I am living for a year in New York. I attend classes in the week and plan to see the city over the weekends. I have a husband and a 3 and 6 year old. Money is tight. Any ideas what we should see, and when should we do what? Better seasons for some sights??? cool cheap and free walking tours. We cook and eat at home, but are there any cheapish restaurant we should not miss???

Anneke

Where to begin??? nymag.com/cheap is NY magazine's guide for budget everything. It includes info on free walking tours here
http://nymag.com/guides/cheap/walkingtours/

gocitykids.com is a great website for things for kids in NYC. It has searches by age, by type of activity etc.

Last night we attended a reading by an incredible writer Junot Diaz. Barnes and Noble offers many such evenings in various stores.

Time Out NY and the Village Voice have listings of scores of free events, so you can choose what you like.


The following are restaurants that we have eaten in at least twice each and most many more times.
Indian-Brick Lane-Banjara, Mitali, Brick Lane

Inexpensive Italian- La Marca (3rd Ave. and 22 Street, only opened noon-10 PM, Mon-Fri)

Medium priced Italian- Cacio e Pepe, Gnocco, Supper, Luzzos (this started as a neighborhood place and has grown into a destination restaurant)

Expensive Italian- I Coppi (For dinner But great brunch pre-fixe

Inexpensive Eastern European- Veselka

Very Inexpensive Filipino-Elvie's

French Bistro-Cafe Deville, Casimir, Flea market (for atmosphere)

Greek-Pylos

Tapas-Xunta. Secretes (more expensive), Bar Carrera, Café Mono (more expensive)

Dessert-Veniero's, DeRobertis for the frozen lemon thing and tortonis. Cones for home made ice cream, way over on Bleecker

Bagels-(Not East Village) Ess-a-Bagel

Brunches-Five Points, Zoe's, Blue Ribbon Bakery, Turkish Kitchen (delectable buffet at a reasonable price.) City Bakery (18th off 5th), Cafecito (Ave C), Clinton Street Bakery ,9th St. Market, small and impossible to get into.

Pizza-Lombardi's Totonno’s (2nd and 26th.) Pizza Fresca

Hole in the wall-Stage (next to Stomp) great cheap home made soups

French fires-Pomme Frites

Bakery where the people have gotten nicer Moishe-wonderful challah, black and whites, kickel, and sponge cake-

Noodles and dumplings-Momofuku , (we were not impressed with dimpling man on St. Marks.)

Seafood-Mermaid Inn

Thai-Pong Sri (there are few around the city) Friends House 2 (on 14th)

Ice Cream-Cones on Bleecker, Australia, Il Laboratorio de Gelato

Children's Museum of Manhattan on West 83 St should be perfect for your kids, although, my daughter is now 11, so it's been some time since I've been there. The Bronx Zoo is excellent, plan on spending an entire day there. The Central Park Zoo is fun. The NY Aquarium in Brooklyn is also great. It may be worthwhile to buy a one year family membership which includes unlimited admission to all three. Take the Staten Island ferry to get a close up view of the Statue of Liberty.

Christmas time on Fifth Ave is a must. The department stores have amazing window displays. The Christmas tree at Rockefeller Center is beautiful and you can watch the ice skaters below, however, to actually skate there is somewhat expensive.

Check out Central Park, there is a pond with electric toy boats. Also the Alice in Wonderland statue, kids love to climb on this. There is also a mini castle in the park. Some kids really like the Museum of Natural History especially if they are into dinosaurs.

Check out the Toys R Us in Times Square, your kids will love it, there is a ferris wheel inside the store. You may have trouble getting out of there without buying something for them

If you are into the beach, try Jones Beach on Long Island.

My daughter loves just walking around Chinatown. Your kids will see different types of vegetables and foods in all the shops. Food there is fairly reasonable.

Go to street fairs, Greenwich Village has a yearly art show throughout the neighborhood.

I have done all of these both as a child and now as a mom.

If you'd like to see the museums a lot of them have discounted admission for a few hours on a certain day of the week. I know I took advantage of that when the MOMA reopened and felt that the two hours (or so) that I was alloted for that price was more than enough for me. Check their websites for information.

Thank you so much. I might need more than a year to cover everything you suggested.

Anneke

As others have mentioned, museums all offer discounts of some sort (check their websites for details). A few include:

MoMA - free on Friday afternoons. Long line to get in (you have to pick up a ticket and then pass a guard who scans it), but fine once you're inside. Inside MoMA there is also a sculpture garden.

Met Museum - every day is pay what you wish (though there is a recommended admission price). Ever since they were your kids' ages, my neice and nephew have loved the Temple of Dendur and some of the installation rooms like the Japanese garden. The newly reopened Greek and Roman wing was a good experience for my friend with her two young kids recently.

Nat. History Museum (AMNH) - again, general admission is pay what you wish (a not well known fact). IMAX, special exhibits, and the planetarium are additional fees. The museum is way more than just old dinosaur bones, and they've been doing a good job with renovating the exhibits. Go early, take the elevator to the top and work your way down. The cafeteria in the basement is typical museum prices (i.e., a little pricey), but a good range of stuff from pizza to salad bar. Go let off steam in Central Park afterwards!

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As a student once again myself, I have gotten in the habit of (politely) asking every single place if they give a student discount. You'd be surprised how many places will give you a little off!

Also, for the restaurants recommended (or others you just want to know more about), menupages.com is a great NYC resource for menus, prices, and user reviews.

What part of the city are you in? Maybe we can make specific recommendations based on your borough/neighborhood.

Thanks again for the great advice. We stay in Washington Heights, which means that most sights are far, but at least the local grocery shopping is quite cheap. We went to the Clositers yesterday, mostly because it was close. It was OK with the children. My little one has a dragon fascination and we simply told him this is where a knight locked a dragon up. It kept him entertained for a long time to try and see whether the dragon is behind the next door. But I am not sure this is generally a very child friendly place.

All suggestions appreciated. Also, the weather is so gorgeous now. Should we stick to outdoors places and leave the museums for later when it is unpleasant outside, or is outside sightseeing stll OK in winter?

Take advantage of the weather as much as you can now. Did you visit Fort Tryon Park when you went to the Cloisters? Have you been to Riverside Park on the upper west side? Here's a link to acitivities in various parks, most of which are free
http://www.nycgovparks.org/sub_thing...nts_search.php

Maybe visit the Statue of Liberty now, while the weather is still good. You can reserve tickets online for a tour which allows you inside the statue although not that high up. A visit to Ellis Island is included on the same ferry but the 3 yr old may lose patience.

I believe there are other posters on the forum who live in Washington Heights, so if you started a new thread with Washington Heights in the headline, you might get some more local info.

It might also be fun for the kids to watch some movies/videos that take place in NYC. There's a Muppets Take Manhattan movie that's supposed to be good and Mary Kate and Ashley did a NYC movie. I think it's called "NY Minute." And ofcourse, "Night at the Museum" was done at the Mus. of Natural History and might be fun for them to watch before you visit the museum.

Do check out gocitykids.com and check out their calendar of events. There are sure to be things you wouldn't otherwise know about.
Good luck and enjoy NYC!