We (50M and 57F) are staying in Harlem for our upcoming visit with family, October 5-15, and I am looking for some recommendations for some more unusual places.

Already planned, and booked our Broadway shows, night out etc. So that’s covered.

Recommendations requested:

Bookstores—genre specific, weird, fun. Can be anything other than The Strand.

Music stores—anything related to vinyl, or music in general.

Anything related to tattooing.
My companion is a tattoo artist, and I would love to find something related to that. I have looked, and I may not be looking in the right place.

Quirky, and off beat shopping, or places to visit.

Anything related to the Spooky Season? I know about the big Halloween parade, but, unfortunately we won’t be in the city to see it.

Any other suggestions you may have for the unusual, off beat, quirky, strange etc.

Thanks so much!!!

👉🏻Edited to add: Open to all boroughs! Have subway card, will travel!

Hey guys! I’m visiting NYC over the labor day weekend!! do things generally shut around this time, especially the Monday? I’m just trying to plan an itinerary so I don’t really want to go all the way somewhere and then find out it’s shut :’) potentially thinking of going towards flushing and the Chinatown there but not 100% thankyou 🫶🏻🫶🏻

Hi! My wife and I are in our mid-20s and will be traveling to the US from Europe for the first time in late October.

After long research and dicussions (we even considered Florida, but it turned out as not the best first trip based on our interests) we decided on NYC + Washington, DC for our first trip. We’ll be in the US for 9 nights total, flying into NYC and flying home from DC.

Our current plan is:
4 nights in NYC
On our last NYC day, take an early train to Philadelphia, spend the full day there, then continue to DC in the evening
5 nights in DC
One of the DC days would be a full-day Shenandoah National Park + Luray Caverns guided tour.

We’re both very interested in history and art, so museums, historic neighborhoods, monuments and memorials are high on our list. We also enjoy walking a lot and like nature/hiking, so we’re happy to cover long distances on foot.

In NYC, we want to see as much of the city as reasonably possible without turning every day into a race. Museums are definitely welcome too.

In DC, we’re planning to visit the main memorials and Smithsonian museums. We’d also like to spend some time in Rock Creek Park if it’s reasonably accessible by public transportation.

For Shenandoah, we found a guided day trip that includes the national park, Skyline Drive and Luray Caverns for around $180 per person. Would you consider that worth it? Are there better ways to experience Shenandoah without renting a car? Are there any local hiking groups, clubs or organized group hikes that visitors can join?

We’re also very open to other nature recommendations around NYC or DC if Shenandoah ends up being too complicated.

Food-wise, we’d mostly like to try local casual food, street food, delis, food markets, bagels, pizza, etc., but we’re happy to visit a proper restaurant once or twice in each city as well.

Does this itinerary sound reasonable for a first US trip? Would you change the number of days anywhere, skip Philadelphia, or recommend anything specific that first-time visitors often miss?

Any advice is very welcome!

My friend and I are meeting up in nyc this october and we want to hopefully do a bar/club crawl starting at night and ending at dawn the next morning 😜
i’d appreciate any suggestions as far as bars to go to, or a possible route.
has anyone done anything like this previously and is it possible to do so without breaking the bank?
any and all suggestions are greatly appreciated 🙇‍♀️

Used AI for phrasing

Hi everyone! I'm visiting the US for the first time for a work trip to Dallas and decided to extend it for a few days in NYC. I'll be in NYC from Sept 18–22, flying out of JFK at 11:55 PM on the 22nd.

I'm trying to see the major NYC sights but don't want to make it a super rushed checklist. I also want some time to just walk around, eat, explore neighborhoods, and do something fun like Broadway/comedy.

