New York: top attractions (map, subway, sightseeing plan, tickets, interesting facts)

Everyone knows New York

The paradox of New York is that everyone knows it. Even those who have never been there! Everyone can name at least a few or a dozen things they would like to see in this city. Everyone also knows the appearance of these attractions by heart. Examples? Here you go: the Statue of Liberty, the World Trade Center, the Brooklyn Bridge, Wall Street and the New York Stock Exchange, Time Square, Central Park, the tenement houses from the series "Friends" or "Sex and the City" ... and I could go on and on. Everyone knows these places, has seen them thousands of times in various media, films, series, TV programs ... and at least once in their life everyone would like to touch them and see them live!

The paradox of New York – the city that everyone knows – is also its greatest strength. This occurred to me almost immediately after, for the first time in my life, I emerged, struggling with my suitcase, from the narrow subway stairs that took me straight from the airport to downtown Manhattan. The stuffy air from the subway gave way to the stuffy air of the city center. Instead of a dark railway tunnel, I was surrounded by incredibly tall glass buildings, gleaming with reflected light, and a sign with the name of the street caught my eye: Broadway. Yes! Broadway was the first word I read when I got to the surface. I immediately felt at home. I had arrived in a place I knew very well! I had seen it a thousand times. I know this building! Oh, this one too!!! I know what is to the left and what is to the right… I am at home!

Exactly! The greatest strength of New York is that here almost everyone feels at home. It's hard to feel foreign and out of place in New York. You just enter the city without any resistance and you're there as if you've always been there.
Everyone knows New York!
What a paradox.

Time to get to know each other better

Once you have calmed down a bit after your first impressions, and your excitement is replaced by the question: "what to do next?", that will be the time and place to take a look at the guide I have prepared.
I decided to write it from the perspective of someone who has just arrived from the airport and stepped out of a hole in the ground (i.e. the subway) somewhere in the middle of Manhattan. He has never been to New York before and knows nothing about the specifics of how this city functions. This means that there will be a myriad of specific information here that will help you organize your visit, and the guide itself will lead you by the hand, practically step by step through the intricacies of this huge metropolis. The entire entry will consist of two main parts:
– the first part will be a gentle introduction to the city's topography and a set of essential information that you should familiarize yourself with, preferably before you go to New York. Read this part in its entirety and without exceptions! I was going to write that the information contained in it may be useful to you, but that would be an understatement. This information will definitely be useful to you! Sooner or later you will need it and it is better to know what to do then or where to look for it!
– the second part of the entry is a specific guide with maps of the city and its selected parts, suggested sightseeing routes, descriptions of attractions and additional data. The descriptions in this part are based on the assumption that you know the first part and use the knowledge contained in it. Due to the huge size of the entire text, each district will have a separate description, to which the appropriate shortcut will direct you. I had to divide it somehow logically, so that in practice it would be convenient to use the guide in the field, reaching any part with two or three clicks.

Perhaps this all sounds scary, but I assure you that slowly consuming the content of this post will make visiting New York not only enjoyable but also easy and stress-free.

Plus, this plan has one HUGE surprise! An idea that I managed to implement and it worked out perfectly! A visit to New York creates a perfect opportunity to do something that travelers will really appreciate!
What is this? Ha! I won't tell! Just read this guide and you definitely won't miss anything!

Getting from the airport to New York

I know this question has already popped into your head: how to describe sightseeing from the perspective of a newbie who has already been to New York? What about getting from the airport?
There are three airports in New York City, and the directions from them take up a lot of space. So I decided to put them in a separate post. If you need information on how to get from the airport, check out this post: How to get from the airport to downtown New York

Planning a New York City Tour

On the one hand, I would like to cool your enthusiasm a little, because logical arrangement of everything (especially when it comes to New York) is not at all that simple. On the other hand, why not start differently than usual and just attack New York with full force?

To start with, I suggest you take a look at the map, which is usually at the end. I have marked the location of all the attractions that I have planned to visit in the guide. I have removed unnecessary descriptions and markings from the map. This is just to make you aware of the scale of the challenge that we will be facing. After all, not everyone will want to walk around New York according to my idea. Of course, my plans are perfectly suitable for use without any changes (after all, I made them 100% on my own feet). They are really well thought out and spread out in time and space. However, not everyone is interested in exactly the same things as I am, so most readers will introduce their own modifications.
The most important task of this post is to give you a good tool that will allow you to plan your own trip based on my suggestions. A simple map showing the location and concentration of the main attractions immediately gives you some ideas and makes planning easier.

List of New York attractions marked on the map:
1 Times Square
2. Radio City Music Hall
3.Top of The Rock
4. Rockefeller Center
5. St. Patrick's Cathedral
6. New York Public Library
7. SUMMIT One Vanderbilt
8. Grand Central Station
9. Morgan Library & Museum
10. Empire State Building
11.Flatiron
12. Theodore Roosevelt's childhood home
13. MoMA (Museum of Modern Art)
14. Broadway Theater
15. Boat trip – Statue of Liberty
16. Staten island ferry
17. Statue of Liberty
18. Ellis Island
19. National Museum of the American Indian
20. The Bull of Wall Street (Charging Bull)
21. New York Stock Exchange
22. Federal Hall National Memorial
23. Holy Trinity Church
24. World Trade Center Station
25. World Trade Center Memorial and 9/11 Museum
26. One World Trade Center
27. Columbus Park with Sun Yat-sen Monument
28. Chinatown
29. Little Italy
30. Soho
31. Apartment from the movie "Friends"
32. Apartment from the movie "Sex and the City"
33. Guggenheim Museum
34. Metropolitan Museum of Art (MET)
35. Belvedere Castle
36. Museum of Natural History
37. Bow Bridge
38. Umpire Rock
39. Brooklyn Heights Promenade
40. Luke's Lobster
41. Manhattan Bridge Viewpoint
42. Viewpoint on two bridges: Manhattan Bridge and Brooklyn Bridge
43. Brooklyn Bridge
44. Banksy Museum
45. Congregation Bnai Israel synagogue
46. ​​View of Williamsburg Bridge
47. Brooklyn Snail (mural)
48. 100 years of the MS 50 school (mural)
49. Song to the Siren (mural)
50. Domino Park
51. Marsha P. Johnson State Park
52. Jean-Michel Basquiat and Andy Warhol (mural)
53. Camilo's face (mural)

