You will have a blast with the right attitude, footwear, and outwear. Hoboken itself is pretty enjoyable. There are some good tips here about low cost activities. Do your homework and be flexible. Part of the fun is just being there !

If you get lucky with the weather, the Staten Island Ferry (free) is a great way to see the Statue of Liberty and the lower Manhattan skyline. Walking across the Brooklyn Bridge is a good outing, too, or along the High Line. But none of these is fun if it’s super cold or windy or wet.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is Bryant park Christmas market still open? Maybe ice skating and a hot chocolate.

Not in mid/late Jan. It ends today. Its really a bad time to go to NYC TBH. None of the markets, holiday storefronts, etc.

I’m in NYC now visiting and this is still open

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is Bryant park Christmas market still open? Maybe ice skating and a hot chocolate.

Not in mid/late Jan. It ends today. Its really a bad time to go to NYC TBH. None of the markets, holiday storefronts, etc.

NP. I think it’s a great time— we went last January & are going again this month. This doesn’t affect OP, but hotels & Amtrak tickets are a lot cheaper in January, and things are less crowded.

OP, the Guggenheim is pay what you wish after 5 pm on Saturdays. The statue of library is around $25/person but likely already booked up. I believe the Staten Island Ferry is free. All the stores in Times Square can be fun to walk through. Walk the Brooklyn Bridge and see Castle Clinton and Grant’s Tomb and the 9/11 Memorial.

Highly recommend the Big Onion Walking Tours. We did the Central Park one with our teens a few years ago, and they loved it.

https://www.bigonion.com/

I think the MOMA is free on Friday nights, or at least it used to be. You can go to the 9/11 memorial. If it's a nice day, walk part of the High line

There are lots of museums that are free certain days or have pay as you wish:

https://www.allarts.org/2023/06/free-pay-what-you-wish-museum-days-nyc/

There are many affordable eats:
https://ny.eater.com/maps/best-inexpensive-affordable-restaurants-food-nyc
https://www.timeout.com/newyork/restaurants/best-cheap-eats-in-nyc

So many wonderful walks in the city, including Central Park, Greenwich Village, Chinatown and Little Italy, etc.

Here are tours that are pay as you wish:
https://freetoursbyfoot.com/new-york-tours/

This lists discount tickets for theater, comedy, and events, you can sort by price:
https://www.todaytix.com/nyc/category/all-shows

Here is a guide to free events for each day:
https://www.clubfreetime.com/new-york-city-nyc/free-events-things-to-do/today/activities

Anonymous wrote:Restaurant week is Jan 16-Feb 4. Take advantage of it. List of participating restaurants should be out soon. There may be some restaurants participating in Brooklyn, too.

If you're going from Jan 16 on it’s also Broadway week (ignore “week” it’s actually weeks). Tickets are buy one get 1 free. https://loving-newyork.com/nyc-broadway-week/

Plus a whole lot of other perks going on durin restaurant week. https://loving-newyork.com/things-to-do-january/#growMeRecommId=2f98a463d51751c673b97bdf1de1a9e9&growSource=recs&growReferrer=true

Just to elaborate..there is a difference between the Staten Island Ferry (public transport) and the pre-bookable paid National Park Service concessionnaire cruises to Liberty Island/Ellis Island.

Might consider visiting Fraunces Tavern for a meal and maybe see the little museum on site for extra charge. My family went for lunch in August. I think a lunch and four admissions would about fit in your splurge. We did like our meals.

We enjoyed the nearly new Hotel Indigo Financial District at 50 Trinity Place. Price was really good for how clean and new it was.

We brought some groceries and bought some nearby to save money on breakfast so we could splurge elsewhere.

The Financial District is near the Staten Island Ferry which offers a free short cruise that gives a view of Liberty Island.

On Broadway, Harry Potter has good special effects and many people enjoy it as long as they know the stories. It has a lottery for cheap tickets. So does Wicked. And Lion King. I did not luck out but you might. However, these might only allow two tickets to be purchased. In the past I have done Off-Broadway to save money...

I've also been to the FIT museum and enjoyed it.

For future trips, consider arranging a free walking tour with a local through Big Apple Greeters (requires a month of lead time). I did a tour like that in Paris last year and it was very fun. I've never planned far enough ahead to do it in NYC.

AirBnB Experiences might have something of interest....