Living in New York has given me the pleasure of enjoying all sorts of activities from every corner of the city.
Every borough has something amazing to offer, from the prospect of eating something amazing I saw on Instagram to hanging out at a lesser-known spot that caters to geeks like me. And whenever a widely celebrated holiday lands on a Friday or any day of the weekend, I can’t help but get caught up in some of the festivities tailored around it. With the 250th anniversary of America aligning perfectly with this year’s 4th of July celebration, I figured it’s time to get off the couch and bask in all the outdoors hoopla outside my comfort zone for once.
ChatGPT has become one of my most dependable chatbots for all manner of things, such as building productivity routines, generating recommendations for my hobbies & interests based on my personality and suggesting activities to enjoy while on vacation.
For my next ChatGPT session, I asked it to plan the perfect 4th of July weekend. And to my surprise, it laid out the best plans for me to enjoy that were far better than going to an average BBQ.
The prompt that helped me find everything I want to do
I already knew that heading into my latest dialogue session with ChatGPT with a simple request (“Help me plan my 4th of July weekend”) wouldn’t do me any good. So I asked ChatGPT to generate a prompt I could use that took my New York home base and desire to check out some unique activities for this year’s 4th of July jubilees.
Here’s the loaded prompt it told me to use:
I'm based in New York City and I want you to become my personal Fourth of July weekend concierge.
Plan the ultimate three-day itinerary for July 4 and July 5 that balances iconic NYC experiences with unique events that most tourists (and even many locals) don't know about.
For both days:
Start with breakfast, then morning, afternoon, evening, and late-night suggestions.
Include festivals, concerts, rooftop events, outdoor movies, food festivals, neighborhood celebrations, museums with special programming, sporting events, cruises, hidden gems, scenic walks, pop-up experiences, and anything happening only that weekend.
Prioritize experiences that are memorable rather than expensive.
Mix free activities with paid ones.
Include backup indoor options if the weather is bad.
Suggest the best times to arrive to avoid crowds.
Recommend the fastest way to travel between activities using the subway, ferry, walking, or other public transportation.
Tell me approximately how much each activity costs.
Recommend great places to eat near each activity, including one budget option and one splurge option.
Point out any reservations or tickets I should book in advance.
At the end, create four themed versions of the weekend:
1. Budget-Friendly Weekend (under $150)
2. Food Lover's Weekend
3. Hidden NYC Weekend (places locals love)
4. Bucket List Fourth of July Weekend (the experiences everyone should do at least once)
Finally, rank the Top 20 can't-miss events and experiences happening across the weekend, explaining why each one deserves a spot. If multiple events happen at the same time, recommend which one offers the better overall experience and explain why.
Two days' worth of fun for the first weekend of July
After inputting that loaded prompt into the chatbot, it laid out a wealth of general activities to enjoy and themed events that I never even knew existed.
As someone who finds the act of watching fireworks incredibly boring (I know I’m not the only one who feels that way!) and isn’t all that interested in stuffing my face at yet another annual BBQ, I took note of ChatGPT’s best suggestions and added them to my to-do list:
- July 4 (Saturday): America's Biggest Birthday Party: Because this is America's 250th birthday, New York Harbor will be unusually active with patriotic maritime events, military vessels and harbor celebrations before the evening fireworks. Explore Governors Island before it closes for fireworks operations. Highlights include hammocks, public art, hills overlooking Manhattan, lavender fields and fantastic skyline photography.
- July 5 (Sunday): Local NYC: Walk through Red Hook. Explore the Pier 44 Waterfront Garden, Erie Basin Park and Louis Valentino, Jr. Park and Pier. Each location should have very few tourists and fantastic Statue of Liberty views.
And since I’m a foodie, I made sure to add the chatbot’s budget-friendly restaurant suggestions. Heading to Liberty Bagels to try out its famous “Rainbow and Liberty Bagel with Birthday Cake Cream Cheese” (the red and blue version, obviously) on Saturday is the perfect way to ring in the 4th of July. And perusing the Time Out Market in Brooklyn on Sunday to check out some of the highly rated eateries and bars it hosts sounds like the best way to bring my weekend to an end.
Final thoughts
As someone who’s set to avoid everyone’s backyard shindig this year for the 4th of July and go out on my own, I found ChatGPT’s recommended activities for the weekend to be perfect for how I want to celebrate America’s 250th anniversary. Basking in everything Governors Island has to offer, doing the same at the Pier 44 Waterfront Garden, unhinging my jaw just to take a bite out of my meal at Liberty Bagels and ending my weekend with a delicious walk-through of the Time Out Market in Brooklyn works for me.
Follow Tom's Guide on Google News and add us as a preferred source to get our up-to-date news, analysis, and reviews in your feeds. Subscribe to Tom's Guide on YouTube and follow us on TikTok.
More from Tom’s Guide
- ChatGPT and Claude just got a powerful new scam detector — use these 10 prompts to scan emails, texts and more
- Your VPN won't stop AI companies collecting your data — here's what actually helps
- I used ChatGPT to celebrate International Joke Day — these 5 hilarious prompts had me crying with laughter
