New York in November - any advice?

kate07

Planning (early stages) on going to New York in November, Ive never been and so far with all the information its a bit daunting. I would like to do the touristy bits and see the sights, and definitely wanna go shopping!! Can anyone give me any advice? Is a week enough? Or if i was to go for ten days would i be better trying to do a two city break, eg, boston or nigara falls? Any recommendations on a location to stay, although with the subway, i assume its easy enough to get around no matter which area you stay in..

Laneyh

kate07 wrote: »

Planning (early stages) on going to New York in November, Ive never been and so far with all the information its a bit daunting. I would like to do the touristy bits and see the sights, and definitely wanna go shopping!! Can anyone give me any advice? Is a week enough? Or if i was to go for ten days would i be better trying to do a two city break, eg, boston or nigara falls? Any recommendations on a location to stay, although with the subway, i assume its easy enough to get around no matter which area you stay in..

Hi,

I'm also going to NY in November. I have been once before so wouldn't be massively familiar with the place..but will pass on any info I have.

In terms of tours have a look at viator.com they offer a lot of deals on tours and excursions.
Apparently Niagra Falls is not that impressive from the New York State side
but maybe someone on here or tripadvisor would know more about that.

When I've compiled a shortlist for myself I'll post on here

x43r0

I've only been twice but here are some things that may be of use

If you plan on doing a bus tour (I'd recommend doing so), do it in the first day or two of your trip. They are a good way of orientating yourself quickly aswell as getting in a lot of sights. I recommend doing one of the hop-on hop-off buses and go for a downtown loop and an uptown loop (in no particular order). One of the biggest things that hit me when I first went was the sheer size of the place but after a day I got my bearings and realised it's just a small island. The bus tour will help speed up this process

Go up to the top of the Rock rather than the empire state building I found the view better and (I think) it's cheaper and the queue will generally be shorter

Don't limit your food options to the main 'touristy' areas. There are some great places to eat. Go to Harlem and get some fried chicken at Sylvia's or down to the Lower East side to Mission Chinese Food

Walk the High Line - It's an old monorail track converted into a garden

Put aside some cash and half a day and go shopping in Macy's - If you go to customer service on the bottom floor and show them your passport they'll give you a 10% off visitors card which can be used in addition to any existing sale prices

Try and go to a game in Madison Square Garden whether it be Basketball, Hockey or whatever

If I come up with anything else I'll post up. If you have anything specific you'd like to do just mention it and I might know something helpful

InTheTrees

Be aware that the busiest travel week of the year for Americans is the last week in November this year.

Its the Thanksgiving holiday which is the longest public holiday in the USA (longer than christmas) and is very family focused which means a lot of people traveling.

Its always the 4th thursday in Nov which means the 28th this year so you may miss the chaos but it starts the week before. Airfares will be at their maximum also hotels will generally be full (and at full price too). Car hire ill be difficult and expensive, trains booked up and the roads are always mayhem. Usually even petrol prices go up. It is seriously not a good time to be a tourist in the USA unless you're staying put and already have all reservations.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thanksgiving_%28United_States%29

Max Power 2010

Take in a Broadway show, you won't regret it.

InTheTrees

Great film from the 80's about traveling during thanksgiving:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planes,_Trains_and_Automobiles

kate07

haha thats for that, yeah ive seen the film, i was planning on going early in the month to avoid thanksgiving. Thanks for all the suggestions.

cena

Thanksgiving shouldn't be avoided if your going in November and you have family there

InTheTrees

cena wrote: »

Thanksgiving shouldn't be avoided if your going in November and you have family there

Yes. Thanksgiving is great as long as you have your reservations set and you're in one place and not going anywhere the weekend afterwards.

The day afterwards is the biggest shop sales day of the year when the christmas sales start.

bobwilliams

x43r0 wrote: »

I've only been twice but here are some things that may be of use

• 
  If you plan on doing a bus tour (I'd recommend doing so), do it in the first day or two of your trip. They are a good way of orientating yourself quickly aswell as getting in a lot of sights. I recommend doing one of the hop-on hop-off buses and go for a downtown loop and an uptown loop (in no particular order). One of the biggest things that hit me when I first went was the sheer size of the place but after a day I got my bearings and realised it's just a small island. The bus tour will help speed up this process

• Go up to the top of the Rock rather than the empire state building I found the view better and (I think) it's cheaper and the queue will generally be shorter

• Don't limit your food options to the main 'touristy' areas. There are some great places to eat. Go to Harlem and get some fried chicken at Sylvia's or down to the Lower East side to Mission Chinese Food

• Walk the High Line - It's an old monorail track converted into a garden

• Put aside some cash and half a day and go shopping in Macy's - If you go to customer service on the bottom floor and show them your passport they'll give you a 10% off visitors card which can be used in addition to any existing sale prices

• Try and go to a game in Madison Square Garden whether it be Basketball, Hockey or whatever

If I come up with anything else I'll post up. If you have anything specific you'd like to do just mention it and I might know something helpful

agree with all this^,one thing not to miss is a visit to the National History Museum and set a side at least half a day for it.

MoyVilla9

Laneyh wrote: »

Apparently Niagra Falls is not that impressive from the New York State side
but maybe someone on here or tripadvisor would know more about that.

It's not. The area around the New York side isn't great. The Canadian side is a different story and is much better, although it's very touristy.

Niagara Falls is not something I would do if you are only going to NY for 10 days, especially in November. The drive there is up on 8 hours (New York State is huge). That's 16+ hours in car just to see it. Don't get me wrong, it's great and I thought it was amazing to see but the drive would be a little much if I was there for that little of time.

nudger

I'm going over at the end of December start of January, will there still be sales on?

Also Kate07 and Laneyh, don't know if you are back but would like to hear how you got on and pick your brains.