6 nights in New York

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Hi all,

We’ve booked flights to New York at October half term with some Virgin points. 6 nights - think that was just because of the flight timings. Feels like too long to ‘do’ New York, particularly as accommodation is expensive so we’re likely to have all four of us in one hotel room and having to eat out most of the time I guess if we are in a room-only hotel.

Any suggestions for using the time well? Is it worth hiring a car and venturing out to Six Flags (New Jersey) and staying out there for a night or two? Or somewhere else? Day/evening 4 we’ve booked a show on Broadway so it’s probably days 5 and 6 that we might be feeling a bit New York’d out for.

We have 2 boys, 12 and 10. DS1 has ASD so will need to prepare with things like noise cancellation earphones, downtime etc. and eating out can be a bit of an ordeal.

Thanks!

Are you confident driving in the states? I would skip NJ and head north to see New England, the leaves will be beautiful and lots of space to run around. I’m not a big fan of amusement parks though. Train might be fun and less stressful.

Get the train to Philadelphia or Washington DC for a couple of days?

You can get the train from NY to Boston, if that interests you for a couple of nights. It's about 3.5 - 4hrs.

Hi there, we recently did five nights with our 17 & 15 yo DS’s. We packed in masses. We got NY city passes which covered most of what we wanted to do. The only things we had to pay separately for were The Summit and Empire State Building. We saved over £1200 using the passes. Food is EXPENSIVE but you can eat cheaply with bagels, McDonalds etc. there is a fantastic group on Facebook called New York Tips for Brits which was absolutely brilliant and definitely helped us with all sorts of things. The only thing we did miss was a sports event such as a basketball or baseball game as there were non on when we went, so your boys might enjoy that one evening. There is so much to do, you definitely won’t feel like you’ve got too much time out there. My one hot top is wear the most comfortable shoes you can. I wore Hokas and whilst they’re not the most attractive shoes, my feet felt fine with walking 13 miles a day for five days! Enjoy, you’ll have the most amazing time!

You could easily spend a whole day at Coney Island. My dc loved it.

There is plenty to do in NY, even just in Manhatten, if you only have 6 days, I would not bother with the car as driving in the city is bonkers. There is the subway, and there are also greyhound buses and train links if you wanted to have a day out of the city. I understand with DS1 they may be more difficult, but IMO driving in central New York is not worth the likely stress!

Even some of the museums could easily take more than one day. There's a Children's Museum and a Natural History Museum (I've only been to the latter), the Met etc..

Top tip with the subways - be wary of express subs. They only stop at certain stops. It is not difficult to accidentally get on one late at night and end up on the wrong side of Harlem by accident. Easy for us to fall into as we are used to tubes and trains stopping at every stop on the line of the right colour..

Statute of Liberty and the boat etc... is worth it and good educationally. Get there early though or you will queue for an eternity. Empire State Building obviously has to be ticked off. Maybe a UN tour if your kids are that way inclined and visiting ground zero in terms of important educational sites. There's a fire museum if they're more into fire trucks etc. Visiting the original Winnie the Pooh toys at the Library.

I honestly love wandering around Central Park and there are some quieter areas where may be able to get some downtime and away from some of the noise.

There's lots of places where you can just grab a slice of pizza (think of a slice being literally like eating about a third of a standard UK supermarket pizza), or bagels, which may be less stress than a sit down meal. Many of the eateries in the touristy areas are places that will be familiar - prets, mcdonalds and TGI Fridays, or dunkin' doughnuts.

Portion sizes in eateries generally are absolutely massive, so advise going family style and sharing if you can or may end up with a simply unmanageable quantity of food, and if possible see if you can have a fridge in hotel room or use the hotel fridge as places will generally do doggy bags, which will then give you something for the next day so that you can string the meal out over more than one sitting and don't have to do the sitting down in a restaurant thing two days in a row.

Magnolia Bakery cupcake is a fun treat. The Lego Shop (which from memory is near there) is pretty epic just to go and look at it!

Agree with those suggesting Philadelphia and Boston.

the train journey to Boston is beautiful, especially that time of the year.

i went to Philadelphia by bus and when I told people back at work on Monday, they were horrified I had taken the bus. I think it’s considered a total last resort, although I don’t recall sensing a especially dodgy atmosphere on the bus.

We did 6 nights in NYC in May and still didn't see everything we wanted to so you will definitely not be New Yorked out. There is loads to see and do!

We stayed at the Placemakr on Wall Street, which was great. We had a big studio with a fully equipped kitchen and there are bigger apartments available as well. There's also a gym and a free to use laundry room (BYO detergent), which meant we didn't need to pack loads of clothes.

It's not mid-town but being Wall Street it's near about 4 different subway stations that are all stops for the express trains uptown. It's a lot quieter in the evenings too.

