2-Day New York City Itinerary

In early November I visited New York City for the very first time. To say it was everything I hoped for would be an understatement. My only disappointment was that I had less than 2 full days to explore this city. And when I say city, I really mean Manhattan. We didn’t have the chance to leave this borough, but I already have plans for future trips! We actually divided our time in the city before and after our Bermuda cruise. Here’s everything we did on our New York City Itinerary.

2-Day New York City Itinerary

Day 1 – Grand Central, Empire State Building, Central Park, Rockefeller Center, Times Square

• Grand Central Station
• Empire State Building
• Joe’s Pizza
• Central Park
• Rockefeller Center
• Times Square
• Heartland Brewery

Grand Central Station
After checking into our hotel (The Westin New York Grand Central) we dropped our luggage into storage and decided to hit the city to start our sight-seeing. The fist stop of our New York City Itinerary was at Grand Central Station. We didn’t have any travel planned, but we wanted to see the famous historic station in person. If you’re planning on stopping by, you don’t need more than 15-20 minutes here to snap a few photos and look around. But you can plan to stay longer to eat at one of the restaurants, shop at the market or to take the self-guided audio tour.

Empire State Building
Next on our New York City Itinerary was to see the city views from above – specifically from the top of the Empire State Building. We didn’t book ahead, so unfortunately we had to wait in quite the line! It actually took us longer to get to the top of the building than it did for us to go through the museum and view the city from the main deck. We purchased the standard passes and prices started at $38.00 per adult. With tax and fees it cost us over $90 to visit. The experience was ok, but it was absolute chaos! I’ll do a full review of the experience in an upcoming post.

Joe’s Pizza
Finally it was time for some lunch. I did lots of research before our trip and found numerous YouTubers and bloggers mentioning Joe’s Pizza. We went to the location on Carmine Street and ordered 2 slices of pepperoni pizza. From research it seemed to be typical New York style pizza with thin crust, a slightly sweet sauce and deliciously crispy pepperoni. I personally found the crust to be charred – which didn’t make for the best pizza experience. And at approximately $4 per slice (over $5CAD) I’m not sure that this is the best pizza in the city. I’m glad we tried it, but I think I need to plan a trip back to NYC to eat all the pizza and decide for myself.

Central Park
After our pizza we decided to walk-off the calories and explore Central Park. I heard this was a large park, but it was even bigger than I expected! You could easily spend multiple days exploring this park and enjoying what it has to offer. We saw the lower half – but had to rush through to see as much of it as we could while we had daylight. I’ll do a full post on what we saw, but for now I can definitely say you must add Central Park to your New York City itinerary!

Rockefeller Center
After dinner we thought we would head back to the hotel. On the way we decided that it would be a perfect opportunity to see the Rockefeller Center all lit up. I didn’t realize that there would be so many people there that late at night. There were lots of people skating, people walking around taking photos and places to shop nearby. We were too late to do the Top of the Rock experience, but I plan to do that next time I’m in the city. If you have the time, you can reserve ice time on the Rockefeller Rink or take your chances with general admission.

Times Square
On our walk back to our hotel we decided to go through the Times Square area. This area is bright and loud and busy! I think it’s probably like this at all times of the day and night. There were a few street performances taking place, numerous people dressed in costumes for photos, and lots of shops and restaurants open for tourists. I am confident that this area primarily serves tourists, because I can’t see many locals wanting to be here for fun. It was very crowded as we walked through and it was past 10:00 pm. It is definitely an interesting experience if you’ve never been before, but I think once was all I needed in my lifetime!

Heartland Brewery & Chophouse
After we made it through the crows in Times Square, we decided to head to a pub. We found the Heartland Brewery on our way and as craft beer fans, thought this would be a great stop. We were not disappointed. This is a small chain with 3 locations, but it didn’t feel like a typical chain restaurant. They had a good beer menu and we enjoyed sampling beers we don’t have on tap in Canada. My personal favourite was the IPA.

With almost 30,000 steps in one day, that wrapped up our first day of our New York City Itinerary. We were back at our hotel by midnight and our feet were definitely ready to rest for the next day when we boarded our cruise.

