New York - give me your Highlight// must do/ don’t bother…

[Fishfriendly]

We are off to NYC this summer, with 2 older teens. There’s obviously heaps to do and see so I’m narrowing it down.
Can those who have been give me your highlights or quirky things to do. Also anything that you wouldn’t recommend.
We are not foodies so not needing restaurant recommendations, love sightseeing, history, outdoors etc.
Thanks!

I went a lot in 80's and 90's...i heard its all over priced and sterile now so would explore brooklyn etc....times sq is dire...scams and tat, china town full of cheap fake stuff, little italy poor food for tourists.....

So you haven't been here in 20 or 30 years, and you've heard bad things since then. Got it.

Placemarking with interest, hoping to take the two big noisy boys next year! 😊

We went in 2019 with teens. Definitely the 9/11 museum was a hit. I enjoyed the Tenement Museum but my teens went off elsewhere on their own ! We only went to one museum (I have been to NY a few times previously and didn't want to push the teens too far!) - the Met.

I would recommend - Bubby's restaurant - just by the Highline - my kids still talk about it. (and they enjoyed the Highline walk too). (I know you said you didn't need recommendations - but this was such a hit with my children - very insta friendly!).

There's free kayaking in the Hudson by Pier ? (Can't remember the number) - google it - they loved it. Then we were there for sunset and sat in a bar.

Other things - walking over Brooklyn Bridge. We took the ferry over, explored and then walked back.

Carmine's restaurant in Times Square Huge portions, reallly nice food, and a good people watching place. (The teens actually liked Times Square).

Baseball Game (would be the Yankees I suppose?).

They also had some shops they wanted to shop in.

There's an outside Lido in Central Park that we had some time in (we were looking for free stuff as well). And hiring the bikes and cycling around.

We also explored Harlem a bit which they found really interesting.

And yes, the obligatory Empire State Building.

We did the Ferry tour that went all around Manhatten and enjoyed that. there's a bar on board.

Everything cost a fortune!

@MissConductUS I will be in New York in a few weeks, obviously more than happy to tip as per your customs, but can you tell me if this is always in cash, or if in restaurants/bars where I would be paying by card I could add the tip to the card bill? If it always has to be cash, then I will need to take enough!

Also, is tipping required in grab and go type place - like a cookie from Levain bakery, or grabbing a takeaway from the Halal Guys, or a taco from a food truck?

Has anybody done the superhero walking tours? We are going with our son who is marvel obsessed and wondered if they were worth doing?

@SummaLuvin (fab handle, by the way), when paying by card you should always include the tip on the card as well. This is because an unscrupulous server could write a tip amount in on the space for it on the receipt and then "correct" the total.

For the grab and go type places, a small cash tip is lovely but not really as expected as in a sit down restaurant. Look for a tip jar and if you see one, drop in a dollar or two or let the server keep your change.

Thank you for being so reasonable about this! 😋

Vanderbilt Summit was pretty good and quite breathtaking, especially the glass elevator and glass boxes hanging out of the building. Definitely will appeal to teens.

DD (early 20’s) and I enjoyed that more than the Empire State Building. That was a bit meh tbh.

Recommend Bubba Gump Shrimp restaurant in Times Square for a dinner one night. Lovely wait staff and food. As well as Liberty Bagels - amazing coloured and flavoured bagels with tonnes of different fillings, savoury and sweet. Again teens will probably like, long queues though so try to get there early in the morning.

We got cheap tickets to see Phantom of the Opera on Broadway just as an experience as neither of us are into that kind of thing but it was amazing. The special effects, the singing and acting. Definitely worth going to see a show even if it’s not normally your thing.

Natural History Museum was pretty meh as was the Met. Favourite part for DD was taking pics of herself on the steps of the Met! They’re just museums after all (more walking) and we’ve been to plenty in the UK.

Grand Central Station is beautiful so worth a walk though. The ceiling especially.

We rode the Subway but I wouldn’t recommend it. We were shocked at how run down and filthy (and confusing) it was. There was a spate of stabbings while we were there (this January), we walked out of one (near the Natural History Museum) station to loads of blood where one had just taken place. Quite a few mentally ill people wandering about talking to themselves and approaching us asking for money on the street too. Made us appreciate the London and the Underground I can tell you!

Food can be expensive. Evening meal in a mid range restaurant was about $70-80 for two (no starter) without drinks but we hadn’t done our research to find cheaper options!

Staten Island Ferry is free, you can ride there and back for the experience and see the Statue of Liberty in the distance. Frigging freezing when we did it!

Ditto the walk along Brooklyn Bridge. Stop for drinks before you get on it. It’s a long walk and don’t look down through the wooden slats or stand on the loose ones 😮Totally freaked me out that it didn’t fall down with the hordes of people on it!

