NYC APRIL Itinerary help (2.5 year old)
 

Wife and I will be going to NYC for her birthday from April 17th-25th. We are staying in manhatten near Time Square.

It will be our first time goingt o NYC and wanted to see if any of you have had experience traveling with a little one and if you can provide some tips that will be very helpful. Also, in terms of doing the touristy things, should we do a day long tour bus and hit all the major points? or is it better to do eahc oen indivuisually?

We would like to know where are the great food places (pizza, medditeranian cuisine...etc)and maybe a few hidden gems. Your feedback and comments are appreciated. Thanks in advance!

You have a full week, so I would highly recommend NOT doing an all-day tour --- keep it flexible so your little one can nap, eat when hungry, etc. We took our kids to Manhattan at very young ages and just put them in the stroller and did what we were going to do anyway.

If you have a sunny day, you might want to take the Circle Line boat from Pier 83 (E 42nd St.). I wish you luck. I wouldn't take a kid less than 4 into NYC - but that's me.
I would be concerned about the diesel smoke and other exhaust exposure for a kid in a stroller.

There is a merry go round at the Hudson River Park just north of Chelsea Pier which only has animals from North American to ride on.. And then you can visit Chelsea Market where you can buy incredible foods, Italain, Thai, sushi, baked goods. Across the street and north a block on 9th Avenue is CoBa, a very good Vietnamese restaurant.
I would never take a small child, a toddler, on an all day tour,
robably not any tour. Not fair to the child. And a bus tour will sit in traffic, not a good way to see the city. Travel by subway to various tourist sites, avoiding traffic, saving time and money. Take a ride on the free Staten Island Ferry. There is also a merry go round in Central Park as well as a small zoo.

>>should we do a day long tour bus and hit all the major points?<<

Do not take a toddler on a bus tour -- whether an all day tour or just a few hours. Not fair to the toddler . . . AND not fair to the other passengers.

Sorry Tom Fuller, the Circle Line is the equivalent of a sleep clinic on water. The problems with Staten Island Ferry are the mob scenes at the Manhattan terminal and the amount of time to make a round trip. I am not sure that is OK for a child so young. But if you decide to do it, go right side out, left side back for views of the Statue of Liberty.

If the weather is good go to Central Park there are a number of things to amuse a child including a carousel, a small zoo, and statues that a child might like.

For pizza-Motorino, Keste, Lombardi's, Joes-stay away from Artichoke their standards have gone down immeasurably.

"I would be concerned about the diesel smoke and other exhaust exposure for a kid in a stroller."

Oh FFS, there are thousands upon thousands of kids who grow up in NYC every year and when they were little, they spent time in strollers. And NYC is far from the most polluted major city in the US - it's not even in the top 25 for short-term particle pollution exposure,