3 Days in NYC: An Itinerary That Isn't Exhausting

Three days is enough to see New York properly, if you stop crossing the city twice a day. The mistake almost everyone makes is booking the Statue of Liberty in the morning and a Midtown show that evening, then spending the middle of the day underground.

This itinerary groups each day into one part of the city. Morning to night, without backtracking.

Day 1: Downtown and the harbor

8:30am. Start at the 9/11 Memorial. It is free, and it is quiet before the tour groups. The museum takes two hours if you want it.

10:30am. Walk south into the old Dutch streets: Stone Street, Trinity Church, then out to the Battery for the harbor. Our Financial District page has the detail.

12:30pm. Lunch in Chinatown, a fifteen-minute walk north. It is the best value meal you will have all trip.

2:30pm. Walk the Brooklyn Bridge toward Brooklyn, which puts the skyline behind you and DUMBO at the far end. Down into Brooklyn Bridge Park, along the water to the piers.

5:00pm. Climb to the Brooklyn Heights Promenade for the view over the harbor, and stay for sunset.

7:00pm. Dinner in Brooklyn Heights or back over the bridge. If you have energy, the Staten Island Ferry is free, runs all night, and gives you the Statue of Liberty in the dark. Watch out for the ticket sellers on the walk in.

Day 2: Midtown, the park and a museum

7:00am. If you want the famous shots without people in them, this is the hour. Grand Central before the commuters, or Bryant Park with a coffee.

9:00am. The Metropolitan Museum at opening. Give it two or three hours and no more. Our Met guide has the routes by time available.

12:30pm. Walk into Central Park from the museum’s back door. The Ramble, Bethesda Terrace, the Bow Bridge. Lunch from a cart or a deli on Madison.

3:00pm. Down Fifth Avenue on foot: the New York Public Library and its Rose Main Reading Room, then Bryant Park behind it. Both free, both extraordinary.

5:00pm. Times Square, deliberately. Sit on the red steps rather than walking through it, and read our Times Square guide first so nobody sells you anything.

7:30pm. A show, or dinner west of Ninth Avenue where the prices calm down.

Day 3: Downtown neighborhoods, at your own pace

9:30am. Breakfast in the West Village, then walk the crooked streets with no route: Commerce, Bedford, Grove. Our West Village page has the history worth knowing.

11:00am. The High Line from Gansevoort Street north, with a stop at Little Island in the river. Both free.

1:00pm. Chelsea Market for lunch, then the galleries west of Tenth Avenue, which are free to walk into.

3:00pm. Take the L east to the East Village and Lower East Side. The Tenement Museum if you booked it, the community gardens if it is a weekend, Katz’s if you are hungry enough.

7:00pm. Dinner downtown, then one bar. You are three blocks from some of the best in the world.

Make it easier on yourself

• Tap the same phone or card every time. There is nothing to buy: MetroCards are gone, and OMNY takes any contactless card or phone. Tap the same one and the fare caps itself after twelve rides in a week. Our subway guide covers it.
• Book the two things that need booking: the Tenement Museum and any show. Everything else here works without a reservation.
• Do not book a morning and an evening thing on opposite ends of the city. That is the rule this whole itinerary is built on.
• Leave one evening loose. The best night of most trips is the one nobody planned.
• Where to sleep matters: see where to stay in NYC.

If it rains

Swap the outdoor half of any day for the Museum of Natural History, Grand Central, the Ford Foundation garden or the New York Public Library. Our free museums guide has every free and pay-what-you-wish night.