NYC itinerary

[KrisM]

Updated itinerary at the end in post 48.
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We didn't end up going to NYC for spring break, which ended up being good since DS2 has been sick. But, I'd still like to go and am now thinking mid-June.

This is what I have so far:
Day 1 - drive to Jersey City (10 hours/650 miles). Hope to arrive for dinner. Stay at Hyatt House. Park in structure nearby.

Day 2 - Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island - I can pick 8am or 11am. Not sure which time, but am leaning towards 11am, so we can sleep and check out. We'd check out and stash things in the car. Take the NJ Path to Penn Station and walk to TRYP Times Square South. It looks pretty walkable, even with luggage.

Day 3 -the Oculus, 9/11 Memorial, 9/11 Museum (do we need a tour?), walk down Wall Street, walk across Brooklyn Bridge, subway back

Day 4 - NBC Studio Tour, Rockefeller Plaza, Top of the Rock, Central Park, Times Square

Day 5 - Empire State Building, Intrepid Museum (thinking of adding the Concorde tour, but am unsure how to estimate what time would work)

Day 6 - check out and return to car.

I have no good idea on how long we'd spend at any of this, so I'm trying to group things logically and leave time to be flexible and add things in. I could use ideas of what else could be added each of the days. I'm still reading about the various museums and will likely add in one somewhere, but I'm not sure which yet.

Are there any days of the week that are better for certain things or certain areas? We'd probably arrive in Jersey City on Thursday or Friday, making our NYC days Sat-Tues or Sun-Wed.

I could also use suggestions on where to eat. I'll try most things, but the rest of them aren't super adventurous. The boys will try a fair amount of stuff, but DD is still pretty particular and definitely not adventurous in her eating. But, she rarely complains and will often find something to order, even if it's just French fries or plain chicken.

I appreciate any input! Re-reading my earlier thread was great with the hotel ideas! Thank you to those who recommended them.

[SnuggleBuggles]

In the midst of planning our next NYC trip. Imo, Top of the Rock and Empire are redundant to do both. I have not done the ESB but love the TOTR. I love that you can see the ESB from TOTR. I don't feel like I need to go to the tip of both. Also, those activities are tricky as if the weather is overcast, it might not be worth doing. We are waiting until right before to book TOTR depending on the forecast.

We chose not to do the 9/11 Museum as I thought it would be a little hard for my touring companion, ds2. I'm waiting until he is older.

The Met is absolutely the museum I would add. Unless your kids would love the Intrepid (mine aren't interested) I would do the Met instead. The Egyptian section is just so cool as are the suits of armor.

Food- my ds2 is all about just walking into neighborhood pizzerias and grabbing a cheap slice or 2. He always loves Shake Shack too and we do mobile ordering to save the line. Eataly is on the list this time too as we loved the one in Chicago.

[ett]

I agree on adding the Met too. My oldest is not into art and didn't really want to go, but I insisted on it!

[KrisM]

I agree on adding the Met too. My oldest is not into art and didn't really want to go, but I insisted on it!

Was he glad he went?

[BDKmom]

I liked the view from One World Trade and Top of the Rock better than Empire State. If you want to do two look outs, I would do TOR and OWT, since they are in two different parts of town. TOR and ESB are too similar.

[KrisM]

We will take Empire State Building off then. Makes it easier!

Now I'm wondering if I should cut a day. We don't have much on Day 5 now and while I think we'd enjoy the Intrepid, I don't know that we'd miss it either.

[jawilli4]

For lunch, if you happen upon a Rafiki’s halal food truck, I highly recommend it. The first time we had it, DC put their noses up and said they didn’t want any.... until they tried the lamb and chicken they were handed on a toothpick to try. They are absolutely hooked now and want to eat there any time we’re in the city.

https://newyork.cbslocal.com/2012/05...-from-rafiqis/

Another thought is that since you’ll walk to Dumbo across the Brooklyn Bridge, you could get some old school pizza before returning to Manhattan. We’ve had Grimaldi’s, but liked Ignazio’s better when we decided we decided to try it as there was no line. I’ve heard great things about Juliana’s as well. It is on the same block as a Shake Shack if you want to go that route.

https://www.cntraveler.com/stories/2...dumbo-brooklyn

Lastly, I’ll chime in to say that DC loved the Intrepid and hated the Museum of Modern Art, FWIW.

[mmsmom]

I would keep Day 5... after Intrepid you can spend time in Riverside Park and/or the Hudson River path that is at the Intrepid. You can rent bikes or just walk along the path. Eat at the Boat Basin at 79th St on the path. Fun, casual, outdoor spot.

I would probably do the 11:00 time for SOL because you do need to be there early to park, get tickets (even with reservation you have to pick up tickets) walk to ferry. So 8:00 would mean arriving by 7:30 at the latest. If you do 11:00 I would arrive by 10:00 as there are likely to be more lines then. We easily spent 4 hours at Ellis Island. We spent about 2 hours at SOL (but had crown tickets). So with the ferry and waiting in lines it is a full day.

Look into tours for Central Park. There are free ones offered by Central Park Conservancy.

[SnuggleBuggles]

If you’re going all the way to NYC, stay that 5th day. There’s more than enough to explore! The expense of one extra day is a lot less than going back.
Eta- look at Trip Advisor’s NYC travel forum at trip reports. People have lots of cool itineraries.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[jawilli4]

Thought of two more things...

Dylan's Candy Bar is a fun and memorable place to go if you are okay with loading your kids up with sugar.

https://www.dylanscandybar.com/Store-Locator/

Also, we are a bunch of nerds so YMMV, but we loved That Physics Show! We watched That Chemistry Show! when they were workshopping it. I liked it but there was a lot of overlap of material with the physics one while they were working things out. I imagine either show would be awesome now that they have the kinks out.

https://www.goldstar.com/events/new-...s-show-tickets

https://www.goldstar.com/events/new-...show-tickets-1