30pm walk-in).
Peter Luger takes no reservations and is cash only — this is non-negotiable. The porterhouse for two is the only thing worth ordering. Have $200 cash ready.
🍽️ Meals
Brooklyn Roasting Company
Coffee/café · $12 · DUMBO's best coffee, industrial space under the Manhattan Bridge.
Smorgasburg
Various · $40 · Budget $30–40 and try 3–4 things rather than one large meal.
Peter Luger Steakhouse
American steakhouse · $100 · Cash only. Order the porterhouse for two, creamed spinach, German fried potatoes. No reservations.
Central Park & Upper West Side
Friday, October 8
Est. spend
$175
per person
🌅 Morning
Central Park — morning loop
Central Park, Manhattan (enter at 72nd Street West)
843 acres in the middle of Manhattan — the Reservoir loop (1.6km), Bethesda Fountain, the Ramble forest, and the Belvedere Castle overlook. In October: foliage at its best.
Rent a Citi Bike ($5/day) to cover more ground. The bridle path around the Reservoir is the park's most scenic route.
American Museum of Natural History
200 Central Park West, Upper West Side
The largest natural history museum in the world — the 4th-floor Hall of Ocean Life (suspended blue whale), Hall of Biodiversity, and the Rose Center for Earth and Space planetarium.
Pay what you wish (minimum $1 accepted) — the suggested donation is $28 but it is genuinely a suggested amount only.
☀️ Afternoon
Metropolitan Museum of Art
1000 Fifth Avenue, Upper East Side
The Met is the largest art museum in the Western Hemisphere — Egyptian temple of Dendur, Arms and Armour, the Greek and Roman sculpture galleries, and one of the finest Impressionist collections outside Paris.
Same pay-what-you-wish policy for NY State residents. For everyone else it's $30. The rooftop garden (seasonal) has Central Park views. Visit the Temple of Dendur — it's the most otherworldly room in New York.
🌙 Evening
Upper West Side dinner
Upper West Side, Manhattan
The residential neighbourhood between the park and the Hudson River has excellent neighbourhood restaurants — Zabar's deli for casual, or Ouest for proper upscale American.
Zabar's (80th and Broadway) is the greatest Jewish deli in New York. Buy smoked salmon, cream cheese, and a bialy for a hotel breakfast the next morning.
🍽️ Meals
Sarabeth's, Central Park West
American · $30 · The most popular weekend brunch in New York. Lemon ricotta pancakes. Expect a queue.
Museum café
American · $22 · The American Wing café at the Met overlooks the sculpture court — good for soup and sandwich.
Zabar's or Barney Greengrass
Jewish deli · $35 · Barney Greengrass (The Sturgeon King, since 1908) — lox platter, whitefish salad, everything bagel. A New York institution.
Lower East Side, SoHo & Greenwich Village
Saturday, October 9
Est. spend
$200
per person
🌅 Morning
Lower East Side Tenement Museum
97 Orchard Street, Lower East Side
The most important small museum in New York — a preserved 1860s tenement building where waves of immigrants lived. Walking tours through the actual apartments of real families. Book online.
Book the 'Hard Times' tour (1930s German Jewish family) or the 'Irish Outsiders' tour. The building itself is extraordinary — completely unchanged since 1935.
Katz's Delicatessen
205 East Houston Street, Lower East Side
Open since 1888, unchanged since roughly 1960 — salami, pastrami, corned beef on rye. The table where Meg Ryan faked the orgasm in When Harry Met Sally has a sign.
Keep your ticket. You'll be charged for lost tickets. The pastrami sandwich costs $27 and is worth every cent — split one between two.
☀️ Afternoon
SoHo shopping and galleries
SoHo, Manhattan
SoHo (South of Houston) was the art world before Chelsea took over — the cast-iron buildings still house galleries, Chanel, Prada, and independent boutiques. Broadway and Prince Street are the main corridors.
Greenwich Village walk
Washington Square Park, Greenwich Village
The most walkable neighbourhood in New York — Washington Square Park (dogs, buskers, chess players), Bleecker Street, Christopher Street (birth of gay rights movement), and Jane Street for residential beauty.
Murray's Cheese Shop (254 Bleecker) is the best cheesemonger in New York. Buy a snack and a picnic setup for Washington Square Park.
🌙 Evening
Village Vanguard or Blue Note jazz
Village Vanguard, 178 7th Avenue South
Greenwich Village is the birthplace of American jazz. The Village Vanguard (opened 1935) and Blue Note are the two best small jazz clubs in the world — Miles Davis, Bill Evans, and John Coltrane all recorded live albums here.
The cover charge ($30–40) includes the music. There's a two-drink minimum. The 8pm show at Village Vanguard is the classic New York evening.
🍽️ Meals
Russ & Daughters Café, LES
Jewish deli · $35 · The best smoked salmon in New York, on a bagel with cream cheese and capers. Since 1914. Expect a wait.
Katz's Deli
Jewish deli · $28 · One pastrami on rye, shared.
Via Carota, West Village
Italian · $65 · No reservations, worth the wait. The cacio e pepe, grilled branzino, and house Negroni are the order. Arrive at 5:30pm.
