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Midwesterner here... traveling to the East Coast for the first time in a couple weeks (Ocean Grove, NJ). I would like to take a day trip to NYC from NJ on either Sunday August 1st or Monday August 2nd.
I will have access to a rental car in NJ but was told that driving into/parking in NYC is not a good idea due to cost and difficulty navigating. Is a train the best option from Ocean Grove? Can someone assist with where to get on/off from Ocean Grove, NJ? Never been on a train/subway....
Any recommendations for which tour company to go with? This one seems great, I would just add Wall Street. Any thing else glaringly obvious missing here?
Meet at the world famous Times Square.
Listen to expert narration from our licensed tour guides as they hop off with you at each stop!
Pay your respects at the site of the World Trade Center.
Includes a boat cruise where you'll to see the Statue of Liberty, Brooklyn Bridge, and Empire State Building.
Visit Rockefeller Center and NBC's Today Show Set.
Stop for a snack break at the South Street Seaport (meal not included).
Stop in Central Park to view Strawberry Fields.
Spot the Central Park Zoo, the Brooklyn Bridge, the Hudson River & the East River.
View the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, the Chrysler Building, the Met Life Building & Trump Tower.
See the Plaza Hotel, the New York Public Library, Greenwich Village, SOHO, Tribeca & Herald Square.
Of course I would love to experience all of the different cultural areas which make up NYC, but with only a day or two we may only stick with the major landmarks on this trip.
That is a dizzying schedule and you will probably not enjoy the pace, even if you manage to do it all. I would recommend choosing the top three attractions you want to visit in New York, and using the subway / walking to get to them. You will get a much more intimate experience and actually have time to appreciate what you see. Most likely you can catch a NJ Transit Train into Penn Station, New York City at 33rd Street. You will be ten blocks from Times Square (starts at 42nd Street, an easy walk) and that will be your immersion into all things New York City. If you plan to return by train to Ocean Grove late in the evening, coming back into Times Square to see the lights will be unforgettable. Also, you can walk another six blocks from Times Square to see Rockefeller Center (49th Street), Central Park is only six blocks from Rockefeller Center (54th Street). Most of the attractions you want to see can be viewed with a nice leisurely walk in one of the busiest and dynamic sections of the city. Please, stay off the tour bus and see New York eye to eye with New Yorkers! The boat cruise at South Street Seaport is quite nice and I recommend it highly.
I don't know how far Ocean Grove is from NYC, but somehow your plan doesn't seem very good to me. You'll be blowing by everything super-fast, with no ability to choose, and certainly no ability to linger. Are you really burning to see a zoo or a library if you have only one day? Does the Met Life building really interest you? Personally, I'd suggest choosing what you want to see yourself, and if Ocean Grove is close enough, maybe you can make two trips.
YouTube - Greetings from New York City
You mentioned sticking to major landmarks on your brief visit. This is the most reasonable thing to do on a short visit. The Empire State Building, Chrysler Building, and Rockefeller Center are close enough to one another that you could spend the day walking from each to each and really get a flavor of the neighborhoods each sits in.
Grand Central Terminal (highly recommend) shares the same area with the Chrysler.
The Empire State Building is in the same neighborhood as Herald Square (Macy's flagship store, Penn Station, Madison Sq. Garden).
Rockefeller Center is right on Fifth Avenue along with St. Patrick's Cathedral and world famous Tiffany.
Unless you take in the observation decks on top of one of these buildings (Rockefeller is my personal favorite), it's possible to see all of these in half a day at a leisurely pace.
There are tons of 'off grid' sites to see along the way including architecture, great city sculptures, and more New Yorkers and street life than you could shake a coffee cup full of change at.
With all due respect to other suggestions, Times Square, while certainly impressive to say the least, offers very little other than national chain businesses with really cool fronts. If you can get Starbucks, McDonald's, Toys 'R' Us, in your town, then you may want to consider much more local flair such as Herald Square which still has a more local 'vibe' and businesses than most tourist areas.
