Hoping some of the experts can critique my first-time to NY itinerary for my family of 4 (two teens). We're staying at Hilton Garden Inn Times Square and arrive at LGA at 3:30.

Thursday after getting settled:
Take in Times Square / Top of the Rock, browse area shops (Disney, Apple) / St. Pat’s Cathedral
Any dinner rec's in this area?

Friday
Breakfast at hotel / Today Show? /
Ground Zero / Century 21 store /
1-hour Zephyr tour to see Statue of Liberty, waterfalls, etc.
Lunch, shopping in Chinatown / Browse shops in Soho
Back to hotel to change for play in evening
Dinner?

Saturday
Morning: NYU – check out campus area, Washington Square Park / Shop in 14st./Union Square area
Afternoon: subway to Central Park - carriage ride / American Museum of Natural History
Saturday night: Stroll Upper West or East Side shops, dinner?

Flight homes leaves Sunday. I have no idea if this is too ambitious or not ambitious enough. I'd appreciate any thoughts.

I'm not sure which Thurs you're talking about, but during some of August there will be free performances outdoors at Lincoln Center on the UWS. See link below. Maybe it could work for Sat eve and have dinner in the area.
http://www.lincolncenter.org/load_sc...r_Out_of_Doors

Also, not sure what your teens are like or their ages, but an alternative to Chinatown and Soho could be the Lower East Side and/or the East Village (especially St. Marks Place), areas brimming with young people, little shops and lots of inexpensive cafes and ethnic restaurants.

Another thing to do one night is see the free Public Theater's production of 'Hair" in Central Park. Waiting all day in the park for free tix wouldn't work for you, but I read somewhere that there's an online lottery for tix. I'll check it out, but you can go the Public Theater's website for info.

You're covering a huge amount in very limited time. I wouldn;t try to fit more in.

The area your hotel is in isn;t great for food - lots of overprices chains. Try walking over to 9th avenue for a bunch of inexpensive ethnic places. Or, for pretty good Italian do Roberto Passon.

The other night I would do dinner on the upper west side - at a place with a sidewalk cafe for people watching. If you tell us favorite cuisines and budget we can make suggestions.

Offhand you might do Ocean - or Isabellas if you don;t do Italian another night.

I'm thinking maybe we'll start Thursday evening on the Upper West Side and work our way back to the hotel. We're not all the picky in terms of cuisine - Italian, Chinese, Mexican, Indian...just don't want to break the bank on two teens who won't really appreciate fine dining.

Any other comments? Are we trying to do too much?

Saturday seems way too ambitious. You could spend all day at the NH museum and not see all of it. Is there only 1 exhibit you are interested in? Could also spend most of the day at Central Park.

Even Thursday seems tight when you account for the time that it takes to get to Manhattan from LGA (especially after claiming your baggage - assuminh checked)

My restaurant recommendations would be

- Peter Lueger's- steakhouse
- BLT Prime- steakhouse

- Grey's Papaya- Hot Dogs

Not sure I would take teens to either of those steakhouses - major $. Have a look at menupages.com - which lets you search by neighborhood and cuisine and gives you diner reviews and actual menus with prices.

bookmarking

Actually Saturday looks fine to me, but I would skip the carriage ride.
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You could spend all day at the Museum of Natural History--but you probably won't. You might want to see one IMAX film and a few exhibits, so maybe 3 hours?

You'll then be right near Central Park. Most people just want to see a couple of spots (Strawberry fields? Great Lawn? The Lake?)and get a feel for the park, so an hour or 2 is fine. Buy some food nearby and turn it into a picnic lunch before the museum OR walk across the park one way (you can take a bus the other way) and jump into the Metropolitan Museum of Art, even for just 30-60 minutes (stays open until 9pm Saturdays.

