NYC Travel Guide

Places to Eat:

The Bagel Store: Home of the famous Rainbow Bagel! They also have dozens of flavors of homemade cream cheese. The employees are soooo kind, I definitely recommend making the trip out to Brooklyn to get one of these bagels!  Recommendations: Rainbow Bagel with Cream Cheese or Red White & Blue Bagel with Red Velvet Cream Cheese

Serendipity 3: If you are a lover of ice cream like me, you HAVE to go to Serendipity. Their ice cream is literally out of this world. Plan ahead for this restaurant – the wait can be multiple hours on a busy day! Recommendations: Strawberry Fields Sundae or Forbidden Broadway Sundae

Tao’s Downtown: Ok y’all…this food BLEW ME AWAY. Not only that, the atmosphere is BOMB – it is connected to a night club.  Celebrities are known to frequent this restaurant – I recommend making reservations!   There is another location “Tao’s Uptown” in NYC as well!   Recommendations: Edamame, Filet Mignon “Tokyo” Style and Hong Kong Fried Noodles

Industry Kitchen: This restaurant is located right next to the Brooklyn Bridge! It has a stunning view of the water and skyline, and overall a great atmosphere.  Recommendations: Avocado Toast & Margherita Pizza

Premier Deli: This deli is located on 7th Avenue. It was super close to our hotel, so we decided to give it a try!   Recommendations: California Chicken Wrap

Junior’s Cheesecake: Y’all my obsession with cheesecake is UNREAL. Junior’s is located in Time’s Square and has THE best cheesecake I have ever tasted.There was a long line but it went pretty fast and is well worth the wait. Recommendations: chocolate Mousse cheesecake or Strawberry Cheesecake

Magnolia Bakery: There are multiple locations but I went to the one right outside of the Rockefeller center.  Although it was very crowded (what isn’t in NYC), the service was very quick!  Recommendations: Banana Pudding – they hit it out of the park with this one!

Street Food: Okay, so this is pretty self-explanatory. But NYC street food is SO SO good. I had an amazing New York Style Hot dog at a food truck outside The Met, and some to-die-for pizza from a food truck as well!

Places to Go/Things to Do

1. Brooklyn Bridge – Walking across the Brooklyn Bridge is such a cool experience. I recommend either going early in the morning or late at night when it is all lit up!
2. September 11 Memorial & Museum – I suggest buying tickets for the Museum in advance. Plan on spending 2-3 hours at the museum and memorial. At the memorial site, if you see a rose placed by someone’s name – it means it would have been their birthday.
3. Bethseda Terrace – This is located in Central Park, and for any GG lovers out there, is where Chuck and Blair got married!! Central Park is simply stunning – I recommend taking a bike tour through the park if you don’t have a lot of time because it is huuuugeeee.
4. Sunset Cruise – My first night in NYC we took a sunset cruise right by the Statue of LIberty – and it was awesome! We got to stand at the head of the boat the whole ride, it was a beautiful evening with an amazing sunset.
5. Ellis Island – If you go to Ellis Island, 10/10 you should take the complimentary guided tour. It was such a cool experience seeing Ellis Island, as my grandpa immigrated to the United States from Poland. It was so interesting to see the process immigrants went through to enter the U.S.
6. Broadway – If I could go to a broadway show every day, I could. Broadway really is everything you imagined it to be! Keep reading to the end of my post to see tips on how to get broadway tickets for up to 50% regular prices! (No joke – we saw Les Mis practically front row for half off!)
7. Top of the Rock – Go to the Top of the Rock at night! It is way less crowded, and the night view of NYC is absolutely breathtaking. If you have to choose between going to the Empire State building or top of the Rockefeller – I would choose the Rock! It’s less crowded and you get a great view of the Empire State Building at the top.
8. Union Square Greenmarket – This may surprise you – when you think of NYC farmer’s markets may not come in mind! The Union Square Farmer’s Market has a great selection of produce, pasteries, and flowers. It is open Mon. Wed. Fri. and Sat.
9. The Financial District – There is a ton to do at the financial district! Whether if be going to a museum, or visiting a cathedral, going down wall street – there are many options in this part of NYC!
10. 5th Avenue Shopping – 5th Avenue shopping is one of the first things that comes to mind when I think of New York! You don’t want to miss going to Tiffany’s – it is SIX stories and you will get to see the breathtaking yellow diamond necklace that Audrey Hepburn famously wore.
11. Hell’s Kitchen – You can find a bunch of amazing restaurants in this area. If you’re a foodie, this is the place for you!

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Helpful Tips:

• Keep an umbrella handy – it started POURING rain on us one day and we were SOAKED by the time we got back to our hotel.
• Leave EARLIER than you think you need to. You never know with traffic or the subway system how long it will take you to get to your destination.
• Wear comfortable shoes. I promise you – comfort > fashion! You will thank me!
• If you plan to use the subway a lot, you might want to look into a 7 day card – it might be more cost effective!
• TKTS in Times Square – check here for Broadway tickets the day of for CHEAP! Show up before it opens to have a higher chance of seeing your preferred show. Remember – this isn’t a guaranteed way to get tickets – but it is a great option if you don’t mind waiting in line for a bit and aren’t toooo picky about what show you want to see. You can find more information on TKTS here.

I hope some of these tips and suggestions were useful! If you have any other questions, feel free to comment below or email me at thekalonblog@gmail.com. 🙂