We've done 5 nights twice (pre DC, can't wait to go again at some point in the future) there is plenty to do. Get the train down to Coney Island- check the season dates I'm not sure what'll be open but it is nice to walk round/along the beach either way. Train to Brooklyn and walk across the bridge. You can get the Staten Island ferry there and back to Staten Island for free and it goes past the Statue of Liberty, you get a pretty good view so that's good to do if you're looking for stuff that isn't going to cost you. There is absolutely nothing to see on Staten Island but you can just get off and straight back on the ferry to Manhattan. There is a great pizza place at the ferry terminal too (or at least there was). You can get a week (I think) pass for the subway, can't remember how much it was but very cheap for basically unlimited travel. We bought from the machines at JFK.

You can spend a lot of time walking round Central Park. Central Park Zoo is worth a visit. Natural History Museum is also really, really good.

When it comes to zoos, the Bronx Zoo is about an hour out of Manhattan but totally worth it. It has pretty much every animal you could think of! It's free to visit on a Wednesday - book the tickets from 5pm on the Monday before - though some of the premium exhibitions aren't included in that. It's $17 to upgrade to those, and you'll still be saving $20 per person.

Wow. Thank you so much for all those brilliant replies. That has definitely put my mind at rest. Family holidays can be hard work for us (lots of tension, arguing, meltdowns) but actually looking forward to it now! Thank you again!

Would they like a trip to the movies? For some reason I’ve always remembered a trip to the Anjelica theatre and it must be 20 years since I was there. I’ve always wanted to go to the Brooklyn Flea market too… although I appreciate its not everyone’s idea of a fun time.

Agree that it would be hard to run out of things to do in New York.

maybe put up another thread about handling family dynamics on holidays?

it’s hard to juggle e everyone and what thet want and also enjoy yourself.

have the first day planned!

We did 5 nights and still plenty more but you burn through money crazily even though we had good weather. Suggestions for lower priced activities are walking the high line, ground zero (we skipped the museum though), Staten Island ferry, Harlem jazz museum (was free last year) also eating brunch in Harlem was cheaper.

For food there's lots of markets (not what we think of markets, they are essentially food to go stores) often with tables and they are cheaper than restaurants as essentially pay at counter no tipping essentially (box if you want to tip) and there was 2 slices of pizza plus can of drink for$3 by central bus station, the food vendors vary in price but can be reasonable. If you can get b&b it's probably worthwhile if not too much more than room only as an alternative. Do check for "resort charges" added to your hotel bill, a complete con as ours had no facilities! It is another American hide the actual price mechanism to fleece customers, thankfully not allowed elsewhere! So your $1000 hotel room becomes $1500 with taxes and compulsory charges, just give us the price up front please.

Oh and Statue of Liberty and Ellis island is a full day, start early. Fascinating, didn't get all the way around

Hi to Philly. Have a day there. Amtrack nit cheap and for a little more time could take mega bus. Surprisingly comfortable and you get to see some of the countryside. Must dos in Philly: south street, the art museum reading terminal market (check openings) and rittenhouse square. It’s a walking city.

I have to say I didn't find it as expensive as I expected but I live in London! Having a kitchen in our hotel room helped as we got takeaway most nights, and that kept the costs down. I'm sure you can spend a lot on eating in New York but you don't have to if you don't want to. Also remember that portions are massive - we got filled bagels from a nearby bakery for breakfast and one was enough for two people!

Re your comment

Is it worth hiring a car and venturing out to Six Flags (New Jersey) and staying out there for a night or two?

I've been to this Six Flags park and its mainly geared at teenagers and young adults. Do not hire a car for this purpose.

There is a bus from the Port Authority Bus terminal at 42nd Street to this theme park.

NYC is split into lots of different neighbourhoods and each one has a very different vibe. For example, Times Square area is ridiculously busy and a total assault on the senses, yet the Meatpacking District / West Village / Greenwich areas are a lot more residential, have lower rise buildings and feel a lot more chilled.

I go to Manhattan every summer as my children go to summer camp about three hours away. Each time we go we stay in a different area. This summer was my favourite.

We stayed in the Meatpacking area and the hotel had a roof top pool. Each day we focussed on visiting a specific area e.g. Upper East side (The Met, Guggenheim, Central Park) and then came back, cooled off in the pool and then out for dinner. Next day we went downtown and did 9/11 Museum, Stock Exchange and Brooklyn Bridge. It actually worked exceptionally well as we didn’t feel rushed and coming back to a less hectic part of the city was a welcome reprieve.

Six Flags not worth getting a car for. Head to Coney Island for the day.

We did 6 nights in February and included a day in Philly. We could have done longer in NYC. We want to go back and finish what we didn’t do in February. My only tip with kids is don’t make it full on. Factor in a lie in or a few hours just chilling in your hotel.

Def do Top of the Rock, it has a much better view than Empore State.

There is a free ferry to Staten Island which gives a great view of the Statue if Liberty.

Ask the kids what they want to see. Maybe a Hop On bus for a favourite tv show. Get lots of takeout- pizzas, chinese. Hotdogs in Central Park.

Museums are good. Madam Tussauds is fun. See if there is anything special visiting that week. Head over to Brooklyn to see the Manhattan skyline as dusk.

Have an amazing time!