New York City short vacation recommendations

[jibsey]

Love The Carnegie, but they don't take credit card only cash or check. Little Italy has a bakery with seating on the street or inside for great desserts, can't remember the name.

 

[husky8273]

Looking for a recommendation of a hotel to stay at in mid-town maybe around Times Square but doesn't have to be. Was looking for a suite type place so the kids can sleep in the bedroom and we don't have to go to sleep when they do. Would consider one room with 2 queen size beds.

Fitzpatrick Manhattan on Lexington has great suites for families - King bed in BDR and sofa bed in LR.

 

[BigErnMcCracken]

Il Cortile on Mulberry St, one of the best italian restauants anywhere.

If you like getting served by Croatians pretending to be Italian. The italian spots on Mulberry these days are a lot like the italian restaurant at EPCOT. Best meal you can have on mulberry right now is the tasting menu at Torrisi but I wouldn't take an 11 year old there.

 

[Waquoit]

A Circle Line tour might be worthwhile. It will give the kids a good understanding of where things are located in Manhattan.

I would like that now, but FWIW when I was in 7th grade I thought that boat ride was pretty dull.

 

[uconnric]

Have had some great, reasonably priced meals at Nocello and at Bello (Midtown north). Trattoria Dell'Arte very good also. Tony's DiNapoli is also a good family place in Times Square area. You'll get a good meal at Rosey O'Grady's on 7th Ave.

 

[BearJWS]

... secretly writing this all down!

 

[LeeOtisWilson]

If you can put the kids to bed early, this is the best rooftop bar in Manhattan:

http://www.ink48.com/

Amazing views

 

[Nickle Night]

You should try and work a trip through Grand Central into the visit. The whole building is beautiful, the ceiling art work and history are interesting, there are remarkably good food options, it's easy to get to and from, and the visit won't take very long which makes it perfect to hit on your way to/from other items on your itinerary.

Central Park is the best. Families always seem to have a blast renting bikes and riding around the loop, but just wandering around is great too. I live in the Upper West, mostly because of it's proximity to the Park.

If you're planning on going to the WTC, you can reserve tickets to the Memorial online for like $2, or get them day-of at the visitor center on Vesey St for free. The museum isn't open yet, but the memorial pools in the footprints of the twin towers, and the plaza are open and pretty moving. http://www.911memorial.org/visitor-passes I've worked on the WTC rebuilding effort for the past 5 years, and visiting the 9/11 Memorial folks at the Preview Site (20 Vesey St) and then going into the Memorial plaza is much better than staring at the construction fence like people used to do for years. Plus, 1WTC (formerly the Freedom Tower) and 4WTC are almost fully skinned, and look fairly similar to their final forms, so you can get an idea of how things will look when they are done.

While you're downtown, walking from City Hall Park, across the Brooklyn Bridge, and checking out Bk Bridge Park/ Fulton Ferry Park and DUMBO is pretty cool. Grimaldi's, Juliana's (a relatively new place by the original owner of Grimaldi's) and Ignazio's all offer good pizza (none of them are Pepe's, but nothing is). Also, Brooklyn Ice Cream Factory is right there. If you don't want to walk, the East River Ferry goes to/from DUMBO to Pier 11 (just south of the South Street Seaport).

Bottom line, there is plenty to do, so don't confine yourself to Times Square.

 

[SubbaBub]

Lol. I just.assumed OP was taking the train into Grand Central, but I guess it should be said explicitly.

Don't drive into Manhattan, take the train. Even if you only take it in from Fairfield County. Four R/T train tickets will be cheaper than two days of parking.

Sent from my MB860 using Tapatalk 2

 

[Hans Sprungfeld]

Lots of good stuff in here: Nomar's list, redirect to Katz's/Lower East Side instead of Carnegie, free ride on Staten Island Ferry, even walking over Brooklyn Bridge.

If you are driving (you could take the 7 train from Grand Central or Times Square, but we're talking suburban free parking access), I'd highly recommend a stop at the Queens Museum of Art, which is in Flushing Meadows Park where Citifield & the US Open tennis center are. QMA has The Panorama of New York, which is a scale model of ALL of NYC - roughly 400,000 individual buildings, all parks, waterways, really a 3-D map in one giant room (half acre?) with catwalks and the ability to grasp the vastness of it all. Then again, you might well know that this would be way outside what the kids would like, in which case, "Never mind." But everybody I've ever taken there really appreciates it.

 

[storrsroars]

With kids 11 & 14 I imagine the Intrepid would be very interesting to them. Last time I was on it (and this is a few years ago) was for a corporate party and there were a couple of old crew members who answered questions. They'd probably be like 95 now. But it was really interesting - they explain all sorts of stuff on what it was like living on a ship, moving airplanes around, dealing with kamikazes, etc. Geeky teens should eat it up.

