Do NYC differently: The most untouristy things to do in the Big Apple

New York, New York! Located at the southern tip of New York State, on one of the world's largest natural harbours, the most populous city in the US was formed by the 1898 consolidation of its five boroughs: Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, The Bronx, and Staten Island.

The Big Apple has it all—architectural landmarks such as Grand Central Terminal, Rockefeller Centre, Chrysler Building, Flatiron Building, Woolworth Building, and the Dakota; multiple museums like the Museum of Modern Art or MoMA, Metropolitan Museum of Art, American Museum of Natural History, The Morgan Library & Museum, and the stunning Guggenheim; landmarks such as Times Square, St Patrick's Cathedral, Brooklyn Bridge, Statue of Liberty, and the 9/11 Memorial; open spaces like Central Park, Washington Square Park, and Madison Square Garden; and top restaurants like Tatiana, Semma, Gramercy Tavern, Untable, and Dhamaka.

“NYC has birthed many cultural movements, including hip-hop, hardcore, punk, some kinds of jazz, freestyle, salsa, Tin Pan Alley, the Harlem Renaissance in literature and visual art, and abstract expressionism (New York School) in painting,” says Rudy, our tour guide on a day trip, declaiming any relation to the former mayor.

Often called the “cultural capital of the world”, New York City has been the setting for numerous novels, movies, and TV programmes. Could Friends or Sex and the City have been set in any other city in the US?

We go around the routine tourist itinerary, going in and out of the Empire State Building, admiring the Fearless Girl and Charging Bull on Wall Street, and dropping into Magnolia Bakery for a slice of creamy New York Cheesecake.

“NYC is the most linguistically diverse city in the world, with as many as 800 languages spoken here,” Rudy reveals. The tourists must be adding to them, I think, as I catch sight of the many people gazing in awe at the skyscrapers that seem to kiss the blue sky.

The Big Apple’s travel and tourism sector seems to have finally rebounded from its pandemic lull.

Charles Flateman, Chairman, New York City Tourism + Conventions, in the 2023 annual report, wrote that there were 62.2 million visitors in 2023—11.6 million international and 50.6 domestic, a 9.6% increase compared to 2022.

“Indicators point to consumers continuing to prioritise travel spending, giving confidence to our projection that 2025 visitation is likely to exceed 68 million for the first time, almost two million more than our prior record,” he wrote.

Visitors to NYC typically flock to well-known attractions, be it historical, architectural, or natural.

Rudy reveals that Central Park, the “great, green heart of our city” that’s spread over 843 acres, has iconic spots like the Shakespeare Garden, the Bow Bridge, and the Bethesda Fountain, and is the “third most visited tourist attraction in the world”. 

That may be so, but a McKinsey report, NYC travel and tourism are back, reveals that visitors are now more interested in experiences, but “gone are the days when destinations could get away with offering experiences that are kitschy, overcrowded, or one-size-fits-all”.

That set me thinking on how to explore NYC in an alternative manner, on exploring non-touristy alternatives in one of the world’s most visited cities. These things to do in New York are just as memorable, far less crowded, and make for a wonderful day out. But they’ll take much more than a “New York minute”, the time between a traffic light turning green and the driver behind sounding the horn!

Explore art by Matisse and Chagall at Union Church of Pocantico Hills

The Union Church of Pocantico Hills was built in 1921 by the Rockefeller family. The simple stone country church combines spirituality and art with fine examples of modern stained-glass art: nine windows by Marc Chagall and Henri Matisse’s last commissioned work, La Rosace (the Rose Window), which brings together vivid shades of yellow, blue, and light green.

Look up at an old skybridge built to enhance shopping experiences

Retail giant Gimbel's commissioned a skybridge to provide access to its expansion space after it purchased Saks Co, so that shoppers no longer had to cross busy streets. The skybridge, suspended over 32nd Street, is three storeys tall and features an Art Deco copper facade that has oxidised into a vibrant green. Built in 1925, the bridge, which features wall-to-wall windows, has been called “the Chartres of aerial tunnelry” and designed by architectural firm Shreve and Lamb.

