How do you prepare your trip to New York?

How do you plan your trip to New York? All our advice to prepare your stay in New York and not forget anything before leaving

Have you decided to leave New York in the coming months and are you looking for tips to organize your trip? Preparing a trip to New York is essential, because on site you will not have time to lose so many things to do and see. If you want to make the most of the city, you need to plan a fairly accurate program of what you will do every day.

To help you, we have listed some tips to prepare your trip to New York.

Prepare the necessary documents

To leave New York, you will need to complete two essential administrative procedures:

First, it is impossible to leave without a biometric passport. Almost all French passports are now biometric since they are valid for 10 years and this standard came into force a bit before 2010. However, it is also important to know that your passport must still be valid for 6 months after the date of return for a trip to the United States. If the validity date of your passport is too short, consider doing renew your passport a few months before your scheduled departure for the United States.

The second indispensable document for a trip to the United States is the ISTA. You can make your request online easily (be careful to make the request on the official website https://esta.cbp.dhs.gov/ ) and it will cost you only 14$. It’s simple and fast, you only need a few personal information.

If you're planning to drive to New York or elsewhere in the United States, think about doing your application for international permit , because your French license alone does not allow you to ride. You need a transcript of your national permit.

Find cheap flights

Once the required administrative documents are prepared, it is now time to find a flight for your holiday dates in New York. To help you, the ideal is to use a flight comparison to find the best prices. If you can, try to be flexible on your stay dates, you will save a few dozen euros sometimes, starting one day earlier or later for example.

Usually, it is cheaper to book your flight on Tuesday or Thursday than the other days of the week. But then, when do you need to buy your plane ticket? It is estimated that the right timing to book your flight to New York is three months before the departure date.

Find your drop point

Finding a well-placed accommodation in New York is crucial. Indeed, you will save a lot of time and energy in your trips if you stay on Manhattan. The island has many places of interest and is close to everything. Everything is accessible quickly.

However, your drop point will depend on the type of stay you want to make. Are you active or quiet travelers? In the second case, you can choose some more casual neighborhoods like Brooklyn or Williamsburg.

You can help you with our article on neighborhoods where to stay in New York to define where you will sleep.

Prepare your itinerary

If you only leave for a few days in New York, it's best to plan your on-site route in advance so you don't waste time on-site.

Many blogs on New York exist and give advice to organize your trip. Some of the tips that you find most often, there is of course the location of your accommodation: prefer to stay in the centre of Manhattan so you don’t waste too much time in transport.

If you spend only 5 days in New York, you won't want to lose an hour in the metro in the morning and an hour in the evening. The ideal being to be able to visit early in the morning and enjoy the New York atmosphere in the evening. Sleeping not far from Central Park makes it easy to get there in the evening at sunset!

Unmissable places to visit in New York

New York is full of iconic places to visit during your stay. There are enough incontours in New York to take care of you for a whole week.

Here's an overview of the must-see places in New York:

The Statue of Liberty : To get there, you can take the ferry from Battery Park. The crossing is included in the visit and will allow you to take beautiful pictures of the statue of Liberty. You will have the choice to stop on Liberty Island where the Statue of Liberty is located, or continue to visit Ellis Island and the Immigration Museum.

The Empire State Building : it is the must-see building where to climb on a trip to New York. Choose your time: at sunset, you can discover New York day, enjoy the beautiful colors, but also see Big Apple night!

Top of the Rock : another must-see deck, facing the Empire State Building, which will allow you to have a view of the south of Manhattan, but also on Central Park. This is the perfect place to discover New York in height.

Central Park : you can also go there one evening if you want to enjoy the colors of the end of the day or early in the morning if you are a sportsman! It is possible to ride on foot or by bike.

Times Square : essential in the evening, you have to go see this mythical square and the many multicolored adverts.

Brooklyn Bridge : free activity in New York, the ideal is to go to Brooklyn to enjoy the view of Manhattan through the famous bridge.