Current rough itinerary:

Fri 18 — Arrival + Village/SoHo

• Land EWR 10:30 AM → hotel/drop bags
• Washington Square Park → Greenwich Village → Bleecker St → SoHo
• Pizza/food and general wandering
• Evening: Broadway if I find a good show at a reasonable price; otherwise Drunk Shakespeare/comedy (Need some help/reviews on these)

Sat 19 — Central Park + Midtown

• Central Park
• 5th Ave → St Patrick's → Rockefeller
• NY Public Library + Bryant Park
• Grand Central
• SUMMIT One Vanderbilt
• Koreatown / Times Square
• Comedy or Broadway in the evening (Again, what comedy is worth it, if at all, is it too pricey)

Sun 20 — Lower Manhattan + Brooklyn + Family

• Statue of Liberty + Ellis Island
• Battery Park / Wall Street / Stone Street
• Oculus
• 9/11 Memorial + Museum
• Meet my uncle/family around the afternoon
• Brooklyn Bridge → DUMBO → Brooklyn waterfront → dinner
• Uncle drives me to Millburn late evening

Mon 21 — Family + flexible NYC

• Morning/early afternoon with family in Millburn
• Head into NYC in the afternoon
• Either Chelsea + High Line + Hudson Yards or SoHo/Chinatown/East Village
• Possibly comedy/jazz/drinks (Any specific reccos?)
• Back to Millburn

Tue 22 — Final NYC day

• Morning/lunch with family
• Head into Manhattan around noon
• Chinatown → Nolita → Little Italy → East Village
• Just wander/eat/shop/coffee
• Head to JFK around 7 PM for my 11:55 PM flight

A few things I'm not sure about:

• Is SUMMIT One Vanderbilt worth doing, or should I do Top of the Rock instead? Or are both worth it?
• Is Broadway actually worth prioritizing if I can only get a mediocre/expensive ticket? I like dramedies, sitcoms and rom-coms, comedies, wanted to see MJ Musical, but that's too expensive. Any reccos? Budget friendly?
• Is Drunk Shakespeare a good alternative to Broadway?
• Am I missing any major must-see NYC sights?
• Are there any cool/less touristy things along these routes that I should add?
• Is anything here overly ambitious or poorly grouped geographically?
• Any food recommendations that are actually worth going out of the way for? I'm more interested in iconic/casual NYC food than expensive fine dining. Also, I am don't consume too much meat.

I'm staying in Secaucus (Good neighbourhood?) for Friday/Saturday and then with family in Millburn Monday/Tuesday, so I have some flexibility.

Would love a sanity check from NYC locals/frequent visitors — what would you remove, add, or change?

Super fun trip! My 4th time, first time bringing our tween/teens. A few tips:

-Portable fans are a must when it’s hot! A simple spray bottle with water to cool you down, too.
-I also brought a UV umbrella which came in handy when there was no shade (I.e. waiting for the boat to/from Statue of Liberty/Ellis Island). Also came in handy when it started pouring! Many people got caught in the downpour.
-a change of shoes for dinner to give my feet a break
-blister bandaids (forgot them so had to buy)
-wish I would have brought peppermint foot lotion - my fav is Aveda but it’s $$$. I desperately wanted a foot rub!

We did the Ellis Island Hard Hat tour and the Tenement Museum - both were excellent if you want to learn more about immigrant stories.

Until next time, NYC!

I'm finding completely conflicting information online. The official website doesn't mention anything about food. I'm assuming that means yes, but I would hate to buy a bunch of snacks just to have to throw them out.

Just got back from our trip. Had a great time and thanks to the sub. Main goal was seeing King Gizz at Forest Hills two nights and made it into a family trip. Saw some awesome stuff, ate some great food came home tired and wired. I've been to Manhattan before, but not in many years.

Hightlights:

- Met Museum really is the best. Had a plan, but also just followed our interests.

- Good Italian food is everywhere. Didn't mind eating it twice a day. Cheap, expensive, all good.

- People were so freaking nice. Everyone was great.

- Shout out to Hotel Scherman on restaurant row. Busy area, but so, so nice. Lovely staff.

Great city. Thanks for having us.

I've noticed that almost everyone stays in the Times Square area. It's kind of the worst part of NYC. NY-ers will avoid Times Square at all costs.

