Sunday 16 to Tuesday 18 August. Built around the fixed points, with one neighbourhood anchor per stretch of the day so there is always somewhere to head for.
Straight from the airport. Russ & Daughters, 179 E Houston opens at 8am, so the early landing is an advantage, not a problem. Counter service, bagels and lox.
Everything opens at 11 on a Sunday, so there is no point arriving earlier. One block does the whole list.
Lunch two streets east, then check in at 3 and change for the show.
| 3:00 | Check in, drop bags, change |
| 4:15 | Leave the hotel. 1 train, Canal St → Times Sq–42nd, about 18 minutes |
| 4:45 | Dinner. Joe's Pizza, 1435 Broadway for a fast slice, or Gayle's Broadway Rose, 228 W 47th, which opens at 5 and has the singing servers |
| 5:50 | Walk to the theatre, 124 W 43rd |
| 6:05 | Inside. Find the seats, loo, merch |
| 6:30 | Curtain. Orchestra Row C, seats 9 & 11 |
For her, anywhere on the trip: Jajaja Mexicana is entirely plant-based and rates 4.6 from 2,214. Several Manhattan locations. The whole menu works for her, which is not true anywhere else on this page.
Out around 9:00 to 9:10. Don't stay in Midtown — it empties out and turns into office blocks. Go downtown to the Village, which is at its best exactly then, and is on your way home anyway. One subway line, one stop-off.
| 9:10 | The stage door. Do this first. Round the side of the theatre — the cast comes out roughly 15 to 30 minutes after curtain, and they sign. Joey Fatone and Chrissy Metz are both in this cast. It costs nothing and it's the photo she'll actually want |
| 9:40 | Times Square, two minutes away. Look up, take the photo, then keep walking west to 42nd St–Port Authority |
| 9:55 | A, C or E downtown to W 4th St–Washington Square. About ten minutes |
| 10:10 | Washington Square Park. The arch lit up, buskers, chess tables, NYU students everywhere. Open till midnight, free, and 4.6 from 33,001 reviews |
| 10:30 | MacDougal Street, one block west. Caffe Reggio at 119 has been there since 1927 and is open till 3am — cappuccino, cannoli, tiramisu. Or Joe's Pizza, 7 Carmine St, the original, also till 3am |
| 11:15 | Walk home. It's 1.07 miles, about 22 minutes, straight down through Soho. Or A/C/E from W 4th to Canal St if you'd rather ride |
Want the whole thing on foot? Theatre to hotel is 3.26 miles, roughly an hour. Very doable, but the better version is the hybrid above: ride down, see the park, then walk the last mile home.
If she's flagging: Times Square, then the 1 train from Times Sq–42nd direct to Canal St. Twenty minutes door to door.
If you'd rather eat in Midtown after all: Le Parisien, 235 W 46th, open to midnight and the best-rated place on the whole list.
Separate stores carry separate stock, so hitting all three is not a repeat. Spread across the three days, in the order you'll pass them.
| Sun 11am | 519 Broadway, Soho | The big one. First stop after bag drop |
| Mon 2pm | 61 5th Ave, Flatiron | After Chelsea Market. Breads Bakery is three minutes away |
| Mon 6pm | 1172 3rd Ave, Upper East | Ten minutes from the tram. Do it before the dusk ride, not after |
| Tue 11am | 519 Broadway again | Second pass. Restocked, and she knows what she wants by now |
| 8:30 | Breakfast near the hotel. Frenchette Bakery, 220 Church St, Tribeca — croissants, closes 4pm |
| 9:45 | A/C/E from Canal to 14th St, walk west to the Gansevoort entrance |
| 10:15 | The High Line, Gansevoort heading north. A mile and a half, elevated the whole way. It's open till 10pm, so there is no clock on this |
| 11:30 | Chelsea Market, 75 9th Ave. Los Mariscos for the fish tacos, Los Tacos No. 1 alongside for you |
| 12:45 | Seed + Mill — the tahini ice cream. Do it now. It closes at 6:30, hours before the market does, and it is the one thing on this trip you called a must |
| 1:30 | East to Union Square. Twenty minutes on foot if the weather's good, or the L from 8th Ave |
| 2:00 | Brandy Melville, 61 5th Ave |
| 3:00 | Breads Bakery, 18 E 16th for the chocolate babka, and Levain at 2 W 18th three minutes on |
| 4:00 | 4/5/6 uptown to 59th St |
| 4:30 | Brandy Melville, 1172 3rd Ave. Closes at 7, which is why it comes before the tram, not after |
The best free thing in this entire plan, and the timing matters more than anything else on Monday.
