This past week, it was my first time in New York City. So, I compiled all the things I did, what I do and do not recommend, and some useful tips. I was there for six days and I spent four of them exploring the city with my travel buddy and close friend Victoria.

Day 1

On the first day, we decided to have a famous NYC bagel for breakfast. We went to Brooklyn Bagel & Coffee Company. I chose a simple plain bagel with blueberry cream cheese, tomato, and salt. However, they had an endless variety of combinations and options. It ended up being much bigger than we expected so we only ate half of it. As for transportation, we walked and took the subway everywhere. It was a bit of a learning curve for us since we’re both bad at directions, but it ended up not being too complicated. I recommend getting the 7-Day Unlimited MetroCard if you plan to use it as your primary source of transportation. Next, we went to Central Park. Honestly, I didn’t explore too much of it, however the parts I did see were nice and there was a great ambiance.

After that, we caught the Staten Island Ferry. It was a nice ride and you pass alongside the Statue of Liberty. Not to mention it is free and departs very frequently. There was not much we wanted to do on the island, so we instead took the next ferry back and met up with our friend Sean at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, also known as the Met. Inside, we explored The Medici Portraits & Politics, 1512-1570 exhibition. We also visited other areas like European Paintings, Art of the Arab Lands, Turkey, Iran, Central Asia, and Later South Asia. Later on for dinner we ate signature NYC pizza at Grimaldi’s. And we ended the day on a rooftop overlooking the city at night.

Day 2

The next day, we all went out for bottomless brunch at Carroll Place. It is a restaurant by day and club by night. Their bottomless brunch includes all you can drink mimosas for an hour and a half along with your choice of an entree. From there, we went over to Washington Square Park where the arch reminds me of a mini Arc de Triomphe. After this we took a break back at the apartment and I went to get a drink from Cha Cha Matcha. I got a matcha latte and honestly it was a let down. You could barely taste the matcha. Side note, if you’re looking for good matcha in San Diego definitely go to Holy Matcha. Afterwards, we all went to Grand Central Terminal. I really liked the zodiac constellations on the ceiling.

From there, in the evening, Victoria and I left to Times Square. At this point it was definitely the most crowded place we had visited during our first time in New York City so we didn’t stay long. Instead, we headed over to Whole Foods back in Midtown and grabbed some things to make dinner at the apartment. We pulled inspiration from Gigi Hadid’s Spicy Vodka Pasta Recipe and put our own twist on it. We also added chicken and ate oven roasted cauliflower as an appetizer.

Day 3

On this day, we headed out to SoHo in the morning. There was a lot of activity going on since we were there during NYFW. It was cool to get glimpses of the various events happening around us. After looking for a place to have lunch, we settled on Jajaja, a vegan Mexican restaurant and we were not disappointed. This also happened to be the day after 9/11, so next we went to the World Trade Center. Next door to it was the 9/11 Memorial and we visited that as well. It was immense in person and the cascading water added a captivating auditory component.

From there, we headed over to the Brooklyn Bridge. It was a bit more humid this day. Because of this, we decided just to walk all the way up to it and not across it. This was the one attraction where I would recommend to rent a Citi Bike to make the process quicker and because there is a designated bike lane.

Right before sunset, we attended our reservation for the Empire State Building. Our tickets were for the Main Deck: 86th Floor Observatory. The experience included more than we had thought. It not only included the deck for viewing, but it also was like a historical walk-through journey leading up to it. Although each reservation was for 15 minutes, it was not necessarily enforced. The wrap-around deck provided views all over the city and it was pretty cool. For dinner, we went for Udon Lab and got boba from Tea Makers for dessert. Udon Lab has excellent service and the food was delicious. I got a classic milk tea with boba from Tea Makers and was not disappointed.

Day 4

We started this day at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, or simply the Guggenheim. Going in, we knew it was going to be a limited experience because its signature spiral walkway was closed due to new exhibit installations. Despite this, it was underwhelming. Only two floors were accessible. The first one was not bad and had a good variety of art, but the second one was quite small and limited. I think we personally enjoyed the gift shop more than the whole museum. We promptly left and instead went to the Vessel. It was a very impressive structure.

In front of it are the Shops and Restaurants at Hudson Yards. We took this opportunity to grab lunch and do a bit of shopping. After all, it was our first time in NYC. Inside we ate at Miznon which had Mediterranean inspired street food. It was really filling and a healthy serving. We explored the various floors and spent a little extra time at Zara. This location had so many items from the new season and all the sizes for them. It was pretty empty inside the whole center and it had great views of the Vessel from the upper floors. Outside, there was the entrance point to the High Line. We walked on it all the way to Chelsea Market. It had cute shops, cafes and restaurants, but it was not as big as I had imagined.

Also I should mention we barely had to use our proof of vaccination for many aspects of this trip. Some useful apps I recommend for a trip like this are Apple or Google Maps for the subway and walking around, NJ Transit if you plan on flying into Newark like we did, Citi Bike if you plan to get around that way, the New York Pass if you plan to do multiple attractions, your airlines app, and Chelsea Market to help you explore everything inside and check for events.

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