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A New York City Travel Guide | 7 + Things to do in NYC

The City That Never Sleeps. The Big Apple. The birthplace of the American Dream. Home of the best coffee and bagels and the set of some of the very best shows and movies. Whatever you want to call it, there aren’t enough hours in a lifetime to experience everything that NYC has to offer. Google is brimming with every kind of New York City Travel Guide but I’m tossing my hat in the ring with some of my favourite things to do in this wonderful city.

This post is horrendously overdue, but I assure you that the recommendations stand. I spent my 27th birthday last year in NYC and am finally logging on to share what we did. Given my extremely long travel bucket list and that I’d already ticked off New York City, it was pretty damn low (if even a feature) on my list of travel priorities. This fact is only an attestation to the absolute bargain hotel and flights package I came across on the British Airways website soon after the borders reopened post-COVID. We paid roughly £1500 for us both which was an offer I couldn’t pass up. So, let’s get into the New York City Travel Guide. If you’re visiting the city, don’t miss out on the following things (in no particular order).

THE EDGE, HUDSON YARDS

The Edge is the highest outdoor sky observation deck in the Western Hemisphere. The platform quite literally juts out into the sky and is framed by glass-angled panels to give the impression of no barrier. A small area of the floor is glass which allows you the scary option of standing above 1100 feet of nothing. Once on deck you can stay as long as you please. I would call this a blessing and a curse: the deck is consistently busy but at least you’re not ushered away before you get some photo opportunities. The best of these is undoubtedly a literal edge. I skipped this due to the crazy queue and the anxiety of all those eyes of the people who are next in line, but if you’re braver than I am, it would make an incredible Instagram shot.

The entrance building for The Edge is right opposite the famous Vessel at Hudson Yards. Although the building itself has been temporarily closed since my visit, it’s still a cool slight to see. I’d advise getting to Hudson Yards a little early so that you have time to snap some photos.

Top tip: Shop around. Loads of sites offer tickets for this and the prices vary quite a lot. We used Viator to book this experience because they offered 10% off of our first booking with them.

FREE THINGS TO DO IN NYC

I’m a little fast and loose when it comes to budgets on vacation. We definitely ended up spending far more than what we’d saved on the package trip price but that doesn’t mean that New York can’t be done on a budget. There are plenty of things that can be done cheaply or without even spending a penny. Just visiting some of the stores are bucket list experiences in their own right. Grand Central Station, Times Square and Central Park are also must-see locations which are free to visit. Having already ticked off some of the NYC Bucket List experiences during previous trips, we took advantage of quite a few free things to do in NYC. I’ve written a separate article which goes into more detail about these things so check it out if you’re hoping to do New York on a budget.