A friend of mine will only be spending one day in New York City. What should they see?

Answer 1

Take your friend to the Hayden Planeterium in the Museum of Natural History. Catch one of the shows, they're about 1/2 an hour long. You can then kill the rest of the day at the museum, or poke around a bit before heading into Central Park. Weather permitting grab a sandwich and some drinks and have a picnic on the Great Lawn.

Time Square is great but a little cliche. Still if the weather is bad, there are plenty of places to get out of the heat and the rain. If the weather is good though, one thing I highly recommend is going to the top of the Empire State Building as the sun goes down. Give yourself at least an hour to get up to the top and if it's a weekend, you might even want to give yourself even more time since the lines can be long. Watching the lights go on over the city though is one of the most incredible things I've ever seen.

If you and your friend aren't exhausted by this point then head to Jekyll and Hyde's (around 57th and 6th Ave I think) and enjoy one of NYC's more unusual nightspots.

Answer 2

Here are some ideas of what you can do. First, get a good tour map. Then I recommend you take the BIG APPLE double decker tour bus for an overview of the city. There are several different neighborhoods so I'll highlight these and what to see:
Upper East Side: Metropolitan Museum of Art, Guggenheim, Whitney Museum. Walk up and down Madison Avenue for awesome shops and boutiques 96th - 57th st. Walk Park Avenue for architecture all the way to Grand Central Terminal and see the treasures located within. Walk along 5th Avenue to see/go in and out of Central Park - go for a run, go to the Central Park Zoo, go to the Carousel, go for a gondola ride at the boat house.
UPPER WEST SIDE:
Museum of Natural History -a must! on Central Park West,
Walk along Columbus Avenue. Visit the West side of Central Park and pay respects to John Lennon's Strawberry Fields.
MIDTOWN:
Shopping - 57th St (Chanel and the gang), Fifth Avenue - must see Henri Bendel, Bergdorf Goodman, Saks and FAO Schwartz - many other fun stores.
St. Patrick's Cathedral
Museum of Modern Art
Sony Bldg
Rockefeller Center
Go west to awesome new Time Warner center and visit the new Mandarin Hotel bar/restaurant for awesome view and treats!
Oh, Bloomingdale's is on 59th St and Lexington.
Empire State Bldg.
The Intrepid Aircraft Museum is fascinating and on the West side...worth the visit even if you have no kids.

CHELSEA:
Walk around the blooming area sprouting awesome restaurants and shops. Chelsea Pier is fun.

WALL ST:
Pay respects to the 9/11 victims and heroes at the WTC site., Walk Wall St., visit the Chase Hdqtrs, Federal Reserve. Seaport area is great to see.

THE VILLAGE:
Funky shops in the West Village. Walk through the NYU Washington Square Park. The East Village has some shops from new artists and designers

SOHO:
Great galleries and shops on n off West Broadway. Walk thru to Little Italy for awesome meals and desserts...walk through Chinatown. CANAL STREET has stall after stall of Designer "copies"...bring cash and bargain and watch your purse!

These should put an awesome smile on your face. Bring your camera and takes lots of photos to remember your trip. You'll have a blast! OH...BUY this weekly magazine: TIMEOUT NEW YORK on any newstand to see what's going on each week/day. :)

Answer 3

Start in Central Park. It's really beautiful. Walk down through the park, or walk along Fifth Avenue next to the park and check out the street vendors selling crafts and paintings and such.
Head south down Fifth Avenue and see all the amazing stores and shops.
Then stop by Rockefeller Center at 50th and 6th. From there you could walk over to Times Square. (Just west of Rockefeller)

For the last part of the day I'd take a cab down to Bleeker or to Soho for drinks, dinner and good people watching.

Answer 4

The underground gold vault at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.

Answer 5

some suggestions on places to check out

Empire State Building (tallest building in NYC)
Times Square (while you're there... line up and get cheap tickets for a broadway show... might i suggest Phantom of the Opera?)
Central Park (largest park in the concrete jungle of NYC)
5th Ave... 59th St to about 42nd (shopping)
Soho/Noho
Canal St (everyone wants knockoff Gucci, coach, LV, etc, etc bags from Canal St)
The Met
Macy's @ 34th st (world largest department store... well thats what they claim)
Rockefeller Center
Brooklyn Bridge (world's first steel-wire suspension bridge)
Ground Zero
Ellis Island and The Statue of Liberty

Answer 6

Radio city Music Hall, The 911 Memorial, Central Park, you know ur city the Best you make it fun....show'em a good time

Answer 7

Take the Circle Line or the NY Waterways ferry and see NYC from the water. Its a spectacular view.

Answer 8

go to Time Square...i was there for one day, and it's larger than life!