• Day 1: Getting There
• Day 2: Bryant Park
• Day 3: Head Downtown
• Day 4: Strolling & Culture
• Day 5: Central Park

After our breakfast in the hotel let’s head downtown via an easy subway journey to Lower Manhattan.  Ask the concierge for directions to 42 st / Times Square to get to South Ferry.  The Staten Island Ferry is run by the City of New York for one pragmatic reason: To transport Staten Islanders to and from Manhattan.  Yet, the 5 mile, 25 minute ride also provides a majestic view of New York Harbor and a no-hassle, even romantic, boat ride, for free!  One guide book calls it “One of the world’s greatest (and shortest) water voyages.”  From the deck of the ferry you will have a perfect view of The Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island.  You’ll see the skyscrapers and bridges of Lower Manhattan receding as you pull away and coming into focus again as you return.

It’s a great chance to take some photographic memories of the iconic Statue of Liberty, Manhattan itself and get on the Hudson river and for free.  There is a fantastic tapas restaurant here a few blocks from St George terminal in Staten Island called Beso if you’re hungry already.  Or grab a coffee and head back to the big Island!

Once back in Manhattan we are headed to the famous park in the world. Central Park to be exact. I love this location in the summer, and on a sunny day it has an atmosphere second to none in the world.

I strongly suggest checking centralparknyc.org to see what activities and sights interest you in particular, as I am not exaggerating when I say there are hundreds of things to do in this behemoth of a park.  Some of my favorites are as follows:  Belvedere Castle which provides the best and highest views of the Park and its cityscape.  It’s fitting, considering its name translates to “beautiful view” in Italian.

The short central park film festival runs in August :

Courtesy Central Park Conservancy.

Ten years ago, the Central Park Conservancy Film Festival screened its first movie, Annie Hall, to an audience of 200. This year, the Central Park Conservancy Film Festival will feature cult classic films to an expected audience of 3000: movies whose unique ability to excite, inspire, and entertain gathered a “cult” following over time.

Presented by Bloomberg since its inception, the festival will take place from August 21-25. All screenings begin at 8:00 pm, rain or shine, and gates open to the public at 6:30 pm. Films will be shown in the landscape north of Sheep Meadow, beside Le Pain Quotidien (mid-Park at 69th Street). Enter the Park at 72nd Street. The festival is free of charge and all movies will be closed captioned. Bring a picnic!