How to Do a New York Weekend

Traveling should be more about the memories you make and less about the stress of getting to your destination. We’ve partnered with men’s lifestyle and travel writer Joe Miragliotta from Joe’s Daily to teach you how to make every trip a bucket-list trip.

My fiancée and I decided to take a weekend trip over to New York City. Her birthday was coming up and she’d never been, so we decided to go for it, despite not being able to visit for very long. Now, some people might wonder whether going to New York for only two days would be worth it, but I’m telling you it definitely is. Of course, you’re not going to have the same experience that you would with a longer trip, but there’s SO much to do there that it can often be nothing short of amazing. That said, I’ve decided to share our weekend with you—in a way that’ll make it easy to apply it to your own. Just be forewarned, I will not be telling you to go see a show. You already know to do that, I doubt you need to be told again.

Sitting on the steps of the New York Public Library. Photo credit: @Milk.And.Flowers.

Take a stroll you can enjoy

As many people know, New York is a walking kind of city. It doesn’t matter where you go or what time you’re going, there will be locals walking at lightning speeds to get to where they need to be. Needless to say, if you’re a slow walker, you’re going to want to stay to one side. And if it’s a casual stroll you’re looking for, you should probably head to a place where that’s the norm. Central Park is an obvious choice, but still one you should do at least once for every season you visit. It’s a great combination of organic refuge and city vibe, and you don’t have to go far to get there. My other suggestion might not be so obvious, and that’s the High Line, a 1.45-mile stretch of disused elevated railway in Manhattan. The linear park is another fantastic option for a little nature, good views, and easy atmosphere while you take a relaxing walk.

Discovering the New York City High Line at night

Holiday sights and/or shopping

If you happen to be visiting during the holidays, I would encourage you to take the time to visit the holiday windows and decorations around the city (also the locations of great shopping any time of year). To make things nice and easy on you, Google maps has marked out the best route to take so you can see everything worth seeing as efficiently as possible. My advice to you would be to start with their map, then add other things you wanted to see and do, like popping into the New York Public Library. Not that there’s anything wrong with covering the same ground in that city twice, but if you’re on limited time, this just makes the most sense.

Saks Fifth Avenue during the holidays

If you’re eating, drinking, or sleeping somewhere you could be at home… you’re doing it wrong

We get it, you like Starbucks. And if we’re being honest, you’ll be receiving no judgment from us. However, there are lots of appropriate times to enjoy their tasty beverages, and your weekend in NYC is most definitely NOT one of them. The same goes for all other big chain restaurants, coffee shops, and hotels. There’s such an abundance of amazing places to eat and stay that it would be difficult to experience them all even if you lived there. So why waste your time with something you can find in your own backyard? We were lucky enough to stay at the beautiful Ace Hotel in the Flatiron District, a boutique hotel with only a handful of locations.

Sarah excited to be at the Ace Hotel NYC.

Every morning we would grab coffees to go from a local shop to take with us as we set out on our walks. Lunches were at pizzerias featured on “best of” lists. Afternoons we had Irish coffees at a corner pub. And, finally, dinners were at noted establishments.

Whatever you do, make sure you order the meat & cheese plate.

Make the places themselves totally particular to you. The whole point is to make sure you don’t cheat yourself out of a once-in-a-lifetime trip. Which brings me to my final point:

Make it unique

People tend to visit New York for lots of the same reasons, but that definitely doesn’t mean that we want our trip to be the same as anyone else’s (including past or future you).

Speakeasies and pop-ups are an amazing way to make sure this doesn’t happen. Plus, they’re usually pretty awesome. Lots of different varieties, so it should be easy to find one that speaks to you.

If you find yourself not ready for bed at around 2 a.m. and think that renting a private karaoke room for you and your friends sounds like a good idea, do it (we did and we have #noregrets).

Keep your itinerary relatively loose

As you can see, there are plenty of great things to do during a New York weekend. The key is to keep your itinerary loose. Almost half of what we did was chosen on a whim, which made the experiences that much more enjoyable. Because no trip is complete without a little spontaneity.

Find even more NYC inspiration from my fellow #Gnomads by clicking here.

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