New York Art & Culture – 5 Days

When you arrive in New York, you’ll meet your tour manager and take an orientation walk in Midtown with visits or stops in Times Square, Rockefeller Center, St. Patrick’s Cathedral, Fifth Avenue and more.

You will visit the neighborhoods of Greenwich Village and SoHo. Greenwich Village is home to the world’s largest private university, NYU. You’ll see Washington Square Park at the center of NYU and also have a chance to explore the area. SoHo is known for its chic art galleries and interesting boutiques.

You’ll visit Chinatown and Little Italy where you’ll have some free time to explore and shop. Afterwards, you’ll have dinner in Little Italy.

After dinner, you’ll head up to the 86th floor observatory of the Empire State Building where you will enjoy a fantastic view of the Manhattan skyline. After you’ve seen the stunning views of the city, you’ll head to your hotel for the night.

After breakfast, you’ll visit the Metropolitan Museum of Art. With nearly two million works of art spanning more than 5,000 years, The Met is one of the world’s largest and finest museums. When you arrive you’ll have free time to explore the galleries on your own. You’ll have lunch on your own inside the museum cafe. 

In the afternoon, you’ll visit Central Park. You’ll see the Imagine Memorial to John Lennon at Strawberry Fields, the Bethesda Fountain, the Mall, Sheep Meadow and the Wollman Ice Rink.

You’ll head down Fifth Avenue to see some of the famous stores and boutiques including Apple’s flagship store, the Plaza Hotel, and Tiffany’s. You will continue to St. Patrick’s Cathedral. This enormous, masterful Gothic structure set amid Midtown’s boutiques is the seat of New York’s Roman Catholic Archdiocese. St. Patrick’s Cathedral has been the city’s focal point of Catholic worship since opening in 1879. 

You’ll have dinner and then head back to the hotel for the evening.

After breakfast, you’ll depart on the Ferry for Ellis Island where you’ll have fantastic views of the Statue of Liberty and a chance to visit the Immigration Museum. Ellis Island served as the main port of entry for European immigrants arriving in the US between 1892 and 1924. Today over 100 million Americans can trace their lineage to a relative that passed through Ellis Island on their way to America.

You’ll then walk up through the financial district to see the famous Charging Bull, Trinity Church, the New York Stock Exchange and then up to the World Trade Center.

The 9/11 Memorial and One World Observatory will be your next destination. This memorial is a tribute to the nearly 3,000 people killed in the terror attacks of September 11, 2001. Its twin reflecting pools – each nearly an acre in size – sit in the footprints of the former Twin Towers and feature the largest manmade waterfalls in North America. One World Observatory gives a breathtaking 360 degree view of the city skyline from its highest point. 

Next you’ll have a Dim Sum lunch in Chinatown. 

From Chinatown you’ll head to the Museum of Modern Art. The museum’s collection offers an excellent overview of modern and contemporary art, including works of architecture and design, drawings, painting, sculpture, photography, prints, illustrated books and artist’s books, film, and electronic media.

After dinner, you’ll see a Broadway show.

Following breakfast, you’ll visit the Guggenheim Museum and have free time to explore the galleries.

You’ll take a self-guided tour of the Neue Galerie New York, which covers a range of media, including painting, sculpture, works on paper, decorative arts, and photographs created in Austria and Germany between 1890 and 1940.

After lunch, you’ll arrive at the Museum of Arts and Design and have free time to explore the galleries. Accredited by the American Association of Museums since 1991, MAD focuses on contemporary creativity and the ways in which artists and designers from around the world transform materials through processes ranging from the artisanal to the digital.

Your day will conclude with dinner in Little India and you’ll head back to your hotel for the evening.

The morning of your final day in New York City, you’ll visit Little Island, located in Hudson River Park, where you can experience nature and art in a unique urban oasis on the Hudson River. Next you’ll visit High Line Park. This modern, urban park has been built on an unused, elevated railway track between Chelsea and Penn Station.

You will visit the Chelsea Market where you can have lunch. This gourmet food market was built inside the former Nabisco factory in Chelsea and is now home to the Food Network and many gourmet food vendors.

You’ll visit the Whitney Museum of American Art where you’ll take a guided tour and have a one hour studio art workshop.

After your tour has concluded, you’ll begin your return trip home.