The map above shows the area we are interested in visiting. It includes Bottom, Middle and a fragment Upper Manhattan, fragment Brooklyn and the island with the Statue of Liberty i Ellis Island. There are 53 red dots (each one representing an attraction) on the map. I have to point out, however, that these are only the most important attractions in the city. Most of you will probably add something of your own to them.
As you can see at first glance, there really is a lot to do in New York. So the question naturally arises: how many days should you allocate to visiting New York?

How many days should I spend in New York?

You will answer this question yourself in a moment. Based on my universal guide, together we will build a travel plan that is optimal. However, before we formulate the answer, we need to look at the map (or rather two maps) again.
First, we need to know the actual size of the area we will be traveling through. The map below shows this area and its dimensions. Most of the tour will run through Manhattan. The marked section is about 10 km long and 3,5 km wide. In addition, there will be two Brooklyn neighborhoods to visit (Brooklyn Heights and Williamsburg) as well as the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island, to which we will sail by boat.

Even though the area does not seem very large, in practice, every day, following my plan, we covered a lot on foot. from 12 to 23 km and it took us a while from 6 to 10 hours. These are the results my GPS watch measured, which I used throughout the trip. The distances I listed include all the distances I covered each day, including those inside buildings, galleries, museums, etc.

To complete the picture, we still need a map that divides New York into several logical areas and groups nearby attractions so that they can be arranged into sensible routes.

The map shows New York divided into several areas (in the background you can see red dots with the locations of attractions you already know from the first map). The marked areas roughly correspond to the city's districts, but they do not correspond very closely. For the purposes of our plan, however, this description is quite sufficient, clear and logical. It also allows for intuitive movement by subway (similar names are used to indicate subway directions).
Now it’s much easier to plan our New York sightseeing for the next few days:

- Upper Manhattan (Central Park and museums near Central Park) – 1 day
- Central Manhattan (visiting attractions in the city: famous places, viewing terraces, etc.) – 1 day
- Central Manhattan (Broadway show and museums) – 1 day
- Lower Manhattan and the Statue of Liberty - 1 day
- Brooklyn – Brooklyn Bridge and the neighborhoods of Brooklyn Heights, Dumbo - 1 day
- Brooklyn - Williamsburg – 1 day (preferably Saturday)

In total, we ended up with 6 days. If you take something out of it, or add something, you can easily determine your own need for the number of days of sightseeing.

There are regular flights to New York from major cities, so you can plan the length of your stay as you like. When choosing a flight date, it is worth checking the ticket prices carefully. There are individual days when the ticket price can be absurdly high. Then it is more profitable to extend your stay by a day or two, because the difference in ticket prices often covers the costs of a longer stay.

ATTENTION!!! Now it's time for the announced surprise!

Washington – take advantage of the opportunity!

Most people who go to New York think only about New York, and it's no wonder! However, a closer look at a map of the New York area will quickly reveal an opportunity that suddenly presents itself. It's pretty close from New York Washington!!! I analyzed this matter very carefully and it turned out that the most important objects in the capital of the United States are very conveniently located in relation to each other and with good planning you can get almost everywhere in one day. Additionally New York and Washington are connected by an excellent and very fast rail connection., which allows you to quickly cover the distance between cities (no need to rent a car). I probably don't have to add that I checked everything personally in practice and it turned out that IT WORKS!!!
So if you are planning to visit New York, add one extra day and make sure to follow my idea for Washington sightseeing – [click]! Satisfaction guaranteed!
I will include a detailed description of this trip later in the guide, in one of the following chapters of this text. Here, only when planning the time to spend in New York, I wanted to announce the need to add one day to Washington.

Public transportation in New York

It's not hard to guess that New York has a perfectly developed public transport network. A city with such a dense population must have good solutions, otherwise it would suffocate under the pressure of its own residents, and even more so if you add tourists.
When building the plans, I tried to simplify everything even more, and all trips can be made only on the basis of the New York subway. There will be no need to use other means of transport. The subway is fast, convenient and reaches everywhere we need it.

How does the New York subway work?

There is some good news and some bad news in this case. First the good news!
Firstly, the New York subway runs 24 hours a day, without any interruptions (there are only three such networks in the world). Yes, yes! There are no interruptions in the functioning of the metro, so you can move freely around the city 24 hours a day.

Now the bad news, but don't worry. We'll deal with it!
The New York City subway is very old (the first line opened in 1904) and therefore its organization is somewhat archaic. This mainly concerns the entrances connecting the surface with the underground platforms.
If you've ever used the metro in other cities, you'll know more or less how it's usually organized. First, you go underground, then, following the signs, you head through the corridors toward the appropriate line and platform at the metro station. In New York City this is largely not the case! Here, a specific subway entrance directs you to a specific platform and that's it! So it doesn't matter which entrance on the street you enter. Underground, there is no network of corridors that can take you to the platform appropriate for your direction of travel. The decision of which entrance you should go to must be made on the ground., and the selected exit will take you to a specific platform, in a specific direction of travel. A mistake in choosing the right entrance will result in having to exit the station to the surface again and look for the correct entrance. It is worth remembering that each entry to the metro involves the need to pay for a ticket, and the fee paid for the mistaken entry cannot be reversed.

So how do you effectively navigate the New York subway? Just like New Yorkers!
The best way to explain the matter is with a specific example, but it takes up a bit of space. So I decided to write and post a short instruction in a separate post: New York Subway – How Not to Get Lost?
This is a detailed step-by-step instruction so it contains a lot of details, but in practice, thanks to the GPS coordinates I have provided, everything is very simple and comes down to a few quick clicks on the phone screen.
Just read the instructions once and try once, and navigating the New York subway will be hassle-free.

