What does everyone do on their 2nd trip to NYC?

[moosha]

We've been every year for the past five years with our girls (now 10 and 8) and are returning this October. We just can't help going back every year .

A couple of our trips have been 8 days or so, so we've really been able to relax and take everything in at a slower pace. We tend to just head to a particular area, usually two a day (Greenwich Village, Brooklyn Heights etc) armed with a list of places to eat and sights to see, and then explore.

Some of our recommendations would be:

At least a day in Central Park. The northern park is beautiful and more 'rugged' than the more touristy southern park although I wouldn't visit in the evenings as it's still considered one of the slightly less safe parts of the city according to the Rough Guide. We found it fine on a Sunday morning, didn't feel unsafe at all. We particularly liked the Conservatory Garden.

The Conservatory Garden is just across the street from the Museum of the City of New York, which is a sweet little museum that only takes an hour or two to fully explore.

Brooklyn Heights. We like to take the subway to Clark Street, drool at the brownstones, get bagels from Montague Street bagels (the best we've had in NYC), take them to a bench on the esplanade around the corner and eat them with a beautiful view of Manhattan across the water. Then walk along the espalanade into Brooklyn Bridge Park and have a mooch around Dumbo (Icecream Factory, Juliana's pizza). We always like to walk back over the Brooklyn Bridge into Manhattan as the view is better than going the other way.

Greenwich Village. So many lovely food places around there and we just love the feel of the area, plus always have to take a photo outside the Friends apartment building.

The High Line. We love walking along the High Line and chilling out away from the traffic. It feels like a quicker way to walk 'up' the cross streets (say from 10th Street to 30th) as you don't have to stop for pedestrian crossings every 30 seconds).

Also in Chelsea and can be combined with the High Line: Chelsea Market for some good food you can take up and eat on the High Line, we've had some lovely picnics up there . Bubby's just across from the 10th Street entrance to the High Line has an Ample Hills Creamery (ice cream) inside which is really good, and Bubby's itself is lovely for food / cocktails / dessert (delicious apple pie).

Hudson River Park. You can walk all the way up the west side of the island from Battery Park City right up to midtown along the Hudson River Park. It's lovely on a hot day or warm evening. Lots of joggers, dog walkers and there are tennis courts etc that you can use or watch a match as you walk by.

Broadway show, you can queue up at one of the discount tickets booths (the quieter one is in the financial district). We've seen Mary Poppins, Aladdin and School of Rock on Broadway. The last two at least were before they opened here so felt extra special.

Cable car / tram to Roosevelt Island. We weren't massively impressed with Roosevelt Island itself although there a couple of sights to see and the views of Manhattan are beautiful. We loved the tram ride over, and all for the price of a subway fare.

Top of the Rock is our favourite of the city's viewing towers / platforms, much better than the Empire State Building in my opinion.

Urbanspace Vanderbilt at Grand Central is a lovely food market with lots of options including pizza and healthy choices with bench seating and a couple of bars.

We did Brooklyn Botanic Garden once and enjoyed it but Brooklyn is massive and takes much longer to get from one area to another than Manhattan so just bear that in mind if planning to move between Prospect Park / Brooklyn Heights / Williamsburg etc. You will need the subway!

Coney Island is worth a visit if the weather is good. The beach is nice, as is the promenade, plus you can see the classic rides from there.

Ellen's Stardust Diner in Midtown was fun for breakfast. Food is overpriced but the experience is really fun, especially for kids or those who love musical theatre or Glee! The wait staff are all aspiring musical theatre stars and they sing throughout the day for tips to fund their college courses.

Bryant Park is a lovely little park offering shade, seats and wifi.

For anyone with young-ish daughters American Girl is a must-do. They have a cafe (average food, good experience) and salon for dolls, and the toilets are lovely and clean!

I'm sure there are loads more I can't think of now but I have an NYC trip report in my signature and am planning to do photo trip reports of our last two trips (2015 and 2016) at some point soon.

