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A Lovely Day · 8 stops · about 5 km on foot

A Lovely Day in Midtown

A liège waffle beside Bryant Park's lawn, 42nd Street from the Tudor City bridge, Pierpont Morgan's library, tonkotsu on a Garment District side street, an afternoon in the park's green chairs, sunset from the open-air top of 30 Rock, the Frenchette team's brasserie downstairs, then a nightcap in a financier's palazzo inside Grand Central.

Best days Go Tuesday to Saturday: the Morgan is closed on Mondays and Le Rock is closed on Sundays. Book a timed Top of the Rock ticket for about an hour before sunset and reserve Le Rock ahead. The Wafels & Dinges kiosk's hours vary by day, so check before an early start.

  1. 18:45 AM

    MIDTOWN, MANHATTAN

    Wafels & Dinges (Bryant Park)

    The yellow truck that brought Belgian waffles to New York now keeps a kiosk on the Sixth Avenue side of Bryant Park; order the liège wafel with spekuloos spread and eat it on a green chair facing the lawn.

  2. about 16 min on foot

    29:45 AM
    The view west down tree-lined East 42nd Street from the Tudor City Place overpass

    MIDTOWN, MANHATTAN

    Tudor City Overpass

    Walk east along 42nd Street past Grand Central to where Tudor City Place crosses it on a small stone bridge; from the railing the street runs west in one straight line with the Chrysler Building on your left, the view photographers crowd for Manhattanhenge.

  3. about 14 min on foot

    310:45 AM
    The East Room of J. P. Morgan's library: three tiers of walnut bookcases rising to a painted, gilded ceiling

    MIDTOWN, MANHATTAN

    The Morgan Library & Museum

    Pierpont Morgan's 1906 marble library by Charles McKim holds his red-damasked study and the East Room, three tiers of bookcases under a painted ceiling with Gutenberg Bibles; Renzo Piano's glass court ties the old rooms together.

  4. about 5 min on foot

    412:45 PM
    Tonchin's tonkotsu ramen from above, with chashu, a soft egg, nori and scallions

    MIDTOWN, MANHATTAN

    Tonchin

    A sit-down ramen house with a Michelin Bib Gourmand on a side street near Herald Square; share the seared pork-and-ginger gyoza and the steamed buns, then order your own tonkotsu.

  5. about 6 min on foot

    52:30 PM
    Bryant Park's lawn and plane-tree allées with midtown towers rising on all sides

    MIDTOWN, MANHATTAN

    Bryant Park

    Nine acres of French formal garden on top of the library's underground stacks, furnished with thousands of movable green chairs; pull two into the plane-tree allées, or join the daily chess and pétanque.

  6. about 12 min on foot

    6About an hour before sunset
    View south from Top of the Rock with the Empire State Building centered in the skyline

    MIDTOWN, MANHATTAN

    Top of the Rock

    The decks on the 67th through 70th floors of 30 Rockefeller Plaza put the Empire State Building alone to the south and Central Park whole to the north; the top level has no glass at all, so stay from daylight through the lights coming on.

  7. about 2 min on foot

    77:15 PM

    MIDTOWN, MANHATTAN

    Le Rock

    The Frenchette team's brasserie fills a grand Art Deco space on the ground floor of Rockefeller Center, two minutes from the deck; order the bison au poivre and finish with profiteroles under buckwheat honey fudge.

  8. about 10 min on foot

    89:15 PM
    The Campbell's lofty bar in Grand Central: leaded windows glowing behind the back bar, a painted beamed ceiling and red lanterns

    MIDTOWN, MANHATTAN

    The Campbell

    Jazz Age financier John W. Campbell kept his private office here, built like a Florentine palazzo hall with a hand-painted timber ceiling and a huge leaded-glass window; order something stirred and sit where you can see the window.

More lovely days

A Lovely Day in the West Village7 stops →A Lovely Day in Williamsburg7 stops →A Lovely Day on the Lower East Side & Chinatown7 stops →A Lovely Day on the Upper West Side & Central Park7 stops →A Lovely Day in the East Village8 stops →A Lovely Day in Greenpoint7 stops →A Lovely Day in Astoria7 stops →A Lovely Day in the Bronx7 stops →