New York City Subway Fares

I will not discuss all the ways to pay for the metro because the overwhelming majority ends up using two methods, and one of them will soon start to fade into oblivion.

The first method is MetroCard, and the other that contactless payments (payment card, telephone, watch, etc.) not requiring any additional actions.

A 1-day MetroCard ($7 for the card itself) with unlimited rides costs $33, or the equivalent of 11 rides (one ride costs $3). The MetroCard was a really nice option (especially if you plan to do a lot of sightseeing using the subway), until a completely new and convenient alternative came along.
Recently, the New York subway has introduced an even more convenient mechanism! All you need to do is pay for your ride with the same contactless card (or phone) every time you enter the subway. The subway system constantly counts the number of rides purchased with the same card and after reaching $34 (if they took place within 7 days), it stops charging money and automatically the next fees are $0. So we have exactly the same as when buying an unlimited MetroCard for 7 days, but we don't have to carry and keep an eye on any card in our pockets.
Using this option requires that each person always uses the same, assigned card or telephone.

WARNING!
For those who are already trying to figure out how to get around the system, I say stop trying. The idea that we pay with one card, for example, for four people who pass through the gate one after another, and after three such passes we already have over 11 payments, so for the rest of the week the whole family rides for free ... this idea will not work. After paying with a card and passing through the gate, you can only make another payment with the same card in 15 minutes. In this way, if you wanted to pay with the same card, four people would pass through the gate for 60 minutes 🙂

For more details on metro travel rules (e.g. fees for children, etc.), see: How to get from the airport to New York

New York Subway Map

If you get around New York City the way I described above, you won't need a subway map.
However, if you still need a metro map, I am posting it for download. New York subway map – [click] in the form of a PDF file, which I copied directly from the official MTA website (metro operator).

Internet in New York

My post and guide to New York will probably not be the only one you read before your trip. If it is one of several sources of information for you, you will probably notice that almost all authors write about the fact that the Internet in New York is available everywhere and for free. This is due to the free Wi-Fi, which is provided by every restaurant, every museum, etc. When you are within the range of such a Wi-Fi network, you can connect for free, without entering any passwords, and use the Internet. And everything would be great, if not for one small detail. All shared Wi-Fi networks have a limited range and disappear immediately after taking just a few steps away from a restaurant or museum. Walking around the city and wanting to use navigation continuously, every dozen or so meters you would have to look for another open Wi-Fi network and connect to it. In fact, the entire walk would be spent constantly searching for and connecting to new networks. The idea of ​​relying solely on free internet access while sightseeing seems completely pointless. However, I decided to check it in practice and the verification turned out to be even more painful. Where there was no doubt which way to go, there were plenty of open networks available, but when there was a problem with determining the right direction, it immediately turned out that there was no open network here and we had a problem. Of course, I had my own card with unlimited internet access with me. I turned it on immediately and used it with pleasure throughout the trip, no longer worrying about free wi-fi. The experiment only confirmed my belief that free open wi-fi can be useful to you when you sit down for a moment in a specific restaurant and feel like digging around the network for a while. However, if you want to have a tool in the form of reliable navigation, which you intend to support yourself during the entire tour, then your own internet on your phone is ESSENTIAL!
In this case I will differ from most guides and I strongly recommend purchasing your own internet.

There are several ways to get internet in New York.

Buying a SIM card at the airport

At the airport or in the city you will find places where they sell SIM cards. Go to such a place and the seller will sell you something that will definitely it won't be the cheapest, but it will work. You install, start (you can even do it on the spot at the seller's) and that's it. We all know that offers from telephone operators are never clear or easy and always have some exceptions, additions and tricks. Besides, the offer changes all the time, so I won't even try to analyze the offers of operators for no reason. When choosing this version of buying the Internet, you simply have to assume that the seller will earn something extra from you and push you more than you really need, for a few extra dollars. You just have to assume that this is the case and if you didn't manage to get the card earlier, then just do it and that's it.

Purchasing a virtual eSIM card online

You can use this option if you have a phone that supports eSIM cards. There are virtual cards that do not need to be inserted into the phone. You register such a card in the phone by entering only its data in the appropriate application and the phone sees it as if a SIM card had been inserted into it. Most modern phones already have this option, but if you have been using your phone for more than 2-3 years, it may not have this option yet. So before you decide to buy a virtual eSIM card, check if your phone supports it.
As you might guess, virtual eSIM cards are easiest to buy online, because the seller doesn't send you any physical card, only its identification number. The purchase is quick and you can do it at any time sitting at home, in your favorite armchair in front of the TV.
The virtual card service has enabled the launch of services aimed at travelers, where (to put it simply) one virtual operator has signed agreements with local networks around the world and, as part of the virtual eSIM card it provides, allows you to make calls and use the internet almost anywhere, in accordance with local rates for services. Installing an eSIM card requires installing a small application that is used to control expenses and statistics on data transmission and calls.

One of the world's largest virtual operators, serving the largest number of customers, is Airalo – [click]. The operator's website is available in many languages ​​(including Polish) and clearly states the range of services and prices. If you do not intend to call from the United States all over the world, select the "local eSIM cards" service, then "United States", and then the range of services that best suits you.
Unfortunately, the last time seems to be not kind to Airalo, because I have come across a lot of opinions indicating problems with the launch and functioning of services. I do not know if the number of these opinions is due to the scale of the company (they serve a huge number of customers, so there are proportionally more opinions) or maybe there is some other reason. I am not able to assess this unequivocally. In any case, I recommend familiarizing yourself with Airalo's offer and checking the current customer opinions.