I must mention our absolute favourite New York City restaurant; Tony's Midtown on 42nd Street which does amazing pasta (including gluten free) at reasonable prices and has a great atmosphere. We always visit at least once but best to book via opentable before you go as it's really popular and gets fully booked at weekends. We've done walk ups in the week and at lunch but usually end up sitting in the basement area for those occasions which lacks atmosphere compared to the main floor.

Hopefully that helps those currently planning NYC trips.

[LOU LOU DISNEY]

Originally Posted by moosha

We've been every year for the past five years with our girls (now 10 and 8) and are returning this October. We just can't help going back every year .

A couple of our trips have been 8 days or so, so we've really been able to relax and take everything in at a slower pace. We tend to just head to a particular area, usually two a day (Greenwich Village, Brooklyn Heights etc) armed with a list of places to eat and sights to see, and then explore.

Some of our recommendations would be:

At least a day in Central Park. The northern park is beautiful and more 'rugged' than the more touristy southern park although I wouldn't visit in the evenings as it's still considered one of the slightly less safe parts of the city according to the Rough Guide. We found it fine on a Sunday morning, didn't feel unsafe at all. We particularly liked the Conservatory Garden.

The Conservatory Garden is just across the street from the Museum of the City of New York, which is a sweet little museum that only takes an hour or two to fully explore.

Brooklyn Heights. We like to take the subway to Clark Street, drool at the brownstones, get bagels from Montague Street bagels (the best we've had in NYC), take them to a bench on the esplanade around the corner and eat them with a beautiful view of Manhattan across the water. Then walk along the espalanade into Brooklyn Bridge Park and have a mooch around Dumbo (Icecream Factory, Juliana's pizza). We always like to walk back over the Brooklyn Bridge into Manhattan as the view is better than going the other way.

Greenwich Village. So many lovely food places around there and we just love the feel of the area, plus always have to take a photo outside the Friends apartment building.

The High Line. We love walking along the High Line and chilling out away from the traffic. It feels like a quicker way to walk 'up' the cross streets (say from 10th Street to 30th) as you don't have to stop for pedestrian crossings every 30 seconds).

Also in Chelsea and can be combined with the High Line: Chelsea Market for some good food you can take up and eat on the High Line, we've had some lovely picnics up there . Bubby's just across from the 10th Street entrance to the High Line has an Ample Hills Creamery (ice cream) inside which is really good, and Bubby's itself is lovely for food / cocktails / dessert (delicious apple pie).

Hudson River Park. You can walk all the way up the west side of the island from Battery Park City right up to midtown along the Hudson River Park. It's lovely on a hot day or warm evening. Lots of joggers, dog walkers and there are tennis courts etc that you can use or watch a match as you walk by.

Broadway show, you can queue up at one of the discount tickets booths (the quieter one is in the financial district). We've seen Mary Poppins, Aladdin and School of Rock on Broadway. The last two at least were before they opened here so felt extra special.

Cable car / tram to Roosevelt Island. We weren't massively impressed with Roosevelt Island itself although there a couple of sights to see and the views of Manhattan are beautiful. We loved the tram ride over, and all for the price of a subway fare.

Top of the Rock is our favourite of the city's viewing towers / platforms, much better than the Empire State Building in my opinion.

Urbanspace Vanderbilt at Grand Central is a lovely food market with lots of options including pizza and healthy choices with bench seating and a couple of bars.

We did Brooklyn Botanic Garden once and enjoyed it but Brooklyn is massive and takes much longer to get from one area to another than Manhattan so just bear that in mind if planning to move between Prospect Park / Brooklyn Heights / Williamsburg etc. You will need the subway!

Coney Island is worth a visit if the weather is good. The beach is nice, as is the promenade, plus you can see the classic rides from there.

Ellen's Stardust Diner in Midtown was fun for breakfast. Food is overpriced but the experience is really fun, especially for kids or those who love musical theatre or Glee! The wait staff are all aspiring musical theatre stars and they sing throughout the day for tips to fund their college courses.

