5 Days in New York City

Five days in New York is the perfect amount of time for a first trip: enough to tick off the iconic sights without rushing, with time to wander, soak the city up – and even watch When Harry Met Sally.

This is our 5-day New York itinerary for first-time visitors, the exact route Luke and I planned and followed for our first trip to NYC. We’ve grouped by area so you’re not losing time (and energy) criss-crossing the city, plus we’ve included where to stay, where to eat and how to get around.

The guide covers all the essentials, from the Statue of Liberty and the Empire State Building to Central Park, the High Line and the Brooklyn Bridge, at a pace that leaves you time to actually enjoy them.

In a Rush? Our Top Pick Hotels in NYC

5 Day New York Itinerary: Quick Fire Summary

Here’s the TL;DR version of the best NYC 5 day itinerary:

Day 1:

• Morning at the Guggenheim Museum
• Grab NYC’s best bagel for lunch at Modern Bread & Bagel
• Cycle in Central Park
• Coffee at Peaky Barista
• Pick up groceries at Trader Joe’s

Day 2:

• Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island ferry tour
• Take a pack lunch (food options are bad and expensive!)
• Wall St and the Financial District
• Walk the High Line
• Dinner at Los Tacos No. 1 in Chelsea Market

Day 3:

• Morning at the Metropolitan Art Museum
• Lunch at Bluestone Lane Upper East Side Café
• Afternoon at the Met Cloisters
• Stop by Sugar Hill Creamery in Harlem for NYC’s best ice cream

Day 4:

• Midtown sights including Grand Central Station, the Chrysler Building and the New York Public Library
• Brunch/Lunch at Little Collins
• Times Square
• Catch a Broadway show (I recommend Hadestown)
• Times Square
• Empire State Building Observatory for sunset
• Dinner at Le Botaniste
• Cocktails at The Ragtrader 

Day 5: 

• 9/11 Memorial Museum
• Brooklyn, filmmaker Spike Lee’s studio and Fort Greene Park
• Lunch anywhere in Brooklyn (all the food looks good!)
• Walk through Dumbo and Brooklyn Bridge Park
• Sunset at Pebble Beach
• Dinner at Julianna’s
• Brooklyn Bridge at dusk

New York City 5-Day Itinerary: In Detail

This itinerary for how to spend 5 days in New York was tried-and-tested by yours truly! Luke and I planned and followed this exact itinerary on our trip to NYC. We were fortunate to have 5 full days in the city, and this itinerary has just the right amount of activities for that timeframe. It would be possible to abridge Day 1 or remove one of the museums or galleries if you only have 4 days in New York.

Day 1:

We set ourselves a lighter itinerary on Day 1 knowing we’d be tired from our flight. Spend a relaxing morning at the Guggenheim Museum, a small gallery currently featuring Kandinsky’s artwork. 

You couldn’t not have a cream cheese bagel in NYC and fortunately the city’s best bagels are just across the park at Modern Bread & Bagel. Eat in or take-away and eat in Central Park.

After lunch, rent a bicycle from Bike Rental Central Park and cycle around Central Park. Expect to pay $22 for 2 hours. If you’re fast, you can cycle the Central Park bike circuit in an hour, but at a leisurely pace you’d need 1.5 hours so I’d recommend renting for 2 hours so you don’t have to rush.

After cycling, fuel up on coffee at Peaky Barista, an independent espresso bar on the Upper West Side. The cafe is conveniently located across the street from Trader Joe’s grocery store. New York is expensive, so it’s a good idea to stock up on coffee, breakfast foods and snacks ready for the rest of your holiday. Grab something for a packed lunch for Day 2 as well! 

If like us you’re a little jet-lagged and exhausted, head back to your hotel and snooze whilst watching the NYC classic film, When Harry Met Sally.

