Chinatown in downtown manhattan has some of the best cheap food in the city. DO go. Little Italy in downtown manhattan  has some of the best gourmet food shops and nice cafes. DO go.  But NEVER  NEVER (Julie, what were you thinking?) go to either during festivals unless you have family down there and can escape into their home. The crowds can get oppressive and the street hawkers are out for blood. 

While you’re downtown , visit the Tenement Museum to experience how so many of us started out in the New World. Eat a knish from Yonah Schimmel’s and a sandwich at Katz’s for good measure.

Go see the World Trade Center site and THEN go see the Statue of Liberty and think deeply.

Take a stroll over the Williamsburg Bridge and check out the scene in Williamsburg.

Visit Brooklyn Brewery and take a tour and tasting.

Do go to Chelsea and visit the galleries and shops there, don’t forget the Highline and the Piers.

Do visit the NY Public Library main branch, then relax in Bryant Park just behind, and go eat some quality Japanese food in the East 40′s.

Do go to Rockefeller Plaza, and don’t forget a tour of Radio City Music Hall -it’s a landmark building - take in a show there too, we won’t tell.

Stand on line at TKTS and try your luck at buying cut-rate broadway tickets.

Do visit Carnegie Hall. it’s one of NYC’s oldest cultural centers and tickets aren’t even that expensive if you’re willing to sit in the nosebleed seats.

Ditto Lincoln Center even though they are in a bit of an identity crisis right now at least stroll through the plaza – magical on a concert night.

Do visit the Metropolitan Museum (only an idiot would say it’s not worth it), especially during Christmas season when they erect their famous tree. Don’t expect to see everything ,just visit one or two galleries that really ring your bell and then take a walk in Central Park.

Do visit the American Museum of Natural History. Also worth the admission, plus they sponsor scientific research expeditions all over the globe, a worthwile endeavor to cast your dollars after.

Take a walk over the Brooklyn Bridge and contemplate a nineteenth-century world when Brooklyn and New York were competing independent cities.

Visit the Brooklyn Museum, a relic of gilded-age Brooklyn and then visit the Brooklyn Botanic Gardens right next-door and walk through one of the oldest Japanese gardens in the US.

Tour Prospect Park in Brooklyn, little sister to Central Park, and then stroll 5th Ave in Park Slope and grab lunch at one of the nice restaurants there.

Do visit the Isamu Noguchi Museum in Long Island City for a look into the creative soul of one of the 20th century’s master artist/designers, then eat out in Astoria.

Born and raised here in nyc, i think this is all great! You’re absolutely right about getting into other boroughs to visit cultural neighborhoods, and lesser known museums… Great opinions that you shared.

And the above comments are a breath of fresh air, each adding to the info in your article. I just happen to think A day started in the met, a lunch picnic in Central park (which is attached to the museum) and then wandering up to Belvederes castle’s (in the center of the park) top tower for incredible views of both the park AND the surrounding city sky scrapers and buildings, makes for an amazing summer or autumn day…

Just my opinion as well! Thanks again, even I learned about something new here-the list of shows/films currently being filmed!

And with regards to Broadway…you can get tickets for cheap (I saw two shows, both of which I won lottery tickets for and only paid $25), and it’s Broadway! Yeah, of course there are other places to see shows, and they may be well worth it, too, but to tell people to skip out on Broadway? That’s crazy.

Skip chinatown? it’s one of the most unique features in Manhattan. All dirty and grimy etc. Korea town is sterile, just another NYC street that happens to have a lot of Korean shops and restuarants trying to look American! Don’t get me wrong, you can find some wonderful food there, great as a matter of fact, like Hangawi: http://www.hangawirestaurant.com/)

And you are right, I made the mistake of going to Magnolias wow that was not good, so why not give us some recommendations like http://www.billysbakerynyc.com/ or http://www.amysbread.com?

What about something fun to do like this: http://newyorkcityphotosafari.com/ or
http://www.bigapplevisitorscenter.com/gt.htm