‣ Happy holidays, and welcome back to my travel blog! Today, I’ll be sharing about my fall break trip to New York City. We spent about 3.5 days there and stayed in Brooklyn. This was my second trip to New York, and my first in about 10 years, so I was really excited to visit again. I had such an incredible time exploring (and eating my way through) the city—here’s how it went!
Saturday: DUMBO, Brooklyn & Manhattan Bridges, Lower Manhattan, Staten Island Ferry
We arrived in New York City on Saturday morning, then checked into our hotel. We stayed in the Pod Brooklyn Hotel in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. It is located near an L-train station and tons of stores, cafes, and restaurants, and I really enjoyed staying there!
Food in Williamsburg
I had both lunch and dinner in Williamsburg on the first day. I picked up lunch from Beatnic, formerly known as By Chloe, which was essentially downstairs from the hotel. It’s a vegan fast-casual spot with locations throughout the city and in Boston and Providence.
For dinner, I had pizza from Vinnie’s Pizzeria—I had a slice of vegan cheese and a slice of vegan vodka pizza. Both were delicious, and I was so happy to get a taste of the classic New York experience!
DUMBO & Brooklyn Bridge
We took the bus from Williamsburg to the DUMBO (Down Under Manhattan Bridge Overpass) neighborhood. We explored the Saturday flea market and the iconic DUMBO-Manhattan Bridge View (where you can see the Empire State Building through the legs of the bridge). Then, we walked across Brooklyn Bridge—it was a beautiful sunny day, and the views of the East River and Manhattan were just beautiful! Though the bridge is just over a mile long, we stopped many times to take photos and admire the scenery.
Lower Manhattan
Once we had crossed the bridge, we walked around the nearby area then stumbled into Chinatown, where we visited the Museum of Chinese in America. It is currently free to visit, though it is only open on Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., so I was glad we got to see it! In addition to historical exhibits, there is a section in the museum about the rise in anti-Asian hate crimes during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Manhattan Bridge
One of my favorite memories from my trip was walking across the Manhattan Bridge at sunset. We could see Chinatown and other parts of the city, as well as Brooklyn Bridge, the East River, and Brooklyn. The sky was pink and orange, and it was absolutely stunning!
Staten Island Ferry
That night, we took the Staten Island Ferry from Manhattan to Staten Island, another borough of New York City. The ferry is free and runs 24/7; it is scheduled every 15-20 minutes during rush hours and every 30 minutes otherwise. It was a lot of fun riding it at night because we could see the city all lit up (and the Statue of Liberty) from the boat!
Sunday: East Village, Central Park/Upper East Side, Broadway, NYU
East Village
Is there a better way to start a Sunday morning in the city than with bagels for breakfast? We took the subway to Tompkins Square Park in East Village. I knew this spot had vegan and allergy-friendly options, so I had been looking forward to going! My toasted everything bagel with tofu garlic and herb cream cheese was absolutely delicious—New York bagels are really as good as everyone says they are.
Central Park & The Met
We took the subway up to Central Park and the Metropolitan Museum of Art after breakfast. Though we didn’t go into the Met, we hung out on the steps and enjoyed the fountain show for a bit. We spent the morning in Central Park, stopping by some of the iconic spots, like the Belvedere Castle, Bow Bridge, and Bethesda Fountain. It was a perfect fall day so many people were walking around (and even taking engagement/wedding/pregnancy photos). We were there in mid-October, a bit early for the fall foliage, but the park was still beautiful, and some of the trees’ leaves were turning orange and yellow.
Broadway
In the afternoon, we walked to Ambassador Theatre to see Chicago! I wasn’t super familiar with the show before, but the performance was amazing and I quickly fell in love with the soundtrack. We bought our tickets through TodayTix, which offers discounts on a lot of Broadway shows.
NYU
We visited NYU, Washington Square Park, and the Strand Book Store that evening! Washington Square Park is a great place to people-watch—there is so much going on. I also loved visiting The Strand, which was founded in 1927 (95 years ago!) and has over 2.5 million books. I’ve been trying to read more for fun (not just for school), and I loved seeing all the displays and book recommendations there.