Of course, I will also suggest an alternative option, a lesser-known and smaller Swiss company. Yesim – [click] operating on the same principle as Airalo, but currently very highly rated by users. The Yesim website works in many languages ​​(including Polish) and offers different ranges of services. It is worth going and checking out this offer yourself.

You can access the latest reviews for both companies on an independent review site (Trustpilot):
- opinions about Airalo [click] (Airalo rating checked on 25.09.2024/2,5/5 is XNUMX out of XNUMX)
- opinions about Yesi [click] (Yesim's rating checked on 25.09.2024/4,3/5 is XNUMX out of XNUMX)

Buying a SIM card in advance before you leave

If you have a slightly older phone that doesn't support virtual eSIM cards and you need a regular SIM card, you're in exactly the same group as me 🙂 In this situation, I'll recommend a solution that I used myself. I bought a SIM card in Poland a month before my trip. The card was only valid for a month, but when you buy it, you can indicate from which day it should be activated and only from that day does it count its validity. So I indicated that it should be activated two days before my arrival in New York.
Next, I followed the instructions provided by the seller with the card step by step. I inserted the card into the phone only when I was in the US (it wouldn't work in Poland anyway, because it's only for the US). I turned on the phone and after a few seconds everything started by itself. I didn't have to do anything else. The internet worked stably throughout my stay and there wasn't even a moment when any problems occurred. I used it in the city and outside the city, while traveling by car across Long Island and on the train to Washington, and in Washington itself.
I bought the card on the website US SIM Cards, choosing: unlimited data package + 10GB hot spot (so I could share the internet with my wife or laptop). I paid PLN 219 for it. The phone I use is an oldie: Xiaomi 11 T Pro.

Tickets to attractions

Imagine that your dream has come true and you are in New York. You approach one of your dream attractions and it turns out that there are no more tickets left. They are gone. There are also no tickets for tomorrow and the day after tomorrow… Isn’t that a painful vision? Painful and very likely. New York receives millions of tourists every day and all of them wander around the city wanting to fulfill their dreams, to enter here and there. You are one of them and if you don’t want to bounce from the entrance door, then I advise you well: make sure to book your entry tickets to attractions in advance! Of course, not all attractions require such procedures. Some are free and have no entry limits. However, there are some where you cannot postpone buying a ticket until later, because you simply will not be able to use them. These mainly include places where entry is limited by a limited number of seats, and tickets are sold for a specific day and time.
I know that without experience it is difficult to determine which attractions you should watch out for and buy tickets in advance. Below I will therefore include a list of places where (in my opinion) it is worth taking care of admission tickets in advance. The problem with tickets increases as the holidays approach and decreases during the rest of the year. Remember, however, that I am not infallible and it may happen that during your stay the problem with tickets will be less, or worse, a problem will unexpectedly appear at a time when it should not have been. My goal is only to draw your attention to a real problem, but the final decision to buy is yours.

List of attractions where you may have trouble purchasing a ticket:
- cruise to the island with The Statue of Liberty
- performances in musical theatre on Broadway
- museum of contemporary art MoMA
- SUMMIT One Vanderbilt (observation deck at the top of a skyscraper with optical illusions)
- art museum Metropolitan Museum of Art
– viewing terrace on Empire State Building

To make your life easier with the detailed descriptions of attractions in the second part of the guide, I will include links to the possibility of buying a ticket online. The Internet is currently the best way to buy a ticket, and by the way (and this is probably the best news) most of the offers I have indicated include the possibility of canceling the ordered ticket even 24 hours before the entry date and a refund of 100% of the ticket value. If you want such a convenience, simply make sure that the given ticket includes it by reading the offer description carefully.

New York City Cards and Ticket Packages

Some of the tickets can be purchased in the form of ticket packages, where the price of the package is much more advantageous than buying individual tickets. If there is such an option for a particular attraction, I will post a short information about the package in which the ticket can be found and a link to it. Then it is worth checking additionally whether the offer of the other tickets in the package matches your interests.

The most popular package in New York is New York CityPASS – [click], which I would like to highlight and devote a few words to. The creators of the package claim (not without reason) that thanks to this package in the most advantageous variant, you can save up to $100 on tickets. However, this is not the most interesting thing about this package. The most interesting thing is that as part of the package you get admission to 5 attractions, two of which are permanently assigned to it and cannot be changed (Empire State Building Observatory and American Museum of Natural History) and you can choose the remaining three from the list:
- Top of the Rock Observation Deck (Rockefeller Center top observation deck)
- Ferry Access to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island (cruise to the island with the Statue of Liberty)
- 9/11 Memorial & Museum (World Trade Center September 11 Museum)
- Circle Line Sightseeing Cruises (bay cruise)
- Intrepid Museum (Arms Museum on board the aircraft carrier USS Intrepid)
- Guggenheim Museum (art museum whose building is on the UNESCO list)

The attractions offered are so diverse that everyone will probably find at least three they would like to see, so the package seems really sensible. Of course, the savings of around $100 only come out if you choose the three most expensive attractions, but nobody is guided by the price of the entrance ticket when making this choice.

Of course, in New York you can find more interesting packages, perhaps better suited to your needs. Below I am posting a link that contains filters that eliminate from the results list items that are not packages and would unnecessarily clutter the search results. I recommend clicking and even browsing the results out of curiosity. There are dozens of offers and the probability of finding an interesting set of tickets at a good price is really high.

check out: New York City Cards – [click]

Travel insurance to the USA

The United States does not require tourists to have insurance. It is worth remembering, however, that the costs associated with medical services in the event of something bad happening to us are really high in the US (European insurance, the so-called EHIC, does not work in the US).

