9 things you should not spend money and time in New York

If you are going to New York, you better prepare yourself carefully for the trip. It is worth knowing not only about what places are worth visiting, but also about which ones are better not to go to. Edition GQ Based on the feedback from New Yorkers, I prepared a list of 9 items that will help you better navigate this.

Without a doubt, you should avoid places with a crazy crowd of tourists, undeservedly popular eateries and skillfully imposed dubious pleasures - especially if you are in New York for a short time, the publication notes.

Moreover, no one knows about such places better than the New Yorkers themselves, who shared their experiences. Below is a list of 9 points of this anti-rating.

1. Do not use a bicycle taxi

Especially a lot of bike taxis in Times Square or Herald Square. The drivers of this vehicle are just waiting for another tourist to ruin him - for a trip of 20 lengths of quarters you will have to pay $ 25.

Since no self-respecting New Yorker will ever begin to overpay, the very fact of your landing in a bicycle taxi will immediately give you a tourist.

By the way, taxis are also worth avoiding. It is very expensive, often unsafe and also harmful to the environment.

Instead of this:

• Best used to get around the metro. This is the fastest, most reliable and cheapest way to get to your destination.

The subway is easy to navigate, plus trains run 24 hours 7 days a week. In addition, experienced travelers know that the metro is the best place to look at people. You will not find such social and national diversity in either Greenwich Village or the UN headquarters.

In New York, everyone travels in the subway - from artists and bankers to newly arrived immigrants.

2. Do not buy hot dogs on the street

Street carts with colorful umbrellas selling hot dogs are the same symbol of New York as yellow taxis and the Empire State Building. Business is booming thanks to tourists who, starving, grab the first available high-calorie food, the newspaper notes. At the same time, the sausages themselves inside the "cardboard bread" filled with "stale vegetables" do not differ in quality.

But not all street food in New York is bad. It happens quite successful, the main thing is to know where to buy. In any case, do not expect to get a quality product for the dollar.

Instead of this:

• For a real classic hot dog with beef sausage, head to Katz's Delicatessen.
• For wonderful brioche, buns, pastries and pudding - go to the Saltie Bakery (378 Metropolitan Avenue, 718-387-4777).
• For home-made smoked sausage, head to Crif dogs in the East Village area (113 St. Marks Place, 212-614-2728).

Do not climb Empire State Building

Undoubtedly: the view of the city from the top of the Empire State Building opens up beautifully. However, is it worth wasting a ton of precious time on this?

"By the time you finally get there, you won't want anything at all," the author assures.

To get to the observation deck, you will have to defend at least five lines: on the street, in the lobby at the entrance to the elevator, at the ticket office, then into the second elevator and at the exit of the elevator. Finally you will be tired of persistent offers “buy an express ticket” and “ride around the city in 3D mode”.

And that’s not all: on the way back you will stand in three more lines. The apogee of this journey will be the exit through the inevitable gift shop, where a crowd of people also awaits you. In general, this is the worst of what tourists experience.

Instead of this:

• Climb to the restaurant The rainbow roomlocated on the 65 floor of the famous GE Building (30 Rockefeller Plaza, 65th floor, 212-632-5000). Here, for the same money that you would spend on upgrading to the Empire State Building, you will enjoy the Manhattan cocktail and great views of Manhattan. Everything is wonderful in this place: both professional, courteous bartenders, and a colorful interior in the Art Deco style.
• Head to the 70 floor at The Top of the Rock (212-698-2000) observation deck, which rises above the Rockefeller Center. Here you will find free alcohol and amazing views of the city, including the Empire State Building.

4. Do not eat cupcakes in Magnolia Bakery

The Magnolia Bakery establishment has become famous since it flashed in one of the episodes of the series “Sex and the City”. Endless crowds of Carrie Bradshaw fans flock to the corner of Bleecker and West 11, dragging bored boyfriends along with them. On weekends, the line is built a block from the confectionery, while the asphalt around is strewn with wrappers from these same cupcakes.

But most importantly, the cupcakes here are "mealy and tasteless, the icing is sugary, the saleswomen are unfriendly, and the founding owners sold the business many years ago."

Instead of this

• Try canolly at the bakery Rocco's Pastry Shop. To do this, walk a few blocks down to 243 Bleecker Street. It sells delicious authentic canolles that can be washed with espresso.
• If you certainly want to try cupcakes, get in a taxi and head to Cupcake cafe (545 Ninth Avenue, 212-465-1530) - here they began to bake long before Magnolia was born.

5. Refuse to ride a wagon in Central Park

To many, such a trip, reminiscent of a scene from the movie "Manhattan," seems romantic. Someone will even want to repeat the episode in which the characters of Woody Allen and Mariel Hemingway ride through Central Park in a horse-drawn cart, in complete solitude and silence.

“We hasten to disappoint you: nothing like this episode will happen to you. The horse will be tired, the coachman's chatter will be as dull as the memoirs of Mia Farrow, ”the message says.

