72 Hours in NYC Itenerary

This past weekend my sister and her friend visited me in NYC, and we packed so much into their Thursday through Sunday trip that I thought, why not resurrect the blog to share what we did— it was our friend’s first time visiting New York City, so we hit a great mix of tourist spots and local favorites, making this a great starting point if you’re a first timer planning your trip to the city! I live in Williamsburg, so that was our home base which made Williamsburg restaurants our go-to, but no matter where in the city you’re staying I highly recommend checking out Williamsburg for some of the best restaurants and bars in the city!

Thursday

They got in Thursday afternoon, so food was our first order of business. We opted to go to Bees Knees in Williamsburg and got there just in time for happy hour. We split a cheese board and fries (their fries are to die for) and each had a glass of their $5 frosé. We chose to just do apps and hop from place to place, but if you’re looking to get dinner, Bees Knees has the BEST burgers!

After Bees Knees, we walked along the Williamsburg waterfront, taking in the incredible views of Manhattan before we ended up at Roberta’s for pizza and another cocktail. We split the bee sting pizza, which is one of my all time favorites!

Finally, we ended the night at the Lillistar Rooftop bar (located on top of the new Moxy Williamsburg) where we enjoyed one last drink overlooking the Williamsburg bridge and lower Manhattan.

Friday

Our first full day of exploring started with bagels at Black Seed Bagel. If you’re looking for good savory bagel sandwiches, Black Seed Bagels is one of my favorite spots! If you want something on the sweeter side, I love Bagelsmith for their wide variety of flavored cream cheeses.

Next, we grabbed a matcha fizz from Bright Side coffee shop while we waited for the ferry to take us from North Williamsburg to Wall Street. If you get the chance, I highly recommend taking the ferry while you’re in NYC. It’s my favorite way to get to Wall Street or DUMBO from Williamsburg. It’s only $4 ($2.75 if you buy a package of 10 passes), has a bar on board and has some of the best views of the city from the roof deck!

Once we got to Wall Street/Pier 11, we walked to the Oculus and the 9/11 memorial. We spent some time looking at the two pools of the 9/11 memorial before deciding to buy tickets to visit the actual museum. I’ve lived here for 4 years now and this was actually my first time visiting the museum. It’s definitely heavy, and not exactly a super fun girls trip activity, but I am glad we went and I do think it’s important to see if you have the time.

After leaving the museum, we all decided we could use a drink. We walked about a mile to the west side highway and grabbed a drink at Grand Banks— a cool bar/restaurant located on a docked boat on the Hudson. They have food, but I typically only go there for drinks and the experience as I feel like there are usually better, more affordable food options.

We finished up our drinks and then headed up about 100 feet to City Vineyard where we split a couple appetizers and had another drink. We got the Brussels Sprouts, Clams, Mac & cheese & truffle fries and all were amazing. It was the perfect amount of food for 3 people to share knowing that we were planning on having a big dinner in a few hours.

After City Vineyard, we headed back into Williamsburg to get ready for dinner. Before dinner we stopped at Sand Bar, a fun beach themed restaurant with festive tropical drinks (this was an impromptu stop because it just happened to be where my husband was meeting someone and we decided to tag along, but it is a fun vibe— they really go all out with their beach theme, with sand covered floors and umbrellas in the drinks!)

We ended the night with dinner at my all time favorite restaurant, Bistro So. Bistro So is a French restaurant on the corner of Driggs and N 8th street, and if you only ever take one of my recommendations, make it this one. From the food and drinks to the service, everything at Bistro So is absolutely incredible. I have never had a single thing off their menu that I wasn’t absolutely obsessed with, and I always make a point to bring out of town guests here when they visit. Every single person I’ve brought has said that this meal was the best meal of their trip.

Saturday

We woke up hungry on Saturday morning and headed straight to Bakeri Brooklyn to grab a couple pastries to curb our appetite before heading to Sunday in Brooklyn to put our names on the waiting list for brunch. We were told it would be a 45 minute wait, so we walked around and grabbed coffee at Devocion down the street waiting for them to text us that they were ready for us— which they did, twenty minutes ahead of schedule! Sunday in Brooklyn is known for their Hazelnut Pancake and their cute Honey Bear on Holiday cocktail, both of which I tried and absolutely loved!

Next, we took the train in to Grand Central Station since neither my sister or her friend had ever seen it, and it was a great starting point for the rest of our plans that day.

After spending a few minutes taking it in, we left Grand Central, grabbed iced coffees at Bluestone Lane and walked towards Rockefeller. We checked out some other gossip girl sites (like Lotte Palace Hotel, where Serena lived) and Rockefeller Plaza, where the skating rink and famous tree are located every year and then headed to get in line for the Top of the Rock observation deck.

There are multiple observation decks in the city, each with their own pros and cons and varying views. Rockefeller definitely has fewer frills compared to some of the newer ones like Summit One Vanderbilt, Edge, or One World, but it also has the most classic view. We decided to do Rockefeller this time around and the view truly is incredible. Pro tip: for the best picture stand on the lower deck and have a friend take shots of you from the upper deck!

After Rockefeller, we walked up 5th ave past all of the high end designer stores and headed to Central Park. My favorite place to enter Central Park is the 5th Ave. 59th Street entrance near the plaza, because I think walking from there gives you the best tour of all of the most scenic spots the park has to offer. We followed the route below, walking past the Gapstowe Bridge, Wollman rink, Bethesda Terrace, Bow Bridge, and Strawberry Fields before exiting on the Upper West Side.

From there, we grabbed a late lunch and a cocktail at Arte Cafe before heading to the Empire Hotel Rooftop for our last drink of the night. If you’re a Gossip Girl fan, you may recognize the Empire Hotel as the hotel Chuck bought in season 3. They even have a drink (which obviously we had to get) called the XOXO, Gossip Girl.

Finally, we took the long way home so that we could walk through Times Square and take in the lights at night before hopping on the subway and heading back into Williamsburg.

We ended the night by picking up a couple pints of ice cream at Van Leeuwan, ordering a pizza from Joe’s Pizza and splitting a bottle of wine while re-watching old Gossip Girl Thanksgiving episodes.

Sunday

Since they had a 4 pm flight, we didn’t have much time on Sunday, so we ended the trip with one final brunch before they came home, packed up and headed to the airport. I honestly didn’t love our brunch spot, so I won’t share it here, but if you’re looking for a great brunch in Williamsburg (aside from the already mentioned Sunday in Brooklyn) some of our favorite brunch spots are Casa Ora, 12 Chairs, Bistro So and Brooklyn Winery.

And that’s a wrap on a jam packed, very NYC weekend! If you’re planning a trip to the city anytime soon, whether it’s your first time visiting or your tenth, I hope this helped you out!

XOXO,

Olivia