Fee examples:
– visit to a primary care physician: USD 100
– one day of hospitalization: USD 500 (does not include tests and procedures)
– additionally, e.g. X-ray will cost up to USD 1 (depending on the type of X-ray)
– dentist (filling) up to USD 1

Basic insurance (e.g. for 14 days, covering medical and rescue costs up to PLN 500) can be found for around PLN 000-400 for the entire stay. The easiest way to find current insurance offers is at insurance comparison website – [click] (in this case the link directs to the Rankomat comparison engine)

Car rentals

My stay in New York was a great opportunity for me to test out car rental in the US and see for myself how rental companies work here. I searched for a car based on my own experiences from my own travels and the car rental rules I have described, which I have been faithful to for years.
Have you noticed any differences in car rentals in the US versus car rentals in Europe? Of course, yes! There are differences, but their impact on how you find the best deals is small.
The main difference is that the common electronic means of payment in the US is a credit card. Life without a credit card in the US does not exist, so everything is based on credit cards. Something like a debit card in the US is treated as plastic without a backing, having no credibility. This is a clear conclusion that if you do not have a credit card, you will not rent a car in the US.
In this situation, searching for rental offers comes down to searching for offers with the lowest deposit (refundable security deposit) on a credit card. Often, rental companies require deposits of less than $200, so the rental company's requirements are not difficult to meet. Virtually any credit card will meet them, provided you have enough funds on it.
By following the short instructions that I have described step by step in the guide: Car rental without credit card and deposit – [click] simply choose one of the offers with the lowest deposit instead of the "no deposit required" offer (this option will not appear on the list at all) and that's all you can do about it.

Note that offers with a low deposit are usually more expensive than offers in which the blocked deposit is much higher. Why is this? The reason is simple. A low deposit is usually associated with the fact that the car must be covered by additional insurance. If something bad happens on the road, the rental company cannot risk damaging the car without having any insurance that would cover the costs of its repair. Therefore, offers with a low deposit include an additional fee needed to buy additional insurance. This insurance means that most of the financial responsibility for the car is removed from the customer and transferred to the insurance company. Thanks to this, the financial responsibility of the customer decreases significantly and the blocked deposit is much smaller than without additional insurance.
The mechanism is simple: car rental offers with a smaller deposit (i.e. with lower financial responsibility of the customer) are usually more expensive. In turn, in cheaper offers, you will have greater financial responsibility, so the deposit on the card will be correspondingly higher.
When you look through the rental conditions in detail, you will notice that some of the offers with a low deposit are also offers with full insurance, where the customer's liability is 0 (zero). This is called: "without deductible" or "zero deductible". This means that any damage is covered by insurance. I always try to look for such offers and usually I prefer to pay a few dollars extra and have peace of mind during the trip. You can check the deductible by clicking on the link on the offer: "rental conditions", and information about it is also visible directly on the offer

Additional charges at the car rental company

First, it is worth remembering that all prices quoted in the US are net prices. This is the case in every store and it is the same in the car rental company. The price you see is not the price you will ultimately pay. Depending on the state (each state has different taxes), state tax will be added to the price.

Secondly, remember that if you return the car with a tank that is not full, you will be charged a refuelling fee some time after returning the car. In the case of New York, where petrol stations in the city are not at all easily accessible, it is best to fill the car up to the brim before entering the city. If you are afraid that you may not be able to do this, most car rental companies can do it for you at normal prices. You buy this service from the car rental company at a pre-agreed fuel price, which is not much different from the normal price. Then you return the car with the amount of fuel that you have left in the tank, and the car rental company will charge the cost of the refuelled fuel from your card.
I know that the doubt immediately arises that they will charge more than they actually added, but I do not want to discuss this. I decided on this solution and in the end I received a detailed settlement by e-mail from the rental company. In my opinion, everything was correct.

The last note is related to tolls. This is especially important in New York, because if you are driving according to the default navigation settings, leaving and entering the city involves the necessity of paying additional fees. It can be a toll road, a toll tunnel or a bridge. I don't know if it is possible to avoid them, but I was not going to add several dozen minutes of driving to avoid fees. There was an electronic device installed in the car, thanks to which the fees are calculated automatically, and the rental company will charge them to your card with a delay (it took 2 days for me).

In sum: after returning the car, the rental company will probably charge some fees related to the use of the car and the roads.

Driving a car in practice

From experience, I'll add that driving in New York (if you have a navigation system) isn't a big deal. The city is organized in such a way that almost everywhere traffic is one-way, so you drive in the same direction as all the other vehicles. Before turning onto a cross street, you take your place in the right lane well in advance and that's it. Traffic in New York moves slowly, and the city is densely intersected with traffic lights, so there's not much room to speed up.
Honestly, I expected it to be much more difficult, but in practice, driving through Manhattan turned out to be quite pleasant.
Outside the city, the situation is similar. The roads are quite comfortable and, most importantly, drivers in the US rarely exceed the speed limit. They travel on the roads rather safely and with respect for other users. They often politely give way to each other.
If you're worried about your ability to handle the roads in the United States, I can confidently say that it won't be much of a challenge.

New York City Sightseeing Plan

We have already covered the essential information that will prepare you well for sightseeing. It is time to get back to specific planning. So I will once again post a map of New York attractions, but this time I have included a division into the following days of sightseeing.

Area A - Central Manhattan – the biggest attractions in this part of Manhattan
Area B - Central Manhattan - Broadway show and museums
Area C - Lower Manhattan and the Statue of Liberty
Area D - Upper Manhattan – Central Park and its neighboring museums
Area E - Brooklyn – Brooklyn Bridge and neighborhoods: Brooklyn Heights, Dumbo
Area F - Brooklyn – Williamsburg District (Saturday)

Each of the sightseeing days is marked on the map as a coherent area in which we will move. I deliberately gave them letter designations, not numbers. Firstly, I did not want them to duplicate the numbers of attractions, and secondly, so as not to suggest the order of sightseeing (although it is difficult to say that the order of letters does not suggest something). Each of the days is an independent trip and thanks to this, the plan can be carried out in any order by swapping the days and adapting it to your own needs.
Each trip starts and ends at a subway station. So you can follow the plan regardless of where you spend the night in New York. You simply go from your place of residence to the starting station, then follow the plan and from the station at the end of the plan you go back to your place for the night, or you go to play in the city… 🙂

Of course, I do not claim that this is the only and best plan for visiting New York (although subjectively I have to admit that it is really cool). However, as usual, I encourage you to create your own plans and implement your own ideas. My plan is perfect for use without any modifications, but I know that many of my readers are happy to use the data I have prepared, modify my suggestions and adapt them even better to their needs. To make it easier to work on your own plan, you can use the map of New York with the approximate location of all attractions and without any other data, which I included at the beginning of the entry. It is perfect for printing it out and then drawing on it with a pen, making your own divisions of sightseeing areas and drawing your own walking routes.

