Travel Advice & Tips

Where Should I Stay?

We had a look around and have found a couple of options for different budgets. No matter where you choose to stay, you will be well served by public transport.

Airbnbs are potentially an alternative option to consider, but New York has recently cracked down on short-term rentals like these so the options might be slim, especially if you are planning to stay for longer than a few days. It’s not impossible, but the state requires the host to be on the premises as well, and there is a hard limit to two people per room.

Any prices for hotels you find quoted online may or may not include any relevant taxes or fees.

Regardless of where you decide, we recommend booking in advance as much as possible.

What Should I Do?

  • Saturday

    • Breakfast: Pastry at C&B, full Ukrainian breakfast at Veselka, or Lox Bangel at Russ & Daughters

    • Hang out at Thompkins Square Park 

    • Bookstores: East Village Used Books, Book Club, MAST books

    • Poster store East village

    • Book ahead at the Russian and Turkish Baths

    • Dinner: Superiority Burger 

    • Drinks: Proletariet, McSorley’s, Ruffian

    Sunday

    • Brunch/Breakfast: Cafe Mogador

    • The East Village has a cute farmers market on Sundays

    • Sit in urban gardens ABC 

    • Lunch

    • Shop vintage pieces at AB

    • Dinner: Omakase or KENKA

    • Drinks and live musicians at The Scratcher

    • Breakfast or Brunch from Russ & Daughters.

      • You can sit in the cafe, but for the real deli experience go to the shop and grab a number.

    • There are lots of great bookshops to choose from, but The Strand has an extensive collection for whatever you’re interested in.

    • Natural History Museum

      • You could spend the whole day there easily.

      • The dinosaur section is a real highlight.

    • Dinner at Soothr. Get the Nam-Tok Moo blood soup, trust me!

      • A booking is never a bad idea but be open to sitting at the bar or even on the side of the street with a cocktail if you’re trying for a walk-in.

    • Head back downtown to watch a Comedy Cellar show. 

  • TBD

  • Tea time at the Plaza Hotel or the Lowell Hotel 

    Visit a museum! Either the MET, The Frick, or Guggenheim 

    Lunch: Reservation at Central Park Boathouse (reserve months in advance) 

    Lunch: Get a deli sanwhich at Milano Market and picnic in Central Park 

    Tea time at The Palm Court in the Plaza Hotel

    Visit the Nueue Gallery - Klimt Woman in Gold is here

    Sit at Cafe sabarsky for midday coffee and a sweet treat 

    Shop at Upper East Side Bloomingdale’s 

    Dinner at Elio’s (get reservations in advanced)

  • Bagels at Leon Bagel or coffee and pastry at La Cabra or just coffee at The Green Room (Blank Street Coffee)

    Enjoy your coffee and pastry at Elizabeth Street Gardens

    Make your own custom perfume by making an appointment at Olfactory NYC

    Eat at lunch via reservations at Rubriosa, Thai Diner, or Balthazar. More affordable options include Tacombi and Parm. 

    Shop at Mejuri (jewelry), Sezane or Aritzia (clothing), Aesop (soap), Diptique (candles), Le Labo (perfume), Malin Goetz (skincare), INA (second hand luxury)

    Cupcake stop at Little Cupcake Bakeshop

    Drink stop at Mother’s Ruin

  • Mulberry Street Bar is a must if you’re a serious Sopranos fan. The location served as The Averna Social Club in the series—playing a critical role from season four onward. Visit this century-old bar for pub food and a real-life look at what was meant to be Carmine Lupertazzi’s headquarters.

    Veniero's Pasticceria & Caffe. Across the way on 1st st once stood DeRoberti’s Pastries. 176 1st Ave. This Italian pastry shop, which opened in 1904, was considered a relatively safe hangout for the mafia throughout the decades. Luciano often hung out there in the 1920′s, holding meetings in the back room with fellow mobster Meyer Lansky. Members of the Genovese and Gambino crews also met here. Veniero’s, just a kitty corner away, was founded around the same time and carries some of the same Italian staples, making it a fun reflection of that history

    Lombardi’s claims to be the first pizzeria in the country (their URL: firstpizza.com). Since 1905, they have been serving up the recipe that Gennaro Lombardi brought with him from Naples.

    Lombardi’s is where NYC pizza really got started. Grimaldi’s, is a direct descendant of this pizzeria. If you’re in the mood to walk the Brooklyn Bridge, you can visit Grimaldi’s on the Brooklyn side, too. If you like to walk you can have both on the same day. 

    Una Pizza is the best pizza in New York (according to Carlisle). Una was named the #1 pizzeria in the world by 50 Top Pizza for 2022. Located in New York’s Lower East Side, this Una Pizza Napoletana is the sixth iteration of Anthony Mangieri’s pizzeria. Since the beginning, the focus has been on the naturally-leavened, wood-fired pizzas. Get reservations well ahead of time.

