So who's familiar with New York?

[DrPizza]

How far are you from the city anyway?

A hair less than 6 hours in good traffic/no construction. Or, if I travel through Scranton PA, it looks like about 5:45; but I think I'm even more likely to run into construction via that route.

 

[Lifted]

why are people saying lirr, he said hampton inn, which is a hotel in the city, not long island. Take the subway or a cab to get around, never rent a car in the city, parking is too expensive.

LOL

 

[Brainonska511]

why are people saying LIRR, he said hampton inn, which is a hotel in the city, not long island. Take the subway or a cab to get around, never rent a car in the city, parking is too expensive.

He said Rockville Centre area in the op. Being that you're located on LI, you should know that Rockville Centre is a nice little town on Long Island with a stop on the Babylon Branch of the LIRR.

To the OP:
Use the LIRR from Rockville Centre to Penn Station to get into the city. Buy the ticket before getting on the train. From Penn Station, you can get to most places pretty easily by some combination of walking or subway.

I'd stay away from Times Square - totally overrated tourist trap. There are all sorts of awesome museums in the city (Intrepid Air and Space, American Museum of Natural History, the Met, etc...). Central Park is a great place to walk around and some stuff to see in there as well. If you want to see the Statue of Liberty, it's probably better to see it from afar, either from Battery Park or by one of the previously mentioned water options. I don't know if they still do tours of it, but I remember the UN Building (as lame as the UN is) was actually kind of neat on the inside - lots of artwork and architectural design to the main chambers. There is also the standard walk across the Brooklyn Bridge, go to the top of one of the buildings in Rockefeller Center (Top of the Rock; I hear the view is much better than the ESB).

Edit:
In regards to the LIRR, it looks like your hotel is within a 5-10 minute walk from the Rockville Centre LIRR station. If you're going to be going into the city for a few days, you can buy a 10-trip off-peak ticket (good for non-rush hour trains; you'll need to pay an extra buck or two if you get on a rush hour train with an off-peak ticket) to save some money and just have the conductor punch it twice each time (once for each of you).

 

[Jadow]

yeah, subway and cabs.

Manhattan is laid out as a pretty easy to understand grid, get a map, you'll get around fine.

They have boat cruises around the southern tip of manhattan, up to the brooklyn bridge then back around that are pretty nice, you'll see the statue pretty good, but wont actually stop at the island, I recommend that.

Also, Empire State Building is cool, but you'll be waiting for 3 hours in lines to get to the sightseeing deck.

 

[Phynaz]

NYC is neither easy nor cheap. When I took moved my daughter into her dorm (Columbia) parking was $9.00 an hour.

Getting off the island from Columbia took three hours on a Friday afternoon.

There's a reason why there's so many crazies in NYC. People were not meant to live packed in that tight.

Although having a thousand hot women in eyesight at all times is kinda cool.

 

[zerogear]

I think the 1 day Fun Passes are no longer available due to abuse.

They stopped offering those a few years ago... I think around when they stopped using tokens.

 

[Juked07]

ya know what, good point...

rent a bike, they're all over the place now, take one around central park, down the westside highway and you can return it to one of the stops in battery park... then take the subway back to your place

I'm not sure what you can do with them(to lock them down) if you wanted to make a stop to check stuff out because yoou could technically plan the route where you could pass by the Intrepid as well as the MET & Natural History

This is great if you're comfortable biking in a city (I bike here and I love it). But if you're from a relatively sparse area/you think a bike on a sidewalk doesn't look weird, you probably won't be comfortable on a bike in the city with the most aggressive drivers in the country, even if you spend most of the time staying in parks and bike paths.

As for locks, I'm sure you can rent one from the same place you rent a bike.

 

[woodman1999]

on the third day it actually hurt me to walk. and it wasn't because of my feet.

Um, Gold Bond? Baby Powder? Cures all your chaffing issues. I do the walk from Port Authority to Grand Central for work everyday in a full suit, no joke. Yeah, I have the Nile of Sweat running down my back, but no chaffing!

Anyway, the benefit of walking around the city is that you can take in more than just some of the tourist attractions. The people, the smells (at least some of them), and the hustle are a big part of visiting the city. Also, remember to look up while you walk around to take in some the impressive architecture. Just make sure if you look up for a long time to get out of the middle of the sidewalk, or you'll get runover or sworn at.

 

[Vdubchaos]

NYC sucks. I live 45 min away and I hate to even think about going there....

It's dirty, smelly and full of jerks.

 

[uclaLabrat]

NYC sucks. I live 45 min away and I hate to even think about going there....

It's dirty, smelly and full of jerks.

This. Thank God I'm moving in a week.

 

[ThePresence]

Keep in mind that the statue of liberty visit will wholly suck up half of your day if you actually want to have your feet on Liberty Island. You have to reserve a pass a couple of weeks ahead. Even with that, expect long lines (at least 2-3 hours) at security before you even get on the ferry for the island. One alternative suggestion is the Circle Line Water Taxi. Costs about $26 bucks for all-day hop on/hop off and you can see most of the interesting sights of Manhattan (all the major skyscrapers, major bridges, south street seaport and brooklyn) from a great view from the water. It also goes within a few hundred feet of liberty island and will allow you very nice photos of the SoL. Since the start of the water taxi also happens to be at the pier right next to the Intrepid, you can also check out that really impressive museum if you'd like (now with Space Shuttle Endeavor).

Other than that recommendation, i'm just echoing subway.

Just a small note, the Intrepid has Enterprise not Endeavor.

 

[tooriski]

He said Rockville Centre area in the op. Being that you're located on LI, you should know that Rockville Centre is a nice little town on Long Island with a stop on the Babylon Branch of the LIRR.

you are right, my bad on not paying attention to what I read.

 

[Ns1]

This. Thank God I'm moving in a week.

Going back to Cali? =P