Day 2 – NYC Subway, World Trade Center Memorial, Battery Park, Chelsea Market, High Line, The Vessel

• NYC Subway
• World Trade Center Memorial
• Charging Bull
• Battery Park
• Chelsea Market
• High Line
• The Vessel

NYC Subway
Is a trip to New York complete without trying their subway system? For me it wasn’t! We jumped on the subway at Penn Station and took it down to the World Trade Center Memorial stop to see the monuments. I must say, after taking the subway in Toronto and Paris, I was expecting a little more. I found it to be quite dirty and despite feeling generally safe, I don’t think I’d want to take the subway by myself – especially not in the evening. It was also slightly confusing at first with the signage and I didn’t know what track to stand on. After asking a few people and watching some of the trains come by we figured it out. It was a cheap and quick way to get through the city, and if I go back again (with someone) I’d definitely use it again.

World Trade Center Memorial
I had never seen the World Trade Center buildings in real life – only ever on TV and in movies. The memorials were so much larger than I thought they would be. It was a very beautiful experience to see these memorials and viewing them is free to the public. You can also pay to visit the museum/memorial center if you want more information. We unfortunately didn’t have time to go inside. One interesting thing to note was that despite there being a large crowd in the area, it was so quiet. If you’re in the city, definitely add this to your New York City itinerary.

Charging Bull
After visiting the memorial we walked down toward the Charging Bull statue. Prior to visiting the city I didn’t know anything about this statue. Research told me that it was created to commemorate the American spirit and attitude that anything could be achieved through determination. We arrived early on a Sunday morning, so there were very few tourists here. Actually, there were so few that we formed a line to take photos in front – it was one of the best tourist experiences I had when trying to take photos! If you want to visit this statue, I’d suggest early on a Saturday or Sunday morning, but you can check out the live view here.

Battery Park
After our photo-op with the bull statue, we walked toward Battery Park. This wasn’t on my New York City Itinerary, but we found by accident and enjoyed being outside in a park area in the city. This is the area where you purchase your ferry tickets to go on a tour to see the Statue of Liberty and to get to Staten Island or cross the river. We had already cruised by the Statue of Liberty on the Norwegian Escape (as we left for Bermuda) so we opted to not take an official tour. Instead we had a great view of the statue across the river and took some photos.

Chelsea Market
Next on our New York City Itinerary was a stop at Chelsea Market. It was perfect timing to get in line for Los Tacos No 1. We were third in line, and by 11:00 the line was at least 20 people long! For good reason too… these were some of the best tacos I’ve ever had. They even rivaled tacos I had in Mexico on vacation! If you’re in the area, definitely stop by for some tacos here. After we ate our delicious lunch we went through the rest of the market. There were numerous food tours happening as we browsed through the restaurant areas. I also saw some really unique pop-up shops and a handmade market while we were there. Overall, I really enjoyed the market and could have spent even more time shopping and browsing around.

The High Line
Our next attraction was a walk on the High Line. I had no idea this even existed, but essentially it’s a raised walking path with sitting areas, photo spots, art installations and foliage built on the former railroad tracks in the city. The route begins at the Chelsea Market and finishes at the Hudson Yards, but there are many spots in-between where you can take stairs or elevators to the street below. We walked the entire way to the Hudson Yards and really enjoyed the photo-ops, art installations and seeing the city from a higher vantage point than the street.

The Vessel
We got to the end of the High Line and found ourselves in the Hudson Yards area. The home of The Vessel! I had wanted to visit the Vessel, but didn’t have it on my original New York City Itinerary, because it was too far out of our way. Well, luckily for us we altered our route and accidentally made it our final stop! This structure is an interactive art experience, with interconnecting staircases in a spiral pattern. You can walk all the way to the top for fantastic view of the Hudson or the city below. We didn’t go to the top, the tickets were free for timed admission, and $10 to have any time entrance. If you want to climb lots of stairs, then I’d recommend it! We had fun taking photos from below.

New York City Itinerary Summary

It is absolutely possible to see a lot of the city in less than 24-hours. I’m actually impressed with how much we were able to get to and see in such a short window. I already know I want to go back to New York and explore even more of this fantastic city in the future! Let me know what your favourite things to do are in the city so I can add it to my New York City Itinerary Part 2!