Recommended activities:

•  Harbor cruise ($25) 
•  866 925-4631
• www.circleline42.com
• Swings by the Brooklyn Bridge, Manhattan Bridge, Brooklyn Navy Yard, WTC, World Financial Center, Chrysler building, Colgate Clock, NJ, Empire state building, Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island.
• They have two boats, the Shark and the Zephyr.  
• The Shark is a speed boat that goes very fast and the Zephyr goes at a more relaxing rate.  (90 minute rides up to 3 hours) 
• Adults $25, Seniors $23
• Take the Zephyr and you will see more things
• Departs at noon, 1:30pm,   3pm, 4:30pm, 7:30pm available on weekends only
• www.nywaterway.com is another cruise service.  

• Statue of Liberty/Ellis Island Tour
• www.statuecruises.com
• 877 523-9849  or 1-866-STATUE4  
• To get inside the base of the Statue of Liberty, you must buy a Monument pass in advance as they sell out fast
• Prepaying your tickets, spares you the ticket line at Battery Park where boats leave from
• Monument pass with audio is $18 for adults and $16 for seniors
• Monument line can run anywhere from 20 minutes to 1 hour and 20 minutes once you are on Liberty Island
• Cannot climb the stairs to the crown observation deck anymore due to 9/11
• Ferry to both Ellis Island and Liberty Island is included in the admission price
• Take the #4 or #5 Lexington Ave Express Subway to the Bolling Green Station next to Battery Park
• Ticket office is in the historic Castle Clinton inside Battery Park
• Full tour could take 5 ½ hours

• Central Park (Free)  with several  Museums inside the park
• 843 acres  
• Central Park is situated in Manhattan between 59th and 110th street and between Fifth and Eight Ave.  
• The park has several lakes, theaters, ice rinks, fountains, tennis courts, baseball fields, many playgrounds and other facilities.
• Strawberry Fields (Mozaic tribute to John Lennon) is at 72nd and Central Park West  
• The 72nd to 86th street area  is particularly nice with the lakes and resevoirs
• Great museums in Central Park as well. (National History Museum , Guggenheim, Metropolitan Museum of Art.  Go to museums during the weekdays, when locals don't go to them.
• Many museums are pay-what-you-wish.
• Central Park Zoo (Not as good or as big as the Bronx Zoo)
• Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum - 89th Street
• Neue Galerie New York - 86th Street
• Goethe-Institut New York/German Cultural Center - 83rd Street
• The Metropolitan Museum of Art - 82nd Street
• Museum of Natural History  - 79th Street & Central Park West
• Central Park Zoo Home Page      

• Late Show with David Letterman (Free)
• Audience members must be 18 and older.
• Can only request 2 tickets and you do that online at  cbs.com/latenight/lateshow/show_info/
• If they pick your form out of the requests, they will call you by telephone and ask you a trivia question before giving you tickets -     Sample trivia questions: What color hair does the announcer have on the show (RED),   What is the name of the announcer (ALAN KALTER),   Who is Rupert?   (HE IS THE OWNER OF HELLO DELI),   What is your favorite segment in the show? (STUPID PET TRICKS)
• They call only a couple weeks before the date of the show if you get selected for tickets
• They tape two shows on Monday and once per day Tues, Wednesday, Thursday.  There are no Friday show tapings 

• Late Night with Conan O'Brien (Free)  
• Tickets to Late Night with Conan O'Brien are only available by calling their ticket office at (212) 664-3056.
• You can request up to 4 tickets and all audience members must be at least 16 years old.
• You may only book tickets every 6 months and you may not book tickets with any other groups of people.
• Start calling the phone number 60 – 90 days in advance to see when your travel dates open up for show tickets.
• You check in at 3pm on the day of the show and they will give you a numbered plastic bracelet and a ticket.  
• Check in is at Rockefeller Center on the Mezzanine floor.  
• Seating is first come, first served.
• Once you get the bracelet and ticket, you can leave but you have to be back by 4:15pm and they line you up based on the number of your bracelet.  

• Top of the Rock Observation deck at Rockefeller Center ($17.50)
• 877 692-7625   
• 70 Stories high  & 45 minutes to see it.
• More unobstructed views than Empire State Bldg (ESB) plus you can see the ESB and Central Park 
• W50th between 5 th Ave and 6 th Ave. 8 to midnight 7 days a week. $17.50 adults   $16 seniors plus tax
• www.topoftherocknyc.com
• 30 Rockefeller plaza  

• MTV studio: TRL Live
• Monday and Tuesday Only and lineup for any remaining seats starts around 2pm outside the studio on Broadway
• You can request tickets by calling MTV at (212) 398-8549 but do it several months in advance (Ages 16 - 24 only)
• Show Location:
  The MTV Studio is located at 1515 Broadway between 43rd and 44th Streets, in the middle of Times Square in New York City. The MTV building takes up a whole block on the Broadway side. The MTV store is on the South corner at 43rd street and Broadway, this is also next to the entrance for TRL Ticket holders.
• Show starts at 3:30pm EST

• Times Square: (Free)  Broadway-Seventh Ave. from 42nd to 47th Streets 1, 2, 3, 7, N, Q, S, R to 42nd St. – Times Square. 

• The world’s busiest intersection has enough shops, restaurants, and theaters to keep you entertained for your entire stay. There’s Planet Hollywood, the WWF restaurant, a Toys R Us big enough for an indoor Ferris wheel, the largest music store in New York, MTV Studios, Good Morning America, many street performers and vendors, and much more.