In addition, all the way, while you crawl along the main alleys of the park, the rear of another wagon will loom before you. At the same time, locals and animal lovers passing by will look at you with hatred.

Instead of this:

• Take a walk through Central Park. The best time for this is the morning, when there are still few people here and you can go around the entire park along the main avenues.

Get up early, buy coffee and a bun on the street and have breakfast while strolling through the wooded, remote corners of the park. It is best to enter the park from Fifth Avenue or Central Park West in the area of ​​seventy streets and head towards the center: this is the most convenient route for exploring the main places of the park.

6. Get around restaurants on Times Square

Times Square is a very attractive tourist destination. There are many colorful signs here, billboards are shining around the clock, shops are open non-stop, and in general this place is legendary.

But coming here for food is a big mistake. The reason for this is the policy of the former mayor of New York, Giuliani, to ensure the safety of residents and tourists in the Times Square area, which had the opposite effect.

Faceless national network institutions such as Red Lobster, Applebee's and Chevy's Fresh Mex, which were not here before, were flooded the entire area. And you know what? The food there is the same as in the suburbs, only more expensive.

Instead of this:

• Visit the facility Hell's kitchen, which is two blocks west of Times Square. Beginning actors, young writers and other creative promising people who rent nearby are fond of being here.
• Choose from a variety of ethnic restaurants - Vietnamese, Puerto Rican, Greek, Italian - located on Ninth Avenue.

Here is a list of the most recommended places: Pam real thai (404 W. 49th St., 212-333-7500) - they serve authentic Bangkok food; Meskerem (468 W 47th St., 212-664-0520) - known for its spicy Ethiopian food, and Esca (402 W. 43rd St., 212-564-7272) - first-class Italian seafood.

7. Times Square comedy isn't the best choice

Comedy clubs on Times Square hire a novice cast from among the aspiring actors to lure naive tourists to ridiculous stand-up shows where visitors are required to buy several drinks without fail.

It’s also not funny to see crowds of people who, trembling from the cold, take their turn to the uttermost time to buy reserve tickets for recording the Saturday Night Live program - without any chance to get on the set.

Instead of this:

• Watch the show The Upright Citizens Brigade (307 W. 26th St., 212-366-9176). This will save you money and time.

Megastars took part in the sketches of this improvisational troupe: Robin Williams, Mike Myers, Will Ferrell and Tina Fey. Popular actors generally appear on the UCB from time to time so as not to lose their grip and try out a new genre. In addition, it is on the stage of UCB that new stars are born, which then will certainly appear in the cult Saturday Night Live.

8. Do not go to Century 21

“If you come here, you will definitely be pushed. They will yell at you, ”the author assures.

The fact is that designer clothes are sold at huge discounts in this store, so it is packed full of aggressive tourists.

Here you have to stand with a crowd of “nervous, angry people in long stupid lines that move so slowly that even a Franciscan monk will not have the patience.”

In addition, you can succumb to universal hysteria and spend a lot of time in the store trying to find a cheap good thing. However, the problem is that any item purchased here is likely to be outdated or defective. You should only go to Century 21 if you sincerely like to squeeze through the fierce crowds of persistent customers with a fight or if you woke up one morning and realized that you really want to rummage through dirty clothes that are not sorted, dumped into one pile.

Instead of this:

• Go to the flagship store Lord & taylorlocated on the corner of Fifth Avenue and 38-th Street. This, according to the author, is "a civilized response to the shopping madness of a big city."

The interior is restrained and respectable, things are hung in perfect order, the staff is extremely tactful (no comparison with the impudent clerks from Bloomie's or Bergdorf), the cosmetics department is huge, and there are few people.

It is here that one feels the "decorous atmosphere of old times", which "allows us to believe that cultural shopping in New York is still possible."

9. Do not go to nightclubs Meatpacking District

One of the advantages of the Meatpacking District is that it is a great place for shopping - there are a lot of boutiques (including Diane von Fürstenberg). It is also a good place for walking (for example, along the High Line park).

However, from the institutions located here, the former gloss disappeared, which was inherent in them at a time when the famous transvestites throughout the New York City "streamed through the streets of the Meatpacking District."

In addition, there are still traces of the meat processing industry here: one careless step from the sidewalk - and you will plunge headlong into "old" New York.

Instead of this:

• Head to the Lower East Side. A few years ago this place was notorious, like the Meatpacking District. Most of the people from New Jersey, the Bronx, Brooklyn and Queens hung out here (the inhabitants of Manhattan scornfully call them the bridge-and-tunnel crowd). Now the situation has changed: this area has become fashionable and pleasantly diverse.

There are like luxurious restaurants like Chloe 81 (Chloe 81, 81 Ludlow St., 212-677-0067) and cheap type establishments.

And if you feel hungry, feel free to go to Brooklyn Ice House (318 Van Brunt St., Red Hook, 718-222-1865) - here you can eat a piece of meat on the grill and drink it with foamy beer.