NEW YORK SOLO TRAVEL GUIDE
KNOW BEFORE YOU GO! NEW YORK TRAVEL GUIDE 2024
PLAN AND BOOK YOUR NEW YORK SOLO TRAVEL
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WELCOME TO NEW YORK!
Hi! I’m Gwen, and my passion is using my 28 years of global travel and sustainability knowledge and experience to help the solo over 50’s be and stay adventurous through solo travel with their eco-friendly, responsible travel foot forward. Here is my guide to New York solo travel, all from my travel in New York, so you plan and book your solo trip to New York with ease. What are you waiting for?
NEW YORK: DID YOU KNOW?
About New York
New York – “The Empire State”, is the 27th largest state in the USA and home to 2 UNESCO World Heritage Sites, the Guggenheim Museum by Frank Lloyd Wright and the Statue of Liberty. Entered into the USA as the 11th state, New York’s capital is Albany, and its largest city is New York City.
Other popular New York destinations include The Hamptons, The Catskills, Niagara Falls, Syracuse, and The Adirondacks.
New York is known for Broadway, the Empire State Building, and the Statue of Liberty, the Baseball Hall of Fame, pizza, Coney Island, the New York Yankees, Ellis Island, the US Tennis Open, Times Square, and Presidents Theodore Roosevelt, Franklin D. Roosevelt.
Famous people from New York include Billie Joel, Al Pacino, Tom Cruise, Jack Nicholson, and Barbra Streisand, to name a few.
Popular New York Activities
New York is blessed with weather, mountains, lakes, and rivers providing for summer and winter outdoor activities like hiking, boating, kayaking, fishing, climbing, snow skiing, cross country skiing, ice skating, and more. Its world-class city, New York City, provides outdoor and all indoor activities you can imagine.
Top Wine Tasting Tours in New York
NEW YORK TRAVEL PLANNING
New York Holidays
In addition to U.S. holidays, New York may observe additional state or local holidays. It may be a good idea to check what state or local holidays they celebrate to see if there are any public service, school, or other closures as this may impact your tourist itinerary, ability to obtain travel or other services, or it could mean more tourists and/or higher prices in your New York destination.
Take a few moments to see if there are New York holidays to better help you plan New York travel.
Tipping in New York
See tipping guidelines in my USA Travel Guide for tipping in New York.
Travel Requirements
U.S. states do not impose additional travel requirements, such as documentation and vaccinations, other than those imposed at the national level. See the USA Travel Guide for all USA travel requirements.
Electronic Requirements
All U.S. state electric outlets require a Type A (two prong) and/or Type B (three prong) adapter. See the USA Travel Guide for electrical requirements in the USA.
Cyber Security While Traveling
Having a virtual private network (VPN) service and portable WiFi is always a good idea to not just stay connected, but stay connected securely in your hotel and all public spaces, like airports, train stations, and restaurants.
- Portable WiFi Hotspot for Travel: Experience seamless connectivity with the Solis Lite, your pocket-friendly companion that offers secure and reliable mobile WiFi hotspot coverage in over 135...
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- Built-in 4700 mAh Power Bank: Stay online all day with 16+ hours of battery life in your Solis Wi-Fi hotspot. Keep all your gadgets charged on-the-go.
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CITY GUIDES & ITINERARIES
Use my solo travel guides, itineraries, travel tips, day trip ideas, and recommended things to do in these top New York destinations, all from my travel in New York, to plan your best New York solo travel.
The more I travel in New York, the more that gets added to this New York Travel Guide. Keep checking back.
New York City
Best New York City Attractions
Best New York City Food Tours and Activities
HOW TO BOOK NEW YORK TRAVEL
It’s important to book the top three travel necessities early: flights, accommodations and ground transportation.
No New York guide would be complete without the booking tools below. These, along with fun New York things to do and ecotourism ideas, will allow you to realize your solo trip to New York.
Cheap Flights to New York
With the ever-growing demand for airline tickets to New York, flights book quicker these days. Find cheap flights to New York now.
Don’t Wait to Book Your Flight to New York
New York Places to Stay
Second in importance to buying airline tickets to New York is finding the best place to stay in New York for your New York solo travel. Develop your New York travel itinerary now and find the best New York travel accommodations to knock one more travel planning item off your solo travel list.
Find the Best Solo Travel Accommodations in New York
Getting Around New York
New York has all forms of transportation, including Carpoolworld, Uber, Lyft, and other possible regional ridesharing services and apps (research in advance if they are in your destination area).
Of course, you can easily get a taxi or find a rental a car in New York if it better suits your New York travel itinerary.
Find the Best Deals on New York Rental Cars
New York also has regional buses and is part of the Amtrak train system.
Things to Do in New York
Here are some of the top things to do in New York to book for your New York solo travel.
Best Day Trips from New York State
NEW YORK ECO-TRAVEL IDEAS
There are ways to reduce your eco and carbon footprint through air travel, accommodations, tours, and activities in New York. To help avoid greenwashing businesses, here are some eco-friendly or sustainable travel (also called responsible travel) tips and resources, you can use to book your travel.
Air Travel Tips
Skyscanner provides a ‘Greener flights’ filter highlighting flights that emit less CO2.
