Two days in NYC with the New York Pass

The best way to start your trip – particularly if this is your first bite of the Big Apple – is on the open-top upper deck of the New York Big Bus. There are two loops – Uptown and Downtown – with services intersecting at a central hub in Times Square. Would you believe that (disclaimer: on a good day with normal traffic levels) you can whiz round almost every major NYC landmark you can think of in under three hours? Well, we’re here to tell you that you can. Wall Street, the Empire State Building, Brooklyn Bridge, Museum Mile, Carnegie Hall, Central Park: they’re all here. Hop on and off at will to take a closer look, or just sit back, relax and enjoy the lively tour narration. Read our complete guide to riding the New York Big Bus here.

Included with the New York Pass? Yes: conveniently, you get two days of Big Bus use with your New York Pass, meaning you can use it for sightseeing and/or simply getting from A to Bm throughout your trip.

Alternative options: Already ‘done’ NYC and want to burrow a little further beneath its skin? Try one of these neighborhood-specific tours instead…

• Brooklyn Bridge and DUMBO neighborhood
• SoHO, Little Italy and Chinatown
• Central Park movie and TV sites
• High Line and Hudson Yards

Grab a quick lunch somewhere around The Battery before boarding a ferry from Battery Park to ogle the Statue of Liberty up close. Disembark at Ellis Island to take a deep dive into the history of immigration to the United States, with a specific focus on the 12 million processed right here. You can also worship right at the feet of Lady Liberty, as well as taking in some pretty impressive views back to the Manhattan skyline across the bay.

Included with the New York Pass? The return ferry trip, plus entry to the Ellis Island Immigration Museum and the ground-floor level of the Statue of Liberty are all included. You’ll need to buy separate tickets if you want to access Lady Liberty’s pedestal or climb the dizzying spiral staircase to her crown.

Alternative option: Perhaps you’ll find viewing the Statue of Liberty from afar to be perfectly sufficient. In which case, the One World Observatory’s where it’s at. From your vantage point some 1,250 feet up in the air, you’ll spy Lady Liberty, Ellis Island and, well, just about everything else within a 50-mile radius, weather-permitting.

Located on the site of the former World Trade Center, the 9/11 Memorial & Museum is a poignant testament to both victims, survivors and first-responders of the tragic events of September 11, 2001. Galleries feature artifacts from the wreckage and photographs that illustrate the attack’s timelines, plus deeply moving stories and first-hand accounts from survivors and the family members of those whose lives were lost.

You’ll be able to pay tribute at the twin reflecting pools (set in the footprints of the former North and South Towers), which are inscribed with the names of every person who died in the World Trade Center attacks in both 2001 and 1993, and feature the two largest manmade waterfalls in North America.

Included with the New York Pass? General admission is included; guided tours cost extra.

Alternative options: If you’re traveling with kids and looking for something a little more lighthearted, maybe try something like this Brooklyn Bridge bike tour or the Museum of Broadway back up in Midtown.

If there’s a better way to eyeball the Manhattan skyline by night than up top of the Rockefeller Center, we’ve yet to discover it. Sure, it ain’t the tallest in town. Heck, it isn’t even the highest observation platform in Midtown, but Top of the Rock’s glittering views more than make up for all that. We’re talking perhaps the finest uninterrupted views of the Empire State Building’s iconic Art Deco crown and soaring steel spire that you’ll find anywhere in NYC. And that’s just for starters. Settle in as the city lights up, from the Brooklyn Bridge to – yep – Lady Liberty, and Yankee Stadium way up there in The Bronx. Insider tip: download the free app or use the multi-media displays to help identify buildings and landmarks in view. You can read our complete guide to visiting Top of the Rock here.

Included with the New York Pass? You get access to the observation platform’s trio of levels. Add-on experiences like Skylift and The Beam cost extra.

Alternative options: You’re just a hop and a skip from the Empire State Building here, so if you covet views from (rather than of) the planet’s most iconic skyscraper, ESB could be a better option for you. On the other hand, with the New York Pass you’ll save even more by doing both!

We’re starting back in Midtown on what is a ‘choose your own adventure’ kinda day. We’re opting for the mighty MoMA, because of its glut of instantly recognizable 19th/20th-century masterpieces, all starry nights, dreamy water lilies and stacked tins of Campbell’s soup. We’ve even put together a quick guide to its greatest hits, so you can be in and out in a couple of hours, having checked off the big-ticket pieces and grabbed a Pollock-print tote bag in the shop on your way out. But you could swap MoMA out for any number of excellent nearby attractions – Madame Tussauds, RiseNY, or even a different gallery – depending on your mood, or whether the kids just find art too BORING for words.