Day 2:

Day 2 is dedicated to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. You’ll start the morning at Battery Park, right at the bottom of Manhattan. Ferries to Liberty Island and Ellis Island depart from here every half hour. If you’re staying in New Jersey, ferries also leave from Liberty State Park. Book your tour in advance (or use your New York CityPASS) to avoid the queues.

The ferry calls at Liberty Island first, and then goes onto Ellis Island, before returning to Battery Park. Don’t be tempted to skip Ellis Island as the museum here is fascinating. Ellis Island was the busiest immigrant inspection station in the USA during 1892 to 1954. The immigration building is a grand one, currently serving as a museum exploring the history of immigration in New York and the USA.

Top Tip! Take a pack lunch with you to Liberty Island and Ellis Island! The food options on both islands are bad and expensive fast-food, and the canteens aren’t always open. As visiting the islands takes 4-5 hours, you’ll be glad to have lunch with you.

After the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island, you’ll arrive back in Battery Park. Wall St and the Financial District are right next to the park, so nip in to see the Charging Bull. You don’t need long in the financial district – once you’ve taken in the skyscrapers there’s not much to explore as this is NYC’s business centre. 

Take the metro over to Hudson Yards and walk the High Line, a 1.45-mile-long public park elevated above the city. The park trail has been created along the former New York Central Railroad and is a fantastic green initiative of the city. There are no food or coffee places on the High Line, but there are multiple ‘drop-off’ points where you can take stairs down into the city.

At the end of the High Line, you’ll find yourself at the renowned Chelsea Market, a bustling indoor market with international food stalls. We ate at the fantastic and authentic Los Tacos No. 1 in Chelsea Market – it’s only $4.50 for a taco, so a great option if you’re on a budget. 

If you’ve got more room in your budget, other mouth-watering options in this part of town are the lively Middle-Eastern bistro Shukette (the flatbreads look incredible!) or the cute-looking organic Italian restaurant, Palma. 

Day 3:

Start your day at the Metropolitan Museum of Art (‘the Met’). This huge museum has a collection of over two million works and it is utterly huge. You’ll either need to crack on early, or strategically choose the pieces you most want to see from the collection. Their current collection includes Van Gogh’s Self-Portrait with a Straw Hat and one of Monet’s Water Lilies paintings.

Lunch at the museum, Bluestone Lane Upper East Side Café or one of the many patisseries, boulangeries, bakeries or Italian restaurants in the area. If you’re committing as much time as possible to the Met, opt to lunch inside the Met’s own cafe to cover more ground. Otherwise, just a few blocks away is Bluestone Lane, a popular NYC cafe chain with an Australian vibe. This particular branch is inside a church building and features ornate stonework.

Make sure you leave enough time in the day to get to the Met Cloisters, a stunning museum in Fort Tryon Park which has a series of medieval gardens and courtyards, chapels and themed galleries. Your ticket to the Met includes same day entry to the Met Cloisters, but note that the Cloisters close at 5PM and are a 45-60 minute journey from the Met Museum. The Met Cloisters is also where the famous West Side Story ‘marriage’ scene between Tony and Maria is filmed.

After a busy day, stop by the wonderful, local Sugar Hill Creamery in Harlem for NYC’s best ice cream. This small ice cream shop has unique flavours and a regularly changing menu. As there’s not much up by the Met Cloisters, this is the best place to stop before heading back to your accommodation.

Day 4:

Let’s spend Day 4 in New York City’s Midtown! Many of the quintessential NYC sights are located within a short walking distance of each other in the Midtown area of Manhattan.  

Take the metro into the awe-inspiring Grand Central Station and don’t forget to look up at the ceiling! Walk through Grand Central Market before heading outside to see the Chrysler Building. On our visit, tourists weren’t allowed into the lobby (though we peaked our heads inside).

Don’t miss brunch-time American pancakes and the best coffee in New York at Little Collins. This little coffee shop has the friendliest staff we met in New York and is the perfect alternative to an American Diner. 

