Day 1 - Midtown icons
Start at the Empire State or Top of the Rock for the skyline, then walk Rockefeller Center and Times Square by day. Afternoon the Museum of Modern Art. Evening a Broadway show with an early dinner of pizza by the slice. Sleep in Midtown to keep transit short.
Day 2 - Downtown and the harbor
Morning the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island ferry. Walk the Financial District and the 9/11 memorial. Afternoon SoHo and Greenwich Village for boutiques and cafes. Evening a bagel with lox and a jazz set downtown. Subway everywhere; buy a metro card or use contactless.
Day 3 - Museums and parks
Morning the Metropolitan Museum of Art, then a walk across the park to the Natural History museum. Afternoon the Upper West or East Side brownstone streets. Evening a steak or dumpling dinner in Koreatown. A High Line sunset walk caps the day.
Day 4 - Boroughs and exit
Take the subway to Brooklyn for the bridge walk, DUMBO, and a bagel. Lunch in Queens for the city's best immigrant food. Return for a final skyline view. Keep the evening open for your flight. A last deli sandwich sends you off full.
Daily food picks
New York runs on pizza slices, bagels with lox, hot dogs from carts, and pastrami on rye. Dumplings in Chinatown and tacos from trucks are cheap and excellent. Delis stack sandwiches past reason. A dollar slice and a coffee fuel most mornings. Bakeries and halal carts fill the late-night gap after shows.
Getting around & budget
The subway is fast and runs all night; avoid cabs in rush hour. A 7-day metro card pays off quickly. Budget 180 to 300 dollars daily with a Midtown hotel and museum entries. Book Broadway and the ferry ahead. Walk between close neighborhoods to save fare and see the street life.
