Walking through Manhattan

New York City is a vibrant melting pot of architecture, culture and humanity. Since I live in New Jersey, I have been to New York City countless number of times, over the years, often showing the city around to my friends. Through the course of these 'site-seeing tours', I have evolved a itinerary which I believe showcases a good part of the city for the first time tourist. This is how it goes

Phase I: Downtown and Ferry Rides
(Ground Zero, Trinity Church, NYSE Building, Bull, Battery Park, Ferry Ride)

For best results take the PATH to WTC (Red Line). If you are driving, take exit 15W in NJTP, then I-280 West, take the first exit to Harrison and then take a right at the first intersection, a left at the second (traffic light), left at the third (traffic light). If you drive straight, you’ll reach the Harrison PATH station with lots of parking garages nearby. From Harrison you’ll find the PATH towards WTC.

If coming via NJ Transit, get off at Newark Penn Station, take the PATH till WTC.

The train will emerge right into Ground Zero and you can see all the wreckage all around you. In the station, there are numerous quotes about NYC. Get out of the station, cross the street and walk past the 21^st century departmental store and turn left till you hit broadway. You are in the financial district of NYC. Take a right and walk along broadway and take a look at the names engraved on the street (Jawaharlal Nehru’s name is there on the other side of the street). Walk till you reach Trinity Church. After you have seen that cross the street to Wall Street. Walk till the NYSE building front side (with the US flag). Make a right, walk in front of the NYSE building, walk past the AMeX building and make a right into one of the lanes at the end of the street. As you emerge into broadway again, you’ll see a statue of a bull on your right and a small park called Bowling Green to your left. Beyond Bowling Green, there is a Smithsonian Museum (formerly a post office). Cross the street and go to the Battery Park Area and walk till Castle Clinton. You’ll reach the area where Ferry tickets are sold.

Phase II: Midtown
(Little Italy, Chinatown, Union Square)

Take a subway to Prince Street. From there walk to Mulberry Street and walk along the whole street. You are in the Little Italy area. The road is beautifully decorated. You’ll see nice roadside shops selling home made Italian foods, curio shops, painting shops selling Godfather paintings, restaurants etc. Chinatown runs parallel to Little Italy (to the left of Mulberry if you are going there from Prince Street) It’s worth a brief visit.

(Optional) Take a subway to Union Square, 14 Street – the surrounding area and parks are nice.

You can have lunch at either Little Italy, or if you want Indian food, from Union Square take a subway to Lexington Avenue. There are 8-10 good Indian restaurants from 27^th Street onwards till 32-33^rd Street etc.

Phase III – Upper West and East Sides
(Central Park, Metropolitan Museum)

Take a subway to Upper West side of NYC and west of Central Park. You can get down at the 81^st street station, take a walk along the Park till the Turtle pond area. There is small castle (Belvedere Castle) beside the Turtle Pond area. If you have more energy you can walk further up the park and see some bigger lakes. Else you can walk across till the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Phase IV – Uptown
(Grand Central Station, Rockefeller Center, Times Square, Empire State Building)

Take a subway till Grand Central Station and spend some time inside. Get to the area which has the huge dome shaped blue ceiling with stars etc painted up. From there, step out and the surrounding area is nice. You can see the Chrysler Building adjacent. Walk till the Rockefeller Center (47^th-50^th Street). You can also take the lift and go underground once you are there.

From there, walk to Times Square. Walk along 6^th Avenue (till 42^nd Street) as it has a nice feel. You’ll walk past the NY Public Library building, along Bryant Park. (You can sit in Bryant Park for a while and enjoy the surroundings, over a cup of coffee – it has a very nice feel). From there walk till 8^th Avenue which is where Times Square starts. Apart from the two buildings, you’ll see buildings for Nasdaq, Reuters, Morgan Stanley, ESPN Zone, NBC Studios, Toysaurous etc. You can go inside some of them. Stand in the small strip between the two buildings (at the intersection of Broadway and 7^th) for the best photo shoots.

From there walk to Empire State building (5^th Ave and 34st Street)

These four roughly form a quadrilateral in the order that I have written with the Rockefeller to Times Square diagonal the longer one.

Return Journey

NJ Penn Station: 8^th Ave and 31^st Street
PATH: One around 6^th Ave and 33-34^th Street

Some Areas Not Covered

1. Lot of museums (Guggenhiem, Natural History etc)
2. The whole of Greenwich Village – ideal for fine dining in the night. In the midtown area (Bleecker Street, McDouggal Street)
3. UN building. Close to Grand Central but in another direction from Rockefeller. They have nice guided tours of the General Assembly and Security Council Halls)
4. The NYU and the Washington Square Park area (close to the village)
   

Note that this tour covers a lot of places for one day. Be prepared to walk a lot. While in the central park area walking can seem tiresome as it’s still day and you can rest and take it easy. But I am sure that you wouldn’t tire of walking in the night (Phase IV).