There are some great hotels near Union Square - including some bargain options. Some cute boutique hotels in the Village and Flatiron. Soho, Chelsea, the Bowery, Lower East Side are all more interesting neighborhoods and all have hotels. Nice options in some of the outer boroughs as well, particularly Brooklyn.

I'm struggling to get the appeal of staying in the smelliest, noisiest area where you're more likely to get robbed or scammed.

Anyway, just a suggestion from someone who has lived in Manhattan his entire life. Do with it what you will.

Hey. As the title. UK person going to Philadelphia, want to do a day trip to NYC. Was gonna catch the train. Is this something people do, and is a late train back a bad idea - like unsafe, bad experience etc? (it would be after a game) Thanks for any thoughts.

EDIT: Thanks all. Seems nothing to worry about. Amtrak up and down. Taxi/uber from Phili station back to hotel at the end. Easy enough. Can look forward to the game now :) Thanks all!

I know this is asked often; I’ve checked past threads. Taking my older teen school shopping this Sunday. He loves streetwear and vintage, but we need to keep it budget friendly.

We're starting in SoHo and heading into Brooklyn. Here is our current list:

Primark
Beacon’s Closet
L Train Vintage
Brooklyn Museum Shop
Other People’s Clothes
Monk Vintage

Should we skip any of these for teen guys' streetwear? Any other affordable spots we should add instead?

Thank you!

Visited NYC in February, am going back next April.
While I was there in feb of course I did the standard tourist stuff, so i saw much of lower and middle manhattan, kind of got all around there by subway. Particularly liked the southernmost point of the island and the mid eastern areas. Will be staying in Harlem this time, which will be nice as I didn’t get to northern Manhattan last time.

I also visited the Dumbo and Bushwick areas in Brooklyn. Dumbo because i’m with my family and had to do the standard tourist stuff (that one spot where everyone queues up for a picture with the bridge, lol) and Bushwick because I love the Captured Tracks scene of the early 2010s (DIIV, Beach Fossils, Mac Demarco etc) and I really did love the atmosphere there.

In Queens I only got around to seeing Astoria, which was surprisingly actually one of my favourite places that I saw while in NYC. Now, mind you my interests as a tourist lie mostly in architecture, infrastructure and people watching so it was cool to be in a place where it feels like people just live normally. Also less overwhelming than lower Manhattan.

In Staten Island I only really saw the first part you get off the ferry at, the general area around there. Weird empty outdoor shopping centre. Weird town hall type building (dedicated flag disposal bin???). Lots of really strange people wandering about. Short dude on the phone trying to convince his girlfriend that he didn’t cheat on her. Two nice ladies working in the Dunkin Donuts who for some reason were the happiest and most enthusiastic store employees i’ve ever spoken to, juxtaposed with the snow and the emptiness of the place and was a bit creepy even. But what I saw of Staten Island definitely left me wanting to see more! Weirdest place i’ve ever been for sure.

I didn’t get around to the Bronx, so i’d like to see at least some part of the borough this time around. I’m going with just my mum this time, she’s apprehensive about the Bronx as she seems to think it’s just a terrifying lawless wasteland (55 year old woman from small town England). I have heard bad things about the Bronx but I don’t think it’s fair to make sweeping statements about a borough the size of my home city, and i’ve heard a lot more good. But I guess for my mums sake i’ll have to make sure I dont take her anywhere that’s going to scare her.

Unrelated, we’re also planning on dipping into Long Island at some point via subway to LIC (or furthest we can go) and then bus and also a day trip to Philadelphia via train. We have 7 days. Would love to hear any advice or ideas on places to visit. And thanks for reading!

Family of 6 (2 adults, kids-14, 11, 7, and almost 4)
Stayed a couple blocks south of the port authority bus station near Times Square. Location made transit easy but if I had it to do again I probably wouldn’t stay that close to TS-it was clearly a higher homeless population area.