The complete guide to New York City with descriptions of all the attractions that I have written is well over 100 pages of text (not counting graphics and photos). I decided that there was no point in publishing it as one huge post. Using it would be cumbersome. I decided to split it into several parts (this post is only about 20% of the entire text). Below you will find only shortened descriptions of visiting the subsequent areas, but they are supplemented with links to extended descriptions of the areas and all the attractions. This will make using the guide more enjoyable, especially when using it live during the tour.

Remember:
The beginning and end of the tour route in all areas are located near a subway station. Regardless of where you live or where you are in New York, if you want to start the tour, simply click on the link with the GPS coordinates of the first point of the tour. The navigation application will automatically start and plot a route from the point where you are currently to the selected attraction. If you are on the other side of the city, select the "public transport" route mode and the navigation will tell you precisely how to get to the starting point of the tour. After reaching the first point, you can switch the navigation to "pedestrian mode" and continue the tour by clicking on the coordinates of the next GPS points. Remember that you do not have to follow the exact shortest route indicated by the navigation. You can explore the city on your own paths, treating the navigation only as a hint whether you are going in the right direction. So do not be afraid to turn into other streets and go a different way. You will not get lost! The navigation will constantly update its indications and will always show you the closest route to your destination!
At the end of the route, when you want to return to your hotel, simply enter the hotel address, switch your navigation to “public transport” mode and the app will suggest the nearest metro entrance and further details on how to get there.

Area A – Central Manhattan

We will start our tour of New York with a bang, because the first point of the program will probably be the craziest and most crazy place on earth, namely: Times Square. There is probably no better place to start getting to know New York. You will quickly get into the city's atmosphere here and you will stay in this atmosphere until the end of the tour.
Along the way, we will visit many legendary places, look at the city from above, from observation decks located almost in the clouds, and pass countless attractions that I did not even include in the plan. So expect surprises along the way, which you will discover on your own! Pleasure of sightseeing guaranteed!

full guide to Area A: Central Manhattan – Map and Guide – [click]

Attractions on the tour route: (1) Times Square – (2) Radio City Music Hall – (3) Top of The Rock – (4) Rockefeller Center – (5) St. Patrick's Cathedral – (6) New York Public Library – (7) SUMMIT One Vanderbilt – (8) Grand Central Station – (9) Morgan Library & Museum – (10) Empire State Building – (11) Flatiron – (12) Theodore Roosevelt's childhood home

Route length: 4,5 km (2,7 miles)
Time of transition (without attraction time): 1 hour 30 minutes

The short length of the route and the short walking time may be misleading for you. There are many attractions along the route that you have to visit. Just visiting them requires a lot of extra time (not to mention the extra kilometers). It will take you a whole day to cover all the points of the tour, and you may even run out of time or energy.

Area B – Central Manhattan (MoMA + Broadway)

I planned the second day of visiting Central Manhattan to be much lighter. There will be only two, but quite time-consuming attractions. In the first part of the day, I planned a visit to one of the most important museums of modern art in the world, MoMA, or the Museum of Modern Art. After visiting the museum, there will be a short break to change and prepare for a performance at one of the musical theaters on Broadway. I assure you that even if you are not interested in this type of art and are an individual who is particularly resistant to artistic impressions, the level and quality of the performances offered here will probably make your jaw drop. You simply cannot miss it. Artists do amazing things on stage here every day.
Of course, this arrangement of attractions is not accidental. I assumed that not everyone would be interested in such a set of proposals. So if you give up an attraction on the second day, there will be a place. to make it a bit easier for yourself on the full first day. Attractions numbered 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 are best suited for such a modification because they are located close to the MoMa museum and Broadway theaters.
This tour arrangement also gives you the opportunity to make a second attempt at the nearby Top of The Rock (3) or SUMMIT One Vanderbilt (7) observation deck in case you are unable to obtain tickets on your first day.

full guide to Area B: Central Manhattan – Map and Guide – [click]

Attractions on the tour route: (13) MoMA (Museum of Modern Art)
– (14) Broadway Theater

Route length: 1,6 km (1 mile)
Time of transition (excluding time spent visiting attractions): 20 minutes

see guide to Broadway: Broadway – theaters and current shows [click]

Area C – Lower Manhattan and the Statue of Liberty

The third day of sightseeing, which includes Lower Manhattan and the Statue of Liberty, is the most difficult. There is a lot to do, and everything fits together so perfectly that it would be a shame not to do something. Absolutely focus on comfort: shoes, clothes, everything has to be as comfortable as possible. Don't forget water, sun protection and... a power bank. At the end of the day, when you can barely drag your legs behind you, each of these details will be crucial. I know what I'm talking about, because I did the entire plan on my own feet. It was an absolutely fantastic day, and I'm still collecting impressions from it to this day.

