NYC Trip Roundup and City Guide

Hi loves! I’m currently heading home to Scottsdale, and am SO sad to be leaving New York. I’ve mentioned this quite a bit, but New York City was my home for 4 years after college. It’s truly my home away from home, and there’s nothing like being back to visit!

This trip was full of amazing highlights, and I received a handful of DMs from you guys on Instagram asking for NYC recommendations! Today, I’m doing a full NYC Trip Roundup and City Guide to share some of my favorite places to eat, stay, drink, and shop in New York City!

Our Itinerary

Wednesday

Wednesday was actually my birthday, and for whatever reason I decided it was the perfect travel day! Despite the travel day being completely horrible due to bad weather and multiple delays, I was so excited when we finally made it to New York City!

Needless to say, after 12 hours of travel (which should have been max 8 hours), I was thrilled to check into our first Hotel (Hotel Hayden), and sprint to Eatily to grab dinner. If you haven’t been to Eatily, it’s outstanding! Basically it’s an Italian market, with several restaurants inside and a beergarden on the roof. It’s SO fun in the summer time to go have drinks upstairs!

We ate at Eatily for dinner at the pizza/pasta restaurant, and it was just about an 8 to 10 minute walk from our hotel.

Hotel Hayden

Hotel Hayden is located in the Flatiron district, which is one of the BEST neighborhoods in NYC. It’s close to the subway station, you’re just a few blocks from Times Square, Union Square, or shopping on 5th avenue. I actually use to work right by Hotel Hayden, just a blog north of the Flatiron building.

When we walked into the hotel, I was pretty blown away! It’s beautifully decorated, warm and welcoming. Our room was extremely spacious, and we had a king size room. I love having space when we travel to NYC! Typically the rooms are less than half the size of what we got at Hotel Hayden.

The highlight for me was the insanely beautiful roof deck! They have a full bar with 360 views of the city. It’s breathtaking! I highly recommend Hotel Hayden, it’s such a stunning hotel in the best neighborhood.

Thursday

When we go to the city, we try to eat at new places. We heard that Black Seed Bagel was amazing, so we walked over from Hotel Hayden to get breakfast and it was great! They had gluten free bagels, as well.

Right after, I wanted some coffee and heard that Blank Slate Coffee was the spot. I just got black coffee, and it was really good.

From there, we popped on the 6 train and went to SoHo to do some shopping!

After shopping, we walked over to the West Village to get my absolute favorite sweet treat at Pastissieri Roccos. It’s an old school Italian bakery right on Bleeker streetk. No matter what, you HAVE to go and get a soft cookie! I love the chocolate chip, my husband loves the black and white cookie. Don’t miss it! 

We decided to walk uptown towards our hotel, via Chelsea High line. The High Line is really great, because you get to see the Hudson River, there’s street vendors up there, and it’s a great way to see the city’s west side.

Since moving, Hudson Yards opened and my in laws said the shopping was good. We popped in, but ended up just walking around for about 30 minutes before we had to head to the hotel to get ready for dinner.

Before dinner we had a quick drink at the Hotel Hayden rooftop, but it was pouring rain! Luckily the hotel rooftop was covered, and they also provided us with free umbrellas.

Dinner was at my brother in law’s restaurant (he’s a chef!) Gramercy Tavern. By far it’s the absolute BEST restaurant in NYC in my opinion. I can’t recommend it enough! I’ve never eaten in the dining room, we always eat off the bar menu in the Tavern. It’s just as good!

Friday

On Friday we moved hotels to the Intercontinental Times Square. I love being able to stay in different neighborhoods and explore other things the city has to offer. I honestly would stay in most areas, just so I can get a new experience.

I did a FULL review on this hotel HERE.

My husband took the LIRR (Long Island Railroad) to Queens to golf with friends on Friday, so I decided it was the perfect day to shop and hang with friends. I hopped on the NR train and went to Bloomingdales on the Upper East Side. I was on the hunt for an outfit for Saturday’s wedding (yes I was very last minute!). I popped into Starbucks for a quick breakfast and coffee and started shopping.

Lexington and Madison both have amazing shopping. Right by Bloomingdales there’s Aerie, HM, Victoria’s Secret, Zara, and so many more shops!

My girlfriend and I had lunch plans, so we stopped for a quick bite at Maui Poke. We got it to go and ate in Madison Square Park. It’s so beautiful there!

After lunch, she had to get back to work, and I still hadn’t found an outfit for the wedding. I walked from Flatiron (Madison Square Park is right there), and walked over to Macy’s in Herald Square.

*VISITORS TIP* Macy’s actually offers 10% off for visitors. Just pop into the Visitor’s Center and show them your ID! I ended up finding the cutest jumpsuit here, and it was under $170!

After shopping, I went to the hotel, and got ready for drinks on Stone Street with friends before dinner at Manhatta.

Saturday 

Saturday was one of my favorite days! I met up with my girlfriend Rachel at Caffe Vita, and we took some pictures and got brunch downtown in the Lower East Side at Butcher’s Daughter. It was delicious!

For lunch, I went with my husband to John’s Pizza and then we had our friend’s wedding in Jersey City.

Sunday 

We slept in on Sunday and it felt amazing! The beds at Intercontinental are seriously unreal. We were starved and wanted something quick to eat so we walked over to Pastrami Queen. To be honest, it was a little weird. We got total cafeteria vibes, but we wanted to try it (had good yelp reviews). It as actually really good, but the service wasn’t great and the vibes were strange. Next time I would just get it to go!

After eating we popped over to TKTS to grab some show tickets! TKTS is amazing, because you can get same day discounted show tickets. We were SO excited to get discounted Beetlejuice tickets. The show was amazing! Probably one of my all time favorites. Highly suggest it!

We popped in briefly to HM Times Square to shop a little, and then went back to get some mimosas at the hotel bar.

For dinner, we went down to the West Village and got Lupa. Lupa is a small Italian restaurant. I highly recommend it! The food is incredible!

Monday

I never go to NYC and miss SoulCycle! I had to get my spin on, despite the $36 class price. I love it so much and always leave feeling inspired! I went to the SoulCycle in Bryant Park, and it was just about a 10 minute walk from our hotel.

If you haven’t been to Sarabeth’s, go! It’s a total splurge, but worth it while you’re on vacation. They have a few locations, but we went to the Central Park South location for brunch.

After brunch we wanted to get pedicures. I firmly believe all men need pedicures! Anyways, one of the best things about NYC (and probably the most surprising) is that they have so many affordable nails salons! Spa Belle’s is our favorite. It’s a little more expensive than the other spots, but 100% worth it! They have quite a few city locations, and they’re extremely sanitary. Ask for a 10 minute chair massage. It’s $15 and worth every penny!

Our last meal was at Qi Thai in Times Square. Just a few blocks from our hotel. It’s by far our favorite Thai restaurant in the city and it’s SO cheap! Our lunch was a total of $13 (we shared a lunch special). You can’t beat it and it’s SO tasty.

I hope you enjoyed my NYC post, and if you have any questions feel free to leave a comment below!

xoxo, Melissa