I've gotten some great advice from you guys before and I'm calling on you once more. We are taking our daughter to NY for the weekend for her 16th birthday along with her girlfriend. We found a good deal with Embassy Suites in the financial district. Never stayed in that area before and could use some advice concerning places nearby to eat and some fun things to do including shopping. I am sure we will make our way to midtown and we are fairly familar with that area. I was just wondering if there were some good stores to shop in for teens that are fairly close to our hotel (northend avenue). We would like to have some activites that we might be able to take in close to our hotel so we dont' have to run uptown all the time. Also we usually end our evenings with a late nite coffee and desert. Are there recommended coffee shops or cafes that are open late in this area that serve a good coffee and desert? . We did the Statue of Liberty before so we won't need to do that again but that's all we really ever did in the area. We know that TRibecca and Soho are fairly close but we are not familar with anything there and could use some advice with that. I heard lots of negatives about Seaport.....any thoughts on this. I appreciate your input. Thanks.

Actually there is quite a bit of shopping very close to the hotel. Your teen might like the Fulton St area and even closer is Century 21. Walk all the way down Fulton St to the South St. Seaport and you'll find more shopping and several restaurants.

In the World Financial area, there is a mall with quite a few upscale shops and a DSW for shoes and a multi-screen movie theatre, all within walking distance.

For restaurants, Fraunces Tavern near the SI Ferry building is good food and a history lesson in one.

Battery Park should have a few places to sit and enjoy a late night coffee and outdoor seating to enjoy the warm nights and watch the boats on the river.

Have a great time.

Thanks for the tips! What kind of shops are there at South Street Seaport? I heard it wasn't worth going to but that was one persons opionion.

http://www.southstreetseaport.com/

We went and looked round - nothing really caught our attention and I think we spent 30 minutes there, but then again we're not really shoppers

South Street Seaport is, unfortunately, nothing beyond what you will fnd in every mall in the country. Century 21, however, is a trip and the kids would probably enjoy it.

The Financial District and Downtown are simply the very best parts of Manhattan.

Did you know there is free transportation downtown?

The Downtown Alliance has set up a website with free maps, shopping guides, transportation and all kinds of goodies to make your downtown stay a good one.

Go to:

www.DowntownNY.com

Must Dos: Battery Park, walk The Brooklyn Bridge, Fraunces Tavern, Wall Street, Federal Building (did you know George Washington was sworn in here as the first President of the United States? And then he walked over to) St. Paul's Chapel, Trinity Church, ride the free Staten Island Ferry for excellent views of The Statue of Liberty, see the Irish Famine memorial, American Indian Museum, Holocaust Museum, shopping at South Street Seaport.

I could go on for hours but I will not do that to you.

Go to www.DowntownNY.com and order all the free guides and maps and print out a copy of the free transportation map.

archa...i stayed at the marriot financial once, and had a great rate! check out french roast on 6th avenue and 11th. desert, coffee, sandwiches, and it's open 24/7. maybe the high line? one of the original (elevated) subway tracks. not sure where on the west side it is, but try googling it.

gotravel...even though i'm in n.y, i never thought of that stuff. i'll have to check it out.

Embassy Suites is across the street from the World Financial Center. The WFC has its own little Marina and several restaurants. One is Southwest, which has very good southwestern-type food (pretty inexpensive) - I especially love the calimari and quesadillas - and it's indoor/outdoor. The outdoor part seriously can't be beat for watching the sunset!

Also for a quick bite, the bagel shop next to the movie theater in Embassy Suites is good. Good panini and a salad bar where for one price you can add as much stuff as you want, and they toss it for you.

Go to Canal Street (Chinatown) and Broadway in SoHo for shopping - your daughter will think she's in heaven.

Abercrombie & Fitch is evidently very popular among teens and the only one in NYC is located at the Seaport. In Soho, take them to Urban Outfitters, Anthropologie and there's a Bloomingdales there now. H & M is good for teens and I think they have a location in Soho.

http://www.ny.com/shopping/clothes/hm.html

Canal St. is popular for teens for designer knock off bags and hair accessories.

NY Magazine has a decent shopping search engine

nymetro.com

Thank you all so much. I will check out the websites you all suggested . I particularly liked the news that we may be able to get some free transportation downtown,. I will get the maps from the website. The last time I was in NY I spent a fortune on cab fair. I will make sure I take her and her friend to Canal Street . I liked the restaurants you suggested as well. Many thanks!

