re: NYC recommendations?

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Take the 4/5 or 1/2/3 train to financial district/Statue of Liberty/Wall Street/WTC/Brooklyn Bridge vicinity and explore for rest of the day.

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lol wut.


I don't understand the point of this thread. You're going to NYC for the first time and have 12 hours and are asking for recommendations for touristy stuff? There's 1-2 weeks worth of touristy things to do in NYC, and 12 hours isn't enough time for those of us who've lived there to recommend actual off-the-beaten-path things to do. I'm sure you know of enough sights in the city to determine what to do on your own, no?

If I had to make a recommendation, though, I'd say to splurge on a nice lunch. NYC has the best restaurants in the country, and lunch at some of them can be an absolute steal (~$50-60 per person if you don't drink alcohol). Look at the menus at Marea, Le Bernardin, Jean-Georges, and Boulud and pick your favorite. You'll be in for a treat.



I don't know if there is any other city in the world with such a disparity between a tourist experience and a local experience. Locals go out of their way to avoid entire swaths of the city that tourists congregate in, and, at least in my opinion, what truly makes New York great are the neighborhoods that most tourists never step foot in: West Village, Greenwich Village, East Village, NoLiTa, SoHo, Upper West Side, and, of course, LES (preferably at night). Not sure how you can experience these in 12 hours, but I'd highly recommend taking a longer trip there at some point if you can.

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Time Square, Rockafeller center, Central Park is all you'll have time to do in 12 hrs or less if walking.

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Dear God, how slow do you walk?