Bryant Park is a lovely little park offering shade, seats and wifi.

For anyone with young-ish daughters American Girl is a must-do. They have a cafe (average food, good experience) and salon for dolls, and the toilets are lovely and clean!

I'm sure there are loads more I can't think of now but I have an NYC trip report in my signature and am planning to do photo trip reports of our last two trips (2015 and 2016) at some point soon.

I must mention our absolute favourite New York City restaurant; Tony's Midtown on 42nd Street which does amazing pasta (including gluten free) at reasonable prices and has a great atmosphere. We always visit at least once but best to book via opentable before you go as it's really popular and gets fully booked at weekends. We've done walk ups in the week and at lunch but usually end up sitting in the basement area for those occasions which lacks atmosphere compared to the main floor.

Hopefully that helps those currently planning NYC trips.

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Wow! Amazing tips!
Thanks for taking the time to write all of this, I'm defo going to Greenwich village this time as we didn't get a change last year, we've been to Brooklyn heights & loved it! Though I think we went a silly way from Brooklyn bridge park! We got the ferry over to dumbo & went from there but didn't realise you could walk along the esplanade to get there, we ended up going up Washington street & had a road to cross then about a 10 min walk up the fruit streets! I'm sure there was a quicker way from dumbo? But we plan to go here again as we loved it!
We're doing a show this time too hopefully school of rock (dates aren't showing till June) as we have our kids with us, & Dylan's candy store (where is it btw) we loved Coney Island too so will go again. Will defo look into Tony's midtown for good food we're staying on 42nd street this time so handy enough!
Would love to take a cable car to RI, where would we get this from?
I'm gonna have a wee trip at your trippie thanks so much again for all your tips! NYC is definitely as addictive as Orlando!

[moosha]

Originally Posted by LOU LOU DISNEY

Wow! Amazing tips!
Thanks for taking the time to write all of this, I'm defo going to Greenwich village this time as we didn't get a change last year, we've been to Brooklyn heights & loved it! Though I think we went a silly way from Brooklyn bridge park! We got the ferry over to dumbo & went from there but didn't realise you could walk along the esplanade to get there, we ended up going up Washington street & had a road to cross then about a 10 min walk up the fruit streets! I'm sure there was a quicker way from dumbo? But we plan to go here again as we loved it!
We're doing a show this time too hopefully school of rock (dates aren't showing till June) as we have our kids with us, & Dylan's candy store (where is it btw) we loved Coney Island too so will go again. Will defo look into Tony's midtown for good food we're staying on 42nd street this time so handy enough!
Would love to take a cable car to RI, where would we get this from?
I'm gonna have a wee trip at your trippie thanks so much again for all your tips! NYC is definitely as addictive as Orlando!

See more...

You're welcome , glad to help!

The streets around Dumbo and Brooklyn Heights are a bit confusing . The last couple of trips we've walked between Dumbo and Brooklyn Heights via Brooklyn Bridge Park which is all quite new and pretty. It's kind of a series of 'parks' which in places is just a scenic walkway so once you're on the right path it's quite straightforward. I would definitely recommend checking maps online for the best route, and coming from Manhattan, Clark Street subway brings you right out in the middle of Brooklyn Heights.

We loved School of Rock, it was fab and I found out recently that it's showing in the theatre where West Side Story was first performed in the 50s which was a bit of a wow for me .

Dylan's Candy Bar is 1011 Third Avenue at 60th Street on the Upper East side and very close to where you take the aerial tramway to Roosevelt Island (at E60th Street and Second Avenue by the Queensboro Bridge).

I would recommend Economy Candy in the Lower East Side (108 Rivington Street between Essex and Ludlow) if you're keen on Dylan's Candy Bar. Economy Candy is smallish but really cheap and has loads of interesting sweets and things like packs of collectible cards from the 90s etc. They also have a massive selection of Jelly Belly that you can bag up yourself for a fraction of the price of Dylan's, as well as loads of dried fruit and nuts in jars that you can have weighed out. It's pretty cool.

