In this post we want to share with you our itinerary about the places to visit in New York in 4 days and how to get around the city by bicycle. If you are going to visit NY in a not very cold season, the bicycle is the best option to not miss detail and enjoy it in a different way. In addition, you can even cross from Manhattan to Brooklyn and Williamsburg by bike. Something we recommend 100%. Below we share with you our itinerary and the areas we decided to visit on foot and by bike, without using public transport.
Places to visit in New York in 4 days
We stayed in Manhattan, at the Midtown Convention Center Hotel, very close to the Chelsea neighborhood and Midtown Manhattan. So that, we didn’t have to use public transportation at all. In the following lines we tell you our itinerary per day:
DAY 1: Midtown, Central Park and Chelsea. Lunch in Burger Joint and dinner at Pizza Suprema
The first day we went to visit the most tourist sites. We left from the hotel on foot and visited the following emblematic places:
Times Square
Bryant Park and the Public Library from New York
Grand Central Terminal
Emblematic buildings: Empire State and Rockefeller Center
St. Patrick Cathedral and 5th Avenue
Central Park
Once in Central Park, we decided to take some bicycles to get a good ride. The pity is that you can not go through all the roads by bike. We had downloaded the Lyft app that serves you for taxis and for renting bicycles for hours. The bikes are called Citi bike, they are blue and cost $ 3 every half hour. There are thousands of points throughout New York, that is, you can take them at one point and leave them at another. Therefore, they are ideal for combining long bike rides with walking on foot. It is important that you make sure that you return your bike well (look at the app at the time of return). Otherwise, the timer can continue to roll.
After a complete tour around Central Park, we went to eat at Burger Joint. This is a burger that has become famous for being hidden behind a curtain in the hall of the Le Parker Meridien hotel. The burgers were nice, but the truth is that they were quite expensive. We paid € 45 for two hamburgers (one of them the largest), with two portions of potatoes and two drinks.
After touring Central Park we decided to take a walk through the Chelsea neighborhood. Here we visited:
The Vessel. It is a new building with an extraordinary architecture and copper color.
The High line. It is an overpass that runs through old train tracks along Chelsea. Here you will find various works of art and good views of the neighborhood.
Chelsea Market
This market has become a tourist attraction with a wide range of places to eat and nice shops. The market is beautiful, we loved its atmosphere and decoration.
On the way back from Chelsea we passed the Madison Square Garden pavilion and ate some (huge) pieces of pizza at Pizza Suprema. They have a wide variety of flavors and the cost around 5 dollars per piece. They were delicious and with thin dough. We returned the last day.
DAY 2: Greenwich Village, Bowery, Soho, Little Italy, China Town with lunch at Katz’s Delicatessen and dinner in Wholefoods
On our 4-day itinerary through New York, the second day was dedicated to visiting the following tourist points:
- Flatiron Building, centenary building and surrounding squares
- Union Square Park, we went on a Friday and there were some food market stalls.
- Washington Square Park. It is located around the New York universities, full of life, music and little squirrels.
- Friend’s Apartment, facade of the apartment where the famous Friends series was filmed.
- Bowery. In this neighborhood we stopped to eat in the mythical Katz’s Delicatessen the famous pastrami sandwich. Highly recommended, but you will have to queue.
- Soho. As you may know, it is a very cool neighborhood of Manhattan full of bars, restaurants and modern shops.
- Little Italy. A place that is quite touristy, but you can visit it quickly, as it is not very big and quite close to Soho.
- China Town. If you want to buy a forgery, this is the site. We were fascinated to see how the Chinese of all ages entertained themselves in the various park playing board games, badminton, doing gymnastics at the bars and even doing martial arts.
We visited all the previous sites on foot from our hotel, the Midtown Convention Center hotel. At noon it started to rain, so we decided to visit all the stores in the neighborhoods of Greenwich Village and Soho. We also walked through Little Italy and China Town.
DAY 3: World Trade Center, Brooklyn, Dumbo, Williamsburg, The City and Hudson river. Lunch at Smorgasburg market (Williamsburg) and dinner in Wholefoods
In order to see the essentials of New York in 4 days, we walked many kilometers. Therefore, we decided to rest our feet a little and ride a bike. We opted again for the Citi bike and we skirted the entire Hudson River from the hotel until we reached the memorials of the attack on the Twin Towers: World Trade Center. There is a spectacular bike path along the river. From there we visited the following tourist spots by bike too:
- World Trade Center. A site that you have to visit, the memorials to the victims of the 11S attack are quite impressive.