| 6:00 | Early dinner on the Upper East Side |
| 7:15 | Roosevelt Island Tram, 60th & 2nd Ave. Ordinary OMNY tap, no special ticket. Runs every 15 minutes |
| 7:30 | Land, walk to the west side of the island, facing Manhattan |
| 7:51 | Sunset. That is the actual time on 17 August. Be standing there for it |
| 8:30 | Skyline fully lit. Tram back with the city in front of you |
| 9:00 | Serendipity 3, 225 E 60th, one block from the station. Open till 11 |
The forecast for Monday 17 August is light rain, around 8.7mm, and Monday is the most exposed day in the plan. Six days out that's soft, but here's the swap if you need it.
| Drop | The High Line. It's elevated, open and has no shelter |
| Add | The Guggenheim, 1071 5th Ave. Open Mondays, 10:30–5:30, which most New York museums are not. On now: Guggenheim Pop, with Warhol, and the Thannhauser rooms with Van Gogh and Degas. The Frank Lloyd Wright spiral is half the reason to go |
| Keep | Chelsea Market and the Flatiron shops. Both indoors, both unaffected |
| Move | The tram to Tuesday's open block at 2pm. A grey skyline is not worth the trip |
This is the early start the other two days don't have. On a weekday the Broadway shops open an hour earlier than they do on Sunday.
| 8:30 | Pack. Bags ready to hand to the desk, so checkout is a two-minute job later |
| 10:00 | Princess Polly 514, Zara 503, Garage 508, adidas 610. All open at 10 on a weekday |
| 11:00 | Brandy Melville, 519 Broadway opens. Second pass, restocked, and she knows what she wants by now |
| 12:00 | Checkout. Bags stay at the desk — you're coming back |
| 12:30 | Lunch in Nolita. Tacombi, 267 Elizabeth St — and they do a crispy fish taco |
| 2:00 | Open block. Soho and Nolita for anything missed — or this is where the tram goes if Monday was wet |
| 3:30 | Walk down to the water. Two ferries, and they are not the same trip — see below |
| 4:00 | On the water either way. Back on Manhattan by 5:15 |
| NYC Ferry $4.00 |
Pier 11/Wall St → DUMBO. East River route, first stop, 8 to 12 minutes. DUMBO is an actual destination: the Washington Street shot with the Manhattan Bridge framed between the buildings, Brooklyn Bridge Park, Jane's Carousel. You can walk the Brooklyn Bridge back if there's time | The better trip. Four dollars buys somewhere to arrive |
| Staten Island free |
Whitehall Terminal → St George. NYC DOT confirms it is free, every day, no ticket. Passes the Statue of Liberty, and the return leg gives you the skyline head-on | Free and iconic, but Staten Island isn't a stop — you turn around and come straight back |
| 5:15 | Back at Whitehall. Collect the bags from the hotel |
| 6:00 | Leave for LaGuardia |
| 6:45 | Terminal B. Just under two hours before the flight |
| 8:30 | Porter PD608 departs |
The park is two and a half miles long. Trying to "see Central Park" is how you lose three hours and a good mood. Pick a focus and enter at the right corner.
The greatest-hits spine, south to west
Enter at 59th & 5th Ave → Gapstow Bridge (4.8, 2,149 — the pond with the midtown skyline behind it) → The Mall and Literary Walk → Bethesda Terrace & Fountain (4.7, 12,093) → Bow Bridge (4.8, 3,850) → Strawberry Fields (4.6, 9,973) → exit at 72nd & Central Park West.
Every famous shot in one line, no backtracking, and you come out two blocks from Levain at 167 W 74th.
Just the south corner
If you are already at the tram on Monday evening. Enter at 59th & 5th, walk to Gapstow Bridge, come back out. It is the postcard view and it costs you almost nothing. Pairs with Serendipity on the same corner.
The east side, for the Guggenheim
Enter at 5th & 89th. The Guggenheim is open every day 10:30–5:30, including Monday, which is unusual. On during your dates: Guggenheim Pop (Warhol through Cattelan) and the Thannhauser Collection (Van Gogh, Degas, Manet). The Frank Lloyd Wright spiral is half the point.
SummerStage misses you on all three days
Sunday's free show runs 6–10pm, straight into your curtain. Monday it's dark. Tuesday is Chance the Rapper, ticketed, 7–10pm, against your flight. Free Shakespeare in the Park is running Romeo & Juliet through 23 August, but tickets go at noon at the Delacorte and the Public says groups are not guaranteed seats together — a bad trade for a midday queue on a short trip.
Two things worth knowing before you go. Shoes: a trip like this runs to twelve miles a day, and the advice from people who've done it with teens is to rotate two pairs — even the comfortable ones give out after enough miles. Crossing streets: in New York cars turn right on green at the same moment your walk signal shows, so the light being in your favour doesn't mean the road is clear.
Everything with an underline opens in Maps. Store hours are the everyday hours; Sunday runs shorter across most of Soho, which is why Sunday starts at 11 and Tuesday starts at 10. Ratings shown are Google review counts, read 10 August. For anywhere to eat that isn't on this page, see the Snack Map.