Interesting you live outside Boston yet your wife wants to go to Little Italy. IMO, having lived in both places, Boston's North End >>> what's left of Little Italy. I'd think Chinatown might be a bit more fun. Who doesn't love dead plucked ducks hanging in windows?

 

[LeftCoastHusky]

With kids 11 & 14 I imagine the Intrepid would be very interesting to them. Last time I was on it (and this is a few years ago) was for a corporate party and there were a couple of old crew members who answered questions. They'd probably be like 95 now. But it was really interesting - they explain all sorts of stuff on what it was like living on a ship, moving airplanes around, dealing with kamikazes, etc. Geeky teens should eat it up.

Interesting you live outside Boston yet your wife wants to go to Little Italy. IMO, having lived in both places, Boston's North End >>> what's left of Little Italy. I'd think Chinatown might be a bit more fun. Who doesn't love dead plucked ducks hanging in windows?

The Intrepid has the old space shuttle on it now too, so that could be exciting for the kids.

 

[uconnfan68]

dead plucked ducks

say that 3 times fast.

 

[nomar]

There are a lot of good Italian places, but they're mostly outside of Little Italy. I mean, it's cool to walk around there if you're a fan of Godfather II, but the restaurants are all essentially interchangeable. They're nothing special but they're mostly not *bad* -- they're probably fine for your kids. You can't really duck up spaghetti and meatballs.

Torrisi and Parm are two "hot" (and good) spots; Maialino in the Gramery Hotel, Dell'Anima and Scarpetta are other good ones. But as Big Ern mentioned, I don't know how much an 11-year-old is going to appreciate any of those.

 

[HooperScooper]

Thanks everyone for the recommendations and tips. Just what I was looking for. Nothing like getting stuff like this from locals and people who have done what we will be doing. We will probably split our time between touristy stuff and just checking out the different neighborhoods and parks. The goal of this trip is mostly just to show the kids what a big world class city is like. Boston is nice but it's not New York, London, Tokyo, etc.

Sounds like Little Italy is not what we thought it was. I figured it was like a bigger North End (Boston) but I guess not. I think I was there like 25 years ago but don't remember much.

 

[FlyRyGuy]

Last year I went to NYC. The Marriott Marquis - Times Square is an AWESOME HOTEL. I stayed on the 39th floor and the view was incredible. But check out the app/website called "Hotel Tonight" The deals on there are unbeatable but you can't reserve the room until the day of check-in.

 

[HooperScooper]

I think we're nixing the Lion King. $750 for 4 tickets! 15 minutes into the show my hyper 11 year old will be asking when it's over. Not worth it. We'll just walk throught the Theater District and they can say they were there!

 

[beerfan]

I think we're nixing the Lion King. $750 for 4 tickets! 15 minutes into the show my hyper 11 year old will be asking when it's over. Not worth it. We'll just walk throught the Theater District and they can say they were there!

If you want to see a show go see Spiderman. Your boys will love it, lots of action and special effects, and you can definitely tell the music is by U2.

 

[gtcam]

For the family eats - Carmine's off Time Square is great but it gets crowded by theater crowd
Grand Central is very cool place now- cleaner than ever an outstanding marketplace and a downstairs foodmart serving any kind of food
Central Park if the weather is nice
Little Italy aint what it used to be but it has some good places but not family orientated

 

[husky91]

Missed this, stay at the Ritz, St Regis or Penninsula and eat at Per Se, Daniel or Nobu.

Keep it low end, economical.

 

[BigErnMcCracken]

Nobu's for commoners. Hit Masa.

 

[huskymedic]

Nobu's for commoners. Hit Masa.

and you will eat what they put in front of you! Menu? Don't need no stinking menu.

 

[husky91]

Yes, the is the one, inside of Time Warner Center across from Per Se.

Could always stay right there at the Mandarin.

and you will eat what they put in front of you! Menu? Don't need no stinking menu.

 

[DaddyChoc]

I think we're nixing the Lion King. $750 for 4 tickets! 15 minutes into the show my hyper 11 year old will be asking when it's over. Not worth it. We'll just walk throught the Theater District and they can say they were there!

the Lion King is a awesome show... saw it years ago at the Bushnell, paid about 90 per back then

 

[Cheddie]

If you like getting served by Croatians pretending to be Italian. The italian spots on Mulberry these days are a lot like the italian restaurant at EPCOT. Best meal you can have on mulberry right now is the tasting menu at Torrisi but I wouldn't take an 11 year old there.

Also love Parm for a more casual sandwich.