Harlem, The Cloisters & Flushing
Sunday, October 10
Est. spend
$115
per person
🌅 Morning
Harlem Gospel Service (Sundays)
Abyssinian Baptist Church, 132 W 138th St, Harlem
Several Harlem churches welcome respectful visitors to their gospel services — Abyssinian Baptist Church (136th Street) and Greater Refuge Temple are the most famous. Services start at 10am.
Dress respectfully — this is a real church service, not a performance. Arrive 15 minutes early. A collection is taken — $10–20 per person is appropriate.
Sylvia's Restaurant, Harlem
328 Lenox Avenue (Malcolm X Blvd), Harlem
Harlem's most famous soul food restaurant since 1962 — fried chicken, waffles, collard greens, macaroni and cheese, and sweet potato pie. Sunday gospel brunch is a New York institution.
The Sunday gospel brunch adds live music to the meal. Book ahead — fills weeks in advance for Sundays.
☀️ Afternoon
The Cloisters, Fort Tryon Park
99 Margaret Corbin Drive, Fort Tryon Park
The Met's medieval branch at the northern tip of Manhattan — a monastery built from actual European cloisters, housing the Unicorn Tapestries (1495–1505) and medieval art. Extraordinary and almost always quiet.
Ticket includes same-day Met admission. The Hudson River views from the Cuxa cloister terrace are some of the best in New York City. Take the M4 bus from Madison Avenue.
🌙 Evening
Flushing, Queens — authentic Chinese food
New World Mall Food Court, 136-20 Roosevelt Avenue, Flushing
Flushing (Queens) is the most authentic Chinese neighbourhood outside of China — the New World Mall basement food court and Flushing's outdoor stalls serve Szechuan, Cantonese dim sum, and soup dumplings that bear no relation to Americanised Chinese food.
Take the 7 train (the International Express) to Flushing-Main Street. The ride itself passes through dozens of immigrant communities — one of the most fascinating train journeys in New York.
🍽️ Meals
Sylvia's gospel brunch
Soul food · $45
The Cloisters café
American · $15
Flushing food court
Chinese/Asian · $20 · Soup dumplings, scallion pancakes, and hand-pulled noodles for under $20 per person.
Final Day & Departure
Monday, October 11
Est. spend
$130
per person
🌅 Morning
Top of the Rock (Rockefeller Center)
30 Rockefeller Plaza, Midtown
The view from 30 Rock is better than the Empire State Building because you can see the Empire State Building in it. 70th-floor open-air deck, glass barriers at the edges.
Book the first morning slot (9am) for clarity before heat haze. The Empire State Building is directly south — the view is iconic.
Grand Central Terminal
89 E 42nd Street, Midtown
The most beautiful train station in America — Beaux-Arts ceiling painted with constellations, the Oyster Bar in the lower level, and the secret Whispering Gallery acoustic phenomenon.
Stand in the opposite corners of the Whispering Gallery (arched corridor outside the Oyster Bar entrance) and whisper to the wall — your companion hears it perfectly across the room.
☀️ Afternoon
Depart to JFK or Newark
JFK International Airport
JFK: AirTrain to Jamaica then E/J train to Manhattan. Allow 2.5 hours before international departure. Newark: NJ Transit from Penn Station. Allow 3 hours.
Return your unlimited MetroCard if you have leftover credit — you can get a partial refund at a service window.
🍽️ Meals
Ess-a-Bagel, Midtown
Jewish/New York · $18 · The largest bagels in New York City. 359 Third Avenue. The salt bagel with lox cream cheese is the one.
Grand Central Oyster Bar
Seafood · $50 · The oldest restaurant in New York City (1913) in a magnificent vaulted basement. Oysters, chowder, pan roast.
Before you go
📅 Best time to visit
September–November is peak New York — mild weather (10–22°C), golden Central Park foliage in October, and all the summer tourists gone. April–June is also excellent. Summer (July–August) is hot, humid, and crowded. December for Christmas markets and lights.
🛂 Visas
ESTA is required for Visa Waiver Programme countries (UK, EU, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, South Korea, etc.) — apply online at esta.cbp.dhs.gov at least 72 hours before departure. $21 fee, valid for 2 years. US ESTA approval does not guarantee entry.
💱 Currency
US Dollar (USD). Cards accepted everywhere. Tipping is mandatory — 18–22% at sit-down restaurants, $1–2 per drink at bars, $2 minimum per taxi ride. Not tipping in New York is considered extremely rude. ATMs charge $3–5 fees — use your bank's network when possible.
🆘 Emergency numbers
police: 911
ambulance: 911
💬 Things you won't find in a guidebook
- The subway runs 24 hours — New York is genuinely a city that never sleeps and transit reflects that.
- Manhattan addresses work by cross-street — always know the nearest cross-street, not just the number. '5th Avenue' alone is useless.
- Walk the city as much as possible — blocks are short (north-south) and the street level is where New York actually happens.
- Delivery apps (DoorDash, Grubhub) serve restaurants that don't take walk-ins — a good fallback for impossible reservations.
- New York tap water is exceptionally good — don't buy bottled water.
- If a restaurant has a queue, it's usually worth the wait. New Yorkers don't queue for mediocre food.
One thing worth not skipping
A 7-day trip to New York City, USA without insurance is a gamble. Medical emergencies, cancelled flights, lost luggage — cover yourself before you leave.
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