My husband and I are visiting New York for the first time next week and the extended forecast calls for rain 2 of the 3 days we will be there. We were planning on using our own two feet for exploring but we may need some suggestions for other alternatives if the weather is bad. Any ideas of good tours that will hit the highlights of the city? Any information is greatly appreciated. We are so excited for our visit!

You can spend all day in any one of these best-in-the-world museums:

* Metropolitan Museum of Art

* Museum of Modern Art (Munch exhibit)

* American Museum of Natural History (Darwin exhibit)

museums
shopping
tours -- Radio City Music Hall, NBC studio tour
Ellis Island
bus tour

NY Party Shuttle and Marvelous Manhattan are 2 tours in smaller closed buses that hit the highlights.

nypartyshuttle.com
kingofnyc.com

Television and Radio museum (mid-town)would also be a nice inside diversion.
Also, the Guggenheim if you are into modern art and great architecture (the building itself). When we go to the city my wife plans at least a half of a day for shopping, usually at Macy's. I don't think that any trip to New York is complete without seeing "the world's largest department store".
I don't think that the rain stops the tour buses from running but you'll want to sit inside. It still is a very entertaining and informative way to spend time touring the city.
Regardless of the weather, I am sure you'll have a great time. NY is a terrific city!

Don;t be such a wuss as to let a little rain stop you. Other than a long walk in Central Park you can do anything else that was on your schedule. Just carry an umbie in case the rain gets too heavy. (The whole city doesn;t stop every time it rains.)

And the Museum idea is top notch - you should be doing that even if it doesn;t rain.

Agree with nytraveler, don't let the rain stop you! So much to do and see, so you get a little bit. Enjoy!!!

Also, Frick Museum (a mansion on 5th Avenue), shopping and window shoopping, matinee (Wednesday, Saturday, Sunday), 42nd Street Library.....

I would not recommend a bus tour on a rainy day, we just went through that. Our first day in the city was sunny and we loved the bus tour. On our second day it was raining, but the forecast said it would stop in the morning. The tour bus (grayline) gave everyone a rain poncho, so my husband still wanted to sit on top of the double decker bus so we could see. Well, even with ponchos on we got drenched. We ended up having to go back to our hotel and change clothes.

Then we decided to take grayline's tour of Brooklyn in the afternoon. This was a completely enclosed bus so we thought it would be better. What happened was the windows fogged up inside so bad that we had trouble seeing anything. So to make a long story short, skip the bus tour if its raining.

Go to TKTS and see if you can get some theater tickets!

Thanks for the responses. We are excited and ready for fun regardless of the weather. Considering the endless possibilities of activities in New York, having various ideas and opinions above and beyond what we are already planning to do is quite helpful. Thanks, again!

I'm tempted to simply say "get an umbrella". Call me stupid, but I love the city when it rains. Just don't walk too close to the curb so you get splashed by major vehicles. The only plans I'd change if it rained would be things like having a picnic in the park.

Well it's officially Spring and Spring showers, well you know,.....but I would think that you should have good weather while you are here, unless we are having a another Nor'easter. Actually we have not had much rain this month so I wouldn't worry too much.

All that said, the city is an amazing place and even in the rain, you can get out and see everything.

Museum Mile is on 5th Ave starting with the Frick Museum and heading north to 100th St and the Museum of the City of New York, there's also the Met and the Guggenheim (spelling?) and a few others.

On the West side of Central Park, is the Museum of Natural History and the Planetarium also worth a visit.

You also might enjoy a round trip on the Staten Island Ferry, and I suggest doing it around dusk, because the lights coming up in the city on your way back are amazing. From there you can walk to Fraunces Tavern for a nice dinner, and maybe walk around the Wall St area as well, or walk up a bit further to Chinatown (and go to the Peking Duck House on Mott St for Peking Duck, best in the city)

You also might enjoy the Central Park Zoo and if it's raining you can duck into and out of all the buildings there.

For more ideas you might check New York Magazine for what's new.

Also I always suggest going to TKTS in the Wall ST area, instead of Times Square, the line in TS takes hours. There is rarely a line downtown and it opens at 10am. The address is Water and Fulton St on the back side of the Prudential Building at the South Street Seaport.

I would suggest bringing a rain coat and some layers, because the weather here is still on the cold side, oh and a scarf and gloves especially for the evening.

Have a great time while you are here, and let us know if you have any other questions.

Go to the Strand Bookstore and browse/buy. They've got a ton of books.

Sing.

I'm with Neopolitan. Buy an umbrella and get on with it.

Well, I'm starting to realize what an obviously stupid question I posted. We would not dream of suspending any of our plans because of rain. Being from south Florida, we are quite ok with rain and are certainly not afraid of getting wet. We were just hoping for some add'l ideas to make sure we are getting the most out of our last minute trip.
Thanks again to those who provided some great ideas. By the way, we do have an umbrella. Have a great day!

I wouldn't be concerned. I've learned not to plan based on forecasts because whenever I plan for rain, it's sunny and when I plan for sun, it rains.

#1. Extended forecasts are usually wrong.
#2. When they call for rain or showers, often it's not all day, if it happens at all.

So, like others said, use some of the ideas here but don't really change any of your plans.

Have Fun!

My daughter(15) and I go to NYC each August for a girls trip. It rains at least once each trip. We are from Washington state so the rain would never stop us. They sell umbrellas every few feet for somewhere between $2.00-$4.00. Some years we bring them home with us, some years we leave them at the hotel when we leave. But the umbrellas always bring a smile when we pull them out to use them at home, a good memory they are!

After all that- no rain!