Included with the New York Pass? Yep – your skip-the-queue ticket includes access to all permanent collection galleries plus special exhibitions.

Alternative options: Art a bit highbrow for ya is it? Then, as we said: you can choose your own adventure. We’ll be heading to Central Park after lunch, and the locations of these alternative suggestions (all included on the New York Pass, natch) will keep us on track:

• Madame Tussauds: for all your waxy celebrity needs.
• RiseNY: a rollicking journey through NYC’s cultural landscape, complete with simulated skyline flight.
• Radio City Music Hall: tour the legendary venue and meet a real live Rockette!
• Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum: More modern-art magic up on Museum Mile, inside Frank Lloyd Wright’s striking ‘teacup’ building.
• Intrepid Museum: a little more out of the way in Hell’s Kitchen, but well worth the trip for its historic aircraft and space shuttle Enterprise.

Can you even say you’ve been to New York if you haven’t taken a spin around Central Park? We say no. But there’s an easy way to remedy that: spend an afternoon exploring the world’s most famous green space on two wheels. There are a couple of ways you can do this:

1. Rent a bike and go it alone, cruising north through the park via the charming old-school carousel, Bethesda Terrace and the Bow Bridge, before looping around the reservoir and back across the Great Lawn to wind up at our next stop – the mighty American Museum of Natural History – on the Upper West Side. 
2. Take a guided cycling tour. Zero chance of losing your way, attractions including Strawberry Fields, Shakespeare Garden and Cherry Hill fountain included, and a knowledgeable expert guide to boot. 

Either way, you’ve now properly earned your NYC stripes.

Included with the New York Pass? All-day bike rental or a two-hour guided adventure depending on which you choose. Both options include a bike (obviously) plus all the other essentials – helmets, locks, maps, etc.

Alternative options: If all that cycling sounds like too much hard work, you could always just pick up a picnic, garb a prime spot by the boating lake, and while away a few hours watching the world go by instead.

Visit one of the largest natural history museums in the world and learn about everything from mass extinction events to the evolution of plant and animal life around the world. From our origins as a species to Siberian tigers and a 122-foot titanosaur, you can get up close to all manner of extraordinary exhibits at the AMNH. Our favorites? Where to begin? The amazing animal dioramas, the T.rex that inspired ‘Rexy’ in the Night at the Museum movies, the massive (and we mean massive) chunk of meteorite that pre-dates our own solar system, and the casual 94-foot model of a blue whale that dominates the Hall of Ocean Life. And that’s just for starters. Need more convincing? Take a deeper dive in our expert guides to AMNH here, here and, furthermore, here.

Included with the New York Pass? General admission plus entry to one ticketed exhibition; guided tours are also included.

Alternative options: Extend your afternoon in Central Park with a visit to the zoo or a ride on the carousel, or browse the fascinating exhibits – including the world’s largest collection of Tiffany lamps – at The New York Historical, right next door to AMNH.

There’s nothing quite like the nighttime thrill of Times Square and the bright lights of Broadway, the finest theater district in all the world. If musicals are your thang, you’ll be in clover here, where you can take your pick from, well, pretty much any major (and minor) musical you can think of. Wicked, Hamilton, Chicago, Les Mis, The Lion King… you’ll find all of them here, plus loads more besides. Pro-tip: discounted tickets are available for many Broadway shows on the day at TDF's TKTS Booth in Duffy Square – look for the distinctive neon-red glass steps. You’ll need to wait patiently in line, but you’ll usually be rewarded with deep discounts.

Can’t bear to wait in line? There are also several stellar shows included with the New York Pass, including the legendary Shake, Rattle & Roll Dueling Pianos spectacular and the mighty Harlem Jazz Series.

Included with the New York Pass? Broadway shows are not, but you can always scratch your musicals itch over at the Museum of Broadway during the day.

Alternative options: Always! How about a tour of cocktail bars and rooftop lounges in Midtown and Hell’s Kitchen? A spooky stroll around Greenwich Village’s most haunted hotspots? Or a sunset sail-past of the Statue of Liberty?