What's a good 3-day itinerary for New York?

Start at the southeast corner of Central Park around 8:30am, when the joggers thin out and the pretzel carts are just firing up — you can smell the warm salt from twenty feet away. Walk north to Bethesda Fountain, then cut west to the Dakota building on 72nd. Subway down to Rockefeller Center by 11am. Top of the Rock beats the Empire State Building for photos because you can see the Empire State Building from there. The wind at the top cuts through whatever jacket you brought. Grab lunch at Xi'an Famous Foods in Rock Center — the cumin lamb hand-pulled noodles are $12 and better than most $40 Midtown meals. Grand Central Terminal at 2pm: stand in the main concourse and look up. The ceiling alone is worth the stop. Times Square at 4pm — fifteen minutes is enough. You've seen it now. Walk west to Hell's Kitchen for dinner. Marseille on 9th Avenue at 44th has steak frites and a zinc bar that fills up with the pre-theater crowd by 7pm.

The 8:30am ferry to the Statue of Liberty leaves from Battery Park. Book the pedestal ticket in advance — the crown requires months of planning and the pedestal view is nearly as good. You'll be back on Manhattan by noon. Walk through the Financial District to the 9/11 Memorial, where the sound of the waterfalls blocks out the city noise in a way that feels deliberate. The pools are cold to the touch even in summer. Cross the Brooklyn Bridge on foot starting around 2:30pm — stay on the left side for the best downtown skyline angle, and expect the wooden planks to creak under tourist traffic. The walk takes thirty minutes at a normal pace. DUMBO on the Brooklyn side has Juliana's Pizza on Old Fulton Street. Order a margherita and sit by the window facing the bridge pylons. The crust has a char that most Manhattan pizza places can't touch — the coal oven runs hotter than gas, and you can taste the difference in the blistered edges.

Day 3 stays below 14th Street, which is where New York stops feeling like a corporate headquarters and starts feeling like a city where people actually live. Coffee at Caffè Reggio on MacDougal Street by 9am — it opened in 1927 and the dark wood interior still smells like decades of roasted beans. Walk through Washington Square Park, where the arch frames the Empire State Building if you stand in the right spot. The West Village is best before noon, when the brownstone streets are quiet and the morning light hits the fire escapes at a low angle. Chelsea Market by 11:30 for lunch: Los Tacos No. 1 has a line, but it moves fast and the al pastor is worth standing in it. Walk the High Line from Chelsea Market north to Hudson Yards — about forty minutes. Finish in SoHo by 3pm, then cut east to Chinatown for Nom Wah Tea Parlor on Doyers Street, where the original egg rolls have a shatteringly crisp shell that the uptown dim sum places never get right.

A few things people get wrong. The subway is not intuitive — uptown and downtown trains use separate entrances at many stations, and getting on the wrong platform means climbing back up and crossing the street. Tap your phone or bank card at the turnstile — OMNY works on every bus and train now, and the old MetroCard is being phased out. Walking distances in Manhattan are deceptive because avenues run three times longer than blocks. Budget ten minutes per twenty blocks north-south, five minutes per ten blocks east-west. Jet lag note: if you're arriving from Europe, Day 1 will feel brutal by 4pm. That's why Times Square is scheduled late — it requires zero mental energy.