16th birthday in new york!!?

What a great idea for a Sweet 16.

Here is what I would suggest. Say you get in on a Friday evening. Once you have settled into your hotel ( I like the palace hotel best) Go out for dinner in Midtown.

Then on Saturday I would start with a nice cafe breakfast before going for a morning of shopping on fifth avenue. After that you could spend the afternoon being pampered in a great day spa, getting a massage and your hair done etc. I would reccomend the Mandarin Oriental spa or the Elizabeth Arden spa.

In the evening go out to a nice restaurant and then to a evening performance on broadway looking great from your spa trip. I would then take the night ride up the empire state building.

On the Sunday Morning you could see a few more tourists attractions such as the Brooklyn Bridge, catch the Staten Island ferry, Visit the MET etc. Then I would do some more shopping and have an afternoon snack at Serendipity's for frozen hot chocolates (this is a must). Before going home.

One other thing that I would highly reccomend is a helicopter ride around the city. It is great but expensive.

One other thing that you might want to fit in is get a professional photograher to take photos of you and your friend in Central park when you have been to the spa and look fabulous. It will be great to remember and you will have them as a memory.

I hope you have fun, I love hearing of 16 year olds having birthdays like this rather than a trashy drunken house party.

Good Luck.

What shows will be on Broadway next August is impossible to say. Start looking around April. You can buy tickets online. Or you can buy tickets there - there's an place on a traffic island just north of Times Square that sells tickets at reduced prices for current performances (buy the ticket, go into the show that day). Eat on Broadway - lots of places.

Go to the Empire State Building (lots of waits and crowds if you go to the observatory), then window-shop on 5th Avenue (the east side of the building is on 5th). Mostly overpriced junk, but everyone - even natives, look. And there a couple of nice buffets in the area for a nice lunch.

Museums. If you're interested, pick a category - art, science, textiles, money - there's probably a museum for it. Check with a few of them (nyc museum in a search engine will give you lots of links) to see what's going to be there in August.

And street entertainment. Musicians, dancers, mimes, you name it. Stuff you just will not see anywhere else (I watched a Peruvian Andes Indian group playing reed whistles on a street corner for about an hour - then bought a few of their CDs. They were great. Didn't speak a word of English, though. Lots of gesturing and fingers for numbers.) You can just stand in one spot in the street in midtown (stay near the building, so you aren't in anyone's way) and be entertained all afternoon.

Go to the Carnegie Deli, get the apple pie and share it with 3 people (it's huge), get a chocolate egg cream

Broadway (expensive and crowded, but all tourists want to see it)

Times Square

UniQlo (Huge cheap Japanese H&M- it's amazing)

Window shop at Madison Avenue

Walk around at Park Avenue

Museum of Natural History

Yankee Stadium

FAO Shwartz

The Toys R Us in Times Square

Lord and Taylor

The huge H&M on 32nd street

The big library on 33nd street

Macy's

Bloomingdale's

Daffty's

MoMA

Guggenheim museum

Central Park

Walk across the Brooklyn Bridge

Empire State Building

M&M World

Dylan's Candy Bar (a MUST!)

Chrysler Building

Urban Outfitters

World Trade Center grounds

Wax Museum

Bronx Zoo

Statue of Liberty

Greenwood Cemetary

Coney Island (Nathan's, the Cyclone, Wonder Wheel, etc.)

Greenwood Cemetary

Prospect Park

Shopping! (Brooklyn's Park Slope's 5th avenue, lot of botiques)

Alba (used to be Villabote)

Mona Lisa's

Brighton Beach

Check the dates for concerts and Broadway shows in about May.

There's a lot of free/cheap concerts in Prospect and Central Park-- well known bands, like MGMT, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, etc.

Definitely go to Brooklyn! I live in Brooklyn, filled with culture and all kinds of stuff.

You should go to Times Square!! I've always wanted to go...I would go to the studio where TRL is filmed...there are always celebs there.....:)

google it