Going to NYC for 5 days in October with 16 & 18 yr old nieces who love the theatre. We are staying in Times Square. Found some wonderful information in previous Fodor's posts and have come up with the following itinerary. Any suggestions or changes?

WEDNESDAY
(morning) Explore Times Square
(afternoon) Wicked matinee
(evening) TOR or ESB & dinner

THURSDAY
(morning) Battery Park & SI Ferry
Brooklyn Bridge & lunch @ Grimaldi’s
(afternoon) Brooklyn Bridge back to WTC,Century 21
(evening) Dinner & Mamma Mia

FRIDAY
(morning) SoHo & lunch
(afternoon) Chinatown, St Patrick’s Cathedral, MOMA (?)
(evening) Dinner & Xanadu

SATURDAY
(morning) Museum Nat History or Metropolitan Museum? (afternoon) Central Park,5th Avenue & Conway
(evening) 2 musicals (5 p.m. & 9 p.m. performances) that are part of the New York Musical Theatre Festival

Besides Friday afternoon, sounds plausible.

luvtravel - there are many posters on this site far more knowledgeable about New York than I am, but speaking from the perspective of a parent who has taken my similarly aged sons on their first trips to New York, I do have a thought or two on your Thursday itinerary. If your nieces have never been to New York before, I'd suggest taking the boat to the Statute of Liberty and Ellis Island for the morning, then taking a cab over to Brooklyn for a late lunch at Grimaldi's (perhaps avoiding the noon time crowd there, although it can be crowded even well after the noon hour). If the weather is nice, you can then walk back over the Brooklyn Bridge for the great views of Manhattan to the WTC site and your later destinations.

Aduchamp - Would you drop St Patrick's and MOMA?

MRand - If we go to Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island that morning and then over to Brooklyn and Grimaldi's around 1 p.m. - will we miss some of the lunch crowd? Can we catch a water taxi near where we will disembark from Ellis Island ferry to Brooklyn?

You can stop by St. Patrick's on Saturday afternoon as part of "5th Avenue", since that's where it is. Or, spend part of Wednesday morning in Rockefeller Plaza, do TOTR then, and add St. Patrick's, since exploring Times Square won't take you all morning, not even close.

MOMA depends on how you do museums, and how much you like modern art. It's a spectacular place, and one whole day was barely enough for me, but some people blow through in an hour or so. I think you could do MOMA and Chinatown in one afternoon, if you don't dawdle, but if your shopping and lunch in SoHo run long, you'll have to make a choice.

Hi luvtravl,

Your itinerary is jam-packed, and I think it will exhaust you. As a former New Yorker, here's what I'd say:

Wednesday
I agree, there's not that much to Times Square. Maybe I say that because it's one of my least favorite areas of the city...but unless you want to do things like visit the wax museum or ESPN Zone, there's not a lot there. You could walk through Times Sq. and then have lunch at Bryant Park. There are great little spots there to get a good sandwich -- Wichcraft is right within the park and delicious and reasonable for NY.

Thursday
Walking across the B. Bridge is a great idea, but it's a long walk, and will be too far to go both ways. Plus, the sound of the traffic underneath you can get to be a bit much. I echo another poster who recommended taking a cab over to Brooklyn and walking back. Even that might prove to be a bit much; another alternative is walking out from the Manhattan side, going midway (or at least to the first column), and then walking back to Manhattan. That's the key part really.

Century 21 can be really overwhelming, although on a Thursday it might not be that bad.

Friday
Choose between 1. Chinatown or 2. St. Patrick's/MOMA. Too much to do in a few hours. Depends on which you're more interested in. Chinatown is very hectic but interesting. St. Patrick's is beautiful and calming, and I echo the previous poster who recommended tying it in with Rockefeller Center/Saks/5th Ave.

Saturday
Looks good. Again, depends on how thoroughly you like to do museums. I'd definitely choose the Met; the Mus. of Natural History is not as relevant, thorough, and is more dated. Pace yourself at the Met and just choose a few key galleries/exhibits in advance. I always love to go to the atrium at the Met to regroup and stop by the Frank Lloyd Wright room.

Hope that helps, and have fun!

There's nothing wrong with your itinerary (although I agree Fri is overly ambitious) but some thoughts

>Century 21 is a madhouse unless you get there very early. I would go there FIRST before the ferry. They open very early during the week.

>actually going TO Ellis Island and SOL is very time consuming. The SI ferry is the way to do it (or another boat ride) unless you want to spend the better part of a day on this.

>I don't think you're going to have time for MOMA on Fri. (and late afternoon when it's free is the busiest time and you'll have to stand on line to get in). If MOMA is a must, You're going to have to do it on another day. MOMA doesn't open til 10:30 on Sat. mornings but the Met opens at 9:30. Not sure about Mus. of Nat. Hist.

>imo, you don't need to "explore TS" first thing Wed. morning. If you're staying there, you have every day to do that. I'd head to TOTR and/or MOMA first thing (so you get a great view of Central Park which is not visible at night) and have a walk around Rockefeller Center before or after and maybe even walk Fifth Ave. up to the park. There's a branch of H & M there, very popular clothing store for teens.

Depending on when in Oct. you're here, the nywatertaxi.com MAY still be running and you could get a water taxi (nywatertaxi.com) from the South Street Seaport over to Brooklyn and Grimaldi's and then walk the bridge back. Otherwise, you'll need to take the subway over.

I think you should give some though to where you're going to have these dinners (if you haven't). The most popular places in the theater district get booked ro pre theater. menupages.com is a good resource for that.

Sounds like a very fun trip. Enjoy.

Thanks for the great feedback!

I think it looks fine and do-able.

One thought - you don't have a meal scheduled in Chinatown, and I think that that is a lot of the pleasure of Chinatown - food and the Chinese restaurant environment.

If you care to re-jigger, I'd suggest you choose a dim sum place from Zagat's, or ask for advice.

Thanks Elizabeth - I would welcome advice on a restaurant in Chinatown for lunch.

I recommend you search this site for Chinatown, I live in NY and have gotten good new places to eat off this forum;

--then I also highly recommend you get hold of a Zagat's New York and carry it around with you - I do this myself if I am roaming the city - so you always have a guide that can find you a place to eat when and where you are hungry

--and then I recommend one place- Oriental Garden, Elizabeth Street between Bayard and Canal Streets. Food is terrific. I probably learned about it here.

Note this is "the real thing" - very plain, possibly upstairs (I forget). Likely to be put at table with other people. They won't expect you to converse with them - tho sometimes it's fun.

--And as a lady explained to me many years ago the first time I went out for dim sum - "dim sum just come" - you don't have to do anything but say yes or no. At least 30 things will come by probably. Dim sum from 9-4. Don't go too late in case things run out.

PS I am crazy about Century 21. Don't go when you're tired and don't carry extra stuff if possible.

The 2nd floor - one flight up - has junior sizes, but the third floor is the intense, exciting, and crazy part, with all kinds of designer clothes, including lots that are young.

Someone has probably already advised you that girls that age like H&M and Forever 21. And can get a lot for their money too. My own favorite armload of bangles was usd 3 at Forever 21.

And I love the cafe at MOMA, I hope you stop in for coffee - tea - dessert, it's a lovely place and a nice experience.

Thanks Elizabeth! I thought we would go to Century 21 in the afternoon so we won't have to lug around our purchases and can just take them back to the hotel. I'll check out H&M and Forever 21 as well.