NYC Most Instagrammable Places in 1 Day
Don't look any further, this is a one-day guide to capturing New York City's most Instagrammable locations without falling into tourists traps. This guide breaks down how I completed this very task myself personally and also includes a few photography & visiting tips to up your Instagram feed! 🔥
If you have the time, be sure to visit some of these locations at night when they light up with dazzling lights to create a beautiful scenery that you would not be able to see and capture during the daytime.
The main method of transportation used to get around these locations were via the MTA Subway and by short walking distances here and there.
(Optional lineups & tickets for additional amenities are available at certain locations, but who has the time & money for those tourist traps?)
1. CENTRAL PARK
Start your day off at Central Park, one of the largest and well-known parks in New York City with countless amenities and photo shoot locations for you to capture the best photographs. This park is perfect for any landscape, nature and fashion photographers. Some notable locations include: Great Lawn, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Reservoir, Bow Bridge and Bethesda Terrace.
(Photography Tip: Get up early on a weekday if you want to snap a picture under the Bethesda Terrace without any people photo-bombing your shot!)
Bethesda Fountain
The Lake
Underneath the Bethesda Terrance
Bethesda Fountain
Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Reservoir
Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Reservoir
2. HUDSON YARDS
Hudson Yards is a newly developed area in the West Side of Manhattan. It’s filled with uniquely modern designed architectural buildings and attractions for the public like the Vessel & Edge. The Vessel is an attraction modeled like a jungle gym with copper-clad stairs leading up as high as 16-stories. At the top, visitors can look out at the Hudson River and the Manhattan skyline. The Edge is also another visitor lookout attraction, however it allows visitors to look over the entire Manhattan skyline from a hundred stories above the streets of New York, almost as if you were floating in the sky with its lookout structure consisting of transparent glass panels & flooring.
(Visit Tip: Tickets must be booked to climb to the top of the Vessel & to visit the Observation Deck)
The Vessel
The Shed
3. HIGH LINE PARK
Directly connected to the Hudson Yards area is the start of the High Line Trail, a 1.85 mile elevated green-way trail along 10th Street Avenue. This trail was built on the original New York Central Railroad and it features many diverse plants & flowers surrounding the trail along the way. The High Line Trail allows visitors to look over and capture the streets of New York from an elevated perspective.
4. FLAT IRON BUILDING
The Flatiron Building is one of New York City’s iconic buildings most popularly shown in TV Shows, movies, photographs and videos to represent New York. It is deemed one of the most quintessential buildings of New York due to its unique triangular lot fitting perfectly between 5th Avenue, Broadway and East 22nd Street. As a content creator from Toronto, there is also a building named the Flatiron Building (aka Gooderham Building) in Toronto that looks identical to New York’s. However, the scale is smaller and the materials used in its construction are red-bricks, but nevertheless it is also a great iconic building that represents Toronto, just like New York’s. Right next to the Flatiron Building is Eataly NYC, a renowned Italian supermarket & restaurant.
(Fun fact: the name ‘flatiron building’ is applied to buildings that are shaped like a flatiron.)
5. WASHINGTON SQUARE PARK
Heading south of the Flatiron Building is the next stop at Washington Square Park. Washington Square Park is another ironic location that represents New York City in pop culture as a meetup location and simply a great place to relax and sit back. The most iconic features of this park is the Washington Square Arch & the fountain that sits in the middle of the park, surrounded with benches to sit. It’s been quite the day so sit back, relax and take in the beauty of New York City all around you.
(Photography Tip: Great location to visit at night when the arch & fountain lights up!)
6. SOHO
Soho (South of Houston Street) is a neighborhood in Manhattan that’s known for its high-end retail stores and the architecture of the buildings in the area. Many of these buildings consist of elegant cast-iron facades with cobblestone streets paving its way between them. This unique scenery is popular for various fashion photo shoots and commercials.
