New York

[Hlpfl]

We are thinking of going to New York for 5 days in the summer. As it’s such a long way and will be our main holiday this year, I was thinking of doing another city in the US whilst we’re over there. Is this a daft idea?

Where would you go? It will be in August. Me, DH and DSs 15 and 17.

New York in summer is hot and humid and not very pleasant. You’d be much better off going in Spring or Autumn maybe during the children's half term holidays.

High line is wonderful even in the heat. Lots of shaded areas. The Edge and Chelsea Market at either end. We did this last August - I have family in NJ so we go a bit. This is the thing we come back to. Plus a boat trip to the Statue of Liberty. Yes, it's hot (and I really struggle with the heat because I have MS. But I managed it. Brooklyn is really nice too.

Washington DC is fab but I'd avoid in August. Maybe go up into New England? Boston if you want another city, but if it were me I'd do somewhere coastal.

I agree with @bluechameleon, I've always wanted to visit Maine so would probably head up that way.

I'd look at indoor attractions in New York to take advantage of amazing American air conditioning! But I have happy memories of Central Park in August, so much people watching, so much to do.

Thank you.

I think we have to avoid half term holidays as we will be in GCSE year and sometimes school puts on revision classes in the holidays or has mocks when they go back.

We did a combined NY and New England like PP suggested. Was Autumn holiday though and no DC so could do long walks.

We will do Boston, Newport/Rhode Island and NY this August.

DH and I have both been in August in Summer and we do know that it will be hot but it's DD's only big wish and we can't go earlier this year or later and it's unlikely we do a long haul again for a couple of years.

It's doable if you plan carefully, museums, parks, High Line, Governer's Island are all useful for finding shade and be out of the absolute heat.

We did DC and NY a few years ago in August. Had a great time .

DC1 preferred Washington because of rhe Smithsonian.

Book the Statue of Liberty tour now if you want to go up to the crown because it sells out some months in advance. I didn't do this but did manage to get tickets. However it was a hassle because I kept on having to check the website for returns.

I'm from the US and have spent lots of time in NY. If the holiday is only 5 days, I wouldn't try to combine in with another city. You'd have to fly to the other city and back so you'd end up spending most of your holiday travelling. There is plenty to do in NY for 5 days. If you don't want 'city' the whole time, check out things to do outside of Manhattan.

New York is a great city. We go regularly, because DH's family is from near there and the older our kids get, the more they enjoy it. 15 and 17 are great ages, because it's a very cool destination for them to brag about with their friends!

My 15-year-old loved going in the big Nike store on Fifth Ave, up the Empire State Building, visiting Ground Zero, the Natural History Museum, eating Mexican/Cuban food, seeing the iconic things like the Brooklyn Bridge, the Flatiron Building (sadly currently covered in scaffolding), the Statue of Liberty. They both found the boat trip around Manhattan a bit boring, sadly.

It will be unpleasantly hot and humid in August, so plan plenty of indoor stuff to do, but a big part of being in NYC is walking around and just soaking up the atmosphere. Use your jetlag to your advantage and get up and out early, before it gets too hot.

And yes - if you only have 5 days spend it all in NYC.

was less impressed with highline. it's ok. wasn't really sure what all the hype was about to be honest! (I would say go but don't get your hopes up too much on it being amazing). In NYC your best bet is to find some cool little jazz bars and soak up some of the culture. You often get free jazz evenings that are SO worth going to (little bars, don't necessarily need to be the famous ones). Be prepared to spend a lot overall.

The great thing is the AC, you will find bars and indoor places all have it despite it being so hot.

We did New York to Miami so we had a chill after. Worked well.

Thank you all.

Sorry I wasn’t very clear, we can do 5 days in New York and then a few more days in another city.

We are doing New York & Boston this year. I'm gutted as we go late October so we cannot do Martha's Vineyard or similar - is that an option - you could do couple days Boston and couple days there?

I’d do 4 or 5 days in NYC then join a cruise to Canada and New England. If that doesn’t take your fancy, I’d do Washington or Boston.

Definitely Washington - great city, loads to see all close together, easy to get to from NY

we're stuck with dates too as a levels and we've added Washington to start as easy train up to nyc ...just hoping the awesomeness and aircon will outweigh the heat! have deliberately checked hotel reviews in the summer about aircon!!!

One summer we did NY for 5 days then got the train to Boston and stayed there a few nights. Then we got another train up into Maine and hired a car from there to drive around. It was a fab summer.

5 days ? I’m going 8 for the third time and have to leave things without seeing. I’d not be leaving the city for a day

5 days is more than enough in NYC IMO, we prefer to city hop too. I'd probably do Boston, or Niagara Falls.

A few years ago I did 3 nights in New York and then flew to LA for a few day to go to Disneyland, it was a great trip.

How do you see this in 5 days. I take you leave things without visiting

1 highline - Chelsea - Washington sq -the edge

2 governors island - soho - little Italy - tor
3 museo - grand central- summit

4 - Brooklyn

5 libertad - finance - one observatory

6 - Central Park -5th av - lion king

7 - intrepid museum - esb

8 -

@EasterIssland well it's down to preference isn't it, half those things on your list don't really appeal to me. On my last trip (have been a couple times previously) we did high line, bike ride around Central Park, walked across Brooklyn bridge, Top of the Rock, Time Square mooch, Come From Away in the theatre, Staten Island Ferry, quick ferry trip to Brooklyn for ice cream, and we did that in about 2.5 days as it was only one leg of the overall trip. Did Statue of Liberty (not worth it) on another trip, along with a more formal tour.

I have a short attention span, I would get bored in a city for 8 days, would rather do a split stay somewhere else. I am going again this year though to see it in Christmas mode. Not much I'm planning on adding on though, maybe the view from the observatory thing oh and maybe a Knicks game if they're playing.

@EasterIssland and looking at your itintery what you've done in one day I'd do in half, I wouldn't do a whole day in Brooklyn, and we did half a day in Central Park. High Line is only a few hours, honestly I could easily condense would you've got there into a few days. It just depends how you like to do it?

Oh and we did the 9/11 museum in that 2.5 trip too!