For teens, in the immediate area, your best bets are the aforementioned Century 21 and Abercrombie. There is also a trendy clothing store called Montmartre (one of several stores they have in the city) in the World Financial Center which fits the bill. If you do go over to the Financial Center (for discount shoes at DSW or for Montmartre (there's also an Ann Taylor, Gap, Banana Republic)) be sure to have a coffee and pastry at Financier Patisserie. I don't think they're open late, though, nor is their other branch on the other side of Wall Street. If you don't mind walking a bit further up to Tribeca, there are wonderful cakes and cookies and home cooking at Kitchenette on West Broadway. I think the cross street is Warren. They close at 10. If you like Middle Eastern food, there's excellent falafel at Alfanoose on Maiden Lane, which is close to the hotel. Another thing you might want to do is visit Governor's Island. Here is a link:
http://www.govisland.com/Visit_the_Island/default.asp

Thanks Budzilla!

There are many excellent places to eat in that area. My mother lives on North End Avenue and for dinner we especially enjoy Roc on Greenwich and Duane Streets for upscale, but casual Italian, and Landmarc on West Broadway between Leonard and Worth Streets, for French-Italian-steak and fantastic wine buys. (Landmarc does not take reservations, however.) Both are appropriate for a 16-year-old. And don't miss Century 21 for clothes and accessories at great prices. Chinatown is an easy walk as well. My favorite place to eat there is NY Noodletown on Bowery. Cheap, cash only, terrific noodle dishes, soups and bbq-ed meats.

I've gotten lots of great ideas. Can anyone tell me more about the free shuttle to downtown. I tried the website but I couldn't get on for some reason.....it kept saying error. Anyway as I read postings on this site about NY many people mentioned the shuttle. Can someone give me more info on it. I have a bad knee and I can walk for a time but then it gives out and I will have to rely on taxis. This may seem like a silly question but there are four of us traveling. Can you fit 4 into a NY cab?
Many people mentioned walking through Tribecca and or SOHO..... That there are great shops ...restaurants....etc. Is there a special area there I should stick to...what I mean a certain section (certain streeets) that have most of the "goodies" in. We did explore the Village last time we were in Ny and I loved it but I can only go so long before my knee gives out. Thanks

Right you are - that link didn't work for me either. Try this one:
www.nycvisit.com/content/index.cfm?pagepkey=1081

or else google the following phrase:
"downtown connection bus"

Four people is the max in a regular cab (3 in back, one next to the driver), although there are a few minivan yellow cabs driving around.

With a problem knee, do Soho rather than Tribeca. The Tribeca stores/restaurants are a little more spread out and interspersed among offices and residential and commercial lofts. Soho is more compact and has more retail establishments. Basically, any of the streets between West Broadway and Broadway, bordered by Houston and Canal, will offer shopping and/or eats. The bigger stores tend mostly to be on Broadway and it's bustling with teens and young people, so you might want to start there with the girls. That way, even if you skip some of the smaller streets, they still will have had the Soho shopping experience.

Archa

I just got on www.DowntownNY.com
I learned about this site from someone here on Fodors. Thank you.

This is a wonderful resource and they offer lots of FREE brochures, maps, etc. I recently sent for some information and it came promptly. I was impressed.

The Downtown Connection that you are interested in operates from 10 am to 7:30 pm and connects South Street Seaport with battery Park City. You can hop on and off inbetween and runs about every 10 minutes. Hope to try this next time we are in NYC.

My husband and I stayed at the Embassy Suites in May and we loved it. It is a very nice location. The hotel serves a very nice breakfast. Great value for the $$'s. In fact we are going back in October.

Hope you enjoy one of the most exciting cities in the world.

Sandy

Thanks so much! You guys are gems. I was able to get the map from the new website you gave me Budilla. Thanks for all your suggestions. I will let you all know how it turned out.

Archa, keep trying the DowntownNY.com website from either the link Budzilla gave you or the one I gave you.

The site is a wealth of information, free maps, free guides, great sites, museum and shopping all downtown.

It is one of the best websites I've seen for NYC especially for a neighborhood.

Get on that site

also due to construction there is a free shuttle from staten island ferry up to chambers metro stop.