    Di Palo osteria is a 21st-century addition to Di Palo’s 109-year-old Italian food shop just around the corner, on Grand Street, and the enoteca (wine store) next to it. At the new place, you can drink wine, nibble cheese and prosciutto, and attend occasional events about Italian food and wine.

    Recommended pasta restaurants in Lower Manhattan: Via Della Pace (cash only), Fiaschetteria Pistoria (specifically the truffle pasta), Torrisi, Nonna Dora's, Franks (cash only), Via Carota, Rubirosa, Parm (casual)

  • Breakfast at XYZ

    Grab a mochi donut and sit in Sun Yat Sen Park where you can join classic Chinese park activities like dancing classes, jam sessions with Chinese instruments, morning exercises and singing

    Peruse at Yu & Me Books (a bookstore specializing in Asian American lit)

    Visit the Chinese in America Museum

    Shop for jewelry on Canal Street ( it’s a destination for jewelry!)

    Peruse fish markets along Mott St. and snacks along Pell St. 

    Stop for a Casual Lunch at Xi’an famous foods

    Visit Mahayana Buddhist temple where they have the largest Buddha in NYC at 16 feet. Entrance with 1$ donation 

    Go back to the East Village for dinner at Sichuan Mt House, Spicy Moon (vegetarian), Che Li.

    Desert at Mango Mango next door to SiChuan Mt House and Che Li 

    Late drinks at Chinese Tuxedo and Apotheke spot back in Chinatown

  • Shopping at Search and Destroy (clothing and props), Trash and Vaudeville (both are iconic punk boutiques since the 1970s), Mast Books, Bluestockings Bookstore, Karma Art Gallery. Both S+D and T+V are legacy stores from when East Village was a destination for punk culture.

    Music acts can be found at Elsewhere.club, HELLTEKK, and Knockdown Center, Trans-Pecos

    Sometimes there are free alt live shows in parks. This is a good Instagram account to find them

    (notice: Dimes Square is intentionally not listed here)

Traveling to the United States

  • tbd

  • When purchased weeks ahead of time, Amtrak train tickets are affordable. These tickets are recommended especially if you want to travel to other major East Coast cities such as Boston, Philadelphia and Washington DC.

  • It is highly, highly recommended that you pick up some form of travel insurance for your trip if you are flying into the US.

    Make sure the policy you choose is for 'Worldwide Travel including the USA.' Most travel insurance will require explicit coverage for travel to the US, and your quote will likely be higher as a result of high potential medical costs. If you are planning any more holidays in the next year, a multi-trip annual policy is a good option.

    Make sure you read all the fine print of what you’re covered for. If you have private medical insurance already, you might be able to get a discounted travel insurance quote from them, and cover will be much better.

  • People traveling from Ireland or Europe will not need a visa, but you will need an Electronic System for Travel Authorisation (ESTA). It takes 20 minutes to do online and only costs 21 dollars. It will enable you to travel to the US for up to 90 days and is good for up to two years on a valid passport. We recommend applying for one a couple of months before your trip in case there are delays. In our experience approval won’t take more than a week or two.

    You can apply for an ESTA online here.

    You can check the list of countries participating in the Visa Waiver Program here.

    If you don’t hold a passport from one of these countries, then a B-2 Tourism Visa is your best bet. You can find details about it here. The processing time will likely be longer than the ESTA, so apply for this as soon as you possibly can. If you are a China passport holder and would like to add a handwritten letter and additional proof of friendship for your visa application, please reach out to Carlisle.

Getting Around the City

  • New York City is served by a network of buses and subways. The Google Maps app is the best option to navigate the various routes and transfers to your destination. You can also download the MTA app which contains more accurate train ETAs of you’d prefer. All public transport can be paid using the tap-to-pay option on your phone or by tapping your credit card.

  • Taxi fares can be paid by credit card or your phone’s tap-to-pay. It is still possible to hail a cab on the side of the street. If you would like to book a taxi to come to you, you can download the Curb application and replicate a rideshare experience. Other than taxis you can also book rideshares on the Uber and Lyft applications.

  • New York City has a city-wise bike sharing system for short distance trips. To ride these bikes, you need to download the Citibike app and input your payment information. The blue and black bikes are typical bikes while the light grey bikes are e-bikes. E-bikes can be rented at a higher rate, do not take as much effort to petal, and can travel at much faster speeds with ease. Rides are charged by the amount of time you are riding, so be sure your bike is properly docked to avoid mistaken charges.

  • Today it may not be necessary to take out and exchange your cash for dollars. There are some restaurants that will only accept cash, and it is useful to have a bit of cash on you for tips, but I (Eoin) have never had any issue using my Irish cards with the ATMs. Make sure to check with your bank for any excessive ‘foreign currency withdrawal’ charges or the like.

    Revolut works like a charm and I’ve never had any issues using it in the US. You can exchange up to €1,000 for free and then it’s just a 1% fee after that. The Euro has not been as strong as it was 5 or 10 years ago but you’ll generally get a pretty decent conversion rate, often between 1.05 and 1.10 dollars.