One Week in New York, Based on the Upper East Side: Seven Days We'd Actually Do
By The Sixty Two NYC ·
Quick answer
A week in New York is enough time to stop sprinting, and basing yourself on the Upper East Side is what makes that possible: Central Park's Fifth Avenue entrance at 60th Street is about an eight-minute walk from East 62nd Street, and the F and Q at Lexington Avenue and 63rd Street get you downtown in one ride. This seven-day plan alternates a big day with a short one: park and neighborhood first, Museum Mile second, downtown and the Brooklyn Bridge midweek, the Roosevelt Island Tram and the East River on a slow afternoon, the west side and the High Line, then a proper day off where you cook dinner in your own kitchen before a last easy morning.
Seven days is the length where New York stops being a checklist. You can take a morning off, eat in twice, and still see more than most people do in a long weekend. The trick is alternating: one big day, then a short one, and never two museums back to back.
This is written from our door on East 62nd Street, because that's the geography we know. Central Park's Fifth Avenue entrance at 60th Street is about eight minutes on foot. The F and Q at Lexington Avenue and 63rd Street are two blocks away. The Roosevelt Island Tram is a two-minute walk. That means four of these seven days start on foot rather than underground, which is the whole reason to stay up here.
Hours change constantly in this city, so check the ones that matter to you the week you're here. Everything below is arranged by walking distance and mood, not by opening times.
Day 1: Land, drop bags, walk to the park
Afternoon
Your front door, then the block
5:00pm
Central Park via Fifth Avenue at 60th Street
7:30pm
Dinner close to home
Day 2: Museum Mile, at half speed
10:00am
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Fifth Avenue at 82nd Street
1:30pm
Lunch off Madison, then the Guggenheim at 89th
4:00pm
Walk home through the park
Day 3: Downtown and the Brooklyn Bridge
9:30am
The 4 or 5 from 59th Street-Lexington Avenue
10:30am
Walk the Brooklyn Bridge to Dumbo
1:00pm
Chinatown and the Lower East Side on the way back
Day 4: The tram, the island, and the river
10:00am
Roosevelt Island Tram, Second Avenue at 59th Street
10:30am
Roosevelt Island: the promenade south to Four Freedoms Park
