A couple of weeks ago I had the privilege of spending a long weekend in NYC with my mom and sister for our annual girls’ trip. My mom and I had both been to New York City before, but my sister had not. So, while planning our itinerary, we wanted to make sure we hit some of the touristy spots for my sister and a couple of my mom’s and my favorite places. Our goal in planning out our trip was to make it relaxing, so the bulk of our planning was really grouping places together by location simply to maximize our time.
One of the very best things I think we did was decide to stay in Midtown. We stayed at Hotel 48 Lex (read all about it here in last week’s post), which is located right in the heart of Midtown. Having a central location like this made it easy to walk to most places and allowed us to see more of the city.
When I originally set out to write this post, I had grouped everything by category, but have since scratched that idea and instead I’m giving you our exact itinerary so that you can see how much we were able to fit into each day without being stressed and without having to do much walking/cabbing in between. Oh, and a note on the whole cab versus uber thing – we found out that if you uber within Manhattan boundaries, you will automatically be charged a $2+ fee whereas cabs are not allowed to do that. Just a helpful tip. 🙂
FRIDAY:
- Travel time: fly out early morning, land mid-morning, and get to your hotel by noon
- Lunch: we weren’t in the mood for a heavy lunch, so we stopped at a local favorite, Juice Press, and each got a different type of juice. This is a great place to go if you’re vegan.
- Museum of Modern Art: next, we walked to the MoMa. This was my sister’s “must see” place and we all wanted to see Van Gogh’s “Starry Night.”
- drinks on the patio – after touring the museum, we headed to out to the courtyard of the MoMA. There is a restaurant on the edge of the courtyard, so we sat on the porch overlooking the courtyard and enjoyed a glass of rose. A great way to take a break from walking and enjoy the beauty of the museum!
- Central Park: after the museum we walked over to Central Park to take a stroll and for my sister to get a taste of its grandeur.
- Dinner: we went to Hangawi for dinner, a restaurant hailed as one of NYC’s best vegetarian restaurants. Hangawi specializes in gourmet Korean food. Their philosophy and goal is to give you a complete experience from the way the food is presented to the way you are treated by the staff. The restaurant is tucked into a quaint little space and you slip your shoes off when you enter. You are then seated at a recessed table and treated with the best service. The food presentation was beautiful and tasted delicious. We all enjoyed what we ate and agreed that if we lived in NYC this would be a weekly stop for all of us!
SATURDAY:
- Sarabeth’s: Let me just say this might be the best brunch spot in all of NYC. Located at the southern edge of Central Park, you have a fabulous view of the park’s beauty. The food is outstanding and the bloody mary’s are a must!
- Central Park: next we headed to Central Park again to walk off our massive brunch and make our way to the MET.
- The MET
- Manus x Machina Exhibit – there is so much to see at the MET, but this exhibit is a must see if you’re in NY this summer. This exhibit is for all you fashion lovers as it’s about the fashion in the age of technology. You will be blown away by the intricate detailing of each and every dress!
- After touring the MET, we headed back to our hotel to change for a Broadway Show!
- Broadway Show: Kinky Boots – Y’all, this broadway show was amazing! I’m sure most of y’all have already seen it, but it was a first for my sister and me. We were so blown away by how well all the men danced in HIGH heels!
- Happy Hour @ Hotel 48 Lex – after seeing Kinky Boots we headed back to the 2nd floor lounge of our hotel to have a couple of drinks before heading out for dinner.
- Dinner: we hadn’t done a lot of research for this night’s dinner, so we decided to try Bobby Flay’s restaurant: Bar Americain. We enjoyed the food and had great service, but decided it was nothing special. I’d recommend going somewhere unique to NYC and kind of wish that’s what we would’ve done.
SUNDAY:
- NY bagels
- The Highline: The highline is about 1.5 miles of park built in Manhattan on an elevated section of the New York Central Railroad. It’s absolutely gorgeous and a must see! There are some tiny little shops at the end of it, too, so we got to do some shopping and enjoy popsicles!
- Whitney Museum of American Art: The Highline spits you out right by The Whitney, so we decided to check it out after hearing multiple people recommend it. The modern art and modern architecture are fabulous and I gauruntee you’ll enjoy it even if modern art isn’t your thing.
- Chelsea Market: a food hall and shopping mall that has the cutest little shops, great wine shops, and wonderful restaurants. It’s a great place to get a drink, do some shopping, and cool off.
- 9/11 Memorial: this is an absolute must-see, but prepare yourself emotionally. I knew I would be moved, but had no idea the toll it would take on my soul. It’s very heavy and you’ll want to make sure you have ample time to slowly move through the museum.
- Gramercy Tavern: after the 9/11 memorial we headed to one of NYC’s local hot spots and one of Martha Stewart’s favorite places to get a drink – Gramercy Tavern. The decor is beautiful and the drinks are delicious.
- Candle 79: located on the Upper East Side, Candle 79 is one of NYC’s best high-end vegan restaurants. Trust me when I say you don’t just have to be a vegetarian or vegan to enjoy this restaurant. My dad, mom and sister all eat meat and all loved the food, atmosphere and service of Candle 79!
MONDAY:
- Chobani SOHO: this is definitely a place to visit if you like yogurt! It’s the only restaurant for Chobani and you can order a yogurt bowl from their menu or make your own. The best part is that you get to keep the cute glass bowl they serve it in!
- SoHo: located in Lower Manhattan, SoHo is one of the best spots for shopping! We spent almost the entire morning in SoHo as we knew we wanted to spend our last day shopping!
- Shopping on 5th Avenue: if you don’t get your shopping fix in SoHo, you can head to 5th Ave to do more shopping!
- After a jam-packed weekend, we headed to the airport to fly home!
I hope this itinerary helps you some! I tried not to go into extreme detail about each thing so as not to overwhelm, but if you have any specific questions or want more information just drop a comment or email me!
Central Park
The MET
Manus x Machina Exhibit @ The MET
Gramercy Tavern
The Highline
dress: banana republic | bag: banana republic | sunnies: karen walker | shoes: similar
Popsicles @ The Highline
Whitney Museum of American Art
Chelsea Market
Chobani SOHO
SOHO Shopping
dress: loft | bag: banana republic | sandals: banana republic | sunnies: karen walker
xx – anna