We will start by visiting the island with the Statue of Liberty, then we will go through the financial district, towards the World Trade Center. We will visit Chinatown, the Italian district, SoHo, and finally we will go to two symbolic places, related to the creation of two of the most popular series of all time: "Friends" and "Sex and the City".
I absolutely do not recommend changing the order of attractions. Definitely start with the Statue of Liberty and do the rest later. The earlier you go to the statue, the more time you will have to wander the rest of Lower Manhattan and the more time you will have to eat in Chinatown or the Italian Quarter.
Depending on the season, the first cruise is at 8:00 or 9:00 and the next ones every 15 minutes (in summer) or every hour (in autumn and winter). If you sail to the Statue of Liberty on the next cruises (e.g. at 11:00), you will not have time to complete the entire trip.

full guide to Area C: Lower Manhattan and the Statue of Liberty – map and guide – [click]

Attractions on the tour route: (15) Boat Tour – (16) Staten Island Ferry – (17) Statue of Liberty – (18) Ellis Island – (19) National Museum of the American Indian – (20) Charging Bull – (21) New York Stock Exchange – (22) Federal Hall National Memorial – (23) Trinity Church – (24) World Trade Center Station – (25) World Trade Center Memorial and 9/11 Museum – (26) One World Trade Center – (27) Columbus Park with Sun Yat-sen Memorial – (28) Chinatown – (29) Little Italy – (30) SoHo – (31) Friends Apartment – ​​(32) Sex and the City Apartment

Route length: 8 km (5 miles)
Time of transition (excluding time spent visiting attractions): 2 h 30 min

Area D – Upper Manhattan – Central Park and its adjacent museums

The fourth day of sightseeing seems a bit easier, but in practice it turned out to be not so easy. Central Park itself, which is worth a stroll, takes up a lot of time, and on top of that the plan also includes:
– the small but very pleasant Guggenheim Museum

and two other powerful objects:
– Metropolitan Museum of Art (in short: MET) and
– Natural History Museum (in short: AMNH).

Depending on your interests, choose one of them (MET or AMNH). I can't imagine that you will be able to see both in one day. If you choose what interests you more, it is guaranteed that the chosen museum will absorb you for hours (!!!). The exhibitions are simply very interesting! It is difficult to tear yourself away and what to give up. Usually, it ends in the fact that you decide to visit the exhibition faster or end the tour only when you have already satisfied your curiosity and senses and feel tired, and this can take several hours. One thing is clear and certain: you will not be able to see either of these museums in one day. They are simply too big.

It's hard for me to imagine that there would be a shortage of tickets for such huge facilities as the MET or the AMNH (although apparently it does happen, and when I went to the MET website while writing this text, there were no tickets left for tomorrow). However, that's not the biggest problem. The queues at the ticket offices may be a problem. Museums receive huge numbers of people every day, and the bottleneck is selling tickets at the ticket offices, where, when there is a lot of interest from tourists, there can be really long queues. For your own convenience, it's worth taking care of the ticket in advance, buying it online and entering without having to queue or wait.
As usual, below the attraction descriptions I will provide links to the ticket sources I have selected.

full guide to Area D: Upper Manhattan – Central Park – map and guide – [click]

Attractions on the tour route: (33) Guggenheim Museum – (34) Metropolitan Museum of Art (MET) – (35) Belvedere Castle – (36) Museum of Natural History – (37) Bow Bridge – (38) Umpire Rock

Route length: 5 km (3 miles)
Time of transition (excluding time spent visiting attractions): 1 h 30 min

Area E - Brooklyn - Brooklyn Bridge and neighborhoods: Brooklyn Heights, Dumbo

The fifth day of sightseeing can be classified as medium in terms of difficulty. There will be some walking, but there will also be time to rest. You will manage to do everything and still have free time and strength to spend a nice evening somewhere in the city. If you are already feeling tired from the previous days, this is a good time to sleep longer and set off for sightseeing a little later than usual.

It is a good idea to plan your commute to Brooklyn so that you get off at the subway station Clark St. Then the route of the tour will be arranged in such a way that on the way to the first point of today's plan (Brooklyn Heights Promenade) you will pass through the most beautiful streets (Henry Str. / Pierrepont Str. / Hicks Str.)

Clark St. Subway Station (metro lines: 2 and 3), GPS coordinates:
40°41’51.1″N 73°59’35.6″W
40.697522, -73.993215 – click and route

full guide to Area E: Brooklyn – Brooklyn Bridge and neighborhoods: Brooklyn Heights, Dumbo – map and guide – [click]

Attractions on the tour route: (39) Brooklyn Heights Promenade – (40) Luke's Lobster – (41) Manhattan Bridge Viewpoint – (42) Manhattan and Brooklyn Bridge Viewpoint – (43) Brooklyn Bridge – (44) Banksy Museum

Route length: 8 km (5 miles)
Time of transition (excluding time spent visiting attractions): 2 h 30 min

Area F – Brooklyn – Williamsburg (Saturday)

Brooklyn is such a vast district of New York that it is best to split the tour into two days. On the second day, we will focus on a part of Brooklyn known as Williamsburg. This district has become known as the capital of street art, offering a lot of spectacular graffiti that has been created over the years on the walls of somewhat neglected buildings. Currently, however, the district is undergoing a rapid renewal (real estate prices are rising) and many works disappear from the streets under a layer of fresh plaster or due to the demolition of the buildings on which they were located. Time passes inexorably and more of the works will probably be irretrievably destroyed. It may therefore turn out that some of my recommendations will become outdated over time, although I tried to choose those that have a good chance of survival. Moving between the points I have selected, you will probably come across many other, lesser-known but interesting street works. So walk, look around and look for lesser-known gems of street art, especially since there are fewer of them every year.

Before we get to the district with murals, I suggest taking a walk through the Jewish district. This is a large area of ​​New York inhabited by Orthodox Jews. If you have the opportunity, go there on Saturday (for Jews it is a holiday, a day off from work). From the rush of New York you will suddenly find yourself in a small part of the city, where there is absolute silence and everything is closed. A completely different world. This contrast definitely adds character to the tour.
The best place to start your tour is Hewes St. Metro Station.