After brunch, make your way along a few blocks to the New York Public Library. This stunning library is the fourth largest in the world and certainly the most gorgeous library I’ve seen. The library often has special exhibitions on and has a good store for buying nice souvenirs.

A few blocks further and you’ll find yourself surrounded by the towering billboards of Times Square – it’s quite a sight! There’s not much to do here other than go shopping. Plenty of people come to shop in the M&M store, Disney store and Levi’s store here. Times Square is also right in the theatre district, and you’ll definitely want to see a Broadway show during your 5 days in New York. We saw Hadestown and would highly recommend it. We booked tickets for a week-day matinee, as the tickets were a much better price compared to evening or weekend shows.

After the show, head to dinner at Le Botaniste – a casual, laid-back almost cafe-style restaurant with beautiful checkered floors. The reason I’d recommend Le Botaniste is because it’s a quick place to have a filling evening meal without the formality and wait time of a usual restaurant. They also have great natural wines.

The Empire State Building Observatory absolutely cannot be missed from any New York itinerary. Seeing New York at night with the city lights coming on is a fantastic experience, and the top of the Empire State Building is one of the best places for it.

Book your ticket in advance for around 30-45 minutes before sunset so you have enough time to see the museum you walk through beforehand and get to the observation deck in time for golden hour and sunset over the city. You can stay up here as long as you like, meaning you can wait to see the city light up as night draws in.

Prefer a different skyline view? Two alternatives to the Empire State are Top of the Rock at the Rockefeller Center (the one view that actually includes the Empire State in the picture) and One World Observatory downtown. Any one of the three is plenty — pick by which skyline you most want to see.

Top Tip! The Empire State Building lift automatically takes you to the inside floor, but don’t spend too long here. The room is closed in and the windows are scratched and smeared, so the photos from here don’t look great. Head up to the open air observation deck on the 86th floor in time for the sunset.

End your day with cocktails at The Ragtrader, conveniently located just two blocks from the Empire State Building. This cool bar is set up in what was once a garment factory and the decor is in-keeping with the building’s history. The El Guapo cocktail is the best on the menu and not to be missed.

Day 5: 

The last day in our 5-day New York itinerary! Start your day at the 9/11 Memorial Museum and memorial pools. You’ll need about 2 hours for the museum.

After the museum, take the metro over to Brooklyn. You can walk across the Brooklyn Bridge from the 9/11 Memorial Museum, but I wouldn’t recommend it if it’s hot. The bridge is busy – both with pedestrians and traffic – during the day, making it a less pleasant experience at this time. Brooklyn has a mouth-wateringly good food scene, so you can’t go wrong with having lunch in this part of the city.

We headed to filmmaker Spike Lee’s studio and Fort Greene Park where his famous 1986 film She’s Gotta Have It was filmed. If you’re not familiar with Spike Lee, I’d recommend watching Do The Right Thing which is set and filmed in Brooklyn. 

Walk or take the metro over the waterfront. This area of Brooklyn is called Dumbo, and you can walk through Brooklyn Bridge Park. From here there are views of Manhattan and the classic NYC skyline.

You can’t come to Brooklyn and not get a pizza slice. I spent a lot of time researching the best pizza joint in Brooklyn and decided on Julianna’s, and boy is their pizza good! This cute little restaurant is just a stone’s throw from the waterfront, so perfect if sunset is fairly early when you’re visiting NYC.

We were spoiled for choice with great looking eateries in Brooklyn and not enough time to eat at them! Top choices from my research were Cafe Paulette on the edge of Fort Greene park, cute Italian restaurant Rucola, Rhodora Wine Bar for tapas and cheese boards, and public records, a vegan restaurant with live music.

The grand finale of this 5-day itinerary for New York is seeing sunset at Pebble Beach. This is an outside location, so sunset here is best in the warmer months. For me, this was my favourite experience from the whole 5-day itinerary because it was one of the least busy spots in the city and the views were amazing. 

