INTREPID SEA, AIR AND SPACE MUSEUM

The Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum is the only place in the world where you can visit an aircraft carrier, a submarine, Concorde and a Space Shuttle in one place. The aircraft carrier USS Intrepid saw active service from 1943 to 1974 and you can explore many areas of the ship. You’ll also see quite a few aircraft on the hangar deck from a Harrier Jump Jet to a Lockheed A12 Blackbird. The submarine is the USS Growler, which was an early cruise missile submarine meant to provide a nuclear deterrent. Only two such ships were built as the US Navy moved towards launching ballistic missiles from submarines instead.

The Concorde on display is G-BOAD, this British Airways Concorde that holds the record for the fastest transatlantic crossing in an impressive 2 hours, 52 minutes and 59 seconds. Guided tours of the interior of the aeroplane are available for visitors. The space shuttle on display is the Enterprise, this is the original prototype of the shuttle and never actually went into space. It was used to test that all the systems would work such as landing as a glider.

Read Reviews of Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum | Pier 86, W 46th St, New York, NY 10036, United States

TIMES SQUARE

The famous location of Times Square is where the ball drops on New Year’s eve and advertising billboards illuminate the buildings surrounding the Square. The Broadway Theatre district surrounds Times Square, so it’s a great place to visit after a show and enjoy the atmosphere of the square after dark.

Read Reviews of Times Square | Manhattan, NY 10036, United States

NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY

New York Public Library is the third largest library in the world after the British Library and the Library of Congress. The main building is named after philanthropist Stephen A. Schwarzman and is worth visiting just for the stunning architecture and magnificent ceilings. The entrance is flanked by two marble lions named Patience and Fortitude who sit in front of vast stone columns that give the building a roman or greek aura.

Read Reviews of New York Public Library | 476 5th Ave, New York, NY 10018

GRAND CENTRAL TERMINAL

Grand Central Terminal was built between 1903 and 1913. It holds the world record for the station with the most platforms, 44 on across two levels (not including the “secret” 45th platform under the Waldorf Astoria hotel) and is used by 125,000 commuters each day. The main attraction for tourists is the beautiful ceiling showing signs of the zodiac. Sadly the artwork was, for many years, covered in grime and dirt as Grand Central Terminal suffered through a lack of maintenance.

If you want to see just how dirty the ceiling used to be, find the crab and follow the dashed line to the edge of the ceiling where you will see a small (9” x 18”) rectangle that is darker than the surrounding area. That was what the ceiling looked like before they cleaned it! It has been deliberately left as a reminder of how bad the ceiling had gotten. Interestingly the ceiling displays the zodiac backwards; is this a mistake, or as some claim, so that only God sees it the right way round?

Read Reviews for Grand Central Terminal | 89 E 42nd St, New York, NY 10017

ST PATRICK’S CATHEDRAL

Able to accommodate 3,000 people, St Patrick’s Cathedral’s vast size is impressive on its own. It is the largest Neo-Gothic style cathedral in North America and the largest symbol of Roman Catholicism in New York. Be sure to stop and check out the bronze entrance doors with their reliefs of six people who had a significant relationship with the cathedral. Inside the vaulted ceiling and stunning stained glass are sure to impress along with the many chapels that surround the central part of the cathedral. There are many other interesting artefacts on display such as a beautiful mosaic of Christ and an impressive crystal cross.

Read Reviews for St. Patrick’s Cathedral | 5th Ave, New York, NY 10022

STATEN ISLAND FERRY

Riding the Staten Island Ferry is a great way to see the New York skyline from the water and get a good view of the Statue of Liberty as you sail past. If you are staying on Staten Island or even in New Jersey, it might also be a great way to get to and from New York from your accommodation. This can be cheaper than getting the train as the ferry is free, so you just have to pay to park on Staten Island. As there are no tickets to buy nor any security checkpoints to get through you just wait in the modern, clean, departure lounge until the doors open and people flood down the walkway onto the ferry. From Staten Island, the Statue of Liberty will be on the port (left) side of the ferry.

After a short safety announcement, the ferry will slip its moorings and smoothly set off for the 25-minute ride to New York City. We were surprised that you sail much closer to the Statue of Liberty than we expected, so you get a really good view of the famous icon. As the ship approaches nearer to New York, the famous skyline comes into view and you are soon docking ready to start your day’s sightseeing.

Read Reviews for Staten Island Ferry | Travels between 4 Whitehall St, New York, NY 10004 & 1 Bay St, Staten Island, NY 10301

BATTERY PARK

At the south end of the island of Manhattan, Battery Park is a quiet oasis several monuments and other attractions within it. The East Coast Memorial which commemorates the 4,601 US servicemen who lost their lives in the Atlantic Ocean during WWII. The Korean War Memorial is an obelisk with the shape of a soldier cut out of it and a list of the countries that fought in the war with the number of dead and wounded listed around the base.

Castle Clinton National Monument is a circular fort from the early 19th century which became an immigration centre and is now a museum. There are also statues such as the Immigrants Statue, dedicated to all the people that entered America through Castle Garden and the Clipper City Tall Ship, a replica of the original 1854 schooner, is moored next to the park.

