Our Favorite Things To Do In New York City

Nicole Hinckley, RD, LD

The hubby and I had the amazing opportunity to go New York City this September for Alissa Rumsey’s Dietitian Entrepreneur Retreat! It was seriously the BEST week ever. First of all, I highly recommend getting the sightseeing pass. If you are like us, and want to get everything you can in one trip, this is the pass for you. We ended up saving so much money. So with no further adue, here are my top 10 favorite things we did in NYC!

1. Night Bus Tour. Oh my gosh! This is a must. New York City is so beautiful if you are just walking around the city, but when you have an expert telling you fun stories and history about the buildings and celebrities that had lived there it becomes magical. This tour made the rest of the trip so much fun, because we were looking at the beautiful buildings in a whole new way. It was so romantic and just beautiful. One of our favorite parts was the view from the Brooklyn bridge on top of the bus. The view looking back at the twinkling lights was a dream. The bridge was freezing which was also fun, because you can snuggle up with your boo. This was definitely a highlight. 

2. Bike around Central Park. This was such a blast, because you are able to see so much more of the park than you would just walking through. We had NO idea how big Central park actually was. Everything was so green and beautiful. We loved how there is so much nature intertwined with the city. Obviously, we had to make a couple stops at Pulitzer Fountain and the steps of the Met, because of Blair and Serena. XOXO

3. Top of the Observatory. We did this at the beginning of our trip (accidental genius), because it gave us such a great view of Manhattan. We pointed out all the places we were planning on going during the trip, and it provided us a great birds eye view! We loved watching the people, helicopters, boats, and ferries all moving around together!

4. Grab a dessert and head to Central Park. One of my friends recommended we grab a cookie from Levain Bakery. We also wanted to go relax in central park, so we grabbed 2 giant cookies with peanut butter of course and walked over to central park. We found the most amazing secluded rock that stretched out over the water with the bright lights of Uptown Manhattan in the background. This was one of our very favorite nights, because on our way out of the park, we stumbled upon this man sitting on a bench surrounded by raccoons. Turns out, he has been coming to central park every night for the past 3 years with a bag of mini croissants, and feeds the raccoons and mice. He was so precious! He had each of the raccoons named, and he even let me feed one of them.

5. Lee Van Vegan ice cream. Ice cream is definitely one of my biggest guilty pleasures. Since my Hubby and I have been staying away from dairy for a couple years now, I was so excited to hear that Lee Van’s has dairy free options! It was packed out the door, but it was definitely worth the wait. They had so many delicious vegan flavors it was so hard to make a decision!

6. Statue of Liberty. What a fun excursion. You get to ride a ferry over to the statue of liberty and walk around the island. We didthis on the first day we got to NYC. It was a GREAT photo opp as well as a super fun/kinda romantic event. The top right picture was taken on the ferry ride!

7. Coffee and bagel. We popped into so many bagel shops which were all so great, I honestly couldn’t even decide which one was my favorite. They were all equally so yummy. Getting a bagel in New York City and walking around town is so iconic, you just have to do it!

8. NYC Yoga. Although this was part of my entrepreneurship retreat, I highly recommend it. I met on the 4th floor in the studio of a beautiful older building at 6:30am and emerged as a true New Yorker. The yoga instructor challenged us so much. Whether it’s a yoga class, jog through central park, or walk around the shops, I think it is so much fun to exercise on vacation. It allows you to splurge a bit such as in the picture below.

9. Crispo. Our wonderful friends took us here. Definitely ask to sit on the patio in the back. The fireplace was burning, string lights overhead, wonderful smells, amazing food, great wine. I don’t think it gets any better than that!

10.  Radio city music hall tour. About 5 years ago I saw the Radio City Rockets with my parents at Christmas time. Although we didn’t watch the Rockets this trip, taking a back stage tour was still one of my highlights. They took us behind the scenes of radio city so we could see how the show comes together. My husband is an engineer and was blown away by what it takes to power the stage. We plan to go back in the near future around Christmas and watch a show.