paulg

Hi, we will be visiting NYC 6/26-7/3 for the fist time as a family (me, wife, 14 yo daughter, 9 yo son) and I wanted to run our initial itinerary by everyone to get feedback. Since it is our first time for the whole family, we'll be doing all of the touristy stuff and using a CityPass for much of it. Feel free to rip into it as much as you want ... I am looking for glaring holes or weaknesses in it in terms of activities (too much, too little, missing something we should see), locations (are we moving around too much), and timing (good or bad day/time for certain activities). We are staying Midtown in a hotel at 55th and 6th (great location it seems!).

Fri 6/26 - arrive late afternoon; free night at the MOMA
Sat 6/27 - Empire State Bldg (CityPass); NYC Library; Grand Central Terminal; Times Sq
Sun 6/28 - Central Park; maybe Top of the Rock (CityPass); Harbor night Lights cruise (CityPass)
Mon 6/29 - Natural Museum of History (CityPass);The Met (CityPass); more Central Park
Tues 6/30 - Statue of Liberty (already booked for early morning); Chinatown lunch; 9/11 Memorial (CityPass)
Wed 7/1 - open morning; afternoon Broadway show (Aladdin, already booked); Times Sq
Thurs 7/2 - Open day so far, maybe Top of the Rock, maybe Coney Island, any other suggestions.
Fri 7/3 - leave town

Of course there will be filler stuff in there like eating at famous or recommended places, walking around, shopping, etc.

Thanks for any feedback!

IMDonehere

For the cheapest lunch you will have in NY go to Jing Fing for dim sum lunch and then onto Chinatown Ice Cream factory.

Skip the harbor cruise and go to the Brooklyn Heights Promenade for the best view of the City.

rncheryl

Had you thought about Ellis Island? Seems like your kids are of an age to enjoy it, especially if you do some preliminary reading about it

SueNYC

If MOMA is on your City Pass do it any time but Free Friday -- aka hi kids welcome to NYC lets all stand in line for an hour to go into a crowded zoo -- or at least have a plan B like the Met which is also open late in case I am right about what I just said.

On Saturday maybe go over to Brooklyn for Smorgasburg and walk back on the bridge.

Have fun whatever you do...

A Guide Named Sue

nytraveler

For info on Central Park go to the web site of the Centrl Park Conservancy. It has not only a complete map of walking paths (bikes no good - limited to the one road in the park) anda complete list of the specific sights you want to see.

Do the same for the Met and Natural History - pick out departments you want to see otherwise you could be in each place for a couple of days. I think it's a mistake to try to see both in one day. I would move things around so you don;t get museumed out - since both re enormous.

You will want to do Ellis Island with SoL - since the ferry takes you there automatically. You need to allow about 5 hours for the whole trip including the 3 ferries.

Do not miss the Staten Island ferry. Free and runs across the harbor every 20 minutes or so. Take a trip timed to see the city lights on the way back across the harbor. The round trip will take a little more than an hour.

Coney Island is a long trip -more than an hour on the subway and the beach is mobbed. the amusement area is more traditional than modern - I would look at other choices unless you really want to see the aquarium.

Part of the joy of NYC is exploring cute neighborhoods on foot and having lunch or dinner in a couple of the hundreds of outdoor cafes. Also, take this opportunity to try some cuisines you may not have easy access to at home - there is everything you can imagine. And whatever you do don;t g to any of the chain restaurants - the food is the same awful micro nuked fre you get at the local mall but the prices are MUCH higher. Go to real local places with fresh food.

Have a look at Greenwich Village, the East Village, the upper west side (perhaps get picnic fare at Zabars and eat in the park) and perhaps SoHo or Chelsea.

Also be sure the kids are involved in decisions - so you get maximum enthusiasm and don't miss things they might really love.

paulg

Thanks to you all for the replies so far.

IMDonehere, why do you recommend to skip the harbor cruise?

mcheryl, sorry, I should have said SoL and Ellis Island ... yes, we are doing both, so an all morning activity since we are starting around 7-8am.

SueNYC, thanks for the suggestion about Brooklyn ... I'll look into that. As for MOMA, to be honest we are not big fans of modern art, so we will not go out of our way to pay for it or see it. However, since it is very close to our hotel, and my wife has been to it and got some good laughs out of it, we figured we'd just hit it for a short while on our first night for free. But surely if it is unbearably crowded we'll look elsewhere.

nytraveler, thanks for all of the great tips. Sounds like Coney Island might not be worth it (it was more just to say we had been there), so we'll figure out something else. We figured the same thing about the Met and Nat Hist Museum, so we are thinking to play it by ear and maybe push one of them to Thursday so that we split up the museum trips.

Keep it coming if anyone has more.

Thanks!

IMDonehere

There dull as can be and you can see the city for free on the ferry or linger on the Promenade.

Try to go to Lombari's for pizzas, one pie for the family.

If you are on the Lower East Side try Economy Candy, they sell every brand imaginable plus some other stuff at about 1/3 the price of Dylan's.

Get the kids a donut at Donut Plant, there are a fe around the city now and a genuine NY bagel. There are many places Murrays. Ess-A-Bagel, Tal's, David's just don't get one at pushcart or a deli.

emd3

Have you thought about the Tenement Museum in Lower East Side? they have a tour led by a teenage girl who is dressed as and stays in character as the daughter in the Confino family that lived in the Tenement that is toured. Your kids would appreciate that I think. We did it with our kids at ages 10 and 13 and they really liked it and learned a lot too.

