3-Day Weekend in NYC

Here is my 3-day itinerary for exploring New York City! NYC can be pretty expensive, and the hotels come with higher taxes than most places which can be a real downer. I always opt for a 2-night itinerary to help offset this cost, but it could be easier to spend 3 nights--especially if you are coming from farther away.

Fortunately for me, NYC is very accessible to those living on the East Coast: in the past 7 years since I have lived in the DC area, I have done five weekend getaways here! I always take the train. It takes about 2.5 hours and is so much more comfortable than an airplane while also getting us there much faster than driving. Amtrak prices can get pretty high close to the dates of travel, but as long as you are able to book a couple months in advance it is affordable. I booked in August for our November trip on Veteran's Day weekend and it was $90 round-trip/person.

I have visited NYC in every season, and fall is by far my favorite. Winter is more affordable and with so many options of indoor activities, it is still a great time to visit. Our itinerary can always be summed up to: lots of walking, eating, and enjoying one museum. Enjoy an example of this itinerary below!

Day 1:

We opted to leave on Saturday morning (instead of Friday after work); our train left at 11am and arrived at 1:45pm. This was perfect timing for us to get through Penn Station and walk about ten minutes to our hotel that had our room ready slightly before normal check-in time (though they do have luggage storage if not). We stayed at the Hyatt Place New York / Chelsea, which I had also stayed at during a previous trip with friends. I like that it is affordable, the accommodations are comfortable, and that it is walking distance to the station. My husband and I have also have enjoyed a previous stay at the NH Collection New York Madison Avenue, also within walking distance of Penn (15 minutes) and affordable. Friends have stayed at the Moxy NYC East Village, and I love that area, though this hotel is on the pricier side.

After dropping off our bags, my husband had to obtain the best bagel sandwich that he has ever had (+ been daydreaming about for months leading up to our trip) from Murray's Bagels. This was a convenient 15 minute walk from our hotel. His sandwich consists of an everything bagel, scallion cream cheese, pastrami, cucumbers, and onion! I was not in the mood for a bagel yet, but did want to sample another NY classic: a slice of pizza. We headed a bit farther down 6th Avenue for a slice at the famous Joe's Pizza--the walls here are covered in celebrities who have picked up a slice. The place is cash only and the line is usually a bit long but moves quickly. We took our slices to nearby Washington Square Park to eat while people-watching. In my opinion, a solid slice.

Afterwards, I wanted to hit up the Strand Bookstore since I had never been! When we first walked in, it was completely overwhelming and dense with crowds (there was a street festival going on outside that I think contributed). Once we worked our way back, it was much better. Strand offers a huge selection of used and new books and I found some good deals! I also wanted to check out the home goods store Fish's Eddy, which was a pleasant walk through Union Square Park. Back-tracking a bit but enjoying the atmosphere, we wandered on foot to East Village and the Cha-An teahouse (by way of Nuovo York Pizza for another slice for my husband). We happened upon this spot on Google Maps and it was so lovely! The atmosphere felt authentic, there was a great selection of teas and cocktails, and they also had some bites to eat and dessert.

All of this walking had us ready for a late dinner. This might sound ridiculous, but for this trip my husband did not want me to make any reservations at nice restaurants because he wanted to focus on filling up on NY's carb scene: bagels and pizza. We attempted to get in at Ippudo Ramen without a reservation, but the wait was 2 hours. Instead, we went to Marufuku Ramen and had about a 20 minute wait. It was delicious! In this neighborhood, we also love Veselka for Ukranian food (recommend a reservation here) and Death & Co has great cocktails and appetizers (also recommend a reservation). Potluck Club and Kimika were others I considered that were not too far via metro. We were tired after a late dinner and went straight back to our hotel, otherwise we would have gone to the Barcade right next door to the Hyatt for some arcade games.

Day 2:

We enjoyed an early start and opted for a nearby walk through Chelsea down to the cool park Little Island (also near the famous Chelsea Market); you could easily walk the High Line down, but we stayed on the street this time and grabbed some coffee on the way from Urbana. The island is famous for it's cool stilt design and had some fun little areas to explore and nice lookouts. Afterwards, I had to make a quick stop at the nearby Apple store on 14th, and that whole area is very nice for shopping.

