If you follow me on Instagram or TikTok, then you already know my husband and I recently got back from an 11 day trip to NYC. We had an absolute blast. We got a few reactions from people wondering why we spent so long there, and that’s because we handle big cities well, and we didn’t want to come home feeling like we didn’t experience everything we wanted to (spoiler alert: we still have things we’d love to do there). NYC is a destination that feels more like travel than a vacation (and while I’d never recommend it if you are looking to get away to relax) going at a slower pace felt more relaxing. Below is our 11 day itinerary. I’m excluding food from this because I plan to do a separate blog post dedicated to the best places we ate at. I’m also planning on doing a blog post about where we stayed and how I choose our accommodation. I understand not everyone has 11 days to spend in the city, so I will be sharing a separate post on my favorite things to do there if you want a more condensed version.

Day 1

We flew in the day before, checked into our hotel, got some dinner, and hit the bed to rest up for our first day in NYC. We started our day off shopping in Bergdorf’s. If you don’t know anything about Bergdorf’s there is a documentary called Spread My Ashes At Bergdorf’s that I highly recommend if you are interested in NYC history or fashion. Bergdorf’s is like the USA version of Harrods; even if you don’t want to buy anything, it’s still fun to wonder around and take in the opulence. I did hit up the Dior and Chanel makeup counters and the staff were so nice and helpful. I didn’t get snooty vibes from the staff there. We then headed to Central Park and did a self guided walking tour of the park. There are tons of resources online that map out the park and the best spots to see. We went through some of these resources and created our own map on google maps with pins on everything we wanted to see.

Day 2

We spent our morning exploring Little Italy and Chinatown. These areas really blend in as one, so if you want to see one, you might as well see both. We then headed to Dumbo which is an amazing neighborhood in Brooklyn. There are lots of great shops to check out and incredible views of the city. There are some beautiful parks along the water that are perfect to sit at, relax, and take in the NYC skyline. We checked out some of the iconic spots, enjoyed views of the city, had dinner on a vintage sail boat, and walked the Brooklyn Bridge back to Manhattan.

Day 3

We got a late start on this day so we didn’t do a ton. You could definitely fit this into a half day. We went to the New York Public Library and soaked in the stunning architecture. The Public Library is really like a museum. They had an exhibit on Winnie the Pooh which was really well done, and touching to see. Afterwards we walked around Bryant Park. I’m really into architecture, and it has always been a dream of mine to see the American Radiator Building which is in Bryant Park. It’s definitely my favorite skyscraper in the city. I love the combination of the black building with gold detailing.

Day 4

We spent this day on a Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island Tour. Out of all the things we did this was one of only a couple of things I would say to skip if you don’t have a lot of time in the city. It was cool to see the Statue of Liberty up close, but the Statue of Liberty museum was underwhelming. Ellis Island was really interesting and I did enjoyed it BUT we spent about 2.5 hours seeing the Statue of Liberty and exploring Ellis Island museum, and almost 4 hours waiting in line for ferries. Ultimately I’m glad we did it, but I’m also glad I will never be doing that again. Make sure you dedicate an entire day for this. Also make sure you do this one day with good weather because you will be waiting in line for the ferries outside.

Day 5

We actually spent most of this day out of the city visiting one of my husband’s friends and his family that live in NJ. I think if we didn’t go into NJ on this day, we would have gone to the Morgan Library which is one of the few things we didn’t get around to doing, but also something we didn’t have our heart set on doing. If you are looking for a day to get out of the city Coney Island would be a good option. Once we got back into the city we went to Top of The Rock which I HIGHLY recommend. There are several observation spots in the city but I chose this one because you get a view of downtown and Central Park. I also liked the perspective of being high up but still feeling amongst the buildings. Some of the other observation decks are so high that everything will look small. I’m scared of heights and I did feel uneasy for the first 10 minutes but got used to it. It was really romantic being up there at sunset.

Day 6

We spent our morning at the 9/11 Memorial and Museum. The memorial was really moving and well done. The museum kind of rubbed me the wrong way, with the ticket price and gift shop. I understand it is expensive to operate but I really hope they are not profiting from a tragedy. The museum had sections with warnings before you entered certain areas because there were some graphic images. I don’t suggest bringing children to the museum. If you have limited time and you can’t do both, I would suggest skipping the museum but see the memorial. Afterwards we headed to Wall Street before shopping in Soho. New York is a fashion capital and has great shopping everywhere but I chose to shop in Soho because it had all the stores I wanted to go to in one area. We went to Sézane, Chanel, Alaia, Never Fully Dressed, and Mulberry. I’m a Sex and the City fan so I just had to stop at the apartment used for exterior shots of Carrie Bradhshaw’s apartment while we were in Soho.

