By Blake Guthrie
New York City skyline at night
Whether you're on a tight budget or not, it's easy to tour
New York City. The city is vibrant at all times of the year. In freezing weather you can still take a sightseeing cruise on the city's waterways just as you can in summer. In the hot and sticky muggy season the buses and ferries are air-conditioned and provide a welcome respite from the heat. As the famous song says, it's the city that never sleeps, which is a saying that proves to be just as true for tourists as it does for locals.
Instructions
Difficulty: Easy
Things You'll Need:
- Money for guided bus and boat tours.
Maps of New York City.
Subway map.
- Money for guided bus and boat tours.
- Maps of New York City.
- Subway map.
Step 1
Take the Circle Line cruise around Manhattan. Circle Line is a sightseeing cruise company and their most popular cruise is the three and a half hour tour that circumnavigates the island of Manhattan. You will travel down the Hudson River, through New York Harbor, up the East River and back down the Hudson to Midtown. Taking this cruise at the beginning of your trip will give you a great overview of the city, and it's fun to try and pinpoint on land the sights you originally saw from the water on the cruise.
Step 2
Walk across the Brooklyn Bridge. This landmark bridge has a pedestrian walkway that rises above the traffic and it's free to cross. From Manhattan, start at City Hall Park. If you walk all the way across to Brooklyn and back it will be about three miles round trip. Or you could just walk halfway out and back to get a nice view of the East River and city skyline. If you do walk all the way to Brooklyn make sure to take in one of the most photographed views of New York City from underneath and just to the north side of the bridge, along the shore of the East River.
Step 3
Stroll through Central Park. Weather permitting, a trip to New York City is not complete until you've taken a detour through its green lung. Central Park is so uniquely New York that if it were to be taken away by some fantastical and evil force the city would not be the same. It is one of the most romantic locations in the city, not only for tourists, but for the local population who depend on it to constantly ease the stressful burdens of life in the big city. It can be just as romantic with a blanket of snow on it in the dead of winter as it is when the rowboats are on the pond in the muggy heat of summer.
Step 4
Take a bus tour through Manhattan. Gray Line Tours offers an open deck upper level on its buses, which gives a unique perspective on the skyscrapers and sidewalk life of the inner city. Kramer Tours offers an even more specialized bus tour for fans of the TV show Seinfeld, as the real life inspiration for the show's Kramer character--Kenny Kramer--guides you through the sites that inspired and were featured in the popular sitcom.
Step 5
Hop a ride on the Staten Island ferry. For those on a budget, and even for those for whom money is not an object, a ride on the Staten Island ferry is like a rite of passage for a tourist, and it's free. The ferry shuttles locals back and forth across New York harbor all day and night, and tourists are welcome to catch a ride too. Along the way you will pass by the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island and take in one of the best views of the city skyline that can be seen from the water, day or night. The ferry departs from the Whitehall Terminal building at the southern tip of Manhattan, adjacent to Battery Park. Did we mention that it's free to ride?
Resources
About the Author:
Blake Guthrie has been a professional journalist since 1996. His articles have been featured in the "Atlanta Journal-Constitution," "Creative Loafing" and on Travels.com. He earned a Bachelor of Arts in mass communications from Auburn University.
Photo Credits:
David Shankbone
