A First Timer’s Guide to New York City

This past summer, I had the opportunity to visit one of my bucket list cities: NYC! It’s always been a dream of mine to visit the city. There’s just something I love about the hustle and bustle, and it’s a great place to visit even just for a weekend.

I went for 4 days, and here are a few things that I’d recommend looking into if you are thinking about Jet Setting to New York!

Hotel Accommodations

I know most travel articles recommend first-timers try and stay in the heart of Times Square, but I disagree. While it’s a dream place to stay, the hotel prices are extremely expensive. Also, Times Square is a chaotic place, so I’d recommend going somewhere a little farther , especially if you don’t plan to stay in Times Square the whole trip. 

The two places I would recommend staying around would either be near Central Park or in Soho! When I went to NYC, my friend and I stayed a few blocks away from Central Park at The Night Hotel. I’ll admit it wasn’t the most gorgeous hotel in New York, but seeing that we were barely in our room, it was a great accommodation for an affordable price. From our hotel, we were able to cut through central park to get to some of the attractions on our checklist, such as The Met. The Museum of Natural History (which is featured in Night at the Museum) is also close by!

I would also recommend Soho because it is one of my favourite areas of Manhattan. If you are primarily looking to dine and shop, Soho has tons of amazing restaurants and stores to visit. It’s also one of the nicer areas in Manhattan and is a great space for photo ops!

Cab or Subway?

I’m not going to lie, this is probably my BIGGEST regret from my first trip. While my friend and I were there, we decided to take cabs for the entirety of our trip. Based on how we formatted our itinerary, we were only going to need to take 1-2 cabs daily to get where we needed to go, so we didn’t think it was going to be that bad. Ultimately, we did get scammed a couple of times by drivers, which was annoying. As well (due to the modern age) most cabs get ordered via an app, and some Canadian phone numbers (such as mine) were not compatible due to the  area codes. If you are going with a friend, I’d highly recommend just purchasing a subway pass. You can get one for $35 for the entire week and have unlimited uses.

My Favourite Activities

The Colour Factory

This has to be my number one stop the entire trip. The Colour Factory is a chain of immersive art experiences located in New York, Houston, Texas, and Chicago. All of the locations contain interactive experiences based around colour. They had loads of photo ops, an interactive quiz to figure out what your own secret colour was, and even a ball pit! What makes each factory unique is that they allow different artists in New York to create immersive exhibits. Some of the ones present included learning about how colours equate with certain scents, colourful pie charts that showed off the statistics of New Yorkers, and an ‘RBG Room’ where when the colours on the walls changed, the symbols representing New York changed too! Definitely make sure to add this experience to your list!

Stardust Diner

This was hands down my favourite restaurant in NYC! This diner is based in Times Square, and all the servers dream of being on Broadway. During your meal, the servers all take turns performing iconic Broadway anthems and other popular songs you may know! Some of these hits while we were there included Defying Gravity from Wicked, Dear Theodosia from Hamilton, New York, New York by Frank Sinatra and 3AM by Matchbox Twenty. This is also where I got my New York Bagel, which was delicious.

Museum of Modern Art

If you must choose between MoMA and the Met, 1000% go to the Museum of Modern Art. To my surprise, MoMA featured a lot more classic art pieces including Starry Night by Van Gogh, Reflections of Clouds on a Water-Lily Pond by Monet, Campbell’s Soup Cans by Andy Warhol, and many more! This is in comparison to The Met, which is only known for 3 famous works, and as someone who’s not intensely into art, I didn’t recognize them. But going to the Met, it was still cool to see the steps!

 Attending a Broadway Show

This is a MUST in NYC! I went and saw Six, which I thought was pretty good, but it was only 80 minutes long, and I wish I could’ve seen something a bit longer! But overall, attending a Broadway show was a surreal experience, and with so many shows to choose from, you’ll find one that you will be into!

The General Tourist Attractions

Of all the things to see in New York, Brooklyn Bridge and Central Park were my favourites! For starters, you could almost spend an entire day in Central Park with all the things to see and do! I also loved Brooklyn Bridge because it honestly looked so much like the pictures, and there were so many cool street artists along the walk! You also can’t forget Times Square. Make sure to go at night – it’s way more beautiful at that time!

If I were to go again…

These are a few of the things I couldn’t hit but really want to when I go back! 

• Take a Ferry around the Statue of Liberty: The statue of Liberty is SMALL! Like really small. From the edge of Manhattan, you can barely see it, and it’s not even that far away. If you want to see it, I’d recommend taking a ferry

• Magic Hour Rooftop: This is an AMAZING Rooftop bar with lots of fun interactive activities. Not to mention it has great food and sights!

• OlFactory NYC: We actually passed this place when walking in Soho, but we didn’t go in! Here you can make your own personal fragrance!

NYC was definitely one of my favourite travel trips to date! I cannot wait to go back someday!

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