Continuing the carb trend, we had to break our fast with bagels. I was surprised by my husband's willingness to try something other than Murray's, so we hopped on the metro back over to East Village. We first walked to Apollo's Bagels, recently made famous on social media for their open-faced, sourdough bagels. The line here was very long and not moving fast. After waiting a bit, we gave up and went to one of the nearby Tompkins Square Bagels. The line here was also long, but way more efficient and moved super quick! We ate our sandwiches in Tompkins Square Park and they were great. My husband also got a French Toast Bagel which was one of my favorite bites this trip. If we were not in a bagel mood, I might have tried nearby La Cabra Bakery. On our way to the metro, we stopped and shopped at the cool Japanese store MUJI which had a variety of products from home goods to clothing.

We then hopped on the metro up to Central Park for a mid-afternoon museum outing! Our choice for this trip was the American Museum of Natural History. We walked through the Ramble in Central Park to enjoy the fall colors before heading into the museum during our designated time slot. We were able to enjoy several of the exhibits, to include the dinosaurs and several of the animal displays. It is very big and requires a lot of time to fully explore, but we were fine just exploring a slice during our visit. In previous visits, we have been to the Metropolitan Museum of Art several times as well as the Museum of Modern Art (and it's wonderful Design Store). All of these museums are about $30-35/ticket and are so spectacular! I would pick one to focus on during your trip depending what speaks to you. But I will say, seeing Starry Night at the MoMA was maybe my favorite!

Taking the metro back to our hotel for a quick breather, we then set back out to the West Village for a quick bite to eat before our comedy show. Nearby options included stopping back at Joe's Pizza, going to the viral sandwich shops Faicco's Italian Specialties or Mama's Too, or a sit down meal at Malatesta Trattoria. Instead, we went to 99 Cent Village Pizza (lol). Honestly, this slice tasted so good! We had pre-reserved seats for the 8pm show at the Village Underground, which is one of the three Comedy Cellar venues. For shows at any of their venues, you should pre-book your spots even though the show's lineup will not be announced until week of. I booked a bit late at only 2 weeks out, and options were limited: I wanted a show at either the original Comedy Cellar or the Village Underground around 7-10pm on either this night (Sunday) or the previous night and this was the only option I had! Otherwise, you can wait in line outside any of the clubs and potentially get in to fill seats. When we checked in, the bouncer asked if we wanted to sit front row and after agreeing, we were seated right at the stage at a two-person table! It was a ton of fun and we ended up being the only table (out of 6) in the front that did not get heckled at some point, so be warned. The comedians were hit or miss but overall such a fun experience and we got a surprise set by Louis C.K.!

After the show, it was raining pretty hard so we opted to head right back to our hotel. Otherwise, we might have gotten some dessert at Cafe Reggio basically next door (open until 3am), or gone and gotten some ice cream--my favorite dessert--at Salt and Straw.

Day 3:

On our final day in NYC, we checked out of our hotel and stored our bags with the concierge. One option was to head to the Brooklyn Bridge (by way of Mei Lai Wah for pork buns) to walk across and enjoy the park and DUMBO. Instead, we opted to stay in Manhattan and started our day at a classic diner: S&P Lunch. Despite the Veteran's Day Parade taking place right outside on 5th Avenue, we were able to walk right in and get a table (though there was a line on our way out). This restaurant felt like stepping into a time capsule, which we loved! My husband got their pastrami sandwich and I got a cheeseburger, and both were great. Across the street is the Flatiron Building and the huge Harry Potter Store as well!

Afterwards we hopped on the metro down to the Oculus and the 9/11 Memorial Pools. After spending some time here reflecting, we headed down to the Battery Park. The park was pretty disappointing: there was a ton of construction so you could not see the Statue of Liberty, tons of street hawkers, and several pushy salesmen trying to get you to buy a cruise ticket to see Lady Liberty. (Do your research: there is only one authorized provider--City Experiences--and you can just take the ferry to NJ for a much cheaper sighting.)

We wandered some more through the Wall Street area, including a stop for a decent and very chewy bagel at Liberty Bagels, before taking the metro back to our hotel to grab our bags. Our train departed at 4:30pm and we arrived back home just after 7pm, concluding a nice (carb-filled) weekend!