What to do in NYC area outside of Manhattan ?
 

Planning 4th trip to NYC mid-May 08. Seen most tourist/landmark sites in past. Looking for suggestions of what to see & do outside of Manhattan. Trip will include my wife and I & our two college age daughters for 1 week. Flying in and flying out. Definitely taking in Yankees or Mets game, maybe the beach ? Long Island ? Other boroughs providing areas are safe. Appreciate any/all advice!

I would recommend venturing into Brooklyn. The Brooklyn Heights are Park Slope areas are interesting to explore
http://nymag.com/visitorsguide/neigh...s/brooklyn.htm

The Brooklyn Historical Society has neighborhood guides
http://www.brooklynhistory.org/publi...ghborhood.html

Westchester County and the Hudson River area are lovely anytime, but especially in the spring.

Lots of historical homes, trails to hike, arts, culture,wineries, etc in both areas

Check out:

http://www.westchestertourism.com/Se...ravelGuide.asp

http://www.travelhudsonvalley.org/

http://www.westchesterfun.com/

May will be too cold for beach, other than to walk on the sand and look at the water.

Get your Yankee tickets NOW! Single game tickets can be bought at Stubhub.com Since it is the last year of play in Yankee Stadium, tickets will be harder to come by and will be $$$ at the gate on day of game. Mets should be a bit easier.

Long Island is also nice, but I think there are more visitor things to do in May in Westchester/Hudson Valley. LI tends to be summer activities.
Deb

I personally think May is still too cold for the beach but my favorite is Robert Moses State Park. Will you have a car? Here is the website for Robert Moses.

http://tinyurl.com/2ol5sb

Have you been to the Bronx Zoo or the Botanical Gardens? Both are very enjoyable for a day trip.

DebitNM has given you excellent advice about Westchester.

The same advice DebitNM gave you about Yankee tickets is true for Mets tickets too since it is the last season there. Probably to a slightly lesser extent but attendance will be up.

I didn't realize that Shea is history! What's going on with that?
Deb

Shea was one of those cookie cutter stadia of the 1960's. It lacks charm and anemities. When it was built it was also designed for the Jets and the field level boxes moved to create a football field. I have not canvassed other Met fans but besides the memories, I am not sure it will be missed. It was named after Bill Shea, a lawyer who was instrumental in bringing National League ball back to NYC.

The new stadium which CitiGroup has the naming rights for the enxt twenty years will only hold somewhere around 45,000 and will emulate soom of the features of Ebbets Field. Fans will enter throught the Jackie Robinson Rotunda. And miracles of miracles, it is supposedly on schedule for opening day April 2009 and on budget.

aduchamp - where is it being built?
Deb
{you are right about lackluster, but it does hold some fond memories for me :) }

Brighton Beach!Little Odessa, Brighton Beach is known as one of the largest Russian communities outside Moscow - great markets, stores, restaurants, depending on the weather, walk the board walk for a Nathanson's Hot Dog --

How about an easy subway trip to the Brooklyn Museum to see one of the greatest works of modern (feminist) art-Judy Chicago's Dinner Party. Well worth the trip, especially if you learn a bit about it in advance.

It might be warm enough for the beach in mid-May. If you go to one of the Long Island beaches, I suggest Long Beach for a daytrip. It's an hour away by train and the station is only a few blocks from the beach. There's a boardwalk with lots of expensive condos, some of which are owned by celebs. If you wanted to get away from the city for a night or two, you could try the Hamptons.
Another option for a day trip (or longer) is the jersey shore, which is easily reached by train, and some of the towns have amusement rides on the boardwalk (Wildwood, Seaside Heights and Point Pleasant).
Hoboken has a lot of restaurants and bars and is a PATH train ride from the city.

The new satdium is being built in the parking lot of the old Shea Stadium. Once the new stadium is completed, Shea will be razed and turned into the new parking lot.

There are tons of things on both Long Island and up the Hudson. To do almost any of them for 4 people renting a car makes the most sense.

On Long Island besides the beaches (may or may not be warm enough - but water will cold) there are a bunch of cute small town sin the Hamptons (but many places only open on weekends in May) including several small museums. Closer in you have the Old Bethpage Restoration (houses and shops from all over LI with docents demonstrating how people lived then, a great air/space museum, and Teddy Roosevelt's house at Oyster Bay.)

Up the Hudson you have Bear Mountain State Park (yes, there are bears), West Point Military Academy, FDR's house at Hyde Park, Rockefeller mansion/estate at Kykuit (sp?) and Dutch colonial houses near Tarrytown. Also the Culinary Institute of America and several cute towns (Hudson, Chatham) for antiquing and shopping.

If you want other things within the 5 boroughs, the Bronx has Yankees Stadium the Bronx Zoo, The Botanical Garden and Wave Hill Mansion. Brooklyn has Prospect Park and a great Botanical Garden and Museum.

For the Zoo there is an express bus direct from Manhattan (check the Wildlife Conservation Society web site for info). Subway also goes directly to Yankee and Shea Stadiums - perfectly safe since you'll be with many thousands of other fans.,

Do get tickets for either team now - since getting 4 decent seats together won;t be that easy.

It's Nathan's (not Nathanson's) in Coney Island (adjacent to Brighton Beach). If you get there, get the french fries as well as hot dogs!
I'm a big fan of the Bronx Zoo and the Botanic Gardens (both will fill an entire day). If you go, get to Arthur Avenue nearby - it's the Little Italy of the Bronx.

Brooklyn Museum for sure. They always have good exhibits, and while rather less ballyhooed than the Met's, their Egyptian collection is fabulous. Actually the whole museum is. I'm always surprised by how much of a sleeper it is, given the size of it and the strength of the collection. Coney Island is interesting, especially if it's hot. If it's very hot (which it could be in May), the beach at Coney is actually a decent swimming beach (calm, shallow, and warmer than most places in the northeast-since it's sheltered). The water cleanliness may be slightly questionable, although it is definitely cleaner than when I was a kid and I never dissolved (or even got sick). The aquarium is also well worth a visit. The Jersey shore is also nice, but definitely too cold to swim in May.

bookmarking

I also think a trip to Jackson Heights and Flushing in Queens is a great way to see some of the most amazing ethnic neighborhoods in America. Jackson Heights will make you feel like you are in Latin America and suddenly, you turn a corner, and there are women in saris and you hear Bollywood music coming from stores.

NY Times had a great travel story yesterday (2/17/08) about "island-hopping" in NYC. Sure made ME want to ride the little red tram from 60th and 2nd Avenue to Roosevelt Island for the price of a subway ride!

http://www.newarkmuseum.org/
http://offthebroiler.wordpress.com/2...rks-ironbound/
Not to far from NYC.