We stayed in a great little hotel in a street parallel to the Empire State Building (Kixby) with an uninterrupted view right next to it from the roof terrace. It was freezing cold and snowing but DD and I took a free (bleurrghh) coffee from the hotel every night, wrapped up and sat out there for a bit with the Empire State lit up in red, green and blue singing New York (Alicia Keys/Jay Z version) at the tops of our very out of tune voices. Luckily there was no one else crazy enough to be out there! Love that memory more than actually going inside it😀

Go and see the Punchdrunk immersive theatre show in the old theatre
www.punchdrunk.com/project/sleep-no-more/

Open top bus tour for an overview

Yes to - a baseball game
No to - Empire state building.... just endless queues.

We just got back at the weekend. Highlights for us were The Highline (take a look at the vessel nearby too), Central Park, The Intrepid Museum and Ellen’s Stardust. I liked Top of the rock but next time would go to the Edge instead. We went to TOTR at 9am on a sunny day and only queued for about 10 minutes but I agree with others who say that the view isn’t that great compared with the ESB.

We’d heard bad things about the subway (there was a shooting in Brooklyn a day or so before we arrived) but used it daily to get from our hotel on UWS and honestly it was completely fine. First thing in the morning, the 1 line was really busy with commuters. A quirky thing to do is look out for Tom Otterness sculptures on the subway.

For those of you advising to avoid the subway, how else do you get around? Bus? Taxi? Walk?
We are beside Times Square so pretty central.

Has the subway changed a lot in recent years? We went in 2013 and it was absolutely fine.

the subways fine, yes theres been incidents but millions use the subway a day
ive never felt unsafe using the subway and i was a single female on it
busses take to long, sights are spread out way to much to walk and taxis/ubers will mount up cost wise

Get yourself over to Brooklyn, Dumbo is great. Also wander round the meat packing district and SoHo are great. Ellen’s stardust diner was Dreadful, the singing is nice but seriously poor food. I know you didn’t want food recs but 2nd Avenue deli is proper old school deli. Agree re tenement museum, a real unexpected highlight

And why would anyone expect Times Square to be anything other than what it is, Leicester Square on speed

I prefer Top of the Rock to the Empire State Building because you get the view of the Empire State Building in the skyline. Didn't take us long at all. But it is expensive.

Bubby's for breakfast/brunch - think there are a few branches, so Google one that's near you.

I loved the Guggenheim, but that was when I went without DD.

I would recommend the open bus top tour around the city as a way of getting a feel for New York on day 1 .
9/11 memorial…absolutely stunning and heartbreaking but beautifully done.
Statue of Liberty boat trip
Central Park …allow a full day ..it’s huge
Central Station is absolutely stunning and took my breath away …go to the champagne and oyster bar
Empire State Building is amazing…go there for sunset over NY
Times Square I absolutely loved …it’s just so OTT but fascinating and great for people watching
In fact I would go back to NY in a heartbeat…weirdly I wasn’t really excited about going but am so glad I did !

Go to a Jewish bakery/deli one morning and have bagels and schmears for your breakfast! Best bagels you'll ever have. 😋

The Ride is honestly brilliant - we absolutely loved it.
Walking round Central Park
The high line
Get standby tix on the day for a Broadway show - cost $200 for 4 of us to have 4th row seats and was brilliant so worth looking into what might be available
A Big Apple Greeter is a fab experience. They are not allowed to accept anything from you despite the comment above
Find a flea market - we stumbled upon a random one in Brooklyn and my two pre-teens loved it, they’d like it even more now they’re a bit older I think.
Subject to budget, a helicopter ride is a pretty epic experience.
Staten Island Ferry was a great experience.

TBH I don’t think you can go wrong with NYC for teens!

Enjoy your trip.

We did a week in NYC in summer with 3 teens in a aparthotel. I think a lot depends on your teens and budget. We were on a 6 week trip do watching money. It was v hot but amazing.Hits for us all geared to teens:-

-Highline and Chelsea Market
-Top of the Rock to watch sunset
-Liberty Island and Statue of Liberty Museum
-all of Central Park( boating on lake and spotting turtles)
-walking Brooklyn Bridge to Manhattan
-Carmines( Upper West Side one better, Italian food you eat as a family)
-Tenement Building
-Katzs Deli
-Zabars to buy picnic in Central Park
-Friends building & Washington Square Park
-Joe’s $ pizza( v useful)
-Madison Square Shake Shack
-Dylan’s Candy Store
-Juliana’s Pizza in Brooklyn
-The Met (Temple of Dendur and roof terrace)
-Natural History Museum
-Target for kids, Trader Joe’s for me
-Grand Central Station( Whispering Gallery)

its ££££ but unforgettable. Good shoes, plenty of snacks/packed food and water are my top tips.Make sure everybody gets to choose something they want to do.