Organize a 7-day trip to NEW YORK: Complete guide and routes to see NY in a week

Travel to New York

If you are looking for information on how to plan a week-long trip to New York, with everything to see in 7 days and a route to visit the most famous places in Manhattan, you need to look no further. You have already found it. We have prepared a super complete guide to travel to New York and the best day-by-day itinerary with things to do in NY that you will love, in addition to the tourist attractions that you cannot miss

How to plan a 7-day trip to New York

To begin with, these are the preparations to travel to New York for a week, with practical tips to organize the trip on your own, which will surely come in handy:

Best date to travel to New York for a week

Actually, any time is good. But after having traveled a lot of times, for us the best time to make a trip to New York in 7 days (or at least the date that we like the most) is Thanksgiving, and thus experience the lighting of the Christmas lights.

Definitely score points for charm. Of course, it is freezing cold, you have been warned. You will have to visit NY with your best thermal clothes, what are you missing if you choose this date. 

💡 Here we leave you more recommendations to travel to New York at Christmas.

If you don’t like extreme temperatures, the best time to visit New York for a week is, without a doubt, spring or autumn. On these dates, it is neither too cold nor too hot, and touring the city is much more pleasant this way.

However, we would avoid the summer months to do this 7-day trip to New York, as it is high season, with much more expensive prices and amazing humidity.

How much money do I need to go to New York for a week? Price for 7 days in NY

The budget is the other great fact you need to know to travel to NY for a week. Think that you are going to travel to a city that is not cheap and that the price for spending 7 days in New York is going to be high.

Accommodation in New York for 7 days: A downtown hotel near Time Square is around 150/200 dollars per day. If it is a hostel, it will be a little less, about 60/100 dollars a day. Below we give you different accommodation options that are well located in Manhattan and cheap hotels to spend a week in New York.

💰 If your budget skyrockets, you have the option to book a hostel or hostel. They are perfect if you travel alone, with family or with a group of friends. We tell you in detail where to sleep cheap in New York

Eating in New York for a week: Estimate about $50 a day (eat sitting in a restaurant: $25 and breakfast about $10).

To all this add the price of tickets to skyscrapers, museums or if you want to do a tour in Spanish. Calculate that at least each activity will cost you between 30 and 40 dollars per person (we leave you here all the activities that you can book online in NY).

💰 In this case, we recommend buying tourist cards (New York Pass or Explorer Passto save money, instead of buying tickets to the most famous attractions in New York individually.

Also read: Best FREE cards to travel abroad

Organizing the trip to spend a week in New York: Essential things you should know

When it comes to organizing a trip to New York for 7 days or for any other duration, there are two very important things that you have to keep in mind:

Visa to travel to New York for one week

The most important thing to be able to travel to New York for 7 days is to apply for ESTA, the visa exemption that allows you to enter the United States. This is the first procedure you have to do to organize your trip to New York.

Before preparing anything, it is essential to know if you are granted a visa exemption, or if you will not be able to enter the US. So write it down in capital letters among the tips for traveling to New York.

✎ Data to take into account when applying for a visa to travel to New York:

  • It is done at the moment
  • It costs 21 dollars
  • It is valid for 2 years

In our post on tips for traveling to New York on your own, we explain how to do the ESTA step by step and more things to keep in mind.

💡 In addition to the visa, you will have to take into account these essential COVID-19 requirements:

  • Be vaccinated with the full schedule.
  • Fill out a health form called the New York State Traveler Health Form, in which they ask you what areas or countries you have been to during the last 14 days.

Before traveling, consult the latest updates on the website of the  Center for Disease Control and Prevention of the American government.

Recommended travel insurance to travel to New York for 7 days

Another important thing to keep in mind if you are going to organize a one-week trip to New York on your own is to have good travel insurance.

He thinks that health care in the United States is very expensive and yet insurance that covers medical expenses represents a small cost in relation to the total price of the trip and great peace of mind in case something happens.

We use IATI insurance whenever we travel and they have always responded quickly, very well and without incident, so it is the travel insurance that we recommend to travel to New York for a week. We also leave you a 5% discount if you hire it from here.

Also read: How to cut travel expenses in your business

ACCOMMODATION for 7 days in New York: well-located HOTELS and best AREAS to sleep for a week in New York

And if you’re looking for the best area to stay for a week-long trip to New York, our advice is clear: look for hotels near Times Square.

Why Times Square? Well, because you are super well located to visit the main tourist attractions in New York and it is a perfect area to move around Manhattan on foot or by subway.

Finding cheap hotels in New York is already more complicated, but there are some that we especially like because they are usually well priced and are very well located in Manhattan. We leave them all here:

Well located hotels to stay 7 days  in New York near TIMES SQUARE, 

PodTimes Square. Modern hotel, with great prices and a perfect location. Just a few minute’s walk from Times Square and the Port Authority.

Radio City Apartments. Apartment in the heart of Times Square with all the necessary accessories.

New Yorkers. Next to Madison Square Garden and very close to Hudson Yards, Time Square and the Empire State Building.

A hotel with a very good location to travel 7 days to NY, in Grand Central

Hotel Pod 39. With a good location, it usually has very good prices throughout the year. One of the hotels selected for our group trips to New York.

Accommodation for a week in New York in Midtown, near Rockefeller Center

Hotel Pod 51. Great location to visit New York in 7 days. You can walk to Times Square and Central Park in 10 minutes. With many restaurants, bars and cafes around.