- Brookyln Bridge. We crossed it by bicycle and it does not take anything, highly recommended.
- Brooklyn y Dumbo. We walked through its streets and had a drink in one of its coffee shops. There were several garden areas with incredible views of Manhattan.
- Williamsburg, we passed through the Orthodox neighborhood and by chance we found the
- Smorgasburg Outdoor Food Market. It has food from almost every part of the world and views of Manhattan. Apparently it is the largest outdoor food market in America. Highly recommended. In this neighborhood you can not miss their markets, as well as Bedford Street.
- La City. We approached the famous Wall Street and saw the well-known statue of the Bull.
- Battery Park. From here you will have beautiful views of the Statue of Liberty.
- Hudson river. Here we came with our picnic purchased at the nearest Wholefoods supermarket to watch the sunset at the Yacht Cove North Harbor overlooking New Jersey
DAY 4: Hudson river, Harlem, El Barrio, Central Park, Noho, Soho, China Town and Little Italy with lunch at the The Bao and dinner in Pizza Suprema
On our last day in New York we had already seen practically the most tourist spots, so we took the bikes again to tour the northern area. We bordered the Hudson River northbound to Harlem, cross it and reach the Latin Quarter (El Barrio). Then, we walked again through Central Park until we reached the neighborhood of Noho. Here we were delighted in The Bao. SPECTACULAR. Finally, we toured again part of Soho, Little Italy and China Town when we walked back home. Of course, we made the rigor stop at Pizza Suprema.
And here we finished our wonderful tour about the place to visit in New York in 4 days.
Places to eat in Nueva York
To eat in New York we recommend the following sites:
- Smorgasburg market, Williamsburg. They have food stalls from the whole world. Mexican, Vietnamese, Japanese, Balinese, Argentinian, Venezuelan, Thai, Italian, French, etc. And, as we said before, they claim to be the world’s largest weekly outdoor food market. They only open it on Saturdays. All the info here. We opted for some nachos and burritos.
- The Bao, Noho. It is an Asian restaurant specializing in dim sum. This site had been recommended to us by a friend from Gran Canaria who lived in New York and loved it. We recommend the Shanghai Pan Fried Noodle, the five kind of dim sum and the Steamed Crab Xiao Long Bao. As a dessert you can not miss the Xiao Long Bao Chocolate. An authentic show of meal!
- Katz’s Delicatessen, Bowery. You can’t leave New York without trying the pastrami sandwich on this site.
- Pizza Suprema, nearby Madison Square Garden. Delicious pizza without queueing. At only $ 5 a large piece, a variety of flavors.
- Whole foods market, it is all around New York. In this supermarket you can buy homemade food by weight. Salads, soups, rice, pasta, vegetables, etc. Ideal if you want to care about what you eat at a good price in the United States.
- Burger Joint, inside the hotel Le Parker Meridien. They are yummy, but surely there are some better in the city. The site is basically famous by being hidden inside a hotel reception
Tips for traveling to New York
1) How to get from the JFK airport to Manhattan
We went and came back in Lyft (start up similar to Uber). The two applications for moving by taxi to and from the New York John F. Kennedy airport are highly recommended. The price per route varies depending on demand. The round trip cost us € 35 (about $ 38) and the return € 45 (about $ 50).
2) Places to visit in New York in 4 days by bike
As we explained throughout the post, it is better to download the Lyft app and take the Citi Bike bicycles, since they are everywhere in New York. This means that you can take it to make long distances and leave it when you want to walk on foot. Thus avoiding taking the subway and, therefore, getting to know New York better. In addition, these bicycles are the ones that the New Yorkers ride with. There must be a reason.
3) Places to visit in New York safe. Do not forget to get your travel insurance!
Finally, as you may know, health in the United States is one of the most expensive in the world. Therefore, you should not travel to this country without hiring your travel insurance with enough health coverage. Moreover, for being our reader you can benefit from a 5% discount on any of the IATI policies.
4) Get for free your debit card to pay abroad without commissions
We highly recommend Revolut to get money abroad, as well as to make payments in any store, restaurant or business in general. You are not charged any commission. Unlike your Spanish bank. You can get the card for free by clicking on the link above. We use it in all our trips.
And that’s all my friends! We hope you enjoy New York!
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