Dear New York City Dwellers

Tourist attractions that are interesting: Empire State Building (yes the view from on high is great as is the view from Rock Center's roof--choose one), Statue of Liberty (don't need to pay to take the boat to the statue. You can take the Staten Island Ferry for free both ways, and it goes right by the Statue), Ellis Island Museum (you do have to pay for the boat to get there), Times Square, Tenement Museum (how the poor lived in NYC a century ago), Central Park, Washington Square Park, Met Museum of Art (Note: it says SUGGESTED DONATION is $20. You can actually give just $1 and get in like everyone in NYC does), Museum of Modern Art (has a free night, I think either Thurs or Fri), Rockefeller Center (just see the rink area and surrounding), Fifth Ave (the high end stores and nice to browse).

I hear the 9/11 Museum is good, but I refuse to pay $20 to see what should be free to all. Plus I lived it, so don't need to re-live it. I think the Museum of Natural History isn't worth it--a bunch of stuffed animals. Guggenheim is a beautiful museum as is the Frick. Almost all museums have a free or reduced price day, otherwise entry fees are steep.

Mainly, walking around the city and feeling its energy is what makes the place wonderful.

You can find discounted Broadway tickets at the TKTS booth in Times Square (same day, half price--the key is to go around 6 or 6:30 PM--you can avoid all those lines and some shows release their last tickets just before the show starts); Broadwaybox.com has discount coupons you can take to the box office or buy online. TodayTix is an app through which you can get discounted tickets

As for restaurants--there are so many great ones on NYC. As a rule, the food is excellent almost anywhere. You can walk around and stumble into almost anything and have a great meal.

Starbucks is great if you need free wifi or need to use the bathroom. They are all over the city.

It'll take a few minutes to understand the subway map, but worth it. There are express trains (that skip stops) and local trains (that stop at every stop). Once you figure out the difference, you can get anywhere easily. Streets are numbered in order so it's easy to figure out where you need to go.

Enjoy your visit!

Not much worth seeing outside of Manhattan, truthfully.

Walking the Brooklyn Bridge from Manhattan to Brooklyn and back can be fun however.

r1, you're a nice person.

Your cheapest option for Long Day's Journey tickets (if you are over 35) would be a Roundabout subscription, and you can choose 2 other shows to see as part of your trip. That being said, once thy have your information, those telemarketers will call nonstop.

Places to try: Bemelman's Bar at the Carlyle, Chelsea Market, Museum of the Moving Image, tour of the Met Opera House, the Cloisters.

Please leave selfie sticks at home and do not walk 2 abreast on the sidewalks in crowded areas.

I would check out a few of the following: the High Line (best to go early before it gets really crowded) , New York Botanic Garden (in the Bronx), the Cloisters, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Museum of Modern Art, Central Park. Brooklyn is definitely worth a visit; pay no attention to R2. Walk across Brooklyn Bridge, check out Brooklyn Bridge Park, Brooklyn Botanic Garden, Prospect Park and Brooklyn Museum.

I wouldn't bother with the 9/11 Museum, the Empire State Building or the Statue of Liberty. Too touristy, but if you must, you must. The Circle Line Cruise around Manhattan can be fun, although I'm not sure how great it would be in April. Actually, a lot of the park stuff above could be iffy in April. You'd just have to play it by ear.

Go see Grand Central Station. The great hall is unbelievably amazing.

Dwellers? Rather insulting.

If you want to explore or see different non touristy areas, ride the numerous bus lines up and down the Avenues....a great one is the Madison Ave bus all the way up to The Cloisters- a great museum. You pass though Harlem and Washington Heights. The Spanish Society Museum in WH is pretty impressive with original Goyas. Yankee Stadium, CitiField, Madison Square Garden if you are sports fans. The Bronx Zoo is incredible and Coney Island is lots of fun (Don't think the Cyclone is open then)...gotta have a Nathan's Hot Dog and Knish and of course Junior's cheesecake. Gorgeous parks in every borough- something the city is best at-landscaping. Madison Square Park, Washington Square Park, Hudson River park- runs the entire length of Manhattan..tons of gorgeous churches and synagogues if you like that stuff..and if you want to pay respects to Ulysses S. Grant and his wife Julia- Grant's Tomb! And a concert at Carnegie hall or ballet or opera at Lincoln Center.......about 1,000 more things, but I am getting tired.

Fantastic, thanks everyone!

We'll probably go to all the touristy stuff too, just to have been there. I'm from a smaller town in Northern Europe (about 30 000 people) so this is going to be quite an experience. Are there any places you'd advise us to stay clear of in terms of safety? Places best not visited after certain hours?

OP, you're a wild and spontaneous one, hmm

I'd stay in Manhattan below 92nd street after midnight. Do not plan to find any good restaurants in/near Times Square and Rockefeller Center. I'd walk through the NY Public Library, NYU, Costume Institute at the Metropolitan Museum of Art (the Met), and if you're into fashion there's a museum at FIT, I'd check out Chinatown and walk around downtown. You don't have to get on a boat to see the Statue of Liberty, you can get a good view of it in the harbor from World Financial Center, across the street from the World Trade Center. Go see a movie at the Ziegfeld, a classic old theater, and the last remaining single screen theater in NYC.

The food in Chinatown is overrated. Stick with neighborhood Chinese restaurants outside of the Chinatown area and look for lunch specials. When I first moved to NYC, Chinese lunch specials were $3.75

If you need to find a subway, don't ask someone "Where is the Orange Line?" Those are just colors on the map. No native or subway worker uses them, this isn't Boston. We say "the A Train" or the letter or number of the subway line. Just tell whomever where you want to go. They'll point you to the correct station.

R13 Long time NYers would tell you you're doing it wrong as well.

Another 2015 thread being taken seriously. Bless your heart r14