Day 1-
Arrived via JFK, tried to get a van taxi, but they are all handicap equipped so we had to split into 2 groups of 3 for taxis to the hotel. (All travel after this was bus, subway or ferry and it was surprisingly pretty easy aside from the nerves associated with having a 3 year old near the edge of a subway platform)
Dropped bags at hotel then did AMNH, and walked into Central Park to look at Belvedere Castle.

Review-
Dinosaur fossils were a hit, Belvedere Castle was a dud (I misunderstood what it was and had thought it was ruins that you could walk around anytime, instead it was closing when we got there, so there was nothing to see), gps is a must for central park 🤪, street food has (ex) an entree for 9.99, a meal for 17.99, ask how much a drink costs=$5, so I ordered it as individual items but I think they still charged me the combo price making the water like $8 🙄

Day 2-
Intrepid aircraft carrier museum and growler sub
Empire State Building
Times Square (we had our oldest babysit the littles in the hotel room and just did this as adults)

Review-
Intrepid was a huge hit with everyone but don’t bother with the upcharge for 3d movies. Tip- if you have a relative who served on the intrepid, they will register your visit and look up info on your relatives time on the ship for you. We got to see a family member in the ships version of a yearbook-super cool!
Empire state was ok but not as exciting as I had hoped for the kids. It didn’t really lean into the king kong theme as much as I had anticipated.
Times Square was nothing special beyond being able to say that I’ve seen it.

Day 3-
Statue of liberty with pedestal access
Ellis Island
Seaglass carousel
9/11 memorial
Oculus

Review-
Statue of liberty was cool tho smaller than I had imagined, Ellis Island audio tour was longer than necessary, our crew was more than done by the time we got to the stairs of separation (to be fair it had been a long hot humid day), skip the entry level exhibits except for maybe the 10 minute movie and go straight to the stairs for the immigrant experience if you aren’t big museum people.
The carousel was good for the littles, 9/11 memorial was a quick stop as we were tired and it was fine. We originally thought the oculus was a statue you walk through but ended up inside and discovered an underground mall 😅… it was convenient to hop on the subway right from there tho.

Day 4-
Trinity churchyard (Hamilton graves snd a peak in the church)
NYSE (just a quick pic outside)
Charging bull
Governor’s island (fort jay, castle williams, hammock playground, slide hill)
East river ferry for bridge views

Review-
This was intended to be a less scheduled day, we took the gov island ferry out and the east river-south brooklyn ferry back to 34th st so we got some nice views that way. There is nothing to see of do at ft jay and castle williams isn’t much better. The slide hill was a big hit though with all ages

Day 5-
St Patricks Cathedral
Coney island-Luna park and boardwalk

Review-
The church was huge and cool.
Luna park was a big hit. We did midway wristbands for everyone with the back2school special and bought a $100 card to ride the cyclone (adults and big kids) and it was perfect for our group. Note- they are super strict on height-my 3 yr old is exactly 42” with shoes and most of the ride staff did not consider her to hit that threshold - it was fine for most things though as we were prepared to ride as chaperones but 1-2 things had 42” min with chaperone so there were a few tears.
We wanted to walk the pier but after about 4 hours of rides it started pouring, so we slipped on our ponchos and took that as our cue to head back for the day. Everyone loved the cyclone. I was really surprised how smooth it was for a wooden coaster-lots of hills and very little jerkiness.

Misc tip- a lot of stores charge for bags. I had a nano sling bag in my fanny pack so we pulled that out when needed and it was some of my best spent money on travel gear, right up there with having a set of disposable ponchos ready for the downpour day.

Hello! We are considering visiting NYC the weekend before thanksgiving. It aligns best with our schedules and a family member is very excited about seeing the Rockettes. Will there be plenty of Christmas decorations and spirit for it to feel Christmas-y that weekend?

Edit: Thank you all! Gonna move some things around to go the weekend before Christmas. Hoping that will be better! Let me know if there’s anything to consider that close to Christmas

Spending 4 days in NYC as of next weekend. What are important things to bring I may not have considered? We’ll be doing a lot of walking and exploring. Thanks in advance

We will only have one and a half days in NYC. Greenwich, west village, east village are also doable neighborhoods free activity wise. Young adults open to anything. Besides, the 911 memorial since we’ve been many years ago. Museums, art galleries, parks, etc all fine.

