New York tips

[NYCbound]

Hi, I’m going to New York for 5 days. Can anyone share any top tips/must dos/great restaurants etc to go to with two kids (8&10)? Thanks

When we took DC anywhere we always tried to show them the best of what a city can offer and didn’t treat like a giant theme park. They lived seeing top quality art for example. Plus museums. So we explored history and Ellis Island does this well. MoMa or the Met are amazing but you need to look at highlights. So we mixed up famous buildings, parks, museums, art and food. I wouldn’t bother with Coney Island. The subway is grubby! Poor real time info too. We avoided tourist traps and plenty have been talked about on this thread. NY is special but some things are very touristy and being discerning makes sense or you just follow the crowds.

@NYCbound how was your trip? What tips did you find the most useful from the thread? Did you manage to fit in everything you wanted to do?

Ellen's Diner IS a shithole and it's massively over priced but you have to take it for what it is. On a good day, you hear amazing singers who are passionate about their craft.

@FfayeN Niagara is 400 miles from NYC. Unless I've misread your post, it's not a day trip!

@Beautifulsunflowers we had a brilliant time, thanks. We managed to do most of the things on the list and the weather was amazing. Favorites for the kids were Top of the Rock, bike ride in Central Park, the Circle line boat trip and the many toy stores.

If you are going with kids, I recommend Black Tap (burgers and ridiculous milkshakes) and we stumbled on some great sushi and noodle places. Taco Bell was a massive hit (and cheap!!). We also loved the Oyster Bar at Grand Central and they had fun with the whispering gallery there.

A big highlight was discovering the animé section in Kinokoniya by Bryant Square for one Animé obsessed child!! They had stuff that you can’t get here so that was exciting.

they were just setting up the winter markets and ice rinks (odd as it was t shirt weather!) and we went for waffles in Bryant Park - delicious.

I splashed out and booked VIP tickets for the Empire State Building to go to the very top floor and that was a huge waste of money as the weather was terrible that day so we couldn’t see anything. It was still an experience and great to miss the massive queue but I wouldn’t recommend spending the extra.

everything is shockingly expensive (£90 for a diner breakfast of pancakes for 3 of us near Grand Central!!) so it’s good to mix it up with pizza slices, Taco Bell etc.

Thank you to everyone for your tips. What a fun city!