To speak of New York is to speak of the infinite city, the city that never sleeps… The city that has no end. There is always something to say, to comment, to remember, to suggest, to discover… And as we want you to enjoy your trip to New York differently, we have compiled for you the 15 most curious and original activities to get to know the city from another point of view different from the traditional one.
1. Go to a Gospel mass on a Sunday
The Harlem neighborhood is the ideal area. Some of the best-known churches are the Abyssinian Baptist Church, the Antioch Baptist Church, the Lagree Baptist Church, and the First Corinthian Baptist Church. Another alternative option if you want to avoid tourists is to go to the free Gospel mass in Brooklyn: The Brooklyn Tabernacle.
2. Go kayaking on the Hudson River
If you want to live a different experience, go to Pier 40 (72nd Street) or Pier 96 with your swimsuit. The months that you can go kayak from May to October, normally the kayak shifts last 20 minutes. There they will give you a life jacket, kayak, paddle, and some tips on how to paddle.
3. Have a coffee by the Berlin Wall in New York
Feel as if you were in Berlin while having a coffee on the terrace of Paley Park, located between Madison Avenue and 5th Ave, in Midtown. In the background, you will find a small fragment of its famous wall. The park offers a small oasis to rest in the middle of the city. Inside the park, there is a 6-meter high waterfall that extends to the back of the park.
4. Ride Cyclone, the oldest roller coaster
One of the most famous New York attractions is the iconic Coney Island Cyclone roller coaster. If you want to breathe the most realistic New York, you cannot miss riding its Cyclone wooden roller coaster, the oldest in the United States, built in the 1920s and still in operation today.
5. Enjoy the sun streaming through the buildings: the “Manhattanhenge”
Spectacular sunsets that slide through the streets of the island, four days a year coinciding with the summer solstice, between May 28 and 30 and June 11 and 13, depending on the rotation of the Earth. So the sun aligns perfectly on the horizon from 14 to 57 streets.
6. Relive movie love scenes at the Grand Central Station interchange
This station has become such a special place that lovers use it as the perfect setting for the declaration of love and subsequent proposal of marriage. Write it down in case you have the intention…
7. Enjoy the views from Brooklyn Bridge Park
After enjoying the incredible views from the skyscrapers of New York, the ideal is to act in reverse and lie down in front of the spectacular Manhattan skyline. Many athletes take advantage of this 34- hectare green park to exercise.
8. Seek good luck by tapping the Wall Street bull
If you are looking for good luck, visit the bull of Wall Street. They say that if you touch its snout or testicles, financial fortune will appear in your life… You don’t lose anything by trying! The Wall Street Bull is a bronze sculpture that weighs more than 3 tons and symbolizes strength and power. You will find it in Bowling Green Park.
9. Visit the largest store in the world
Couldn’t be in another city. Macy’s department store has been boasting about it since 1924 and announcing it with great fanfare on its facade: “The world’s largest store”. It is currently in the Herald Square. Macy’s has 9 floors full of fashion products, beauty, accessories, items for the home, where you can find great deals and products from leading brands.
10. Take the best photo of New York from Rockefeller Center
From the top of this building, you have perfect views of New York. Why? You can see the Empire State Building, the star of the city’s skyline, and the Big Apple from every angle. Focus well and shoot to get the best photo of the city of skyscrapers. The Rockefeller Center is located in Midtown Manhattan.
11. Special concerts for jazz lovers
One of the musical places to visit in New York is the Village Vanguard, opened in 1925. It is known as one of the most legendary jazz venues in New York. If you go in, you will discover that the place is small, with tables close together, but this place has brought together the best jazz musicians. The Village Vanguard is a bar located at 178 Seventh Avenue in the Greenwich Village neighborhood.
12. Meet the oldest construction: the Dendur temple
The Temple of Dendur, in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, is the oldest construction. It was a gift from the Egyptian government to the United States in gratitude for their help in conserving the Nubian monuments during the commissioning of the Aswan Dam.
13. Tour the Japanese Garden in Brooklyn
Alfred T. White in 1914 hired a Japanese landscaper to create a small lake, a hill, and the rest of the necessary decoration to have a Japanese garden without having to leave New York. Today it is one of the most appreciated botanical gardens in the city for its tranquility and its colors.
14. Skate at any time of the year
The Wollman Rink skating rink in Central Park is one of the activities in New York that is open all year round and where skating on it is a classic. From October to April it is done on ice and the rest of the year on the concrete of the rink.
15. Acquire superpowers in the superhero shop
Brooklyn Superhero Supply, the only one of its kind in the world, sells formulas to achieve ultra-speed, Herculean strength, or achieve invisibility… Come closer, you will be surprised! Located on 5th avenue, this store offers all kinds of products to blow the imagination for the little ones in the house.
So, all these activities are amazing. Which one did you like the most and going to visit first?