Subway - Station: Hewes St (metro lines: J and M), GPS coordinates:
40°42’24.8″N 73°57’12.5″W
40.706889, -73.953472 – click and route

full guide to Area F: Brooklyn Williamsburg District – Map and Guide – [click]

Attractions on the tour route: (45) Congregation Bnai Israel Synagogue – (46) View of the Williamsburg Bridge – (47) Brooklyn Snail (mural) – (48) 100 Years of MS 50 School (mural) – (49) Song to the Siren (mural) – ( 50) Domino Park – (51) Marsha P. Johnson State Park – (52) Jean-Michel Basquiat and Andy Warhol (mural) – (53) Camilo's face (mural)

Route length: 8 km (5 miles)
Time of transition (excluding time spent visiting attractions): 2 h 30 min

The return metro and the end
At the end of your walk, it's probably best to walk to the Bedford Av. subway station. From there, the subway takes you the shortest route to Manhattan, and while it doesn't take you directly to your home, you can easily transfer at one of the intermediate stations.

Subway, Station: Bedford Av., GPS coordinates:
40°43’01.2″N 73°57’22.7″W
40.716994, -73.956299 – click and route

This is how the last walk of the last day of sightseeing ends. I know it was hard and I also know that at the end, instead of fatigue, there is satisfaction. If you managed to follow my plan, it means that you have really familiarized yourself with New York. If you come back here again, you will no longer need a plan. You will probably then move around New York very freely.

Trip to Washington – extra day

This isn't a crazy idea. This is a great opportunity!
Washington and New York are far apart 370 km, but they are connected by a great, fast and inexpensive train connection operated by AMTRAK trains (of course there are also connections with other carriers, but AMTRAK is the best in my opinion). In 3 hours and 20 minutes, trains cover the route between these two cities, offering comfortable travel conditions even in the cheapest class.

How to organize a trip to Washington?

It is best to follow this with the example of my trip. There is nothing better than an idea that has been tested in practice.

The fact that everything can be done online makes the organization much easier. You can book train tickets and book times to visit attractions in Washington (most attractions are free, but you have to book free tickets for a specific time) remotely, and for us, this is a very good solution. We have a limited amount of time in the city, so everything should be done in a way that avoids delays. The need to have reservations to enter the facilities for specific times therefore works to our advantage! It guarantees us that everything will take place without unnecessary delays and without wasting time waiting in lines. You simply arrive at the right time and go inside. Thanks to this, you can see a lot in Washington and do it very efficiently.
The only difficulty is that you can't make a reservation at the last minute. The number of entries for specific times is limited, and there are a lot of people willing to go. I made my reservations about 4-6 weeks before the planned date of the trip to Washington, and even then it was tight with available entry times to Capitol (seat of the United States Congress), Museum of Aviation and Space (National Air and Space Museum) and National Archives (original Declaration of Independence).

It is also worth booking train tickets in advance. In this case, the rule is simple. The closer to the date of travel, the higher the prices. If the regular price of a one-way ticket for one person (in the summer of 2024) was around $80, then a ticket bought at the last minute (3-7 days before departure) could cost even over $200. I checked this several times (just for my own curiosity) and it was always the same: the closer to the day of departure, the higher the prices.
I bought my train tickets via a booking website that works in many languages ​​(including Polish) Omio – [click].
After purchasing, you will receive your ticket via email, but you do not have to print it (tickets are personal, so you will need to provide the names and surnames of passengers when booking). Then, you just need to show it to the conductor on your phone screen and that's it. Below is what my ticket looks like.

Once at the train station, you cannot enter the platform where the train is waiting. First, you have to get in line in the main hall of the station, by the stairs leading to the platform (check the entrance number on the information boards). Then, with enough time, the conductor lets you onto the platform and you can go to the train.

The seats on the train are not numbered. The conductor will direct you to the zone where the purchased seats are located (the basic zone covers more than half the train) and in this zone you take the seat that suits you best.

There are many connections between New York and Washington, so it is worth choosing the times that suit us best.
In our case it looked like this:

6:02 - 9:30 PM train ride from New York (Moynihan Train Hall at Penn Sta.) to Washington (Union Station)
9:30 - 9:45 PM walking from Union Station to the Capitol and beginning of the tour
9:45 - 19:30 PM Washington sightseeing – [click]
19:30 - 20:00 PM return to Union Station
20:00 - 23:23 PM train ride from Washington to New York (Moynihan Train Hall at Penn Sta.)

As you can see from the above plan, we had 10 hours to visit Washington. Is that enough? If you have everything planned and booked well, it will be enough. Besides, after 10 hours of sightseeing, you will have had enough anyway.
The train with its spacious seats, which can be folded almost flat and a footrest (yes! even the lowest class has it!) is perfect. You sit down, rest or take a nap, and the return journey flies by. Three hours of rest on the way back did me really good.
I've included some useful information below.

Learn More: train tickets online on Omio – [click] (ticket sales agent for various means of transport worldwide)

Entrance to Moynihan Train Hall at Penn Station in New York, GPS coordinates:
40°45’05.2″N 73°59’40.0″W
40.751448, -73.994445 – click and route

Entrance to Union Station in Washington, GPS coordinates:
38°53’50.0″N 77°00’22.8″W
38.897213, -77.006330 – click and route

Washington sightseeing plan

Well, to be completely happy we still lack a Washington sightseeing plan. This plan is available in a separate entry: Washington - sightseeing plan

Hotels and lodging in New York

Below I am posting a few links to hotels in New York. However, it would be madness to recommend only a few specific hotels in such a large city. The offer of New York (in this case on booking.com) is almost inexhaustible. For this reason, do not treat my suggestions as a specific indication of the hotels that I recommend. Treat them as a good start for further searches. The links I have posted use the search engine mechanism, which, in addition to a specific hotel, always offers other, similar offers, often more attractively priced. Additionally, the links contain filters prepared by me. They prevent the display of many offers that could unnecessarily clutter the search results and appropriately narrow the search area to the area that interests us. So you do not have to do it manually every time. I recommend using these links, because they make the search easier and save time.

Pestana Park Avenue – [click]

The Historic Blue Angel Hotel – [click]

Hotel Scherman – [click]

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