New York for the first time: five days, and the $35 that covers the week
A first-trip route through Manhattan and Brooklyn — how OMNY's weekly cap works, what the airport train costs, and which famous things to skip.
onesim team
New York is one of the few cities where the cheap way to get around is also the fast way, and where a first trip goes wrong mostly by trying to do Manhattan in a straight line from the bottom to the top.
Five days, one transport payment, and about half the days spent outside Manhattan.
The fare, and the cap that pays for your week
The subway is a flat $3.00 a ride, anywhere, any distance. You tap a contactless bank card or phone at the turnstile — this is OMNY, and the MetroCard is being retired through 2026, so do not go looking for one.
The part visitors miss: OMNY caps you. Use the same card or device and, once you have paid $35 in a seven-day period — twelve rides at $3 — every subway and local bus ride after that is free. That is unlimited travel for the price of twelve journeys, with nothing to buy in advance and nothing to top up.
Getting in from JFK, Newark or LaGuardia
JFK: the AirTrain to Jamaica or Howard Beach is $8.75, paid with OMNY, then a subway or the Long Island Rail Road into Manhattan. Budget an hour door to door, longer in rush hour. AirTrain fares are capped too: once you hit $43.50 in a 30-day period, the rest are free.
Newark (EWR): AirTrain plus New Jersey Transit to Penn Station. Quick, but the combined ticket costs several times the JFK route.
LaGuardia: no train. Buses connect to the subway in Queens, and this is the airport where a taxi or rideshare is most often worth it.
A yellow cab from JFK to Manhattan runs on a flat fare plus tolls, surcharges and tip, and since January 2025 there is also a congestion surcharge on trips into Manhattan below 60th Street. Whatever the meter says, the total will be higher.
Day one: downtown, and the free boat
Start at the bottom. Battery Park, then the Staten Island Ferry, which is free, runs every half hour, and passes the Statue of Liberty close enough that the paid boat becomes hard to justify. Ride it out, walk around the terminal, ride it back.
Walk up through the Financial District to the 9/11 Memorial — the pools are free and outdoors; the museum is a paid ticket and a serious two hours.
Finish on the Brooklyn Bridge at dusk, walking Manhattan to Brooklyn so the skyline is behind you and the view keeps improving. Come off in DUMBO and eat there.
Day two: the middle of Manhattan
Grand Central at 9am, when it is a working station and not a film set. Walk up to Bryant Park, and into the New York Public Library — free, and the reading room is one of the great interiors in the city.
The Empire State Building, Top of the Rock and the Summit observation deck all cost real money. If you want one, Top of the Rock has the better view, because it is the only one with the Empire State Building in it.
Afternoon in Central Park: enter at 59th Street, walk north to the Bethesda Terrace and the Ramble, and leave at the Met on the east side. The Met is a suggested-donation museum for New York State residents and a fixed ticket for everyone else.
Day three: Brooklyn
Williamsburg in the morning, Bushwick for the murals, and Prospect Park in the afternoon — which is by Olmsted and Vaux, like Central Park, and which they considered the better of the two.
Finish at Brooklyn Bridge Park for the sunset back at Manhattan, or at Coney Island if it is summer and you want the boardwalk and the aquarium.
Day four: uptown, or out
- Harlem — the Apollo, Sunday gospel at a church that welcomes visitors, and the best Southern food in the city
- The Cloisters — the Met's medieval outpost in a park at the top of Manhattan, with a view of the Hudson
- Governors Island — a car-free island in the harbour, a seven-minute ferry, open seasonally
- The High Line — free, elevated, and best walked north into Hudson Yards early in the morning
Day five: the things you did not get to
Keep one day unplanned. In New York this is not a cop-out: the good version of the trip is the one where you follow a street because it looked interesting, eat lunch where there is a queue of people who work nearby, and end up somewhere that was not on the list.
What everything actually costs
Prices on the shelf and on the menu are not the prices you pay. Sales tax of nearly 9% is added at the register, and tipping is 18–20% in a sit-down restaurant, a dollar or two a drink at a bar, and 15–20% for a taxi. A $22 plate and a $14 cocktail is a $45 dinner.
Free, all week: the Staten Island Ferry, the High Line, Central and Prospect Parks, the Brooklyn Bridge, Grand Central, the public library, the 9/11 memorial pools, Governors Island in season, and every street in the city.
