Every postcard New York ever printed is in a thirty-minute radius of here, and most people walk it badly — queueing, doubling back, losing a morning to one elevator. This is the efficient version: the icons in a line, the interiors that are free and worth it, and Times Square done in two minutes flat.
Start under the Empire State Building rather than inside it; the setbacks read best from the street, and the deck can wait for a clear day. North to Bryant Park, where you can drag a chair onto the lawn and the New York Public Library waits behind it — go up to the Rose Main Reading Room, the quietest half-block in Midtown. Then east to Grand Central, which is the heart of the walk: the celestial ceiling, the sideways light, and the whispering gallery under the tiled arch downstairs, where a corner carries your voice to the opposite corner.
Out onto Lexington for the Chrysler spire — lobby only, but what a lobby. End by going through Times Square, not into it. Take the lights, take the steps, then keep walking east to Grand Central and the 4/5/6/7/S home.
