An itinerary for the city of New York told step-by-step, to help you organize your trip to the Big Apple.

3 days in New York – First day

First Day in New York

Genoa – Rome – New York

Finally it’s time to leave !! Departure from Genoa, first stop in Rome and then direct from Rome to New York!
On paper we should have arrived in New York at a decent hour and, with the Time Zone in our favor, we could have used half a day and see everything we set ourselves since we only have 3 days in New York!
Poor deluded … we have not yet understood that Jet Lag really breaks our legs!

JFK – Manhattan

Landed! Passed the visa checks and retrieve the suitcases we run to stop a taxi that takes us to THE GULLIVANT TIMES SQUARE, between 8th Ave and 48th St West, practically to Times Square, a strategic position in the middle of the island of Manhattan. Close to Times Square, but not too much to feel the mess that characterizes it at all hours of the day and night!
Here … the one-hour trip by taxi in the traffic of the Big Apple has encouraged us to sleep!

Well, as we anticipated, our program included a rocket start with already a series of things to see in the early afternoon, but, as soon as we arrived at the hotel, we collapsed!
After an hour and a shower we finally managed to start discovering the Big Apple!

Quokka Recommend: don’t get caught unprepared! In order to stay in the States, a nominal Credit Card is required (most of the time a Prepaid Card is not accepted) on which each Hotel charges a few dollars (sometimes even several $) as a deposit. This deposit is returned “within” 10 days of Check-Out so make sure you have a high enough ceiling to pay all the deposit in all the hotels.

First obligatory stop: a local SIM. Already from Thailand and, after the bad experience of Kenya, we have learned that the most convenient and functional thing is to buy a local SIM of any operator.

Find out which SIM to buy in the USA!

First impact with Times Square

As soon as we got out of there … Man, we’re in Times Square! Right in the middle of Times Square! The Times Square that you see in the movies, Times Square on New Year’s Eve in New York, seen and revisited everywhere … But live is another thing! Full of people, coming from all parts of the world (like all the States at the end) all with their noses looking up at the first skyscrapers and the light panels of the sponsors that are present a little in the whole square! And if you look down … there is a swarm of tourists, figures trying to make money with photos, street artists. It is full of people and we are almost dazed … it still doesn’t seem true to be in New York! What a sparkling start, cabbage!

Quokka Recommend: I recommend when you are in Times Square looking up at all the lights, remember to keep a hand on your wallet and personal valuables. It is fairly quiet and the police are at every junction to act as a deterrent but between fake drunks and home less it is always better to have an eye on your own things.

Okay, beautiful Times Square, but we have to start moving, we only have 3 days in New York and we decided to see a lot of things!
Ready go! Direction: Empire State Building to see New York from above, with the favor of the night.
We go there on foot! First for 7th Avenue, then for Broadway! (Unfortunately when we went, they were working to redevelop the area and so the part of Broadway from Times Square to the Empire State Building that we did was mostly a construction site to make the street walkable and add flower beds and benches).

We arrive in the Empire State Building area, but our body reminds us that we have been standing for too long and that the meals taken on the plane were not enough! So, we decide to stop right under the Empire State Building on the corner of 5th Avenue and 34th Street West and eat at Heartland Brewery and Rotisserie. Let’s start with meals made in the USA! A NY Strip Steak Sandwich and a Smoked Pulled Pork burger with chips that always do well, a Harvest Wheat Beer and we’re ready!

New York - Heartland Brewery and Rotisserie

We leave the restaurant and we are already at the main entrance, which is right on 33rd Street, but what luck! We had forgotten that we were already here!

Climbing the Empire State Building

We enter and seem to have gone back in time, the porters and security officers are all dressed in classic amaranth uniforms, a bit like in the films of the 30s/40s that we are “used” to see.
Everything has been restructured trying to maintain the style of the original building. The time is the right one: 22.00, little queue for the boxes and not too many visitors around the Empire State Building.

Quokka Recommend: the ticket we purchased is the one for the Main Deck for $ 34 per person. It is also possible to buy the ticket for the Top & Main Deck which costs $ 54 per person.Consigliano: il biglietto che abbiamo acquistato è quello per il Main Deck da 34$ a persona. E’ possibile anche acquistare il biglietto per il Top & Main Deck che costa 54$ a persona.

On the second floor, while we follow the snake towards the elevators, monitors are positioned that explain the improvements that have been made since 2009 to date for energy saving and eco-sustainability. For example, they replaced all the windows … and then you come to say thanks to the c … but thinking about it is a 100 floors skyscraper … it’s not really child’s play to change them all, right?

After the queue and the usual photo on the Green Screen, we take the elevator. As soon as you enter the elevator, which initially seems normal, a short show starts projected on the roof of the elevator that turns into a screen where the “history” of the construction of the tower from 1799 is animated. Nothing documentary, but very captivating: while we go up and show the phases of the construction of the tower with “scenographic” effects such as the workers who pass you in front of dangling on the metal sleepers. Nice pastime waiting to get to the eightieth floor of the Empire State Building !!

First stage: 80th floor. The entire floor is passable and you can see all of Manhattan from the top, sheltered by the windows (unfortunately, time is not on our side and it started to rain as soon as we approached the tower). There are also prints that tell the story of the tower and its construction, with sketches of the architects and period photographs that pay tribute to all the people who made it possible to build the tower of the Empire State Building. But the show that you can see with your nose on the windows wins over everything !! Don’t stop to take too many pictures at this point because, with window panes, especially at night, they don’t look good and… the best is yet to come!!

Second stage: Main Deck 86th floor. On this floor you go out on the panoramic terrace that goes around the whole tower. From here you can see the entire New York Skyline from above. With the thousand lights that illuminate it and you can hear the sounds of the city in the distance. Despite the annoying drizzle, the show enjoyed from here deserves a lot. For us it is an obligatory stop to do if you come to New York! The entrance ticket deserves the climb up to here (and then you do it in the elevator not on foot!)

With the VIP ticket you can go up to the observatory of the TopDeck 102th floor of the tower. We didn’t go there because, given the rainy evening, it wasn’t worth it.

We go down to the 80th floor, passing necessarily through the souvenir shop with the statues of the Empire State Building, the Statue of Liberty and other objects to give away. Definitely expensive, not very characteristic and a little trash.

We take the elevator back down to the ground floor but, unfortunately, the rain has no intention of giving us respite. So, to get back to the hotel, we opted for a taxi: around $10 for a 15-minute walk.

Now we are really cooked, so it’s time to go to sleep, already anxious for tomorrow that awaits us!!