Monday: Williamsburg, Midtown, Chelsea
Williamsburg
I started the morning with breakfast at Terms of Endearment, which I have decided is my favorite vegan cafe and bakery of all time. I ordered an almond croissant and pumpkin coffee cake muffin, then took my food to Domino Park, a public park along the water that is about a 5-minute walk away from the bakery. There are benches to sit on along the water, and it was a really nice way to spend the morning! The view of Williamsburg Bridge and Manhattan is so pretty, too.
Midtown
We visited the major tourist attractions on this day: Rockefeller Center, St. Patrick’s Cathedral, Radio City Music Hall, Grand Central Terminal, Empire State Building, Madison Square Garden. We also checked out Koreatown and got some delicious food at Woorijip, a grab-and-go spot with tons of options.
I’d been wanting to try Beyond Sushi, so I picked up food from there, too! I tried the Spicy Mang roll and Shiitake Truffle dumplings, which were both amazing.
In the afternoon, we visited the Museum of Modern Art. Some of the well-known paintings at the museum are Vincent van Gogh’s Starry Night, Salvador Dalí’s The Persistence of Memory, Andy Warhol’s Campbell’s Soup Cans, Frida Kahlo’s Self-Portrait with Cropped Hair, Claude Monet’s Water Lilies, Pablo Picasso’s Les Demoiselles d’Avignon, and Henri Matisse’s Dance (I). There’s a free audio guide available via your phone, and I highly recommend using it (so make sure you have a charged battery!).
Chelsea
That evening, we took the subway to Chelsea, on the west side of Manhattan. We had dinner at Chelsea Market then walked around the piers. This is supposed to be one of the best places to watch the sunset (because it sets in the west); even though we went at night, there was still a beautiful view of the water. We also walked to the High Line, a public park built on top of a former railroad. The park is about 1.5 miles long, so you can walk through it, but we stopped at 10th Avenue Square and Overlook on W. 17th St., where there is amphitheater-like seating and you can look out at the city at night.
Tuesday: Williamsburg & Lower Manhattan
Williamsburg
On our last morning in New York City, we went back to Terms of Endearment—I got a blueberry chai scone, and we ate along the water near Domino Park again. We also stopped by The Butcher’s Daughter, located across the street from our hotel, which is a cute restaurant and cafe.
Lower Manhattan
We then took the train back into the city. We walked around SoHo and wandered into a couple of stores, then headed back to Chinatown because I really wanted to try the vegan dim sum at The Original Buddha Bodai Kosher Vegetarian Restaurant! We ordered the char siu cheung fun (BBQ pork steamed rice rolls), har gow (shrimp dumplings), shu mai (another type of dumpling), and xiao long bao (soup dumplings). My favorite dish was the rice rolls, but they were all so delicious, and I was excited to eat some foods I hadn’t had since going vegan or foods I’d never tried because of my allergies.
Final Thoughts
We had a busy weekend, but I had the best time, and I hope I can go back again soon! There are so many places I’d still like to visit (or visit again), and there is always so much to see and do in the city. The weather was beautiful when we visited in October, though I would love to be in New York when Central Park is at peak foliage or sometime during the holidays.
A couple other notes:
- We used public transportation for the entirety of our trip, except for our rides to and from the airport. Instead of buying a MetroCard, I simply tapped my credit card on the OMNY reader to pay the $2.75 fare. OMNY has a weekly fare cap so you will never have to pay more than $33 in total fares between Monday and Sunday, as long as you use the same card.
- We found that the subway was more reliable and easier to use than the bus. I don’t know if this is always the case, but the bus was really late and didn’t seem to be running on schedule when we tried to ride it once.
- If you are flying east and arriving in LGA, I’ve heard that you can see the city from above if you sit on the left side of the plane! I was able to see the Empire State Building out the window from my seat which was really cool.
Thank you so much for reading! I hope you have a great end of 2022, and sending you all my best wishes for the new year.