Day 7

We started our Day at Ralph’s coffee which is in the Ralph Lauren flagship store. One of the few things I regret not doing is spending some time in the Ralph Lauren flagship store. It’s beautiful inside, and I’m a fan of the brand. We spent almost all of our day at the MET. Despite spending almost all day there, we still felt like we just scratched the surface. My favorite exhibits were the Egyptian and Dutch sections. I suggest picking a few exhibits to see and know that you won’t see the entire museum in a day. After the MET, we stopped at Dior, Apple, and the Nintendo store on our way back to the hotel.

Day 8

We started our day off walking the highline. I loved seeing the city from the highline, it offered a different perspective and I loved the architecture in this area. This was one of the hottest days we were there so we sought shelter from the heat and spent a few hours hanging out in an arcade. We ended our day with our first Broadway show. We saw the Book of Mormon and it lived up to the hype. Neither my husband nor I would ever consider ourselves Broadway people, but we had so much fun and we’d love to see another Broadway show in New York someday. Even if you are not into Broadway I highly recommend seeing at least one show.

Day 9

This day was also one of the hottest days we were there so we spent most of the day inside at the Natural History Museum. Similar to the Met, I feel like we spent a good chunk of the day there but only scratched the surface. We stopped at a bakery after for a sweet treat which hit the spot on a hot day after being on our feet all day.

Day 10

By this day were were feeling pretty tired. It was also our third wedding anniversary so we slept in and had a slower pace day. This entire day surrounded food so there’s not much to share since I’ll be going into detail on both places in another blog post but we went to Katz’s Deli for lunch, walked around Soho a little (which might be my favorite neighborhood in the city hence why we went there multiple times) and went to Eleven Maddison Park for dinner.

Day 11

This day also almost entirely surrounded food so there’s not much to share in this post since I’ll be sharing a separate post dedicated to my favorite places we ate at. Were were lucky enough to score reservations at the Blue Box Café and have breakfast at Tiffany’s, which is a dream come true for me. If you’re an Audrey Hepburn fan, the Tiffany’s flagship store is a must-see. Even if you can’t get into the Blue Box Café, they had a Breakfast at Tiffany’s display with images of Audrey Hepburn, the iconic Givenchy dress, and the original book and manuscript. This was our last day in New York so after our breakfast and exploring the flagship store we headed to the airport.

Tips

Central Park is huge, so while you can dedicate almost an entire day to it like we did, you can also easily dedicate just a couple of hours to it and just pick 2 or 3 spots to see.

Out of all the places we went to, Little Italy and Chinatown were the only areas that I felt kind of unsafe. I don’t know if it is actually unsafe in those areas, or if it is because it was just extremely crowded and chaotic that made it feel unsafe. Like any large city, just be aware of your surroundings, and what is on you.

If you want to carry a nice handbag with you in the city, for the most part it’s safe to do so but I suggest bringing an empty tote bag along with you. If you ever feel like you are in a bad area just pop your handbag into the tote to be more discrete. It also comes in handy to carry an empty tote in case you do some shopping and don’t want to purchase a bag.

There are some scams surrounding Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island tours so make sure you buy your tickets through Statue City Cruises. It’s part of the National Parks Services so if you have a park pass you might be able to use it for this but check their website in advance.

We went in August and there were a few days that were pretty hot. We planned every day the day before based on weather. I suggest doing that if you are going in the summer or winter. Nothing sold out this time of year so we had a lot of flexibility to get tickets for things the day before or even the day of.

If you do Top of the Rock, or any other observation deck I suggest booking your time slot about 30 minutes before sunset. This will give you time to go through security and get to the top. This is one of the few things I bought tickets for in advance to ensure we got the time slot we wanted.

You can get a city pass that includes some of the things we did. For us, it worked out to be about the same price as buying tickets for everything separately. The city pass can only be used for a certain amount of days. Since we were there for a longer period of time than the city pass would cover, and we wouldn’t do everything the city pass included, it wouldn’t have saved us money, and we wanted a flexible schedule so we opted to not get it but it might be worth looking into.

We took the subway most places which was cheap and easy to use. Despite relying on public transportation we still walked about 20-25k steps a day so be prepared to walk a lot and pack comfortable shoes.