jensml16

Thank you all again for your help with our hotels. I've got a preliminary itinerary started that I'd like some feedback on. It's myself, DH, and DD14. I was in NYC as a child (@25 years ago), DH and DD have never been here. The only thing we have booked is a show on Thursday night; otherwise, I am open to any suggestions that better maximize our time and flow of the trip. For dining suggestions, we are open to just about anything, but I know that doesn't help narrow things down. We'll eat breakfast at the hotels most days, but would like a brunch one day, and DH would love a good bagel with lox. DH would also like to grab at least a slice of pizza, and we'd definitely like at least one great Italian meal. French would also be sought after by DD, as she is currently in love with Paris. We will have dim sum one day with a relative who lives in the area (Golden Unicorn); not sure which day, but we all enjoy Thai/Vietnamese/Japanese/Chinese and would surely eat that type of food more than once! We'd like to do one nicer meal (@$300 max - leaning towards seafood as it's a favorite among all of us), otherwise okay with mid-priced or casual meals. Would like to check out Eataly/Chelsea Market for lunch or dinner at one of the counters. Not huge drinkers on this trip since DD is here; maybe a glass of wine or cocktail at dinner, so that doesn't need to factor into the prices. DD would also like some ice cream rolls - apparently that is the in thing and we have none in our area!

Monday
Arrive 5:15pm at Newark
Check into Residence Inn on 6th Ave
Dinner - will be late so nothing too lengthy. Would be fine with soup/salad/small plates. Any suggestions that are within walking distance of the hotel?

Tuesday
UN Tour (first tour at 9:30, but could go anytime; not sure this fits here, so if it's better on a different day, please let me know!) If we don't do this on Tuesday, we'd maybe do the Morgan Library instead
Empire State Building
St. Patrick's Cathedral
MoMA
Questions: OK hitting UN first if it makes more sense; I'm sure we wouldn't mind sleeping a bit longer after a day of travel. Also OK moving that to a different day (provided we can get a tour) if it fits somewhere else better. Any lunch suggestions? I see Momsan Ramen is not too far from the UN or the Morgan Library; DD is always asking for ramen when we travel and this appears to have great reviews. Dinner suggestions as well - either around the hotel area or a quick ride away.

Wednesday
Statue of Liberty/Ellis Island (not intending to do the pedestal/crown)
Lunch - prefer something quicker as this will be a busy day. Either before/after Trinity Church as I believe we can get a snack on the boat to/from the island
Trinity Church (passing the Bull on the way)
9/11 Memorial/Museum
Dinner - open to suggestions. Not sure on timing for this day - could be quite late if we take our time on Ellis Island and the 9/11 Museum. I believe Eataly Downtown is in the area, so may be good to grab something from the counters there?

Thursday
Central Park
The Met
Other suggestions for this day? Our time in Central Park will depend on the weather. Could move days around if weather looks better for a stroll on a different day.
Dinner - looking at Le Rivage for DD's French fix; they have a pre-theater menu that has several choices. Reviews looked promising.
8pm - Phantom at the Majestic
Perhaps dessert afterwards at Cafe UnDeuxTrois?

Friday
Chinatown/Little Italy walk - either before/after lunch
Lunch at Golden Unicorn w/local family
Tenement Museum
Could be the night for a nicer dinner. Seafood/Italian?

Saturday
History Museum/last minute shopping/sights we missed
Lunch at Eataly/Chelsea Market if we did not get there earlier in the week.
Flight leaves Newark at 7pm, so we have a good chunk of the day to see a few things.

Thanks for reading the novel; the shear size of NYC makes me question my ability to be sure we have enough travel time allotted between sites. Any help/recommendations you can give would be wonderful!

TDudette

Will return for lengthier study but remembering that we had to go through airport type security to get to Ellis Island and Statue of Liberty. Get there as early as possible. Do you have tickets already?

jensml16

We do not have tickets yet; was looking at the CityPass, but want to be sure it's worth our money or if we're better off buying individually.

bachslunch

Itinerary seems reasonable. If anything, you may be able to fit something else into your Tenament Museum day, which seems a little light. Chinatown/Little Italy is fun to stroll and poke around, but whether it would take up a whole morning or not depends on your interests.

