Forum Moderators: open
thePoster
You don't have to actually get off the ferry - it's just the best vantage point for photographing the inimitable Manhattan skyline.
Oh, and call into Sir Harry's bar at the Waldorf Astoria and order a Manhattan cocktail in Manhattan... yummy.
:-)
Sounds kind of trite, but yeah, you have to stop and see all the things you've heard about. Wander through Central Park, stroll down 5th Avenue, stop in at Rockefeller Center and St. Pat's, do the Empire State Building, see a Broadway show or two, say "Wow" when you walk into Radio City Music Hall.
Mingle with people at a street fair, wonder where all those folks crowded into Times Square came from, take a boat ride around Manhattan (Yep, Junior, those are hills and forests you see.), catch a couple of jazz sets downtown, walk over the Brooklyn Bridge, hop a subway to Coney Island.
Just grab whatever travel guide is available and go for it.
after 6 during the week, there are a 1000's of places you can hit for after work drinks. shows start around 8, there are some new ones that either just opened or will be this weekend.
give me more info. bring a coat, its still cold.
i'm 26 and have lived here for a year, btw
for a long trip, head down to union square (bway and 16th or so) and walk up bway. you pass flatiron and then head up 5th ave to empire state. keep walking and you get to rockefeller center, saks across the street. keep going north and do some shopping or cut west to 6th (at 6th you'll see radio city music hall), if you make it to 60 you're at the southeast entrance to the park. go in and you'll see an awesome area with a pond. take your pick of wondering through the park or heading west to columbus circle. check out the time warner building, trump towers. head up central park west to dakota where lenon lived. around the 79th entrance you'll see the "imagine" tiles. take a picture, everyone else does :) from here, you're going to be dead tired. you can head over to the met on the east side of the park or head south through the park. walk out on 7th or bway and head south. at bway and 54th you'll find the ed sullivan theatre. you can go west at 54th and see where studio 54 is/was (theatre now). but it's really not worth it (imho). pdiddy/bad boy is at 54th and bway as well, on the north east parth of the street. head down bway to times square.
that's a lot of walking... along the way, you'll pass about 200 pubs, 100 deli's and little restaurants.
bars scenes are different everywhere you go. it all depends on what you like. i try to stay away from the after work bars. a bunch of guys in suits trying forget about work by talking work to everyone else at the bar. they usually all do the same thing... i tend to hang out at low key bars, not into the NY "scene". all the bars in the meatpacking are great (good mix of trendy and chill places). if you're looking for something particular, i might be able to help you out. if you want to hit me up i'd be up for hanging out.
Keep in mind that midtown is twice as expensive as other parts of the city. I would tell you where the avant-garde but I don't think it is left in Manhattan...
Also, if you do go to Central Park aside from the energy and ambiance of the crowd on the weekends (and the lake), there is also the Central Park Zoo at 64th Street and 5th Avenue (212) 861-6030. It is a very cool zoo in the lower part of Central Park.
But since this is about what to do after work, the night spots are traditionally mostly downtown in the east or west village or the Upper West Side. This is where most of the jazz clubs and what is left of new music in NYC. For good clubs there is Cielo in the meatpacking area and the Marquee, Glo & NA for celebrity hangouts (Marquee would the new Studio 54). And the in Orchid Lounge in the East Village has good new music. And then there is always the China Club...
