Trust me, I’m not the biggest fan of walking. Especially when it is for the purpose of getting from A to B. However, I change my tune when it comes to fun walks without a destination, or when there is at least some excitement to said walk. Think Mount Olympus, Angel’s Landing etc etc. Yet, we couldn’t leave without visiting the big and beautiful Central Park in the heart of this wonderful city. You can reach it from 5th Avenue, if you’d like to combine it with some shopping too. And I do like to enter the park from the South East side usually, just up from the huge Tiffany store. But you could enter the park on any side and have a beautiful walk around. Me and Alex just strolled, took pictures and enjoyed some calm in a crazy city. It’s funny how much my sense of city anxiety changed as soon as the buildings were masked by trees and birds.

You’re facing the choice of climbing the Empire State Building or the Rockefeller Centre and not sure which to opt for?! If you ask me, the Rockefeller Centre is your best bet for a few reasons. Would you rather look at the Empire State building, or the Rockefeller Centre? In my opinion, I’d much rather gaze on the beautiful Empire State any day, and therefore there is no better view of the building than across the City from it. Secondly, the Rockefeller Centre has the view of Central Park on the opposite side, which is one of my favourite views. Being able to see how huge the park is from above is pretty breathtaking. And finally, I have found on all occasions I have visited, that the queues to visit the Rockefeller Centre are far less than the Empire State. In fact, me and Alex spent maybe ten minutes from buying tickets to getting right to the very top which absolutely baffled me. Yet that was at about 3pm on a Monday – so try to visit at times like that, when you might find a smaller influx of tourists. But I must admit, heading up to the top of the buildings at night is absolutely worth it!

However, you may prefer to visit the Empire State if you would like a better view of the One World Trade Building or the Statue of Liberty. So I guess it’s just about weighing up which one you would prefer to see!

In fact this is where we started our day, but would have happily ended it here too. We happened to be staying at Dream Downtown for the evening and found the Chelsea Market right across the street. This is an urban food court, housing 35 little food markets, cafes and restaurants for a variety of food types. We found a gorgeous little cafe called The Green Table where we tucked into homemade, hearty dishes and the staff were super friendly. But there were so many more we could have eaten at or ordered takeaway from. It’s definitely worth a visit if you’re in the downtown area around 9th Ave!

Just FYI though, we also ate at Bocca Di Bacco in Chelsea that evening and I would highly recommend for some tasty Italian grub! Little did we know that the High Line was also pretty close by – so also head there if you are after beautiful photographs, amaing graffiti spots and to view the city from a slightly different perspective!

How would you spend one day in New York City? This was our way of seeing a variety of places in a short time and without much prior research. We just wanted an easy, non-exhausting day and absolutely loved it!