The Lower Manhattan skyline, as seen from Brooklyn Bridge Park. Credit: Kyle Newcombe

This past April I was fortunate enough to have my last exam on the 19th, well in advance of my summer job beginning the first week of May. Upon receiving the exam schedule I immediately started scrambling: not to begin studying because of my extremely compressed exam schedule, but rather to begin planning and booking a trip to New York City during my extra time off. 

It’s almost hard for me to describe how in love I was and still am with NYC, despite having never visited before this year. I revered the place; a plethora of media is set there, and I’ve been an avid consumer of much NYC-focused content from Casey Neistat’s vlogs to John Mulaney and Nick Kroll’s Oh Hello Broadway show (which I watched on Netflix). That, plus my everyday fascination with all things public transit and urbanism, led me to already have immense knowledge of the city and everything I wanted to see and do there.

Fortunately, I already had buy-in from another family member, so we set out to book flights and accommodation. We flew Porter from Billy Bishop to Newark; Newark Airport is very easy to travel to and is more transit accessible than NYC’s own two airports. We took New Jersey Transit into Penn Station and connected on the subway to our hotel on the upper west side. 

Having flown in mid-day, we had plenty of time to begin sightseeing. To give you a sense of just how seriously I was taking this trip, here is a full list of everything we did within our first eight hours: we had lunch at Zabars, a famous NYC deli and grocery emporium; we walked through Central Park; we went through all of the exhibits at the Museum of the City of New York; we visited Times Square and went shopping in multiple stores; we walked by and explored around both Radio City Music Hall and Rockefeller Center; and we got on the wrong subway train and ended up in Harlem by accident (oops!). We were taking NYC by storm, and certainly not in a manner that can be referred to in any way as leisurely.

Most days on our trip involved some combination of trying a couple new restaurants, exploring some neighbourhoods, some light sightseeing at key attractions, and a pre-booked experience of some kind. Some examples of these from different days on our trip: eating lunch at Cosmic Diner on 8th Ave, walking around and exploring Hell’s Kitchen, going to see the Wall Street Bull and New York Stock Exchange, and seeing Wicked at the Gershwin Theatre. Alongside the attractions, there was rather copious amounts of walking and public transit use. I averaged over 20,000 steps per day for six days, and I’m 6’4”. We were covering an absolutely enormous amount of ground, just as I had hoped. 

Since this was my first ever visit to NYC, we did hit a lot of the typical tourist spots and attractions. I’ve already mentioned a few of them but we also definitely went to a Yankees game, took the Staten Island Ferry, walked over the Brooklyn Bridge, booked a food tour of Chinatown and Little Italy, and attended two Broadway shows (the second one was Aladdin, in case you were curious). But aside from hitting the classics, I did have a rather esoteric list of lesser known attractions I wanted to get around to. I’m not going to miss the 9/11 memorial for sure, but I’m also going to get around to some smaller museums. Yes, I’m going to walk down the street in Dumbo that they pedestrianized because too many people were blocking traffic while posing for Instagram, but I’m also going to venture deeper into Brooklyn to see Prospect Heights and Grand Army Plaza. 

With that in mind, I’ll spend some time giving recommendations for things to see in New York that are still well known, but a little bit off the path of the typical first time tourist. I’ll begin with parks, a rather central part of the New York experience (see what I did there?). Everyone knows Central Park, of course, and I still recommend going. It’s likely close to other attractions on your itinerary, and it somehow remains underrated. It’s absolutely massive and has extremely varied landscapes throughout, with many museums around the perimeter.

Perhaps fewer people have heard of or been to Roosevelt Island and Prospect Park. These were two of the most memorable attractions for me in New York, and I wholeheartedly recommend them to anyone who visits NYC. Roosevelt Island sits in the East River parallel to the southern portion of Central Park. It’s quite accessible; you can get there via the Roosevelt Island aerial tram from Manhattan, by ferry or road from Queens, or by the F train. The tram is rather touristy, but it’s a steal; it accepts the Metrocard, which you likely already purchased for the subway. Roosevelt Island is not entirely parkland, as it includes residential buildings, retail spaces, and even a Cornell satellite campus. However, at the north and south ends of the island sit Lighthouse Park and Southpoint Park, respectively. Both have great walking paths, absolutely stunning views of Manhattan, Brooklyn, and Queens, and plenty of space to actually relax amid your hectic NYC visit. Prospect Park, on the other hand, is located in the center of Brooklyn just south of Prospect Heights. It differs from Central Park in the following key attribute: while Central Park is huge, you never forget that you’re right in the middle of Manhattan. In Prospect Park, meanwhile, you can forget you’re in a city at all. Vast swaths of green space and numerous trails lend themselves to leisurely walks, a slower pace, and just being contemplative. 

What I’m going to say next might shock you: during my time in New York, I took time to visit New Jersey (gasp!). While I can already feel the disapproving looks being shot my way, I do recommend visiting Hoboken while you’re in the New York area. You can easily get to and from using the PATH train or a ferry, and it’s quite something to behold. It’s a small, dense suburb, with very active streets and a waterfront boardwalk with incredible views of Manhattan. And for those baseball nerds out there, it’s also home to a plaque commemorating the site where the first organized game in the United States is believed to have been played in 1846. 

For the last of my recommendations, I have a list of quick hitters and a general piece of advice regarding restaurants. For the list, I have a collection of small attractions that I enjoyed visiting that don’t take much time out of your day. This includes Little Island, an artificial park situated on the Hudson River just west of Chelsea Market; Brooklyn Bridge Park, where the header photo of this article was taken; the High Line, an elevated walking path along a disused freight railway; the Stonewall Inn, a key location during the LGBTQ rights movement; Madison Square Park, across from the Flatiron Building; Fulton Mall, a transit-only shopping street in Brooklyn; the NYU campus; Jefferson Market Garden; and the New York Transit Museum. A bonus for my Brooklyn Nine-Nine fans out there: the building used for all of the exterior shots in the show is the NYPD 78th Precinct, located just off Flatbush on 6th Ave in Brooklyn. Stop by and grab a photo!

Now, some general advice regarding restaurants: don’t only go to the well-known spots on social media. Sure, visit Pastrami Queen, Russ and Daughters, or Katz’s for classic New Yorker deli fare, but consider other options. Rather than go to the same pizza joints as everyone else, find where you’ll end up during or after your day’s planned activities and just search for “pizza” in the area. Chances are you’ll find a less busy, less well-known, but probably still really good restaurant to try. I employed this technique to great success during my trip, and I encourage you to do the same. 

My trip to NYC this year was, in every sense of the word, a religious experience for me. As someone who thrives in a busy city environment, loves exploring on foot, and is really into urbanism, it really was an ideal trip for me after a busy semester. Whether that describes you or not, NYC does truly have something for everyone and can be conducive to however you want to go about your visit. Having visited four boroughs, explored over 20 neighbourhoods, eaten at 17 restaurants, taken two guided tours, visited three museums, seen two Broadway shows, used 15 different train lines and two ferry services, logged over 120,000 steps, and taken hundreds of photos, I have but one thing to say: New York, I shall return.