Explore the mysterious catacombs of St Patrick's Old Cathedral

St Patrick's Old Cathedral is the first Catholic Cathedral of the Archdiocese of New York, and the 80-minute Catacombs by Candlelight Tour spotlights the rich history and spirituality hidden beneath the basilica. The catacombs, the largest example of underground tombs in the US, have served as the final resting place for some of the most influential figures in American history for the last 200 years. Learn about the mysterious catacombs, the ancient walled cemeteries, the Gangs of New York, and New York immigration history—all through the lens of early Catholics.

Enjoy tasty treasures at the oldest family-run luncheonette in NYC

Vintage cola bottles in the window, a 1940 Hamilton Beach mixer, original coffee urns, and memorabilia on the walls. Founded in 1925, Lexington Candy Shop harks back to a time when soda fountains and luncheonettes were commonplace. Choose from old-style egg cream (a milky chocolate soda), malted milkshakes, and tuna melts. Don’t miss Coca-Cola made the old-fashioned way —by mixing Coca-Cola syrup and seltzer water, topped with a scoop of ice cream.

Take a luxurious restroom break at the ‘Tiffany’s of public restrooms’

Who said public bathrooms had to have dirty floors, soiled walls, stinky toilets? A Beaux-Arts building in Bryant Park, cushioned between Midtown skyscrapers, hides an unexpected secret—tiny luxury toilets funded by private donors. The lines can get pretty long but you see why once you are in: fresh flowers, artwork, curated classical music, and bathroom attendants! And, oh, the toilets, sinks, and other fixtures are the same brand as the ones installed at MoMA!

Revisit the Titanic tragedy at the dock where survivors trooped in

White Star ocean liner RMS Titanic struck an iceberg on its way to New York in the early hours of April 15, 1912. The unsinkable ship went down, and survivors from the disaster arrived in New York on board the RMS Carpathia. But they didn’t get off where they had expected to. Titanic’s final destination was to be Pier 59, but survivors got off at Pier 54, one of the many piers along the Hudson River that catered to the huge Atlantic liners of the early 20th century. Today, the dock has been developed into Little Island, a recreational destination.

Drinks and dinner at a restaurant in an old Wall Street bank vault

In the heart of Downtown Manhattan is Trinity Place, a restaurant and bar built inside a turn-of-the-century Wall Street bank vault. Advertised as the world’s largest and strongest bank vault in 1904, it was commissioned by Andrew Carnegie, the Scottish-American industrialist and philanthropist who led the expansion of the American steel industry in the late 19th century.

What else can you do?

There’s plenty more that you can do to view NYC through an alternate lens: eat your way through a Jewish food tour; share a secret at Grand Central Whispering Gallery; visit the tiny “Mmuseumm” housed in a New York freight elevator that specialises in the “overlooked, dismissed, or ignored”; visit the Museum of Sex or New York Transit Museum; discover the eerie charm of Woodlawn Cemetery; and explore the hidden treasures of Central Park.

A drink at Le Boudoir, a Marie Antoinette–themed speakeasy in an abandoned 19th century subway tunnel, will make it easier to let your dress fly up at Marilyn Monroe's Subway Grate or visit the Hangman's Elm, the oldest living tree in Manhattan that’s shrouded in ominous legend.

The New York City Police Museum will tell you all about NYC’s most notorious criminals. Check that you’re on time at Bomelstein's Jewellers Clock, the only surviving sidewalk clock in Brooklyn, and head to Queens Museum to cop a look at the world’s largest collection of Tiffany glass, the Neustadt Collection of Tiffany Glass.

The Roosevelt Island Lighthouse in Manhattan was built by deranged inmates of a nearby asylum and has an eerie appeal. Take a photo at Hess Triangle, New York City's smallest piece of private property, and end your day with a coffee at Russian and Turkish Baths Cafe, a century old bathhouse, or Caffe Reggio, the historic cafe that introduced cappuccinos to the city in 1927.