Our recommendations for a four day New York city break in the USA should be spent taking in all the sights and sounds, that this vibrant city has to offer.

 

 

Youtube link to the JustRetired50Plus four day city break in New York Video:-

To view the video select:-   https://youtu.be/fr7icu98UNg

 

 

New York, USA is a vibrant city, that as the song says, never sleeps.

For a four day city break, New York cannot be recommended enough. It is one of the most vibrant easterly cities in mainland US. The city is spread out over 5 boroughs sitting where the Hudson River meets the Atlantic Ocean.  Its east coast position gave it the opportunity to become the US east coast centre of historic maritime trading routes, stretching from US to Europe and back to South America. New York has at its core, Manhattan, a densely populated borough that’s among the world’s major commercial, financial and cultural centres. Its iconic sites include skyscrapers such as the Empire State Building and sprawling Central Park, while Broadway theatre is staged in neon-lit Times Square, giving the visitor an overall unique destination to visit.

 

 

A sense of New York, USA

English is the language of New York, however, with its diversity of citizens many different cultures and languages co-exist quite happily.

During our visit to New York we choose to spend four days staying in a Hotel in mid town Manhattan. It was a short taxi ride from our accommodation to all of the main Manhattan shopping areas.

New York remains a safe city relative to our European cities, provided of course that you take common sense precautions. 

It is important to remember that holders of UK, Australian, New Zealand and most EU country passports are only eligible to travel to the USA for up to 90 days under the Visa Waiver Program (VWP). You must complete an online pre-registration and receive approval via the US Embassy website's Electronic System for Travel Authorisation (ESTA) before travelling to the USA. An ESTA lasts for 2 years, without one, a visitor will be denied access to the USA.

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Recommendations for New York, USA

A great way to spend four days in New York, in our opinion, would be something along the following:

 

Day 1: Explore the City of New York - get a ticket online and do the hop-on hop-off big bus NewYork, taking in all the sights. The Empire State building, with its panoramic views out over the city, from its rooftop viewing area, is a must see venue for a tourist.

 

Day 2: Do the Jersey Gardens or the Woodbury Common outlet shopping experience and take in the multiplicity of shops in the downtown shopping district on your return to the city. We took a return trip on the 222 bus from the Grand Central Station to Jersey Gardens. Interestingly, the bus passes along  the Tony Soprano route high up on the overpass along the New Jersey freeway by the port and Hoboken district.

On either of the 2nd or 3rd day of your trip, go to a (pre-booked) Broadway show. On our last trip we took in  “Stomp”, an off broadway show.

 

Day 3: Take the trip downtown first street and ground zero. Take in the twin towers memorial and Jewish museum. Finish off the afternoon with a trip by boat out to the Statue of Liberty and do the Ellis Island tour (an eye-opener for any Irish visitor, as Irish immigrants only made up less than 3% of the total immigrants that passed through its immigrant screening facility).

 

Day 4: On the Sunday, attend one of the services at the Abyssinian Baptist Church

up on 138th St. A truly uplifting experience, even for the non-religious. Remember to bring small change for the bus back to the city, we found it impossible to get a taxi cab, so we took the bus. If a sports fan, you can always try to take in a baseball or basketball game.

 

New York, like any other city, offers a visitor an ability to just mingle and browse the various sights and sounds of the city on ones own, but, there are also numerous organised diverse  tours available such as:- “A ghost tour of New York”; “A culinary (Pizza) tour of New York”; “A Speakeasy history tour”; “A TV and Movie tour”; “Big Apple Helicopter tour”; “A Jazz club tour”; “A gangs of New York tour” and many more tours.

 

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Our must see recommendation for a trip to New York, USA:-

1. Taking in the New York down town and outlet shopping experiences. 

2. Do the Ellis Island tour and take in the Statue of Liberty tour as well.

(3) Just sitting and people watching in any New York diner.

 

The average cost per person / per week is €1500 (depending on type of hotel/ accommodation selected)

All of the tour tickets are available over the web where some savings can be made.

 

“You should travel away from home, to really appreciate the value of what you have at home, on your return.”

 

“The route to happiness is in the journey and rarely in the destination alone.”