New York City, made up of five boroughs, is located in New York State. It is not only the financial capital of the USA but also of the world.
Honestly, we never thought of visiting this city. But since we were already in the States for personal reasons, and when Yuven expressed his interest in seeing New York, we decided to explore the idea. He has read a lot about the city in different books by Rick Riordan, which made him even more curious.
We created this six-day NYC itinerary to cover landmarks, family-friendly sights, budget tips, and local flavour.
To start our research, we watched a few YouTube videos by:
We also took suggestions from Facebook groups:
And we found the blog I’m Just A Girl helpful too.
After going through these resources, we listed the attractions we wanted to cover and decided on the number of days we would need. Initially, we designed two itineraries, but later dropped one. Towards the end of this blog series, you’ll come to know about the changes we made on the go to optimize our trip.
Initial NYC Itinerary: What We Wanted to Cover
Day 1
- Arrive, check in, and explore the area near the stay
- Evening with friends’ family OR Times Square
Day 2
- Empire State Building
- Walk/Bus to East 34th St. Ferry Terminal
- Ferry to Roosevelt Island → The Room
- Roosevelt tram to Tramway Plaza
- Walk to Carol’s Café, Greenacre Pocket Park
- Visit LEGO Store
- St. Patrick’s Cathedral
- (Optional) Nintendo Store
- Rockefeller Center → Magnolia Bakery (banana pudding, cheesecake)
Day 3
- Big Bus Blue Line Tour
- Catch from Stop 2 @ 10:10 AM → Drop at Stop 16
- Central Park – Exit at 59th East & 5th Ave
- Lunch at Liberty Bagels
- Walk along 57th Street (432 Park Ave → Carnegie Hall/Nordstrom)
- Take the bus from Stop 19 Carnegie Hall (Last bus ~5 PM)
- (Optional) Stop 14 → Hope Sculpture
- Drop at Stop 2 → Hotel or Night Tour @ 7 PM – Big Bus Night Tour
Day 4
- Walk to Big Bus Stop 2 (~6 mins) → Catch @ 9:10 AM
- Stop 8: NYSE, Wall Street Bull (~30 mins)
- Walk/Bus to 9/11 Memorial Pools – One WTC, 9/11 Memorial, Oculus
- Walk to Stop 10 → Stop 11 Pier 57 & Little Island (30–45 mins)
- Stop 13: Circle Line Landmark Cruise
- Stop 2: Walk to Summit One, Grand Central, Chrysler Building → Hotel (30 min walk)
Day 5
- Start 8:30 AM – 2:00 PM → Statue City Cruises @ Battery Park (Statue of Liberty Museum + Pedestal Level)
- Hudson Yards (High Line, Vessel, The Edge)
- Flatiron Building + Harry Potter Store
- Dessert at Salswee
Day 6
- American Museum of Natural History
- Levain Bakery
- Brooklyn Bridge + Brooklyn
After this, we decided to keep two buffer days and initially finalized the trip to 7 days. Based on that, we filtered suitable accommodation options, keeping accessibility, price, and other factors in mind.
Best areas to stay in New York City for first-time visitors
When I started looking for accommodation, I considered several areas, including Brooklyn, Lower Manhattan, and Hoboken, New Jersey. The challenge with Brooklyn and Hoboken was the extra commute time—they would have added at least two hours of travel each day, which didn’t fit our itinerary. I wanted something more central to all the attractions we had planned. Another requirement was a stay with a basic kitchen setup, allowing us to prepare quick meals or store leftovers. For that reason, we looked at Residence Inn and TownePlace Suites by Marriott.
During my research, I also discovered that Airbnb is not permitted in New York City, which further narrowed our choices. The Residence Inn in Lower Manhattan turned out to be just as expensive as the Residence Inn Manhattan/Times Square. After reading several blogs about the best places to stay for first-time visitors, I realized that Midtown, though pricier, would be the most convenient option. To balance the costs and keep our trip within budget, I adjusted the itinerary and finalized it for six days instead of seven.
Why did we drop Hop-on Hop-off for NYC transportation?
While reviewing our plan, I also started reading reviews about Big Bus tours. Since we had a bad experience with the hop-on hop-off bus in Paris, I didn’t want to repeat the same mistake in New York. Soon, I realized that we were using the bus mainly for transportation for two days, and it was turning out to be very expensive compared to public transport. So, I created another version of the itinerary without the hop-on hop-off buses and convinced Mihir that this would be a smarter choice.
NYC Itinerary – Final
Day 1 – Arrive in NY
- Arrive, check in, and explore the area near the stay
- Evening with friends’ family OR Times Square
Day 2 – Midtown & Roosevelt Island
- Walk to the Empire State Building – 9:15 AM to 12:00 PM
- Walk/Bus to East 34th St. Ferry Terminal
- Ferry to Roosevelt Island → The Room
- Roosevelt tram to Tramway Plaza
- Walk to Carol’s Café, Greenacre Pocket Park
- Visit LEGO Store (timings 10 AM – 9 PM)
- St. Patrick’s Cathedral
- (Optional) Nintendo Store
- Rockefeller Center → Magnolia Bakery (banana pudding, cheesecake)
Day 3 – Brooklyn & Flatiron
- Hotel to East 34 St Ferry Terminal
- Take the East River route ferry to Wall St. → Drop off at DUMBO Fulton Ferry
- Visit the Brooklyn Bridge, DUMBO, and Pebble Beach
- Flatiron District: Kailash Parbat, Harry Potter Store, Flatiron Building, Salswee
- 42nd Street: Summit One, Chrysler Building, Bryant Park, Grand Central Terminal, NY Public Library
- Optional Night Tour from Times Square
Day 4 – Statue of Liberty & Downtown
- Take train/bus to Castle Clinton – 8:30 AM reporting time
- Statue City Cruise to Liberty Island
- One WTC – One World Observatory, 9/11 Memorial, Oculus
- NYSE & Wall Street Bull
Day 5 – Intrepid & Hudson Yards
- Intrepid Museum
- Hudson Yards: Chelsea Market, The High Line, Vessel, The Edge
- Pier 57, Little Island
- Evening Ferry from Pier 11 (SV ferry)
Day 6 – Central Park & Uptown
- Walk to Times Sq–42 St and take subway/bus → Drop at 96th/86th Street Station
- Explore Central Park (Onassis Reservoir, American Museum of Natural History)
- Lunch at Liberty Bagels
- Walk along 5th Avenue – from 432 Park Ave to Nordstrom
Stay tuned for the next posts in our New York City series, where I’ll share how this 6-day NYC itinerary worked in real life – unexpected surprises, what we changed along the way, and practical tips to make your trip stress-free.
We love to research and plan for our travel itineraries because half the adventure is in the preparation.
If that sounds like your kind of fun, you might enjoy how we prepared for our 13-day Europe escapade.
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