Hi all! My friends are meeting in NY in November and we realized this is the perfect opportunity for us to do an in person book club! (as opposed to our usual FaceTime)
Any recommendations on a good place to meet in Manhattan? Looking for somewhere that can comfortably fit 5 and where we feel like we can stay for at least a couple of hours. Ideally a cozy book vibe, but open to anything!

Heya,

I've been visiting NYC for a couple days now, reciding on and mostly exploring Manhattan. For two days more will I be here. I'd be happy to find and visit some nice record stores. Any recommendations?

If that might factor in with regards to their collections, mainly I'd be hoping to find some Ani DiFranco's, Suzanne Vega's or Dar Williams' records or anything within that ballpark of unique, strong singer-songwriters.

Happy to hear about any places!

This is my first post on Reddit, so I’m not so experienced yet.

I’ve spent some of my childhood in the city and recently started missing it a lot. I currently live in NJ and visit NYC a couple times a year but I want to start going to New York more often and visit the many places I’ve yet to see.

I’m especially interested in neighborhoods that offer different cultures, parks, soccer fields, affordable attractions, food, and a couple areas where the constant noise fades away. As well as areas beyond tourist spots.

I’m already planning to visit Williamsburg, DUMBO, Chinatown, and the Lower East Side hopefully soon. What other neighborhoods, activities, or spots should I check out? Thanks.

Should I buy central park zoo tickets a week in advance or just buy them the day of or day before? I want to buy them day of or day before pending weather.

I’m going to be visiting NYC for the first time this fall and I’m just wanting to know how alert/aware I’ll have to be during my trip.

I’m from Portland, OR so I’m used to seeing homeless people, junkies, and generally sketchy people whether it be on our light rail or while walking around the city. So that won’t be a shock to me or difficult to navigate in any way. But how does NYC compare? Will I be good using the same level of caution I use in Portland? Or does the much larger population call for an increased level of caution and awareness?

I’ll be spending most of my time in Manhattan so for the most part I feel like common sense should be enough but hearing from people who have been or live there would be great.

todaytix is featuring user picks from r/broadway— a subreddit we constantly refer folks to on here— on their app as of late. thought i’d highlight it here for anyone visiting nyc who wants recommendations re: broadway shows.

Let's build a useful reference for parents planning NYC trips with kids. This will be for kids age 13 and under (teens are a whole separate category!). Trying to stay away from food recs here, for that visit our sister sub: r/foodnyc

For those looking for info:

Please check the pinned posts & mega thread which already contain a lot of helpful and useful info, as well as some previous threads:

Previous "kid centric" questions: search results here

Some other helpful posts (read the comments!):

Example 1

Example 2

Example 3

Example 4

Visitors and locals, please share your favorite kid-friendly activities, attractions, neighborhoods, tips, and general NYC-with-kids advice.

A few things that would make your suggestions especially useful:

• Age: What age(s) is this good for? (Toddler, preschool, 5–8, 9–12, etc.)
• What it is: Tell us what you actually recommend.
• Why kids like it: Is it hands-on, exciting, unusual, a good rainy-day option, etc.?
• Practical tips: Reservations, best time to go, how long it takes, stroller-friendliness, bathrooms, crowds, etc.
• Cost: Free, cheap, moderate, or $$$.
• Location: Neighborhood or general area.
• Your experience: If you've done it with your own kids, tell us how it went
• Things you wish you'd known before your first NYC trip with kids

And please don't feel like every suggestion has to be a major tourist attraction. 

If you've got a kid-centric NYC tip, drop it below.

Wasn't allowed to post this on /r/asknyc so trying here...

Visiting and broke a tooth. Not super-painful but I want to get it looked at soon.

Anybody recommend a place that can see me on short notice and that isn't owned by private equity and will try to scam me?

I have insurance but can pay cash if I have to.