Shops on the Upper West Side are open late enough for you to stroll around after the museum(s). There are many casual reasonably priced casual restaurants on Columbus Avenue (one over from Central Park) and Amsterdam (2 avenues over) from 72nd-86th streets.
Some blocks (like Amsterdam 81st-82nd) are virtually all restaurants

nyer, that is why I asked if there was 1 exhibit they wanted to see. Having it at the end of the list for Saturday made it seem like they were just dropping it in for a quick stop. When i was there in March, we were there for 4 hours and didn't see everything.

Comments:

Thursday:

As stated above, by the time you get in from LGA and check in to your hotel, you won't have a ton of time for everything on your list, although you can do Top of the Rock late, and certainly Times Square is best after dark.

Friday:

It's an ambitious plan you've got there. If you buy stuff at Century 21 you're going to be carrying it around all day. I agree that you might consider going from Chinatown over to the Lower East Side (I can't miss an opportunity to recommend the Lower East Side Tenement Museum) and then up to the East Village.

Saturday:

Washington Square Park is largely closed due to major renovations, and the NYU buildings are nothing special, I'd skip this. And it's several blocks from the Park to Union Square.

I'd skip the Central Park carriage ride as they only go in a circuit through a small portion of the park. Instead, mark out some highlights on a good map of the park and walk through those. For me I'd enter near the Plaza and walk past the Pond, up through the Zoo, past Balto and over to the Mall, down to Bethesda Fountain and the Boathouse, then to Bow Bridge and over to Strawberry Fields, exiting the park at the Dakota and then up to the Natural History Museum. Don't miss the Rose Planetarium.

A couple of dinner possibilities between Times Square and the theater district, keeping in mind that you have two teens:
Sangria 46: Pretty good, not-to-expensive Spanish restaurant that has tapas, so the variety is such that you can make everyone happy.
Hurley's: Kind of a laid-back Irish bar that has OK food that's not inexpensive; good spot to bring teens.

If one or both of your kids is thinking of NYU I would try to take a tour. Otherwise it is hard to understand how the school fits in the neighborhood

Another vote for the Lower East Side Tenement museum if you can fit it in

Half of Washington Square Park is open and that half is as lviely as ever.

I think you have a lot on your plate each day. If you arrive LGA at 3:30 then you probably will get to your hotel about 5 IF all goes well. iF NOT, then there will be traffic.

You might get started about 6 PM if you just throw everything in your room and get moving. You might do Top of the Rock and St Pats first while it's still light out. Then dinner about 8ish (If there isn't a big he Rock). Then browse shops and Time Square when it's dark - after 9 PM.

Frida- lots to do before lunch. My teen would spend at least an hour in Century 21. Do you have a reservation for the Zephyr or is that something that requires standing in line? Remember, you need time back at the room to get ready and have dinner and be done by 7:30 ish for your show. I don't know about your teens but I suggest being back in the room by 4 or so to relax a bit, shower, and be ready to go by 6PM. I'd say do the today show, and then GZ, Shopping in SOHO. Then go back and get ready for the nite.

Saturday looks fine to me.

Top of the Rock is open late if you want to have an evening activity. We went just a few weeks ago after dinner and were able to go right up with no waiting. The view was spectacular.

Your kids might like Burger Heaven
http://www.burgerheaven.com/locations.htm

For St. Paul's/Ground Zero you can check out my website
http://www.geocities.com/danserm/lwr...ulspeters.html

If you go to Union Square Park, check out ABC's, about a block or so north of the park, on Broadway. Funky, fun store, with a funky cafe.

Your kids might like the Central Park Zoo, which is small, with a great birdhouse, polar bears. You can do a walk from Strawberry Fields on the west side of the park, right near the Dakota where John Lennon lived (Yoko Ono lives), walk around the lake, Bethesday fountain area, the bandshell, where you can watch roller bladers, etc. Go see the boat pond, then walk down to the Zoo.

I agree that the Upper East and West sides probably wouldn't be as exciting as other areas, as Centralparkgirl says.