1. Clean bathrooms 24 hours a day: Police Stations, Businesses on park land, Government Offices and Expensive Hotels all have ‘public’ bathrooms.
Police stations have clean bathrooms open 24 hours that you can use, just walk in and ask. They are very clean, generally don’t smell and are not the same toilets used for those in jail so it’s never shady. Besides they are probably the safest bathrooms in NYC. All government offices like the NYC Supreme Court and commercial stores on public or park land must legally let you use their bathroom facilities including Tavern on the Green. Many expensive hotels have immaculate 24 hour public bathrooms including the Waldorf Astoria or the Trump hotels, just walk in. Say what you want about Donald Trump, but I’ve taken many a #2 on his dime, fully enjoying Trump’s soft toilet paper, luxuriously thick hand towels and quality soap.
2. Pay 1 fee for a round trip on the bus: If you live in Manhattan or elsewhere, check the bus map carefully. There is a chance that you can take the bus one direction, and another bus back on the same street that shares the same route as a transfer with your Metrocard, as long as you do it within 2.25 hours between swipes.
3. Never get lost in Manhattan: Just go to an intersection and look for the short side of the block, the next intersection is the next street – if the next street is higher in number, that’s North (obviously this means your right side is East, left side is West and your back is South). Along the long sides of the blocks are streets, short sides of the blocks run the avenues.
4. Never get lost in Central Park: Central Park is huge, so look out for those old black street lamps, they all have a 4 number stamp on the base of them. The first two numbers are the street you’re on. 8910 means you’re on 89th street, 6701 means you’re on 67th street.
5. Top of the Rock at Rockefeller is far better, cheaper, faster for viewing the city than the Empire State building: The view from the Top of the Rock is far better and cleaner than the old Empire State building. The line is usually very short, no more than 10 minutes which makes it very easy to time yourself for a sunset. The Empire State building can have wait times of upwards of 2 hours and is double the price.
6. Get closer to the Statue of Liberty for free: The Staten Island Ferry is free and passes rather close to Lady Liberty, in many ways far better than spending a whole day going there and lining up. Besides tickets to climb the stairs of the statue itself are often sold out or it’ll be under renovations. Take the sunset ride so on your way back you get to see the downtown skyline like you’ve never seen before.
7. Many independent bakers discount their foods 1 hour from closing: Starbucks and other cafe lounging can get kind of pricey. If you’re within one hour of closing, many bakeries and cafes will slash the prices on the food. Wait a little bit after closing and chances are you can probably get a bag full of food for free. NYC has so many restaurants and eateries that tons of food, otherwise absolutely fine for consumption, gets thrown out.
8. There is a free scenic bike/runners path that circles Manhattan: Just run to the riverside and you’ll start seeing it.
9. If a subway car is empty on an otherwise crowded train, don’t get in, there’s a damn good reason for that. Broken A/C, terrible smell, crazy person, etc.
10. Visit the Met without fighting the crowd: The Metropolitan Museum of Art is one of the most important in the world but the crowd up the steps of the main entrance can be intense, and there is lots of pressure for you to pay full. Skip the steps and take the semi-hidden handicap entrance to the left of it. There will be almost no people there, no lines, it’s right next to coat check, and they don’t hassle you to pay anything.
11. In any decent NY bar, if you’re tipping well ($2 per drink is minimum really) every fourth round should be free. This is called a “buyback”, is an old NY custom, and it doesn’t hurt to ask.
12. If you’re one of those people who is constantly getting the ‘Swipe again at this turnstyle’ messages, try improving your form by realizing it’s all shoulder and no wrist. Grip the card, and at a medium pace, move your arm through the reader until it fully exits the other side. The two biggest mistakes I see are people doing it too quickly or people ending with a wrist flick before the card completely travels through the reader.
13. It’s safer to ride the train on the conductors car late at night. Late nights on the train sometimes you don’t feel comfortable riding alone in an empty train car and you’re not sure where the train conductor will be?. On the train platform they have a striped bar, black and white, or yellow and red, where the conductor has to stop in order to get the train adequately into the station. They will ALWAYS stop there and like I said a uniformed individual at night may provide comfort to those riding alone.
14. You have a right to ignore people selling or trying to give away something on the street. It’s quite possibly scam or rip-offs. For instance, don’t buy ticket from people selling Statue of Liberty tickets at South Ferry, or Empire State Building tickets near the building or people offering cab rides inside the baggage claim area of the airport.
15. Avoid eating at the restaurants at the vicinity of Times Square. Some of the best food in the city can be found just a few blocks away (map ) at Restaurant Row.
16. Download some audio tours – they’re not more than $3-5 ( if there’s even a charge) and walk a district or neighborhood with one. The best are GPS enabled.
17. Don’t be afraid to ask New Yorkers for directions. Although we can sometimes be assholes, most of us are pretty nice and will help you out. Be direct and quick with your question of the best results
18. You look like a fool yelling/whistling “TAXI” Just step off the curb and raise your hand. If the light is on, the cab is available, if the light if off it’s occupied.
19. Never look crazy people in the eye – Don’t stare. You’re inviting the crazy in if you do.
20. Don’t stop in the middle of the sidewalk and block the foot traffic of people behind you to take a picture or marvel at whatever. Move to the side. Sidewalks are like freeways here. Don’t block traffic.
