New York is my favorite city and I have lived here over a year now. In this ultimate guide to New York City post I wanted to share some of my favorite places:
- to stay
- to see
- to eat
- to shop and how to move from one place to another.
Where to stay in NYC
I always use Booking when I look for accommodation. Both hotels I recommend are absolutely beautiful, face Manhattan skyline, have amazing architecture and rooftop swimming pools.
5* hotel in Brooklyn Dumbo
5* hotel in Brooklyn Williamsburg
Do want to save on your accommodation? Head over to this post where I keep all my tips and tricks of how to travel for free or with a big discount.
If you want to save $25 on your booking with Booking.com, click this link. There are 2 requirements to get the payout:
- you need to spend at least $50 on your booking
- you need to be a new client – if you are already Booking client but don’t mind creating new account with new email, than the money is all yours
You may also like:
What to see in NYC
- take a short ride to NJ- Hoboken or Jersey City to get this view
- view from Hoboken
- view from Jersey City
- visit Central Park
- go to Dumbo- Brooklyn and take the ultimate Brooklyn Bridge Picture
- see Flatiron building
- see the city from the sky – here video from my helicopter tour over the big apple
- take a pic with the NYC love sign
- visit One World Trade Center
- and don’t forget to check out Top of the Rock
[AdSense-B]
My top 12 recommendations would be:
- Helicopter Tour
- Rockefeller Center
- Central Park
- Bryant Park
- Bull on Wall St
- Highline
- Brooklyn Bridge
- Brooklyn Botanic Garden- Cherry Blossom, you can also see my photos from this year here
- Top of the rock- Rainbow Room
- 5th ave
- 9/11 memorial
- Dumbo
An additional resource I highly recommend to review here. I would also add to this list:
- Enter the Central Park from Central Park West and 102st and head North – this is a totally different area of Central Park and very beautiful
- Play tennis in Central Park
- Ice skate in Rockefeller Center and Bryant Park
- Take a picture with the Bull on Wall st
- Visit Riverside Park
- Go to Roosevelt Island
For more options check out City Pass
How to commute in & out NYC
- from JFK, take the Airtrain- $5 and then Subway 1 ride $2.75/ Weekly pass $32 / Monthly pass $121
- from Newark, take Lyft If you want to save a bit, take Lyft to Newark Penn Station and then change for PATH train, those go to Wall Street and 33rd Street( Herald Square). There is only one direct train, to Wall Street but you can change train on either Journal Square or Grove st stations (2 and 3 stop from Newark).
In the city
Subway 1 ride $2.75/ Weekly pass $32 / Monthly pass $121
CitiBike – 24h -$12, 3days(72h) – $24- unlimited 30 min rides- download the app to find the nearest station )
Lyft registering with my link will give your $5 credit in NYC
Where to eat in NYC
on Top of the Rock, enjoy the Empire State Building view from 65 floor
Photo Credit: Rainbow Room
Are you planning a longer stay in NYC? Check out this post to find out how to get a $6 lunch in NYC.
Where to shop in NYC – the ultimate guide
-
- 5th Ave (between 50 – 59th st)
- Madison Ave (between 57-72nd st)
- Broadway
- Lord and Taylor
- Macys (Herald Square)
- Saks Fifth Avenue (5th Ave & 48st)
- Bloomingdales
(Lexington Ave & 60th st)
Discount stores:
The last one Woodbury Common will take an hour from NY. There are buses that can take you there for $25 both ways. Look for deals on Groupon
– Bonus map –
Are you curious where celebrities live? This map may be outdated but that is the only one I found. As for my personal experience, I have seen Victoria Beckham last week when she was leaving this hotel near Madison Square Park. My neighbor met David Beckham in Rumble gym last month, also 23rd St area. Seems to be easier to meet celebrities who actually not live here 🙂
So that is my ultimate guide to New York City. What are your favorite places in NYC? Share in the comments below.
Pin for later:

Hi, my name is Joanna, I started this blog in Jan 2017. I created posts about beauty, fashion, travel, rabbits, money blogging ect. Simply put: all the stuff I care about. After 10 months I realized my blog is not getting enough traffic so I dived into research. Till Oct 2017 I only had around 700 visitors on my blog per month. Then I implemented my Pinterest strategy and automated my pinning with my own build tool – PinMeApp. In Nov 2017 I got 3300 page views and then in Dec 2017 8500. That is how my app was born: PinMeApp. I wanted to help others grow traffic to their sites as well. Today I offer subscription for my app, but I also teach people my Pinterest strategy, step by step what I did to grow the traffic so fast, so this blog is now getting around 20k page views each month. I also offer Pinterest Management and implement my strategy for brands who want to reach their audience on Pinterest as well. My Pinterest account reaches over 5m people monthly. If you want such results feel free to contact me. Cheers, Joanna