NYC: 5 stops in 1 day, what order?

Question

Hello, I will be in NYC for one whole day. I will be arriving at Penn Station. In what order should I go to these places and how?

Statue of Liberty, Rockefeller Center, Times Square, Central Park and Empire State Building.

Thanks in advance!

Answer 1

Wow, Nikki must move faster than I do, because I was going to tell you that you can't see all that in just one day.  

First, let me tell you that you can go up into the top of the base at the Statue of Liberty.  We did when we were there in July.  You have to get reserve tickets and ask for a free monument pass to do so.  If you want them call 877-523-9849 and they will email the tickets to you. The ticket for ferry, Statue & Ellis Island is $17.

If you don't want to wait in a long line at the Empire State Bldg. then I'd suggest being there when it opens at 9 A.M.  Ticket is $17.50

Central Park is huge.  If you want to see very much of it, and it's all worth seeing, I'd suggest taking one of the bike taxi's because the driver will point out places of interest, such as where all the stars live.

It's $60 an hour for 2 people.

I don't know what  you want to do at Rockefeller Center. If you want to go to the Today Show you have to be there by 6:30 A.M. to get up front, and bring a sign to guarantee you'll get on camera. The 1 hour tour of NBC studio is $18.50. The ticket to the Top of the Rock is $19.

Times Square is free unless you want to eat at any of the great restaurants or buy souvenirs.  The fun there begins about 9 P.M. and ends at daybreak.

I hope you have a great day, and get the chance to stay longer on your next visit.

Answer 2

rockefeller centre and times square are right near each other. only about 2 blocks away.  SO start there.  From times square you can either walk to Central Park or take the subway. (walking might take a while. about 20 minutes).  It depends on what part of Central Park you want to see.  Statue of Liberty is not open to climb anymore, so if you want to see it I recommend either just seeing it from across the river (without boarding a boat) or taking the Staten Island Ferry (free) for a nice trip. the whole round trip on that took us about an hour to an hour and a half.  Then you can take the subway up to the empire state building.

This is not hard to do at all.  (I did twice as much in each day here) Especially since the Empire State Building is open til at least midnight (maybe later now). and if needed, everything in times square is open late too.

check out. www.hopstop.com for subway and walking directions. GREAT site for that stuff

Answer 3

Buy 1-Day Pass for $7.50.

Don't go to Liberty Island because pedal is still closed and always long ride ticket, and instead go on free Staten Island Ferry which passes Lady Liberty and Ellis Island.

Enter 34th St-Penn Station on 32nd St on weekdays, and take downtown (1) local to South Ferry. If you see 2/3, take it to Chambers St for (1) train.

Take free ferry at Whitehall Ferry to St. George, then return via waiting area for next ferry back to Whitehall Ferry Terminal.

On weekends in Summer, you may also go to Governors Island and catch TRAM TOUR bus (also passes Lady Liberty) Leaves every 15-minutes. Governors Island ferry leaves every 30 minutes, and so does Staten Island Ferry weekends 30-min mostly and 20-30-min on weekdays.

From there, walk over to Bowling Green station and take uptown 4/5 to 14th St for (6) local train to 33rd St (Park Av South)

Walk west along 33rd St and for observation deck elevator, take elevator entrance at 5th Av for NY Skyride, enter 2nd Floor escalator at 1st Floor 33rd St entrance.

From there, you may walk up to Times Sq area at 42nd St-47th Sts area. If you have time, you should try out New York Duck Tours.

Then from there, subways to Central Park (that depends in where in Park you want to see)

Answer 4

This will be hard to accomplish in one day, as the Statue of Liberty is a couple hours minimum.  The boat leaves from the bottom of Manhattan and first stops at Ellis Island.  You can get out and explore at both stops.  The World Trade Center site is about a ten minute walk up Broadway north of where you get the boat to go to the Statue.

Leaving aside the Statue, after arriving at Penn Station (34 St & 8 Ave) I would go first to the Empire State Building (34 St & 5th Avenue), followed by Times Square (42 St & 7 Avenue).  From there go to Rockefeller Center (49 to 52 Streets, between 5th and 6th Avenues).  From there go to Central Park (5th to 8th Avenues, from 59 Street North).  The park includes a zoo, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art and Museum of Natural History are on opposite sides of the park (Met at 5th Avenue & 73 St; Natural History at Central Park West at 79 Street).