A week in NYC with 3 teenagers
 

It is our first trip to NYC with our 3 teenagers. I would love suggestions for hotels that would work well for our family of 5. We will be in NYC in June for 5-6 days and will probably need two rooms or suite. A central location and near a metro will be best to reduce cab fare. Give me any "don't miss" suggestions. What plays do you think older teenagers would enjoy most? Thanks so much.

For more space you can tr Radio City Apartments (very basic but clean and in a good ocations). for more moderate try the affinia group of hotels - has several different hotels with a wide variety of room arrangements.

As for older teens - they're underage for most nightlife - but you can do some comedy clubs and restaurants with music. They will probably want to explore trendy downtown areas for shopping and restaurants of the moment.

Other than that - I would assume the same high spots as adults:

Top of the Rock
the Met
MoMa
Central Park
at least one Broadway show (go to broadwaybox.com in advance to get discounted tickets)
Ellis Island Immigration Museum
Natural History Museum

Be sure to spend one or two evenings in residential areas (Village, East Village, Upper WEst Side) to see how the locals live (dinner in a sidewalk cafe for people watching, late shopping/window shopping - many places open until 10 or 12)

If you tell us about any special interests there will be unique activities in NYC to fit.

I took my two teen nieces to NYC in October. In addition to many of nytraveler's suggestions, they enjoyed taking a water taxi to Grimaldi's in Brooklyn for pizza and walking back into the city across the Brooklyn Bridge.

I would definitely include walking around/dining in the East Village (St Mark's Place), the Village and Soho. Soak up the local color. My sons enjoyed the 'Farnsworth Invention', but most visitors want to see a musical. Besides the subway, try to walk around a lot - the weather should be great. Also Chinatown, although very commercial, can be fun if they've never visited an area like that.

To luvtravl:

Where does one catch the water taxi to Grimaldi's in Brooklyn?

Thanks.

The 1 stop trip from NYC to Brooklyn on the nywatertaxi.com is at the South STreet Seaport. In season (May 1- mid Oct.) the Nywatertaxi.com also does a hop on/off ticket that's great.

For hotels, there are now quite a few suite hotels that offer apt. style accomdation. Since you use the term metro (what we have is a subway ;) I'm thinking you might be from the UK. There's a London agency www.apartments2book.com that has contracts with many of the suite hotels and sometimes has better prices. If you want to check prices, here's a list of the apts2book hotels

1=Affinia 50
2=Affinia Manhattan
3 San Carlos
4-Best Western Hospitality
5=the Blakely
6=the Belvedere
7=Radio City apts.
8=Eastgate Tower
9=Murray Hill East Suites
10=Milburn
11=Beacon
12=Lucerne
16=Benjamin
18= 46th b/w 2nd & 3rd
19=the Larchmont (not suites)
20=Riverside Towers (terrible)
27=the Manhattan Club
29=Elysee
30=the Buckingham
34=Bedford

The Salisbury (nycsalisbury.com) is not on that list and is another very popular suite hotel centrally located but a bit dated in decor. Rooms are very large though. The Courtyard Marriott East Side also has some good sized rooms with 2 queen beds and a sofabed.

For shows, Spring Awakening has been a popular newer show about teen angst. Rent is always well liked by teens. If the teens are Monty Python fans, Spamalot is a good option and for girls, Legally Blonde, Zanadu, Mama Mia. Some of these can be found on discount on broadwaybox.com

For any Sex and the City fans, there's a tour that hits some of the spots from the show and another that's a more general tv/movie locations in NYC. Both are done by the co. screentours.com

http://www.cafewha.com/ is a good music/comedy club for teens/family.

If they are sports fans, check to see if the Yankees or Mets are home the time you are there. Should plan ahead for tickets as they are in the final year at their respective stadiums.

We liked the Embassy Suites for our family of 4. It is down by Wall Street, the Statue of Liberty, and ground zero. It's a good value, especially since it includes an excellent hot and cold breakfast buffet. It may not be centrally located, but we walked from there to Greenwich, Soho, even Central Park. Only took cabs home at night. But we like to walk!
:)>-

This weekend my 13 yr old daughter and I saw "Legally Blonde" which was great, esp if your teens are girls. We also saw "Is He Dead" which was HILARIOUS! Everyone in the theatre - old, young, male, female - was in stitches!! Her favorite spot was Central Park - she LOVED the zoo there, as did I. At the AMNH we did the Hall of Ocean Life - loved it. Canal Street and Soho were great. She also loved Times Square at night and Top of the Rock. SHe would've loved to do the NBC Studio tour had we had more time. We took the subway everywhere, so easy to get around.

I am taking my daughter to NYC next weekend for her 15th birthday and to see RENT since we haven't seen it and it is closing 6/1. I had not heard about "Is He Dead"- that looks perfect for our 2nd night. Thanks for the tip.

Not sure how "older" your teens are or how you'd feel about some of the content, but I took my son, who was 15 at the time, to see Avenue Q and we both loved it.

emd - you and your daughter will love "Rent" - I've seen it twice, second time with my 13 year old. She loved it. I think you will love "Is He Dead?" - the first 10 to 15 minutes are a little slow (still funny) but then it's just hilarious!!

If you're a family with a music lover or two I'd check out the schedule for the free outdoor shows (many in Central Park) offered through Summerstage when it comes out (it's not up yet). Summerstage typically starts the first week of June... I think.
http://www.summerstage.org/index.aspx?lobid=854