Fun things to do in the five boroughs of NY, NY
The robb.sh massive list of things to explore in the five boroughs of New York City (with a lot of help from my friends)
Food
Start with a full stomach.
Manhattan
Vibe: lead, follow, or get out of the way
SoHo
- Balthazar (brunch)
West Village
- Boucherie (French steakhouse)
Greenwich Village
- Cafe Wha? - Music venue + bar food. High energy, birthed in counter-culture, featured in the Adam West Batman movie
NoHo
- Veselka (Ukrainian, buy a bicycle jersey)
Midtown East
- Totto Ramen (also in Hell’s Kitchen)
Upper West Side
- Virgil’s (also in Times Square)
- Dinosaur BBQ
East Village
- Tatsu Ramen
- Thursday Kitchen (Korean)
- Supper (Northern Italian)
- Tuome (American / Asian fusion)
- Soothr (Thai)
- Foxface (Specialty sandwiches)
- Miss Lily’s 7A Cafe (Caribbean)
- Venieros (Massive pâtisserie)
- Tompkins Square Bagels
Lower East Side
- Cervo’s Portuguese Tapas
- Freemans (American)
- Katz’s Deli
Queens
Long Island City
Vibe: bougie
- Cyclo (map)
- Sweetleaf
- Jackson’s Eatery (map)
- Casa Enrique (tacos & cocktails)
- Fifth Hammer Brewery
- Iconyc Brewery
- Maiella
Astoria
Vibe: gentrified, but not ruined
- Aliada (Greek)
- District Saigon (Vietnamese)
- Gossip Coffee & Café
- Astoria Seafood
- Mombar (Egyptian)
- Al-Sham Sweets & Pastries
- Sugar Freak (Creole)
Flushing
Vibe: 百度一下，你就知道
- Haidilao (hotpot)
- 520 Desert Bar
- Spring Shabu-shabu
- Tiger Sugar (boba tea)
Brooklyn
Greenpoint
Vibe: hip, but getting gentrified
Williamsburg
Vibe: gentrified hipsters. Bedford Ave is a fun little street you can walk and shop.
- Weslight (must-try rooftop cocktail bar with panoramic view of the city)
- Butler (fancy breakfast and brunch)
- Birds of a feather
- Tacombi
- Qahwah House (must-try Yemeni coffee & chai)
- Martha’s Country Bakery (pâtisserie et coffee - incroyable)
- Win Son Bakery (must-try; get a fan-tuan)
- Brooklyn Ball Factory (must-try, get an iced matcha latte. Get some pastries from Win Son and a matcha from BBF and go eat at the park.)
Bushwick
Vibe: where the real hipsters are
- Heavy Woods
- Sally Roots
- Roberta’s
- Nook
- Bunna Cafe (must-try Ethiopian restaurant)
Clinton Hill
Vibe: old Brooklyn, tons of brownstones, great restaurants
Brooklyn Heights
Vibe: old money, million-dollar townhouses, even bougier than LIC
Cobble Hills / Carrols Gardens
Vibe: cute. Smith Street and Court Street are two little streets where you can walk around and shop.
Sights, parks
Contains a few typical tourist things in Manhattan, but you should see them once.
Manhattan
- Staten Island Ferry
- Check the schedule
- Peek Ellis Island/Statue of Liberty en route
- Step off on Staten Island, done, get back on the boat to Manhattan
- Central Park
- Broadway play - 50% off tickets at TKTS kiosk Times Square, day of show
- Walk the High Line Park
- Empire State building
- WTC
- Top of the Rock (get resis)
- Bryant Park
- Carnegie Hall
- Greenwich Village / Washington Square Park
- Circle Line sightseeing cruise around Manhattan (or better, just take the NYC Ferry all around)
Queens
- Flushing Meadows Corona Park
- There’s a cool museum in this park
- Flushing, Morning Glory (giant toy store)
Brooklyn
- Prospect Park (A+)
- Domino Park
- Bushwick Inlet Park
- Brooklyn Bridge Park
- Brooklyn Botanical Garden
- Brooklyn Museums
- Sunset Park, (and food) Industry City
- Brooklyn Bridge, take the ferry to Williamsburg, check out Smorgasburg
- DUMBO / Brooklyn Heights and walk the Brooklyn Bridge toward Wall Street
Museums
- MoMa
- MoMa PS1 (LIC)
- Metropolitan Museum of Art
- The Cloisters Museum
- Whitney Museum https://goo.gl/maps/nJr2edWzUsUiKP9r5
- The Tenement Museum LES
- American Museum of Natural History
- 911 Museum and Memorial
- Guggenheim
- Federal Hall
- Intrepid Air & Space Museum
- South Street Seaport Museum
- National Museum of the American Indian
Stores
- Kinokuniya Japanese Stationery Midtown
- Strand Bookstore 12th & Broadway
- Uniqlo SoHo
- Muji SoHo
Beaches
Now that you’ve explored the city, maybe you need a break? Be amazed at how quickly you can get to a beach.
- Far Rockaways via NYC Ferry
- Long Beach, NY #NYNotCA via LIRR
- Sandy Hook Beach, NJ via Seastreak Ferry
Other random things for your consideration
- Take in a concert at one of Brooklyn’s many music venues
- (Bronx) The Edgar Allen Poe Cottage
- Grant’s Tomb
- Take the A train over the water to the Far Rockaways https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nkiCJc0FzPI
- On the weekend go to Governor’s Island (May through end of September)
- Free Kayaking http://www.downtownboathouse.org/
- Wave Hill (possibly the most beautiful place in NYC.)
- Arthur Avenue (Bronx) (the real Little Italy and the best Italian food in New York.)
- Visit the West Village
- Attend a performance - the Jazz Gallery, Carnegie Hall, the Met, the ballet, BAM, or a Broadway performance
- Go to Jackson Heights, Queens - “some say that Brooklyn is the most alive neighborhood they’ve ever been in. I give that honor in NY to Queens”
- Go to the Bronx Zoo for the scene (and for the gorillas above all) and then head to Arthur Avenue afterwards
- Ghostbusters movie set, the Firehouse 14 N Moore St., New York, NY 10013
- Goldstar events finder
- Show tickets: