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Trip suggestions for a week in New York?
I’m going for a week in October with the whole family, so wife and kids aged 11 and 15. So far we are planning on seeing some shows off Broadway, doing most of the typical tourist things like Central Park, Governor’s island, Times Square, the museums. We’re going to be staying in Hell’s Kitchen at a hotel. Anything off the beaten path that’s worth checking out?
Edit: OMG the floods, what have I got myself into?
https://www.nytimes.com/live/2023/09/29/nyregion/nyc-rain-flash-flooding
For food: even if you aren’t vegan, NYC has tons of interesting vegan restaurants. Screamers Pizza in Brooklyn does all-vegan NY-style pizza, and there’s several vegan Soul/Caribbean places in Harlem to check out. Van Leeuwen has both regular and vegan ice cream, in lots of neat flavors.
Hadn’t heard of the transit museum, that sounds like fun. One of my kids loves trains.
Top of the rock and do the official tour and see the rooftop garden, walk the high line, walk the Brooklyn bridge and go to DUMBO, World Trade Center observation and museum, AMNH and the new wing, rooftop cinema club, NY transit museum (and they do tours), grand central terminal and the whispering spot, speakeasy type spots. Depends where you are from.
I was thinking about top of the rock, but I couldn't decide whether it was a better use of time than the empire state building. Both high vantage points to see the city, maybe less historical?
Top of the rock is popular for photos bc you get the Empire State Building in the background of them. Empire State will be busier and more historical/iconic. Both are good.
Even if you don't walk across the bridge, check out DUMBO, especially the flea market on Sundays.
Also check out Domino Park in Williamsburg... nice views from there, too, especially in the evenings/dusk.
I don't really have much to add other then that governors island is freaking awesome. Especially during fall it's gorgeous.
If you want to see what China is like, go to the Chinatown in Flushings. Chinatown in Manhattan is its own thing, but flushings is next level. You won't even be able to read half the signs if you can't read chinese.
You can get there most easily by commuter train from penn station.
My kids and I have been learning Mandarin for a few years now and it would be interesting to see how much we’ve learned. Would you say it’s more Cantonese or Mandarin?
Manhattan Chinatown is mostly Cantonese although there’s a fair amount of mandarin.
Flushing is all mandarin. I’d note that this distinction is mainly for speaking and listening, if you can read simplified Chinese you can read traditional Chinese.
Personally I find the changes difficult at times. Coming from reading Japanese fairly fluently which is extremely similar to traditional Chinese, it is not always apparent what the simplified versions mean if I haven’t specifically studied them.
Somebody mentioned the High Line, but don't skip out on the Whitney museum at the south end. They have some great contemporary art on display.
If The Met wasn't on your list then definitely go for it. It's hours of exploring art and exhibits.
If art is too boring for kids then go for Museum of Natural History, lots to look at! It's just across the park from the met.
Visit Stone Street downtown, not too far from the Exchange/Wall Street area. Lots to eat and it's really nice and crowded at night. Great for some drinks and ambiance.
If you want Central Park Lite Edition then Prospect Park is the place to go. Less crowded and still got some interesting landmarks. There used to be a tiny farmers market on the north corner, not sure if it's still around though (get the apple cider). Not far from cozy/quirky restaurants at Park Slope.
I miss NY sometimes 🫠
I've booked two days to the Met and the natural history museum, I hope it's enough to get the highlights.
Link to an old thread that is quite good. I’ll shout out One Vanderbilt again as a good viewing platform.
A couple of fun, kid-friendly things off the top of my head:
Museum of the Moving Image - Film and TV history museum with some great exhibits. A personal favorite of mine. In Astoria, Queens, but pretty easy to get to from Manhattan
Smorgasburg - Weekly food stall festival in Williamsburg, Brooklyn (Saturdays). They have a couple other locations/times as well, I think. Get's pretty crowded, but an opportunity to try a lot of different good foods!
EDIT: There's also the Queens Night Market. Also a food stall festival. A little farther out than Smorgasburg, but definitely the superior of the two with an awesome selection of global food. (Thought their season was over, but it looks like they're running through October)
This is after you will be there, but wanted to drop it in this thread for anyone looking for something in November or December. The Holiday Train Show at the New York Botanical Garden. We saw it 2 years ago and it was really amazing.
https://www.nybg.org/event/holiday-train-show/
My wife and I rented bicycles to ride around Central Park and also went up and down the Hudson River. It was a really fun ride and probably one of the highlights of my trip. Would also recommend walking the High Line
If you like cookie do, I highly recommend getting a scoop at DO NYC near Washington square park.
If you're in East Village, check out the Barcade. Got drunk and need some ramen? Walk over to Marufuku. It's five minutes away.