It's a shame my NYC trippie is a few years old now, I always mean to write them up when I get back but never get around to it so hopefully will get some photo reports up sometime soon.

I know what you mean, New York is as addictive as Orlando for us too, and we always think it's more easily do-able as it's a long weekend type of place and can be done fairly cheaply compared with Orlando flights and having to buy theme park tickets etc. That's why we've made it there so much more often! We also quite like snacking (cheesecake here, pizza there, ice cream down the road ) rather than having full meals so I don't feel like we spend as much on food when we're in NYC. That's how I justify it annually anyway .

[MrsBC]

I'm planning the same thing - 2nd trip in June. We didn't do the 911 museum last time, just the memorial, so that's on the list. I've had The RIDE recommended, and a tour of Radio City Music Hall so I need to look into them. We want to see a lot more of Central Park, a museum ?which one and the Highline. Sunday Brunch at the Rainbow Room is back on the agenda too. We might do another walking tour, as we enjoyed the Lower Manhattan one.

[LOU LOU DISNEY]

Originally Posted by moosha

You're welcome , glad to help!

The streets around Dumbo and Brooklyn Heights are a bit confusing . The last couple of trips we've walked between Dumbo and Brooklyn Heights via Brooklyn Bridge Park which is all quite new and pretty. It's kind of a series of 'parks' which in places is just a scenic walkway so once you're on the right path it's quite straightforward. I would definitely recommend checking maps online for the best route, and coming from Manhattan, Clark Street subway brings you right out in the middle of Brooklyn Heights.

We loved School of Rock, it was fab and I found out recently that it's showing in the theatre where West Side Story was first performed in the 50s which was a bit of a wow for me .

Dylan's Candy Bar is 1011 Third Avenue at 60th Street on the Upper East side and very close to where you take the aerial tramway to Roosevelt Island (at E60th Street and Second Avenue by the Queensboro Bridge).

I would recommend Economy Candy in the Lower East Side (108 Rivington Street between Essex and Ludlow) if you're keen on Dylan's Candy Bar. Economy Candy is smallish but really cheap and has loads of interesting sweets and things like packs of collectible cards from the 90s etc. They also have a massive selection of Jelly Belly that you can bag up yourself for a fraction of the price of Dylan's, as well as loads of dried fruit and nuts in jars that you can have weighed out. It's pretty cool.

It's a shame my NYC trippie is a few years old now, I always mean to write them up when I get back but never get around to it so hopefully will get some photo reports up sometime soon.

I know what you mean, New York is as addictive as Orlando for us too, and we always think it's more easily do-able as it's a long weekend type of place and can be done fairly cheaply compared with Orlando flights and having to buy theme park tickets etc. That's why we've made it there so much more often! We also quite like snacking (cheesecake here, pizza there, ice cream down the road ) rather than having full meals so I don't feel like we spend as much on food when we're in NYC. That's how I justify it annually anyway .

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Thanks again!
We have a dylan in our house so when I mentioned about the candy bar he said he wanted to go! But will check the other one out too if nearby.
I really like the idea of the Ariel tram, how long does it take? Are the views really good? Is there much to see in RI? We have to revisit a good few places like TOTR & sol highline etc as the kids want to go.

Ps do you recommend a visit to Chinatown? We didn't get last year?

[Goldia]

Originally Posted by MrsBC

I'm planning the same thing - 2nd trip in June. We didn't do the 911 museum last time, just the memorial, so that's on the list. I've had The RIDE recommended, and a tour of Radio City Music Hall so I need to look into them. We want to see a lot more of Central Park, a museum ?which one and the Highline. Sunday Brunch at the Rainbow Room is back on the agenda too. We might do another walking tour, as we enjoyed the Lower Manhattan one.

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I think the ride looks fab too. My mum says that the radio city tour is a must as this is really interesting and so this is snow on my list. