5 Free things to do in NYC
New York is an expensive city to visit. This is the ugly truth.
In order to enjoy it at its best, you must, in our opinion, prepare a budget that is adequate to your needs and not live your vacation on the cheap.
Otherwise you really risk missing out on some dream experiences. Activities that you can only do in NYC.
Having said that, why not save a few dollars if you can?
So here are 5 unique experiences in NYC and the conditions to experience them for free.
NUMBER 1 – RIDE ON THE ROOSEVELT ISLAND TRAMWAY
Stop your reading for a couple of minutes for 2 reasons:
REASON 1 – Have you already read our article on essential things to know about the Roosevelt Island Tramway? If you haven’t already, click below:
ROOSEVELT ISLAND TRAMWAY: EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW
REASON 2 – We know that a ride on the Roosevelt Island Tramway costs $2.75, which is the cost of a subway ride. BUT what you may not know is that if you bought the unlimited MetroCard, then your ride is included in your ticket and consequently FREE. Great right?
At this point in your reading, if you haven’t already done so, we suggest you read 2 of our articles on the NYC Subway System
BLOG ARTICLE 1 – 5 THINGS TO KNOW ABOUT THE NYC SUBWAY
BLOG ARTICLE 2 – METROCARD – KEY THINGS TO KNOW
NUMBER 2 – VISIT THE GUGGENHEIM MUSEUM
The Guggenheim Museum is one of the most famous museums in New York and of course, as it should be, it costs $25 to visit it.
You may not know that the Guggenheim Museum is FREE on Saturdays from 4pm to 6pm.
If you’re interested in art activities in NYC, such as museums, photo exhibits or theater performances, we recommend that you continue to monitor our blog as we will continue to update you on unique events in NYC.
For now, what we can recommend, if you haven’t already done so, is to read our article on how to buy Broadway tickets at discounted prices.
Great for anyone who absolutely wants to see a Broadway show but is traveling on a budget.
BLOG ARTICLE – BROADWAY TICKETS AT BARGAIN PRICES: HERE’S WHERE TO FIND THEM
NUMBER 3 – VISIT LITTLE ISLAND
One of the most beautiful novelties of NYC is Little Island, an artificial island located on the west side of Manhattan, on the Hudson River.
Visiting it, for a tourist who does not have a lot of time available, is not very easy, since it is not located in an extremely central or tourist area.
What we strongly recommend is to take a look at our Top Selling NYC Night Tours that, among the various stops, also takes you to see Little Island.
We have 2 versions of the tour:
The first is “Luxury“, proposed on a mini-bus with a panoramic transparent glass roof.
The second is “General“, proposed on a normal mini-bus of excellent quality.
The itinerary is exactly the same: the 2 buses leave from the same point at the same time and make the same stops.
You will find linked below the 2 versions of our Night Tour.
NIGHT TOUR – LUXURY EXPERIENCE
NIGHT TOUR – GENERAL EXPERIENCE
IMPORTANT: Use the CODE NY15 to get a 15% discount on our Night Tours. It is an exclusive code for all those who read our blog or follow our social pages Discover NYC or My Christmas in New York. The code also applies to the ability to upgrade and buy tickets to The Edge – we’re the only ones in all of NYC offering such a discount for this observation deck
NUMBER 4 – WALK ON THE HIGH LINE
The High Line is an elevated park located on the west side of Manhattan.
About 1.5 Miles long, the High Line is a perfect walk in any season to enjoy glimpses of the city from unusual points.
As with Little Island above, the same point about the High Line not being in a central area from a tourist standpoint applies here as well, and if you want, our 2 Night Tours will take you to one of their stops here as well. You can find the links to the Night Tours in the Little Island section just above.
NUMBER 5 – TAKE THE STATEN ISLAND FERRY
We’ll NEVER get tired of saying it again: the best way to enjoy some of the best views in NYC is to get outside of Manhattan. Period.
In our opinion, you can’t come home after a trip to NYC and not have taken at least one iconic photo of the NYC Skyline.
If you’re traveling on a budget, the Staten Island Ferry gives you the chance to see the Manhattan Skyline and the Statue of Liberty from a boat, at no cost.
BUT if you want to enjoy the experience of seeing the Manhattan Skyline or the Statue of Liberty for money, then we recommend a couple of top experiences below:
THE BEST OPTIONS TO SEE THE SKYLINE AND THE STATUE OF LIBERTY
OPTION 1 – Buy a ticket to see the Statue of Liberty in a unique way. We wrote an article about it with our 5 favorite solutions. If you haven’t already, read it.
THE 5 BEST WAYS TO VISIT THE STATUE OF LIBERTY
OPTION 2 – Book our Skyline & Pizza Tour with Kelly Kopp. 3 stops outside of Manhattan, luxury experience with panoramic, see-through glass-roofed mini bus, round-trip from Times Square + a slice of NYC-style pizza on us.
OPTION 3 – Join our NYC city tour – #1 on TripAdvisor which includes, in addition to a mini-bus ride with lots of stops around the city, a ride on the Staten Island Ferry to see the Skyline and Statue of Liberty from the water.
ONLY WITH US you can get it with 15% Discount using the code NY15 – The same of the Nights Tours we talked about above in points 2 (Little Island) and 3 (High Line)
DISCOVER NYC – DAY TOUR – MINI-BUS & FERRY – LUXURY EXPERIENCE
DISCOVER NYC – DAY TOUR – MINI-BUS & FERRY – GENERAL EXPERIENCE