7. WORLD TRADE CENTER
As we make our way to Lower Manhattan, our first stop is at the One World Trade Center and the 9/11 Memorial. The One World Trade Center is a modern uniquely designed tower in replacement of the original twin towers. It reaches a total height of 541m and there is an observation deck available to the public (tickets and booking required). The 9/11 Memorial features two man-made waterfalls that covers the exact location & footprints of the original Twin Towers. Running along the waterfall side are the names of the victims in the 9/11 attack.
8. OCULUS
Just a few steps away from the One World Trade Center is the Oculus, the transportation hub that services the One World Trade Center area. The Oculus is also a shopping mall to the public. The Oculus has a unique design that features ‘wings’ that spread out from the roof to the sides and the interior & exterior finishes are completely white. There is a skylight at the top allowing natural lighting to flow into the building.
(Photography Tip: Great photograph location at night when the Oculus lights up as well.)
9. WALL ST. & NYSE
The next stop in the Lower Manhattan area is New York City’s financial district, also known as Wall Street. Most commonly known to the public is Wall Street’s big banks, investment firms and other large financial institutions that transact millions and billions of dollars internationally every day. The most iconic building in this area is the New York Stock Exchange; originally built 228 years ago in 1792. Although the New York Stock Exchange is not open to the public, it is still a great spot to stop and capture some photographs. Nearby is also the Fearless Girl and Charging Bull statue that is worth checking out.
(Photography Tip: If you wish to capture a photograph of the Raging Bull & Fearless Girl statue without people obstructing your photograph, consider waking up early on a week day to do so.)
New York Stock Exchange
Charging Bull
10. STATUE OF LIBERTY
Although personally I did not visit Liberty Island to see the Statue of Liberty up close (happily seeing it from afar), it may interest you to purchase tickets and travel there via one of the tour boat companies at Battery Park. Keep in mind the time it takes to travel to and from the island if you want to hit up other places on this list before the sun sets. This warps up our time in Manhattan.
(Photography Tip: Using a telephoto lens is the most ideal method of capturing the Statue of Liberty from afar, however it is difficult to get a decent on a bright sunny mid-afternoon day.)
11. BROOKLYN BRIDGE
The Brooklyn Bridge is the next stop, which will lead us to the Brooklyn borough. The Brooklyn Bridge was built in 1869 and serves an important connection between the Brooklyn & Manhattan that is used by commuters everyday. The Brooklyn Bridge offers visitors unobstructed views over the East River, Manhattan and Brooklyn skyline.
(Please be aware of oncoming cyclists in the bike lane on the bridge. Stick to the pedestrian side.)
12. BRIGHTON BEACH/CONEY ISLAND
This location requires a bit of travel from the Brooklyn Bridge. Take the F or Q train all the way down to Coney Island. Coney Island is the go-to summer location in New York City with its beach & boardwalk amenities + entertainment stretching across the entire neighborhood. By the time we arrived, it’s about golden hour and that provided us with the best natural golden light for our photographs. Be sure to check out all the entertainment, attractions and amenities here for some fun pics!
13. DUMBO/BROOKLYN BRIDGE PARK
Take the F Train back to York Street Subway Station. This brings us to DUMBO & Brooklyn Bridge Park for our sunset photo shoot location. DUMBO is one of the most Instagramed locations in New York City. The cobblestone streets leads right up to the Brooklyn Bridge and underneath the bridge’s arch is a view of the Empire State Building. This is a must-have shot. Brooklyn Bridge Park will allow you go right up to the East River with no viewing obstructions of the Manhattan skyline. I shot my photographs & time lapses at Pebble Beach in the park.
(Visit Tip: The location underneath the Brooklyn Bridge is on Washington Street. Please be aware this is an active one-way street with cars passing by.)
(Photography Tip: Setup a tripod and capture a holy grail time-lapse of the sun setting. You do not want to miss this!)
14. TIMES SQUARE
Times Square is the last stop of the day. I chose to visit Times Square at night because of the vastly different experience you get at night versus the day. At night, not only do the dazzling lights come on in the area and with the billboards, the whole city comes alive. There’s so many activities to do and photograph and experience at night that you would not be able to during the day time. Take your time exploring the area and have fun!
(Tip: Bring a tripod to capture some nice long exposure photographs and avoid the surrounding tourist traps.)
