I am planning to take my family of 4 to NY in August. We will arrive at Penn Station on a Sunday night and need to get to the Pan AM Hotel in Queens. Any suggestions as to how we should do this?

The website www.hopstop.com is a good one for finding a public transit route in NYC.

You could take the M subway from Herald Sq (doesn't run directly to Penn Station). You'd have a 10min walk on either end.

But, family of 4, with luggage, arriving at night, assuming unfamiliar with NYC- that's not the time to try to figure out NYC subway system. My recommendation is to take a taxi. You can figure out the subway during the day when you are fresher and unencumbered by luggage.

Personally I like google maps better than hopstop for NYC public transit routes.

id take a limo --you probably have alot of bags,and the cab may not have enough room--agree trying to figure out the subway system with all those bags would be an issue

I, too, suggest a taxi or town car service for a family of 4 with luggage.

Just wondering . . . You arrive at NY Penn Station . . . will you be arriving from another city by train? (Just want to make sure you are not coming from an airport, which might change our instructions entirely.)

ellenem has a good point.

If you are arriving in NYC at JFK airport (also in Queens) then I would recommend taking taxi or car service (Dial7 or Carmel) straight from the airport.

If you are arriving at Newark Airport it's a toss up. You could take AirTrain from the terminal to NJ Transit train station, then NJ Transit train into NY Penn, then taxi would be ok. Or you could consider a car service directly from the airport to Queens. I'm not familiar with Newark so if that is your plan I'll defer to other experts on which is better.

If you are flying into LGA airport (also Queens) then you probably would not have asked about Penn Station.

If you are arriving at NY Penn by Amtrak or other train then my reco of taxi (or car service) stands.

Question, any reason you are staying way out in Queens. Pan Am is not really close to anything and taking the subway in to the city from there will take at least 45 minutes. You can find hotels in Manhattan that are reasonably priced and close to everything and accomodate 4. Just a thought.

Queens covers alot of territory. What area are you headed for? Example, DW lived in Laurelton. To get there from NYC it was the subway to Jamaica and then a bus.

That hotel is extremely inconveninet for Manhattan and there is now way I would attempt to get there via public transit with a lot of luggage (many subway station have no elevators - only several flights of stairs - and the hotel is NOT near a subway.)

Strongly suggest you consider getting a hotel in Manhattan so you don;t waste 2 hours a day trekking back and forth to the hotel (which is also not very pleasant).