Three Perfect Days in New York City

Three Perfect Days In New York City. Whether you’re spending a weekend there, or looking for a new place to call home, New York has always been known as the (expensive) land of opportunity.  Home to countless flagship fashion stores and Michelin Star restaurants, its no secret that New York City is the best city when it comes to dining, shopping, and spending.

From Fifth Avenue to Canal Street, it is almost inevitable that our Pointsters will see everything the city has to offer and want to spend to make the most of the trip.  However, we love our Pointsters and we want them to get the absolute most out of their NYC experience.  So, we put together an affordable itinerary for spending a weekend in New York.  Let’s get goin’!

FRIDAY

A Friday night in the city that never sleeps? Don’t mind if I do! For our night-owl Pointsters, a Friday night in NYC is something you will not want to miss out on.  From LAVO to Marquee to Tao, New York offers one of the largest and most memorable night-life experiences that’ll be sure to get you up and on your feet.  So lets get ready and movin’ down to NYC’s iconic Tao Downtown.

The club doubles as a restaurant, offering some of the best sushi and Asian cuisine that New York has to offer.  Admission into the club is limited to table reservations or doorman discretion only, but for those who want a show, this is the place to go.

But, if night life isn’t your style, we can start our evening a bit earlier with dinner at Trattoria Dell’Arte, a traditional Italian restaurant.  As many know, New York is no stranger when it comes to Italian food.  But, what people don’t know is that Trattoria Dell’Arte offers amazing Italian food in portions that are extraordinary for their prices.  From a traditional bolognese or chicken parmigiana, to signature thin crust pizzas, its needless to say that you’ll be going back to your hotel with left overs.  That’s a fact.

SATURDAY

The city never sleeps, and neither will you!! Well, at the very least you won’t be sleeping in too late, because we’re having breakfast at Russ & Daughters, a NYC staple for bagels and smoked salmon.

Right down the block from the iconic Katz’s Deli, Russ & Daughters takes a retro-style spin on Jewish comfort food.  The cafe was even deemed “One of the 10 best new restaurants in New York” by the New York Times, meaning you definitely won’t want to skip out on this one.

With so much to do and so much to see, your Saturday is bound to be busy.  Staying in lower Manhattan, late Saturday morning and the rest of the the afternoon are dedicated to the 9/11 Memorial  and Museum.  The museum features many historical exhibits that will tug at your heart-strings and make you shed a few tears.

Whether you decide to look at the artifacts from the day, search through the digitalized memorial books, or listen to people’s last messages to their loved ones, there is no doubt that there is a lot to take in.  Our number one suggestion is to pick up one of the may phones provided and listen to the messages that were left for people’s husband, wives, parents and even children.  And, if your experience is anything like ours, you’ll walk out a lot more educated and a lot more grateful.

No day in the city is complete without lots of walking, and no matter where you choose to walk towards, there will always be something to do. With countless hot dog carts and halal trucks on every corner, a quick snack or a late lunch won’t be hard to find.

If you walk far enough up Manhattan, you’ll find yourself on Canal Street, often referred to as the “holy grail for bargain shoppers.” It’s busy, it’s hectic, and there really is nothing like a crowd on Canal Street.  If you’re into bargain shopping and negotiating a good deal, this is the place to do it. Canal Street has affordable accessories at prices you would image.  Here’s a tip: if you’ve never heard of Canal Street, it’s famously known for its faux designer brand accessories, don’t trust that the accessories here are always the real deal!

Dinner time! Let’s spend the rest of our night in lower Manhattan with a nice dinner with a view. Oh yeah, we’re talking abut One Dine at the One World Observatory.  Its website describes the restaurant and its food as being region sourced to create seasonally inspired plates. With the New York skyline as your view, it’d be very hard to be disappointed with the restaurant.  However, you’re definitely going to want to make reservations in advance.

SUNDAY

Brunch is known as the “up and coming” trend around the country, but in New York City, it has been a trend for a while. Home to seemingly limitless options for brunch options, its hard to narrow down just one specific place to go, so we’re providing three options to choose from:

Brunch option number one is the Cookshop, located right next to The High Line and a few short blocks from Penn Station.  The restaurant is known for its outstanding Bloody Marys and farm fresh food. After going to the Cookshop, we can confirm that the food on the seasonal menus is fresh, unique, and most importantly, delicious.  If you choose this option, a great followup activity would be exploring The High Line, a public park built on a historic freight rail line that looks over the West side of Manhattan.

A second option for brunch is Sarabeth’s.  With five locations (Upper East Side, Upper West Side, Central Park South, Park Avenue South, and Tribeca)  Sarabeth’s has it all down when it comes to brunch. From classic steel cut oats to Crab Cake Benedict, everything offered on the brunch is perfected and served beautifully.  Though it is a little pricey for brunch, you haven’t lived until you’ve had brunch at Sarabeth’s.

Our third option for brunch is at Restoration Hardware.  Yes, we said Restoration Hardware! RH has moved on from just furniture and design and has taken on a whole new look for their amazing rooftop restaurant.  If we din’t love RH before, we definitely do now! Their rooftop menu features everything imaginable–lobster rolls, burgers, kale salad, you name it, they have it. Located at 9 Ninth Avenue, The RH Rooftop is just at the end of the High Line, meaning now you have two brunch option to pair with a trip to the historic freight line.

No matter where you are in the city, a trip to New York City calls for seeing Central Park. The park offers so much to do, so whether you want to see the Central Park Zoo, take a walk, or even ride a CitiBike through the 1.3-mile-long park, you’ll never be bored.  And, for our Pointsters who love to shop, Fifth Avenue is right off of the East Side of the park.

As our weekend getaway starts winding down, it’s inevitable that you’ll be tired.  With all that the city has to offer, its not wonder why its called “the city that never sleeps.” Our last two items on the list include visiting the observation deck at The Top of the Rock and having dinner at Nobu.

The observation deck at The Top of the Rock is known for its amazing views of the skyline (which can be seen in the photo on our “About page”)! Whether you choose to go before dinner or after, overlooking New York Skyline will never disappoint.  At night, the city is illuminated by the countless building and a clear view of the colorful Empire State Building.  During sunset hours, you can see all the colors of the sky atop one of the most popular buildings in the city.  Whenever you go, make sure you bring a camera.

Calling all sushi lovers! Nobu is one of the BEST sushi restaurants of all time.  Located a couple blocks away from Central Park, Nobu Fifty Seven is home to authentic, fresh, incomparable sushi that’ll 0-FISH-ally mark the end of your weekend in New York City.  One of their most popular dishes, which is consistently posted all over Instagram’s food pages, is the crispy rice with your choice of spicy tuna or spicy salmon–we recommend the spicy tuna! Nobu combines traditional with modern, and does the most amazing job of doing so.

Aside from the usual hustle and bustle of the city.  New York City has the most iconic (and crowded) seasonal events.  So, here’s some we that we thought deserved an honorable mention:

• Seeing Fifth Avenue during Christmas time
• Attention the most popular parade:  The Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade
• Celebrating New Year Eve in Time Square
• Ringing in Spring with The Bloody Mary Festival
• Getting childish with bumper cards on ice in Bryant Park
• Dinner at Rolf’s during the Christmas Season (your going to love the extravagant decorations)
• Exploring the NEW version of FAO Schwartz- its’s always good to live like a kid again!
• And last, but certainly not least, seeing the world’s largest Christmas tree while ice-skating in Rockerfeller Center.

 

Written by Karly Trimble

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