scrubbedexpat091

I was able to do the WTC (I went in 2000), Empire State building, statue of liberty, central park and times square all in a 13 hour day, it was non-stop on the move, but gives an idea on how much you can do in a day.

I flew into Newark at 5am and flew out of JFK at 8pm the same day.

NC Penguin

I might add that this is the place where the fortune cookie was allegedly invented.

NC Penguin

Re: New York

If you like art, I recommend MOMA (Museum of Modern Art) and the Whitney Museum.

Take a break in Central Park. I would recommend getting lunch to go (takeaway) from a nearby deli and eating it on a bench in Central Park.

If you like theater, catch at show on or off Broadway. TKTS has a offices in Times Square, South Street Seaport of downtown Brooklyn and sells both discounted tickets for on and off Broadway shows. I've seen cut price theater in NY courtesy of TKTS several times.

If you like ethnic cuisines, NY has Little Italy (but it's not as good as it used to be), Chinatown and more recently Koreatown, amongst others. So, I'd build time to check out those neighborhoods and eat the cuisines. NY is famous for its NY style pizza. For some reason, I seem to have missed this experience.

NY's five boroughs are worth checking out. Each has its own personality. I've been to all five and it's quite an experience. Some you might want to visit in the daytime.

Personally, I'd give yourself a minimum of two nights/three days in NY city.

Steerpike

You can 'do' any city in a day if you 'have' to - but 'doing' a city that way is not exactly representative of the real city. You need to ride a cab; ride the subway; eat a hot dog; see a show (or at least, walk around broadway); stroll in central park; get lost and scared in some 'dicey' neighborhoods; eat at a great, inexpensive ethnic restaurant in Chinatown or little Italy and marvel at the quality and price; stroll the affluent shops on 5th Ave, then stroll 1 block away and see poor people rummaging through garbage cans ...

lj2

In response to your question re: NY, I spent 3 days there as a tourist and that was perfect for me. If you are looking to do a day of shopping (which I never) and entering more museum/arty things maybe add another day.. I dunno - if I were you, and this is a 1 in a lifetime trip, I would do 3 full days in NYC, get a hop-on hop-off open top tour bus ticket and then enjoy another City in the remainder of the time or extend my Chicago and San Fran stays (both better citys than NYC IMO).