The Financial District (Wall St., City Hall, South St. Seaport, Brooklyn Bridge, this entire area is where the city began), the Lower East Side ('Bohemia,' Little Italy, Chinatown, the Tenement Museum*) are all within walking distance of one another, again, at a leisurely pace for a day.
Riverside Drive on the upper west side (Grant's Tomb, Riverside Church, Soldiers and Sailors Monument, plus one of the most beautiful and impressive elevation views of the George Washington Bridge, Hudson River and the New Jersey Palisades), are also great but this area stands by itself and is not closely connected by walk to other sites the way my previous "map" is.
Central Park in almost any direction puts you somewhere that will be worth exploring both in the park itself or right outside whatever path leads to the street. ('Museum Mile' is located on Fifth Avenue along the east side of the park [see your map]). I don't generally suggest museums on short visits, but if you feel compelled to do so, then my only recommendation would be the Museum of the City of New York. No other museum will tell you more about where you are than this one, and it's located just south of Spanish Harlem, itself a worthy destination both culturally and historically.
I hope you have a great time. Cheers!
*40% of the current U.S. population can trace its roots through this immigrant neighborhood, perhaps you can too.
Last edited by Tony Of New York; 07-18-2010 at 04:26 PM..
Those things are in an undoable order. Why would you see the statue of liberty then go to Rockefeller center then back to South Street Sea Port (which isn't all that great), so many other places to eat.
Wow, you guys are great! Thanks rickh for the transit options, that's probably my greatest concern as of this point...part of the reason I wanted to find some type of guided tour: so that we would be in the hands of seasoned experts of the area, you know?
I am not a very good navigator, and like to have everything planned out ahead of time. Getting lost in NYC would not be fun, plus when I visit huge areas like this, I always seem to miss something great that was right around the corner.
From Design7 and Tony's post above, it looks we can hit a lot of these spots simply on foot during the day, but we may have to sacrifice a trip on the water out to see the Statue of Liberty etc.
Wish I had a relative or someone we could trust in the area to show us around. Private tour guide would be awesome, not sure of the cost though, might have to keep planing it out on my own.
Would definitely like to get a second day in NYC, I might be able to swing that, I'll find out soon. In the meantime keep the excellent suggestions coming! A google map with a few landmarks connected by walkable areas would be cool, maybe I'll work on that soon, just a lot of research on my end for something that a New Yorker could probably navigate with their eyes closed!
An important thought for your consideration reako. Almost every major NYC landmark of note has uniformed 'guides' walking these areas for the benefit of visitors. They are approachable, knowledgeable, and also dispense free maps of their particular areas.
Manhattan's street numbering and layout is such that with a simple map of landmarks it is virtually impossible to get lost. The only exception to this is the Financial District (Downtown), which is itself so small by comparison, that there too it's easy to correct and get back on track. In fact, Wall Street, South Street, and the World Trade Center (all located in proximity) actually have map kiosks posted liberally throughout as well as the above mentioned uniformed guides. A hired guide is a good thing for sure, but Manhattan's layout is extremely 'friendly' to pedestrian culture. Though you may not think so when you see how most New Yorkers cross the streets here (myself especially included).
I hope you share your experience when you get back too.
The OP is talking about a taking a bus tour. If you only have one day it's a very good choice. Be sure you make notes about what you want to explore in detail next time.
By the way, you want to take the train from Bradley Beach or Asbury Park. If you go on Monday you can take advantage of the rush hour trains. Do not drive into Manhattan. It's far more trouble than it's worth if you've never done it before. You will arrive at Penn Station. You can probably hop on your tour bus there or in Herald Square (a block away).
Here's a tip, when in doubt, ask a smoker. New Yorkers are very friendly and are usually happy to give directions, etc. You just don't want to stop someone who's rushing to get to a meeting.
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