And your Central Park/Met day will be plenty. You could in fact spend several days in the latter — it’s huge and has a really good quality to quantity ratio for such a large place.

Agreed that getting tickets ahead of time and as early in the day as possible for Ellis Island/Statue of Liberty is wise.

HappyTrvlr

EATALY(Flatiron) and Chelsea Market ( W. Chelsea) are not near each other.The different food areas at EATALY have restaurants with tables or counters. I love the seafood and salumni ones.There is also an EATALY in Financial District. Chelsea Market offers tables in the hallways, Cish Market has a few seats and Thai place has a few tables. I used to grocery shop there, fabulous choices.
You have MoMA at the end of a busy day and it deserves more energy and time. Van Gogh’s “Starry Night” is enough reason to visit!
security screenings: The UN screening was the most demanding one I have ever gone through anywhere. Understandable. The Statue of Liberty ferry lines security is very detailed too. Allow enough time. Get your Statue of Liberty tickets ASAP. .Do you have your tickets for the 9/11 Museum? Get them ASAP.
History Museum? Do you mean the Museum of Natural History? It is huge and you could easily spend a day there.
Dessert: Cafe Un DuexTrois is an ok place, nothing special, Times Square area. .Good enough crepes. Look instead at Magnolia Bakery which now has locations mid town.
Enjoy your visit to NYC.

ellenem

Quite near your hotel is the NY Public Library Schwarzman Building (often miscalled the Main Branch), the famous one with the lion statues in front on Fifth Avenue. It is worth visiting and free to enter. More details at their website.
https://www.nypl.org/locations/schwarzman

doug_stallings

Unless it has changed, CityPass covers only the cost of the Statue tickets and still requires you to stand in the hours-long line because you won’t already have a reserved time. Not good. Buy your tickets now and see what times you can get or plan to arrive before the first ferry. Your choice really. But read the fine print on City Pass. For now you don’t have to pay full price for either the Metropolitan museum or the natural history museum. So add it all up. City Pass is convenient but expensive in NYC.

IMDonehere

no need to eat a hotel. just find what is called a deli and save a small fortune
bagel places-ess-a-bagel. murray's, david's
dim sum-golden unicorn, jing fong or mon weh. go during the week, places are zoos on weekend

seafood-aquagrill and jane's fish camp. very different places

vietnamese try madame vo

personally, i think the un is a bore

jensml16

Wow - thanks for all the feedback and suggestions. Tickets will be bought today to ensure we get in when we'd like to. I think we'll leave the UN out so we have more time at MoMA as HappyTrvlr suggests. I was there (UN) as a child and no one else seems terribly excited by it, so we'll leave that on the back burner for now. We'll swing through the Library instead, I think. We'll skip the CityPass, doug_stallings. I want to be sure we get our timing down and I hate feeling like we have to commit to everything on the list to be sure we get our moneys worth. Am I incorrect in my understand that The Met/Natural History museum will be a mandatory fee beginning tomorrow, 3/1?

We were fortunate enough to visit both the White House and Capitol building last summer, so extensive security checks are something we have a lot of practice at. We travel light while we're out and about; hopefully makes for getting through the lines a bit more quickly!

IMDonehere, we will be eating at the Golden Unicorn. Thanks for the other suggestions - will take a look at those today as well.

We are very excited for this trip; came together at the last minute and looks to be a great one!

BigRuss

If the ESB wait time is ridiculous (which is highly possible), go to Top of the Rock at Rockefeller Center.

I prefer Chelsea Market to Eataly.

All your new fee information is here. I agree with the Italian visitors quoted in that article - $25 is far too much. The entrance fees at the British Museum and all the Smithsonian-run institutions on The Mall is far better. The Met's endowment interest alone could easily surpass its operating budget shortfall.

5alive

We took our kids when they were teens. If you click on my name you can read my report...