Purchase carbon offsets through your airline or through a third party, like MyClimate.org, Carbonfund.org, or terrapass. Carbon offsetting allows you to buy a certificate to reduce carbon emissions, a major contributor to climate change, which in turn contribute community projects across countries to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.
Ground Transportation
Try to avoid flying in New York by taking a regional bus or the Amtrak train.
When booking a rideshare in New York, select the Uber Green option, instead of a traditional rideshare, to support the use of electric cars and carpooling for cleaner transportation in New York.
The best eco-friendly forms of ground transportation in New York are public transportation, walking, or renting a bicycle or electric scooter.
Explore New York Bike and Electric Scooter Rentals
Lime also has electric scooters to rent in New York for fast and clean commuting in select cities.
Accommodation Tips
Look for New York accommodations with the following self and third-party assessed certifications when you book:
Green Globe – Green Globe certifies hotels, resorts, conference centers, transportation, attractions, tour operators, and other tourism businesses globally on sustainable operations and management. Look for USA Green Global members.
Green Key Global is an internationally recognized environmental certification for the lodging and meetings industries, including hotels and hostels, campsites and holiday parks, restaurants and attractions in 65 countries. Search for Green Key awarded sites.
Living Building Challenge – if you want to stay in a true, sustainable building, find one certified by the Living Building Challenge. LBC’s certification directory shows all project types globally. Hopefully they will put in a filter soon to allow searching by hotels or hospitality type.
LEED Certified – the USGBC’s LEED Certified label on buildings, like many of the Marriott’s hotels, are those that have verifiably employed multiple and varying green building strategies to improve human and environmental health. Search the LEED directory for USA certifications.
Green Lodging Program – Audubon International has an environmental stewardship certification through third-party verification. Search its certified members directory.
GSTC Certified – the Global Sustainable Tourism Council provides global standards for sustainable travel and tourism, as well as international accreditation for sustainable tourism Certification Bodies. Booking sites that offer GSTC certified sustainable are bookdifferent, EcoHotels, and Transat.
Another way to find accommodations in New York implementing eco-friendly or sustainable practices, certified or not, is to reserve a Booking.com Travel Sustainable accommodation. Booking.com started the Travel Sustainable program in 2022.
Find Your Travel Sustainable Stay in New York
Eco-Friendly Things To Do
New York has ecotourism ideas available to explore for your next vacation.
Search Green Global and Green Key awarded members for eco-friendly activity providers in New York. Some may also have the GSTC Certified logo.
Top Eco-Friendly Activities in New York
Eco-Travel Products
There are more ways to do your part for the planet in your responsible travel, like bringing sustainable and eco-friendly products to protect New York’s environment.
For more ideas on how to travel with the planet in mind, read my 10 Easy Eco-Travel Tips and view my suggested Eco Travel Resources to learn more.
NEW YORK TRAVEL SAFETY
Before You Go
Buy USA travel insurance and international medical insurance for your New York solo travel to protect yourself and cover for emergencies.
Safety in New York
In addition to the travel safety tips in the USA Travel Guide, if you are planning on going hiking, backpacking, skiing, camping, swimming or doing any other activity that will take you into remote places, please ensure you research the local travel and weather advisories in advance and respect warnings not to travel.
Let people know where are you going, provide them your itinerary, and ensure you have safety and emergency measures provided for in your travel belongings.
In larger cities, like New York City, do not be surprised to see an element of homelessness. Not all areas of homelessness are dangerous. They may be sketchy or may make you feel uncomfortable. Therefore, read up on the latest updates for safety, keep alert, and avoid walking in certain areas at night.
NEW YORK BUDGET TRAVEL TIPS
New York Sales Tax
New York levies a statewide sales tax and cities levy an additional, local sales tax. Where you vacation in Colorado could increase your holiday budget. Reviewing New York cities’ sales tax rates may help you prepare your New York travel budget.
Best Time to Visit New York
New York’s high tourist season and most expensive time to visit is in the summer (June to August). The least expensive time to go to New York is in the winter months (November to March), unless it’s the holiday season in New York City – this can be a very price time to visit.
Summer can be very hot in New York (especially in New York City), so recommended times to visit for nice weather and avoiding the high prices and tourists are the shoulder season months (April, May, September and October).
Budget Accommodations
Staying in New York hostels could save you a lot of money on accommodations in New York, especially if you stay in a dorm-style room. Save more money by booking well in advance.
Many hostels also offer private rooms, which I choose from time to time. Private rooms in hostels could possibly be cheaper than hotels in New York – it depends on where you stay and how far in advance you reserve.
Don’t overlook exploring hostels in New York if you’re on a budget.
Reserve Your New York Hostel
Best Time to Book Travel
New York can be pricey depending on your New York destination and time of travel. The sooner you book your reservations, the more you’re likely to save money and get the best flight, accommodation, and rental car choices and deals.
Ready to book New York solo travel? Don’t miss out and find the best New York travel deals. The best time to book travel is now. Bundling flight, hotel and/or transportation reservations may even save you more money when traveling New York.
Book New York Travel Early to Save Money
PERSONAL STORY
I must confess that New York City has held most of my New York attention. I have driven through New York several times, and I have been to Niagara Falls, but I’ve never really spent more time than that in the state of New York. I love NYC for its people, all it has to offer, as well as how photographic it is. I hope you enjoy my NYC photos. I do look forward to exploring more of New York in the future.