First time to New York City

[varan]

You can also look in Long Island City. Hotels there are cheaper, you're a couple minutes from Manhattan, and it's a fine neighborhood. Not pretty, but fine.

Plenty of time for you to see those things and much more.

[Statz2k10]

Originally Posted by SouthernGal2012

Okay, so I take it Newark is NOT a good place to stay. Everything I've checked in Manhattan is upwards of $200 to $250 a night. I have only 2 full days to sightsee. Will this be enough time to see Empire State Building, Times Square, Central Park, Rockefeller Center and Grand Central Station? I'm not a shopper and basically just want to sightsee. Thanks to everyone for your input.

Short answer is yes. You can do all of those things in one day. But it all depends on how in depth you want to go with each place.

Empire state building is probably the only one I would think about not doing. You can always walk by it but if you want to do the tour and go to the top it could take up several hours. Maybe some people can chime in but I'm not sure how the schedule works.

If you simply want a great view of the city you can do top of the rock at Rockefeller Center. You can reserve a time and go right up.

Grand Central station is what it is. I'm not sure how much there is to really check out there.

Times Square you should probably check out at night so you see all the lights. But you could easily absorb enough of Times Square in a hours time.

Central Park, really depends on what you want to do here. There is a zoo inside Central Park. You can walk around in the park (don't do it at night-from what I hear).

If you're there for 2 days I'm guessing you'll be there more like 1.5 days since you can't check into your hotel till 3-4 pm. So would you be going straight to Manhattan after that? You won't have as much time to do as much that day since it will probably be closer too 5 when you actually get in Manhattan. But you could at least check out Grand Central, Rockefeller Center and Times Square. Those are all walking distance.

Then you could have the next day to probably do 3-4 things.

If I was in your situation I would maybe get a map, put the places you want to see on that map. On the first day get into the city and just walk around and experience everything. The next day do the same but maybe venture out further into Manhattan since you'll have more time. Maybe focus on more of the mid town area on the first day since your time is limited and on the second day get up early and venture into Lower Manhattan, maybe take a trip on the ferry, walk the Brooklyn Bridge etc.

[BKmachine]

Theres this hotel in Brooklyn on Halsey and Wycloff on the Ridgewood/Bushwick border. The subway stops right at that intersection (L) train and can take you right to Manhattan by way of Williamsburg aka hipsterland. Rooms there are only $80-90 a night. If you can afford that then go for it, dont stay in Jerz.

[BKmachine]

Originally Posted by varan

You can also look in Long Island City. Hotels there are cheaper, you're a couple minutes from Manhattan, and it's a fine neighborhood. Not pretty, but fine.

Plenty of time for you to see those things and much more.

Yea the Days Inn off of the (7) train is cheap. The hotels by Queensbridge is affordable too and if you dont mind a longer trip the hotels in Flushing and Jamaica arent bad either.

[Mightyqueen801]

Originally Posted by SouthernGal2012

Okay, so I take it Newark is NOT a good place to stay. Everything I've checked in Manhattan is upwards of $200 to $250 a night. I have only 2 full days to sightsee. Will this be enough time to see Empire State Building, Times Square, Central Park, Rockefeller Center and Grand Central Station? I'm not a shopper and basically just want to sightsee. Thanks to everyone for your input.

Listen there are hotels in Jersey City in the "Waterfront" area--a nice section and a short hop to Manhattan via PATH (you can see Manhattan's right across the river). There's a Candlewood Suites, a Westin, a Doubletree, a few others. Prices will be better than New York and the area safer and closer than Newark.

[nei]

Originally Posted by Statz2k10

Times Square you should probably check out at night so you see all the lights. But you could easily absorb enough of Times Square in a hours time. .

I like poking around Union Square whenever I visit. Worth a stop; good place to peoplewatch. Also check out Chinatown. For whatever reason I liked the park out by Battery Park City as well. If you do walk across the Brooklyn Bridge, go a little further and check out the view from the Brooklyn Bridge Promenade.