Well located and cheap hostel to stay 7 days in Manhattan, in the Upper West Side area

Hotel Newton. Spacious rooms and daily cleaning service.

Cheap hotel to sleep in Brooklyn 

Fairfield NY Brooklyn. Located next to the subway that connects with Manhattan.

Preparations to travel to New York 7 days

Come on, step by step. You already have the visa, travel insurance and accommodation to go to New York for a week. But there are still some things that we recommend you book and have prepared before you travel:

Attractions pass, to save money on a trip to New York for 7 days Which attractions tourist card is better?

Another of the big questions you ask yourself when you start to organize a trip to New York to stay for a week is whether it is worth buying a tourist card or is it better to book each one independently.

In order not to go crazy, the main discount passes for tourist activities to visit New York are the New York Pass and the Explorer Pass. We explain each one in detail, but we have to say that with these passes you save a bundle.

✎ But what is the difference between the two? The bottom line is that the New York Pass is a day pass, and the Explorer Pass is a number of attractions pass.

Both passes include all visits, but if you ask us which one we prefer, without a doubt the Explorer Pass, with which you buy a certain number of attractions (3, 4, 5, 7, 11). A pass that you can use in the next 30 days from its activation with the first visit.

For example, with the 3-attraction pass, you can choose between MOMA, ferry to the Statue of Liberty, Empire State, The Edge, Top of the Rock or One World Observatory.

In this way you use the pass for all the days you are in New York without the pressure that in 1 day you have to see a certain number to be compensated. I mean, a roll. In addition, the discount is important, since only by taking the Explorer Pass to 3 attractions you already save 20 Euros.

THE EDGE, ONE OF THE VIEWPOINTS TO SEE IN NEW YORK IN 7 DAYS

Book guided tours and free tours in Spanish to explore New York in 7 days

Another super useful thing to organizing a trip to New York, especially if you dread the moments in English, is to know where you can book guided tours in Spanish to get to know the city. And don’t worry, it’s super easy and you don’t need to break a sweat.

We manage well with the language, and even so, for convenience, we prefer to book in Spanish, which we know we will understand much better. 😉 And that may also be your case…

Whatever it is, we leave you with a lot of options in this guide, from the Contrasts tour to other activities in our language. We recommend that you book in advance because most of them also have free cancellations.

Airport Transfers  How to get downtown from any New York airport?

The transfer from any of its three airports is another thing to take into account when planning a trip to New York in a week. You have several options, we tell you in detail in our tips for traveling to New York on your own0.

🚘 Anyway, if you are looking for the easiest and most comfortable option to go to New York, take a look at this transfer by private transport.

SIM and eSIM card to access the internet in New York without paying for roaming with your mobile

If you want to have internet in New York, we leave you here a very comfortable option that we used on the last trip. They are SIM and eSIM cards that you receive before traveling with unlimited 4G data and free calls to US numbers, so you can navigate, and have WhatsApp and social networks or the GPS or browser, at all times without worrying about searching for Wi-Fi.

How do you use the SIM card to have internet for a week in New York?:

  • When you arrive in New York, you just have to insert the SIM card into the mobile
  • Then activate data roaming, and you’re all set.
  • It connects quickly.

Important: It only works with mobile phones that are unlocked and compatible with the country you are traveling to. Today most of the mobiles work without problem all over the world, but just in case, confirm it.

Cards to pay and withdraw money in New York

What cards to take to New York that do not charge commissions (or very few) for paying in dollars? We always carry several cards in our wallet (in case one fails). Among all of them, 3 free cards that do not charge a commission (or very little) for payments in a different currency (in our case euros). These are the ones we use on our trips:

  • Revolut: Currently the best option. A debit card that does not charge a commission for paying or withdrawing money from the ATM abroad and that is recharged with the amount you want.
  • Bnext: Prepaid card that always charges a 1% commission for payments and purchases in NYC.
  • Wizink: Linked to a bank account, it has a 2% commission to pay in dollars in New York.

Subway map to explore New York in 7 days

One of the most useful things to travel to New York for a week is to always have the NYC subway map in PDF at hand. If you prefer to carry it in an APP, we leave you several options so that you can choose the one that is most comfortable for you:

If this is your first time in New York, here are some tips for using this public transport and other important things to keep in mind.

Itinerary and daily routes to plan the trip to New York in 7 days

We come to one of the most complicated points when you start to organize a trip to New York for a week. Having a clear daily itinerary so as not to arrive exhausted at the end of the day is one of the most important things to enjoying NY. We tell you from experience.

Here are the daily routes to visit New York in 7 days that we propose, with all the essential tourist places, including:

First day Brooklyn Bridge – Dumbo – Trinity Church – Wall Street – World Trade Center – Brookfield Place – Battery Park
Second day Rockefeller Center – Tiffany – Grand Central Terminal – Chrysler Building – Bryant Park – Summit One Vanderbilt – Museums
Third day Union Square – Flat Iron – Madison Square Park – Chelsea Market – The High Line – Hudson Yards – Empire State – Macy’s – Madison Square Garden – Times Square
Fourth dayChinatown – Canal Street – Little Italy – Soho – Jewish Quarter and Brooklyn
Fifth day Gospel Mass in Harlem – Brunch at Rte Sylvia´s – Jazz in Harlem – Bike ride through Central Park – Dakota Building
Sixth day The Metropolitan Museum of Art – Natural History Museum – The Cloisters – MOMA – Broadway
 Seventh day Shopping in New York

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