Save walking across Brooklyn Bridge until dusk, as it’ll be quieter and this time of day means you’ll have beautiful views of New York lit up. If you already walked across the bridge, you can take the ferry across from Dumbo to Manhattan instead.

Good night, New York!

Where to Stay in New York

We based ourselves up in Manhattan near Harlem, right by Sugar Hill Creamery ice cream shop, and loved it. It’s a beautiful, classic New York neighbourhood, all red-brick townhouses and stoops, quieter than downtown, noticeably cheaper than staying central, and still with easy subway connections to the sights.

For a first trip, we’d point you to staying on Manhattan island itself: you’re close to most of what you’ll want to see, and it simply feels like New York.

If you’re young and trendy, or it’s not your first time, Brooklyn (Williamsburg especially) is the cooler, hipper base, home to the best bars and a more local side of the city. We’d happily stay there on a second trip to experience something different, the trade-off being a longer journey into the main Manhattan sights.

One heads-up: New York hotels are notoriously expensive and a lot of them look like they’ve come straight off the set of Frasier, so book early and don’t expect boutique-chic for the price. See our top picks below and compare stays for your dates.

Where to Eat in New York

You’ll eat well anywhere, but a few New York classics are worth planning around. We looooved these spots:

• Los Tacos No. 1 (there are a couple of branches)
• Modern Bread & Bagel for the city’s best cream cheese bagel
• Julianna’s in Brooklyn for the best pizzain NYC

If you want the true icons, add:

• A classic New York slice at Joe’s Pizza
• Katz’s Delicatessen on the Lower East Side (the diner from When Harry Met Sally, though options are not very veggie friendly)

For everything under one roof, Chelsea Market and Time Out Market (Brooklyn) are easy wins. If you’re a keen foodie, consider jumping on a NYC food tour — there are many delicious looking ones including Chinatown and Little Italy.

Getting Around New York

From Airports: From the airports, the subway or AirTrain from JFK is the budget option; a taxi or transfer is easier with luggage.

Around the City: The subway is by far the easiest and cheapest way around, and it’s simpler than it used to be: you can now just tap in with a contactless card or phone using OMNY, no need to buy a MetroCard. Fares are capped, so after a set number of paid rides in a 7-day window the rest of the week is free, which makes heavy sightseeing days good value (check the current fare and cap before you go). Skip taxis for getting around Manhattan, the subway is faster in traffic.

Best Time to Visit New York

The sweet spots are late spring (April–June) and autumn (September–early November): mild, sunny and made for walking, with autumn adding Central Park’s colours. December is magical for the festive lights and markets but cold and busy. July and August are hot and humid, and January and February are properly cold. If you want our favourite, aim for the shoulder seasons for the best mix of weather and smaller crowds.

Tips for Travelling to New York

1. Get yourself a New York CityPASS if you’re planning multiple sightseeing activities. With a New York CityPASS, you can save 40% if you visit 5 New York attractions. With our CityPass, we visited the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island, the Empire State Building, the Guggenheim and the 9/11 Memorial Museum.
   
2. Book attractions in advance. Popular times sell out, so plan ahead. We would recommending booking to enter most museums and galleries, as well as time slots for the Statue of Liberty and the Empire State Building.
   
3. Use OMNY for the subway: just tap a contactless card or phone, and the weekly fare cap means a week of sightseeing is effectively capped, no need to work out passes in advance.

How Many Days Do You Need for New York City?

5 days in the perfect number of days to visit New York City. In 5 days, you’ll be able to visit all of the big sights and have enough time to eat, drink and relax in the city. 

If you have less than 5 days, New York will be more of a rush unless you’re very selective about the sights and neighbourhoods that you see. More than 5 days would be great if you have the time and budget for it, but New York is expensive and a mid-range hotel in NYC will cost you around $200 per night.

This guide contains affiliate links. If you book through them we may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. We only ever recommend places we have stayed or would happily book ourselves.