Read Reviews for Battery Park | New York, NY 10004

CANYON OF HEROES

Canyon of Heroes is where ticker-tape parades are held and also where you can see the famous Wall Street Bull. As you walk down the Canyon, which is also Broadway, you can check each of the events that had been honoured with a ticker-tape parade which are inscribed on the pavement such as Douglas “Wrong Way” Corrigan who “accidentally” flew from the New York to Ireland instead of Long Beach, California, claiming a navigational error!

 Read Reviews for Canyon of Heroes | Broadway, New York

TRINITY CHURCH

Consecrated in 1846, Trinity Church is the third church to stand on this site which was granted a charter by King William III of England in 1697. This was when New York was still known as New Amsterdam, having been settled originally by the Dutch. The church is quite small but is an oasis of calm from the bustle of the city. Even the small courtyard to the side seems to push the city noise away further than the distance from the road would suggest.

Read Reviews for Trinity Church | 75 Broadway, New York, NY 10006

9/11 MEMORIAL

That the entire block where the twin towers stood has been kept as the 9/11 Memorial is surprising, nearly as surprising as the size of the holocaust memorial in Berlin. The footprints of the two towers have become huge water features, which cascade in spouts down tens of feet into the base and from there empty into a smaller square at the centre; you can’t see the bottom of those centre squares from the edge. The “guard rail” around each of the two sites bears the names of all those who died cut into the metal and approaching from the south, the two memorials sit in the shadow of the new One World Trade Center towering 1776 feet above.

 Read Reviews for The National 9/11 Memorial & Museum | 180 Greenwich St, New York, NY 10007

CENTRAL PARK

Slap bang in the middle of Manhattan is the huge, 840 acre, Central Park which contains a plethora of attractions for visitors. Highlights include Bethesda Fountain and Terrace with its decorative ceiling and Belvedere Castle, a folly built in 1869 and now a visitor centre, observation deck and weather station. There’s a model sailboat lake to enjoy and an Alice in Wonderland statue that is designed that kids do play on it. A memorial to John Lennon can be found at Strawberry Fields and just outside the park nearby is a plain-looking building where John Lennon lived and in the doorway of which he was murdered in 1980. An Egyptian Obelisk, known as Cleopatra’s Needle, but in fact commissioned by Thutmosis III. Sadly this obelisk is deteriorating and seems much the worse for wear. 

Read Reviews for Central Park | New York, NY

TOP OF THE ROCK

“Top of the Rock” is an observation deck at the top of the Rockefeller Centre. Whilst it is not the highest observation deck, we chose this one for its proximity to Central Park and for the fact that we would be able to see the buildings that the other two observation decks are in, namely the Empire State Building and One World Trade Centre. 

Tickets for this attraction are timed, so it’s best to book them in advance. After a short queue for the lifts, you’ll come out on the lower of the observation decks. As these are enclosed in glass, photos are rather difficult, but if you head straight on up to the next level there are gaps in the glass panels that you can squeeze your camera through to take some pictures. Looking back towards Central Park you can see 432 Park Avenue tower (where the Penthouse would cost about $100 million!), the Chrysler Building, the Empire State Building and Times Square (including the ball that drops on New Year’s Eve).

You can even see all the way downtown and glimpse the Statue of Liberty in the distance if it’s clear enough, and for any Highlander fans, the Silvercup sign where the final battle starts in the film! We really enjoyed the views from the Top of the Rock and it was a great way to see New York from up high.

Read Reviews for Top of the Rock | 30 Rockefeller Plaza, New York, NY 10112

HIGH LINE

The High Line is a park that stretches for almost 1.5 miles through New York, but is only about 15 feet wide! It’s built on to a disused elevated train line that has been re-purposed as a public space. There are several points where you can climb up into the park and walk part or all of it before leaving at a different point.

The High Line provides a very pleasant way to walk through the city away from the traffic and enjoy the plants, shrubs and artwork. There are even benches which can be pushed together because they ride on the rails which have been left in place at some points of the park. At 10th Avenue, the High Line turns and crosses over the street and there are seats with a panoramic window so you watch the world go by below and see way off into the distance down the arrow-straight street.

Read Reviews for High Line | Runs from 5861 High Line, New York, NY 10001 to 812 Washington St, New York, NY 10014

HESS TRIANGLE

The Hess Triangle is the smallest piece of private property in New York. It must take a special kind of stubbornness to mosaic a tiny piece of ground with the message “Property of the Hess Estate Which Has Never Been Dedicated For Public Purposes.” The irony is it is directly outside a shop and IS used by the public every day!

110 7th Ave S, New York, NY 10014

AUSCHWITZ MEMORIAL

The Supreme Court on Madison Avenue has an annotated map of Auschwitz I carved into one of its pillars. The map is surrounded by the message “Indifference to Injustice…Is the Gateway to Hell” and the map itself shows the position of the Commandant’s House, the Gas Chamber, the Execution Wall and the Torture Chamber. It’s a strange memorial carved into a recently added pillar on a court building and most people probably walk past without giving it a second glance. The map can be found at the far left of the white building at the base of a pillar affixed to the wall.

27 Madison Ave, New York, NY 10010, United States

These are a few tours we would recommend for your trip to New York City