One thing that my youngest just loved was Central Station. An amazing space. He hung out at the Apple Store for a bit, we had cupcakes at Magnolia Bakery (yes one there too).

For a quick lunch, consider eating at Ellis Island before you take the ferry back. We got the sandwich of the day and it was pretty fresh. It would also be relatively quick.

Also, if your daughter enjoyed/enjoys unicorns, don't forget the Cloisters.

doug_stallings

I didn't realize that the Metropolitan Museum's mandatory admission started today, but it does (unless you are a NY State resident), so I apologize for not being informed. The result is that CityPass is a much more attractive offer money-wise. However, the Natural History Museum retains its voluntary policy (but there's a mandatory add-on if you want to go to a planetarium show or a special exhibit). If you want or need to save money, then many museums have pay-as-you-wish days or free admission days. It requires a bit of homework to sort everything out and patience in making your plans. This is one reason, I think, why CityPass will become more useful here and save you much more money than it did in the past, but it still only offers the "flex" ticket for the Statue of Liberty ferry (meaning you have to wait for a space and board after everyone who has a timed ticket, and that can take hours on a busy day).

I know people are dazzled by the immensity of the Met (and it's truly one of the world's great museums), but for my money, the Frick is more interesting and more approachable. It's a small treasure and easily the best small museum in NYC, and not nearly as exhausting. The Neue Galerie is also great for what it is, but its scope is more limited. But even these museums cost more than $20, so let's not kid ourselves that you are going to find a bargain at any big museum in NYC. It's just not the same in the US as in Europe. Most of our great cultural institutions are not supported by the government (at least not much). I'm glad most of the museums in DC are still free, but I suspect that may change at some point, too. They are just very expensive to operate.

If you go to the Met, take advantage of the additional admission to the Met Breuer (nearby) and the Cloisters (in Washington Heights). You no longer have to go on the same day ... it's now 3 consecutive days. The Met Breuer collection is not nearly as good as that of MOMA, but if you're paying $25 already, maybe it's a reasonable substitute, and then you can spend your time elsewhere. Also, MOMA is free later on Friday afternoons, but the lines tend to be particularly long.

5alive

Just looked at my post again. I should have written Grand Central Terminal.

Also, Doug's thoughts on museums caused me to remember that we went to the Morgan Library for free on a Friday evening. I just checked and the Morgan is still free from 7-9 pm Fridays. It is a smaller museum and we did not attempt to see everything but it was a very nice visit. Their cafe does have a Friday night cheese plate or appetizers if you wanted something to tide you over and do a really late dinner.

tuscanlifeedit

I love smoked salmon and for your husband's lox and bagel, I would make a trip to Russ and Daughters. They have an eat in restaurant and a take out store, and it's not far from the Tenement Museum. Perhaps you can work them together.

jensml16

Thanks again for all the info. It has really helped me feel more comfortable with the outline of the trip. We skipped the CityPass and bought tickets individually; the savings of the pass versus the time spent possibly waiting in line was not worth it to me. 5alive, thanks for your suggestion on the Ellis Island eatery. I was struggling to find a decent place for lunch that wasn't too pricey (i.e. not Fraunces Tavern). That may be our best bet. We also plan to stop in Grand Central, probably Tuesday morning. While we would love to hit the Cloisters, I don't think it will fit into this trip; but knowing the ticket is good for three days may change our minds, especially if the weather isn't conducive to strolling Central Park

I'm okay spending money at the museums; I just want to be sure we don't get 'museumed out' and force ourselves to go just because we are there. I may send DH and DD to 30 Rock/ESB (I've already been) and head to the Morgan Library or Frick collection. I probably have more of an appetite for museums than they do!

Tuscanlifeedit, I am planning on a walk in the Lower East Side/Little Italy/Chinatown on Friday, and Russ and Daughters is certainly on that list!

Thank you all again that took the time to answer my questions. Hopefully I'll have a great trip report to make once we are back!

IMDonehere

Please note that Russ and Daughters have opened a restaurant although it is always packed.