New York City, USA: Best Things to Do and See in 3 Days

What to see in New York in 3 days, you ask? We’ve been to New York several times and therefore have a pretty good knowledge of it. Here’s an itinerary that if you follow, you’ll see the best of New York in 72 hours.

Weather: when to go to New York?

Autumn, winter and spring are ideal for visiting New York , I found New York quite hot in summer, and while you can easily pop into a museum, there are simply better destinations for a summer holiday. Plus, summer is when New York sees the most tourists.

Although it’s quite cold in the winter months, when it snows there’s no place more magical than New York. The most beautiful months in New York are May, June, September and October.

Where to stay in New York: The best hotels

For a 3-day visit to New York, I recommend staying right in Manhattan so you don’t have to waste time moving from other parts of the city. New York is really big and moving around takes much longer than moving around Prague.

Our favourite hotels include the Artezen Hotel on Wall Street, or the Best Western Plus Soho Hotel near SoHo and Chinatown.

How to save up to 34% on New York City admission

Buy a New York CityPASS on GetYourGuide, which saves you about 34% on admission and gives you access to:

• Empire State Building
• American Museum of Natural History

And then you can choose 3 of these attractions

• Top of the Rock® Observation Deck
• Ferry Access to Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island
• 9/11 Memorial and Museum
• Circle Line Sightseeing Cruises
• Intrepid Sea, Air, and Space Museum
• Guggenheim Museum

What to see in New York in 3 days: itinerary

We have tried to put the itinerary together so that you don’t have to move around more than necessary – in short, so that you don’t fly back and forth. If you are going to change any of the activities, consult the map so you don’t run out of time.

Day 1: Midtown Manhattan

• Depending on what time you get up, you can start your morning with a walk in Central Park, a visit to New York wouldn’t be complete without it. You can’t walk all of it, it’s over 340 acres. 😁

• Top of the Rock – nothing like seeing the city from above. If you haven’t bought a CityPass, buy your ticket to Top of the Rock at GetYourGuide. You can also see the famous Empire State Building from here, which of course you can also go to, but we think the view is much better from here.
• Check out Rockefeller Centre, and if you like LEGO, stop by the 5th Avenue store before continuing on to St. Patrick’s Cathedral . This cathedral is a local iconic Catholic church located on Fifth Avenue in the heart of New York City, across from Rockefeller Center.
• If you’re an art fan, head to MoMA – Museum of Modern Art, or continue on to Time Square, where, in addition to the luminous billboards, you’ll find some of the famous shops like Hershey’s Chocolate World and Disney.
• End the day with a stroll along Broadway and Columbus Circle. If you speak English well, we recommend buying a ticket to a show (you can buy a ticket safely on GetYourGuide, for example). Don’t buy tickets on the street! They’re usually scams.

Day 2: Brooklyn and the Financial District

• Start your second day in Brooklyn – on the Brooklyn Heights Promenade, where you’ll have spectacular views of Manhattan. From here, head to the Brooklyn Bridge across the DUMBO neighborhood. (DUMBO, short for “Down Under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass,” is a small but significant neighborhood in Brooklyn, located on the border between Brooklyn and Manhattan. You have beautiful views of the Brooklyn Bridge from here).

• Battery Park – Explore the famous Battery Park, where you’ll find The Sphere, a peace symbol that stood between the Twin Towers at the World Trade Center before it was damaged in the 9/11 attacks. September and subsequently moved here. There is a ferry from Battery Park to Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty. If you don’t buy a CityPass to the Statue of Liberty, get one on GetYourGuide so you don’t spend time in line for tickets.

💡 TIP: Vyzkoušejte vyhledávač trajektů a porování cen Ferryscanner.

• When you sail back, head to Wall Street and explore the world’s most famous financial district. On Wall Street you will also find the famous Charging Bull statue, which symbolizes an optimistic and prosperous financial market.
• From here, you can move on to the 9/11 Memorial and Museum – it’s both a memorial site and a museum that was created in memory of the nearly 3,000 people who died in the 9/11 terrorist attacks. September 2001 at the World Trade Center. You’ll find it where the World Trade Center Twin Towers used to stand .
• If you still have time, we recommend visiting the One World Observatory. You can buy your ticket again via GetYourGuide.

• Combine dinner with a tour of Little Italy or Chinatown.

Day 3: Museums or attractions of your choice

Go to at least one museum that interests you, you won’t regret it. We recommend :

• The Metropolitan Museum, which houses two million works of art, including paintings by artists such as Vincent van Gogh, Rembrandt, Vermeer, Cézanne, and Titian.
• The Guggenheim Museum – which is a short walk from the Metropolitan Museum of Art and houses works by many leading artists, including Pablo Picasso, Vincent van Gogh and Wassily Kandinsky.
• The Intrepid Museum, officially known as the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum for anyone interested in planes, ships, submarines and space.
• New Museum – if you like contemporary art like we do, this is one of the best museums in the world.
• American Museum of Natural History – one of the most popular museums in the world, visited by over 5 million people a year.

• Head over to the Chrysler Building and see one of New York’s most iconic skyscrapers, built in 1930 in the Art Deco style.
• From the Chrysler Building , it’s a short walk to Grand Central Station / Grand Central Terminal, the iconic train station you may recognize from the movie Friends with Benefits, starring Mila Kunis and Justin Timberlake.
• From here you can go to the Empire State Building, of course if you have enough time you can go up. But make sure you have bought a ticket in advance (for example, via GetYourGuide).
• From the Empire State Building, if your feet aren’t aching yet, take a walk to the next major skyscraper: the Flatiron Building, which is shaped like an iron.

• For the evening we recommend going on an evening cruise around Manhattan, we did it and it was a great experience. That’s when we found her on GetYourGuide. Availability is by season. In winter they run different cruises than in summer.

Where to go next

Want to know if New York is safe, what else to see or what to try? Read our next article with 44 tips on what to see in New York.

Have you decided for a longer stay? Read, what to see in New York in 5 days.