Your Best New York City Tips
In Lifehacker’s recent New York City travel guide, we asked you for the best tips. We’ve received hundreds of responses with tips and tricks (along with many Times Square defenses). We have selected the best tips from both visitors and residents (and for them).
For visitors
Commentator Llaalleel gives the most important advice to visitors:
BrillyOcean suggested several attractions in the city that are worth visiting (such as the ferry to Staten Island) and some that are worth missing (such as the Statue of Liberty). Here’s the highlight:
Go to Whitney when it opens to avoid the lines. Then, buy some terrific (and relatively reasonably priced) seafood at Lobster Place in Chelsea Market. After that, take a walk along the High Line, but don’t go crazy, because it is quite crowded and kind of one note (but what a note!).
Swicago has another warning about the Statue of Liberty: “It’s bad not to get there or be on the island, it’s RETURNING.” Waiting in line for a return flight to Manhattan can take two hours. Instead, says Swicago, we went to the other side of the island and immediately got on a boat (no wait!) Bound for New Jersey.
Architeuthis Ex Machina found a classic guide to New York City travel etiquette:
ArcticTechWolf offers an alternative travel plan that takes into account the size and diversity of New York:
Instead of ticking boxes on a travel guide, take a moment to ask yourself, “What do I personally really love?” then google “nyc + whatever your answer” and get it from there.
katie_keys says that visitors should visit one area at a time:
If you pick all the popular destinations like the Bronx Zoo, Broadway, and some casual hot restaurant in Brooklyn, you’ll spend more time traveling in between than enjoying the stops … Pick one you can’t miss, and then plan the rest of your day at this location.
HWG09 has some good advice for walking around the East Village or Greenwich Village:
Take the train to 14th Street [Union Square] and start zigzagging south, crossing the streets at any green light, regardless of direction. Ultimately, you’ll see areas you didn’t know about and get a feel for the city the way the locals see it.
SPIBaseball recommends a group of Brooklyn attractions:
HAYESR89 is delighted with the Metropolitan Museum, which is really so vast and exciting that it is impossible to see all the good in one day:
As if I had been preparing for this experience all my life. there were so many of my favorite Greek and Roman marble sculptures there, early American art is breathtaking, and a medieval Byzantine exhibition got my inner child making cart wheels. So many things that I only saw in photographs were shown in front of me in all their glory. It was a very moving experience.
Rohr warns against illegal black taxis that trick passengers at the airport by promising you to skip the taxi queue and then charge you three times the normal price for a ride into town. Instead, wait in the official taxi queue (they only let legal taxis in) or call Uber or Lyft. (Rohr also has a list of other travel tips .)
For local (and experienced tourists)
While all of our tips apply to visitors, some of them may be news to locals:
EivlEvo offers a powerful vehicle application CityMapper (which also operates in 38 other cities in the world). CityMapper gives you point-to-point directions, an offline metro map, and even detailed information on which train car to travel in for the fastest exit.
Late4shul has a winter bus tip:
Before walking across the Brooklyn Bridge, listen to the kbar:
Reader Barry Copeland wrote in an email about the secret abandoned train stop 6:
One unique attraction you can mention is the “end” of 6 trains in the city center. After stopping at City Hall and after all passengers have disembarked from the train, it actually continues in a large circle, passing through what was once a station near the end of the Brooklyn Bridge. The station can still be seen as the cars glide slowly, albeit in twilight. Single bulbs illuminate the beautiful brickwork of the old closed train station. And although the conductors usually say that all passengers must get off the train, sometimes some (in the know) still stay on the train and enjoy this short two-minute sightseeing tour. I know that when we visit a city, we always love it.
See our guide and reader comments for more tips. Soon Monday: we ask for your advice from San Francisco.