Globe Trotter - New York

My mom is in the US these days. And I am taking this opportunity to show her around a few places nearby. A few days back, I took her to a 2 day trip to New York City.

New York City probably contains the highest number of tourist hotspots within the confines of a single city. Statue of Liberty, Empire State Building, Times Square, Central Park, Grand Central Terminal, Rockefeller Center, United Nations, Brooklyn Bridge, China Town, World Trade Center, Wall Street, NYSE, The Charging Bull.. the list is endless. I wanted to cover as many of them as possible. While planning for the trip, I considered two options to achieve this goal –

1. Take a guided tour that would take us to all major tourist spots in the city, or

2. Plan to visit all major tourist spots by ourselves, using the New York Subway.

As I had worked in New York earlier, and was familiar with the New York subway (which by the way, is probably one of the most dense and complicated in the world), I decided to opt for the second option. The fact that this option gave me the added thrill of doing a classic tourist road trip; trying to find my way around a city with multiple maps and train schedules in hand, made the decision a no brainer.

But I also needed to make sure that I don’t goof up anywhere, since the last thing I wanted was to get stranded in the middle of NYC, with my mom around. Hence I chalked up this detailed plan for the trip with the help of Google Maps and train schedules from mta.info. After doing this, I realized that my plan could serve as a template for anyone planning a 2 day trip to NYC in the same way as me. I am posting my plan here. Hope it helps a future tourist in the Big Apple, who wants to visit the same landmarks as me. They can pick the elements from this plan that are relevant to their trip, and customize the rest.

Note that the plan includes to and fro travel from Boston to New York (4 hours by bus). The starting location in New York was Chinatown. Anyone travelling from other cities or starting locations needs to make the necessary updates. I have not included the times next to many of the entries, as the time taken at a point of interest may vary greatly. But if one does not plan to spent an extraordinarily long time at one place, one should be able to cover all the locations included in a day's plan.

Detailed schedules for all subway trains mentioned below are given here.

Day 1 -

Time	City	Activity
6:38 AM	Boston	Leave for South Station by Commuter Rail
7:19 AM	Boston	Reach South Station
8:00 AM	Boston	Take GoToBus to New York
1:00 PM	New York	Get off at Chinatown, New York
	New York	Walk to Grand Street Metro Station (5 Min)
	New York	Take Subway - B - Direction: 145th St Station OR D - Direction: 205th St - Norwood Station
	New York	Get off at 34th St - Herald Sq Station (7 min)
	New York	Walk to Empire State Building (3 min)
	New York	Walk back to 34th St - Herald Sq Station (3 min)
	New York	Take Subway - N - Direction: Astoria-Ditmars Blvd Station OR R Direction: 71st Ave - Forest Hills Station OR W Direction: Astoria-Ditmars Blvd Station
	New York	Get off at Times Sq - 42nd St Station
	New York	Walk to Times Square
	New York	Walk back to Times Sq - 42nd St Station
	New York	Take Subway - 1 - Direction: 242nd St - Van Cortlandt Park Station
	New York	Get off at 59th St - Columbus Circle Station
	New York	Walk to Central Park
	New York	Walk to 59th St - Columbus Circle Station
	New York	Take Subway - 1 to South Ferry Station
	New York	Get off at Times Sq - 42nd St Station
	New York	Take Subway - S to Grand Central - 42nd St Station
	New York	Get off at Grand Central - 42nd St Station
	New York	Walk to United Nations
	New York	Walk back to Grand Central - 42nd St Station
	New York	Take Subway - 4 - Direction: Utica Ave - Crown Heights Station
	New York	Get off at Fulton St Station
	New York	Walk to World Trade Center
	New York	Take Path to Hoboken
	Jersey City	Get off at Pavonia/Newport
	Jersey City	Walk to Hotel

Day 2 -

Time	City	Activity
6:45 AM	Jersey City	Walk to Pavonia/Newport
7:07 AM 7:17 AM 7.27 AM	Jersey City	Take Path WTC Station to Hoboken - Direction: To WTC (7 min)
7:14 AM 7:24 AM 7.34 AM	New York	Get off at WTC
	New York	Walk to New York Stock Exchange
8:00 AM	New York	Walk to Battery Park
8:30 AM	New York	Take Ferry to Liberty Island
9:00 AM	New York	Get off at Liberty Island
10:15 AM	New York	Take Ferry to Ellis Island
10:30 AM	New York	Get off at Ellis Island
12:05 AM	New York	Take Ferry back to Battery Park
12:45 PM	New York	Walk to Charging Bull
1:00 PM	New York	Walk to Bowling Green Station
1:02 PM	New York	Take Subway - 5 - to Dyre Ave - Eastchester Station
1:07 PM	New York	Get off at Brooklyn Bridge - City Hall Station
1:30 PM	New York	Walk to Brooklyn Bridge
2:00 PM	New York	Walk back to Brooklyn Bridge - City Hall Station
2:02 PM	New York	Take Subway - 6 - to Pelham Bay Park Station
2:05 PM	New York	Get off at Canal Street
3:00 PM	New York	Walk to 55 Christie Street and take GoToBus
	Boston	Reach South Station
	Boston	Take Commuter Rail back home