ニューヨークのツアー・チケット・観光アクティビティ

The Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island, Top of the Rock or Summit One Vanderbilt, the 9/11 Memorial and Museum, a Broadway show, Central Park, a harbour cruise, the Brooklyn Bridge and DUMBO, the Met, a Chinatown and Little Italy food tour, and the High Line. Book the ferry and the observation deck ahead; everything else can be decided on the day.

Four days for a first visit: downtown and the Statue of Liberty, Midtown and a show, Central Park and a museum, Brooklyn or a food tour. Add a fifth for Washington DC or Philadelphia. Stay in Midtown or Lower Manhattan to save subway time, and plan each day around one part of the city.

The Staten Island Ferry, Central Park, the High Line, the Brooklyn Bridge, the 9/11 Memorial plaza, Grand Central, the New York Public Library, Times Square at night, Governors Island in summer, the Bronx Zoo on Wednesdays, Chelsea Market, the Oculus, and Roosevelt Island by the tram (subway fare). Many museums have pay-what-you-wish evenings.

Washington DC (from $95), Philadelphia and Amish Country (from $110), the Woodbury Common outlets (from $48), Sleepy Hollow and the Hudson Valley (from $118 by train with a guide) and the Hamptons in summer. Niagara Falls is a two-day tour (from $293), not a day trip. All leave from Midtown with no car needed.

A Broadway show, Top of the Rock or the Edge at sunset, a night harbour cruise past the lit-up skyline, Times Square, a jazz club in the Village, the Brooklyn Bridge walk after dark for the skyline, a comedy club, a night helicopter flight, rooftop bars in Midtown, and the Museum of Modern Art’s late Saturday hours. The subway runs all night.

December is the classic: the Rockefeller Center tree and rink, the Fifth Avenue windows, the Bryant Park Winter Village, the Radio City Christmas Spectacular and the Dyker Heights lights in Brooklyn. January and February are cold but cheap and empty: shorter lines at the Statue of Liberty and the decks, Restaurant Week, Broadway Week 2-for-1 tickets and the museums at their quietest.

The Statue of Liberty ferry, the Museum of Natural History’s dinosaurs, Central Park’s zoo, carousel and rowboats, the Intrepid aircraft carrier, Top of the Rock, a harbour cruise, the Brooklyn Bridge walk to Jane’s Carousel, Coney Island in summer, the Children’s Museum of Manhattan, the Lego and M&M stores in Times Square and a family-friendly Broadway show like The Lion King.

April to June and September to early November: mild weather, Central Park in bloom or fall colour and long days for walking. December is magical but crowded and expensive; January and February are the cheapest months; July and August are hot, humid and busy at the decks and ferries.

Yes — no other city concentrates this many world-class sights within walking distance of each other, and the free list alone (the ferry, the park, the bridge, the High Line) fills two days. Plan the ticketed icons ahead and give it four days rather than a weekend.