New York 3-Day Itinerary

This plan gives each day one part of the city, so you walk more and ride less. It assumes you've booked the Statue of Liberty ferry and, for the second evening, a Broadway show.

Day 1: Lower Manhattan and the harbour

8.30am: Join the security queue at Battery Park for the first ferries to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island.

1.30pm: Back on land, lunch near Stone Street, a cobbled lane of old buildings with outdoor tables.

2.30pm: Walk past Wall Street and Trinity Church to the 9/11 Memorial. Visit the museum or simply sit by the pools.

5pm: Walk across the Brooklyn Bridge from City Hall.

Sunset: Brooklyn Bridge Park and DUMBO, then dinner in Brooklyn. Our Brooklyn guide has the details.

Day 2: Midtown, the park and the Met

9am: Grand Central Terminal, then walk west along 42nd Street to the New York Public Library's main building and Bryant Park behind it.

10.30am: Top of the Rock at Rockefeller Center for the view north over Central Park.

12pm: Walk up Fifth Avenue past St Patrick's Cathedral to Grand Army Plaza. Grab lunch on the way.

1pm: Our Central Park walk, finishing on the east side.

3.30pm: The Metropolitan Museum, for two or three galleries only.

7pm: A Broadway show, with a late dinner in Hell's Kitchen on Ninth Avenue afterwards.

Day 3: The West Side and downtown

9am: Breakfast at Chelsea Market, then climb onto the High Line at 16th Street and walk north to Hudson Yards, or south to the Whitney Museum at its southern end.

12pm: Wander the West Village: Bleecker Street, Christopher Street, the quiet lanes around Grove Street and Bedford Street. Lunch here, pizza or otherwise.

2.30pm: Washington Square Park and its marble arch, then SoHo's cast-iron buildings along Greene Street.

5pm: Cross to the Lower East Side. The Tenement Museum runs guided tours of restored immigrant apartments on Orchard Street, and they're the most moving history lesson in the city. Book ahead.

Evening: Pastrami at Katz's Delicatessen, then a drink in the East Village.

With a fourth day, ride the 7 train into Queens for Flushing's food halls, or take Metro-North up the Hudson to Beacon for the Dia art museum and a river walk.