If you do go to the Tenement museum for one of their tours, Economy Candu is a few blocks away, and I second the rec for Economy over Dylan. Economy is very fun and has a lot of nostalgic candy that you dont see anywhere else anymore. You acn show your kids what you had as a kid...

There is a nice Groupon right now that we just used last weekend in NYC that you may want to look into. It is for a picnic lunch that you order and pick up to go for 2 or 4 people at a nice restaurant called Paparadelle just two short blocks from the 77th st entrance to Central Park. If you plan to see the John Lennon Imagine at Strawberry fields in the Park, the 77th St entrance is where you would enter. The picnic lunch is ordered online with the Groupon. It was great, we picked ours up at noon, walked a short way, and had a great picnic in the park. They give you a picnic tablecloth for the ground, a great panini sandwich person ( either procuitto and fresh mozarella w tomato or a veggie one), very good size pasta salad, large antipasto plate w bread, olives, artchokes, cheeses, meats, bottle of water, and dessert lemon bar. Very good and very good deal.

LeslieC

We thoroughly enjoyed the Circle Line boat ride - just the south half of the island. No need to take the full circle.

What, no Broadway shows? I'm sure you could find one even the 9 y/old would enjoy. At least go see Times Square at night.

Consider dinner in Little Italy in a sidewalk café. Much nicer than Chinatown.

When you go to the NY Public Library, also walk Bryant Park just behind it.

Are your kids too young to see the NY Stock Exchange, 9/11 Memorial, United Nations?

lcuy

I'd also recommend the tenement museum.

nytraveler

The only problem with the Tenement Museums is that it is SO realistic - meaning no AC - and it can be sweltering in the summer. And since you need advance tickets you don;t get to pick a cooler day (today will be 88 and humid).

I think it's a great place - but not in summer.

NeoPatrick

"What, no Broadway shows? I'm sure you could find one even the 9 y/old would enjoy. At least go see Times Square at night."

Umm, LeslieC, you must have skipped over the part where the OP said they already have tickets for Aladdin!



The worst thing I ever did in New York was to take the full circle cruise -- I thought it would never end and wanted to just jump off and swim to shore to escape it, but just a harbor cruise or lower Manhattan cruise -- not so bad, so long as you don't do one of those horrible "dinner cruises".

IMDonehere

There are few good restaurants in the ever disappearing Little Italy. One place that is good and relatively inexpensive and appropriate for the kids is called Parm. It is often very crowded, however.

4sammy

I'm wavering on whether or not to suggest the Tenement Museum. I absolutely loved it and I am not one that really enjoys museums in general. I wasn't there in summer though, so the A/C may be an issue as others have noted.


If you have time - I highly recommend the Greenwich Village food and culture tour! GREAT food and interesting culture tidbits. The kids will love references to local celebrities that live in the area and movies / shows that were filmed (or at least based) there. It is a 3 hour chunk of a day but it is a draw to the Village and nobody would need to eat lunch after that.

bspielman

If you are interested in nothing else at MoMA, you should try to see "One-Way Ticket: Jacob Lawrence's Migration Series and Other Works." The migration series is an assemblage of 60 tempura panels Jacob Lawrence painted in 1941 depicting the black migration northward. This is the first time in many years that all 60 have been shown together. Lawrence wrote brief comments for each panel, and later revised them. Both versions are displayed, most prominently on a bank of computer monitors placed in the middle of the room on whose four walls the 60 images are hung in sequence.

Just outside the room housing the paintings, there is an examination of the music of the era by black artists like Billie Holiday, Louis Armstrong, Count Basie, "Fats" Waller and others. A special niche is set aside to depict Marian Anderson's famous recital at the Lincoln Memorial, arranged by Eleanor Roosevelt after Anderson had been banned from performing in Constitution Hall by the DAR because of her race.

The paintings are a simple, yet powerful statement; the accompanying music, a real enhancement. Try to see this.

plambers

Don't do both museums in one day. too much for kids. Bronx zoo should be on agenda too. How about a walk over the Brooklyn Bridge?

plambers

how about a baseball game with either mets or yanks?

paulg

Thanks for all of the suggestions and ideas. There are too many to address individually now, so I'll just say that I'm taking them all into consideration. I will address the baseball game, though. I'd certainly be interested, but the family not so much. Besides, I'll be seeing a game in Cleveland the following week at my old hometown ballpark. The rock band Rush is playing MSG that week as well, and I'm a huge fan, but that show in NY is a bit pricey and I've already seen them on this tour.

One more quick question since a co-worker of mine suggested it. Any thoughts on Highline Park? He really liked it.

paulg

Oh one other thing, Chinatown is definitely on the agenda as my wife is Chinese so we hit every Chinatown in the U.S., but certainly other food (like in Little Italy) will be explored. What's the best bakery for Canoles? I get them every time we go to Cleveland or Boston, so I want to compare a NY canole.

IMDonehere

I prefer the cannoli at Veniero's. Ferrara's in Little Italy is better known but the quality is not.

If you wife is Chinese, please go to Jing Fong for dim sum during the week. It is a zoo on weekends. There are few concessions to American tastes. The Manhattan Chinatown has expanded greatly since the Chinese took over Hong Kong. That is why Little Italy is disappearing, Chinatown from the south and the tragically hip from the north.

Since you are going to be here for a week, one day you should take the number 7 train to Queens and get off at the last stop Flushing Main Street. It is the heart of the Chinese community in Queens with more Mandaran and Cantonese spoken than English. There are approximately 400,000 Chinese in Queens alone.