•  NBC studio tour ($18.50)
• 212-664-3700
• www.nbcuniversalstore.com
• $18.50 each for a  1 hour 10 minute tour, seniors and children under 13 are $15.50
• Open 7 days a week   8:30am – 5:30pm    Sunday 9:30am to 4:30pm
• Need to buy your tickets in advance due to large tour groups that prepay tickets 
• You will get to visit  NBC studios, including the sets for Saturday Night Live, Late Show with Conan O'Brien, NBC Sports, and Nightly News with Brian Williams, depending on whether they are in use at the time of the tour.
• All tours begin inside the NBC Experience Store which is located in the GE Building at 30 Rockefeller Plaza (Corner of 49th Street between 5th and 6th Avenue) across from the TODAY Show studio.
  
  
• Today Show at NBC in the morning (Free)
• Show starts at 7am but they form a line much earlier (6am) 1 block away
• Need to get there early for best view  

• Wall Street New York Stock Exchange  (no official tours anymore)
• 20 Broad Street , 3rd Floor  New York, NY 10005 
• Internet:  http://www.nyse.com   New York Stock Exchange Address: 11 Wall Street New York , NY 10005
• Phone: (212) 656-5168  

• Broadway shows  
• The more popular shows sell out months in advance so buy them before your trip.  
• Some of the older shows you can get half price tickets from the TKTS location at 46th and Broadway next to the Marriott Marquis Hotel the day of the shows.
• If you get to New York often, buy them directly at the Theatres and save ticket/handling charges which can run up to $20 or more per ticket  
• Tickets prices run from $60 to $120 for most shows. 
• But try to dress nicely for the theater. 

• Subway  
• Best way to get around NYC. Buy a MetroCard at any subway station.   You can put as much money on it as you want and it deducts $2 each time you ride it.   You can share one card with your family.  
• It is safe, runs 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Be careful riding after 10pm. 
• No need to drive a car in NYC. About 95% of all popular tourist attractions are accesible by subway. If you do drive in, park at a garage and leave the car there until the end of your trip. 
• Many routes change over the weekend as they do not need as many trains or make as many stops as during the week.   Express Trains, denoted as white circles on the subway map, will skip the less traveled stops and get you to your destination quicker  
•  If you are staying a week, consider the unlimited travel pass for 7 days. 
• Make sure you hold on to a pole or handlebar and secure your belongings when riding. Most first-timers don't realize how a train can move, and it is not uncommon to see tourists lose their balance and fall over. Even though most people laugh at themselves, it can be quite dangerous for you and others.
• When traveling up or down the escalators in the subway stations, keep to the right to allow people access to walk faster up/down the escalator.  This is especially important during the morning and evening "rush" hours and especially at transfer point stations like Grand Central Station, Penn Station, and Port Authority where people are trying to catch connecting trains/buses.
• Some subway entrances only lead to the train going uptown, and others to the one going downtown. Before entering, notice which one it is. If you're at the wrong entrance, look around. The other one is across the street nearby.

• Yankees Game
• Since the "old" Yankee Stadium will be torn down after the 2008 season, tickets are very hard to get, or very expensive. You can use www.stubhub.com to find tickets.
• Cheapest tickets are $14, $23, and $30   (but prices will go up after the new stadium is built.)
• Need to arrive 1 hour before the game to tour monument park in the outfield.
• If you have Bleachers seats, you can NOT go into Monument Park.
• Most games sell out in advance
• They also sell a Yankee stadium tour pass on days they are not playing (This also sells out fast)
• The Yankee Stadium Subway stop is located right outside the Stadium at the corner of 161st St. and River Ave. The Stadium can be reached by several subway lines and a trip from midtown Manhattan takes less than 25 minutes. The #4 train, as well as the B (weekdays only) and D trains make stops at 161st St./Yankee Stadium. Metro North train service to Connecticut and Westchester County is available at the 125th St. subway stop. For more information on subway and bus transportation to Yankee Stadium, you can contact the NYC Transit Authority at 718-330-1234, 6am-9pm or visit their web site.

• Empire State Building Tour    
• 212-736-3100   (Toll Free 1.877.NYC.VIEW) 8am – 2am   7 days a week
• Adults 18 years and older is $19, Seniors and Ages 17 and under is $17 for the 86 th floor observatory
• 3 lines: Ticket line, security line, elevator line.  
• Buy advance ticket to skip ticket line. Total wait could be 1 hour.  
• Best to come at 8:00pm to see both day and night.
• $15 extra per person to go to the 102nd floor observatory
• Fifth Avenue at 34 th Street
• The first line you will encounter is the ticket line. If you are there at a busy time, this could take 20 – 30 minutes. The second line is security and this will probably be 10 minutes or less. The third line is the first elevator which could take 20 – 30 minutes.   The last line is the final elevator which goes up the last 6 floors to the 86 th floor. This can also be 20 minutes but you also have the option to walk it.
• Plan on 2 hours total for this event.
• The Observatory is open from 8:00am until 2:00am daily with the last elevator going up at 1:15am . By Subway: 1, 2, or 3 ( Seventh Avenue Lines), A, C or E ( Eighth Avenue Subway) to 34th Street/Penn Station. Also B, D, F, N, Q, R or Path to 34th Street/Avenue of the Americas.

Some helpful hints for your visit:

• Make sure you research the cross streets for all addresses that you think you might visit via taxi. Taxi drivers are not required to have a deep knowledge of NYC. They serve you best when you tell them the cross streets.
• Group your sightseeing and shopping locations by area, by circling things on a map.
• Take jet-lag into account when planning, especially for kids. You might fall asleep when seeing that Broadway show during your first night here.
• Don't buy electronics from small stores in Times Square.
•  Shop at the end of the day, because you don't want to carry your stuff around with you all day, esp to sights with "no package" rules.
• Don't accept rides from limo dirvers soliciting at the airports. They are scams.
• NO FREE REFILLS ON SODA!!!
• Wear comfortable walking shoes.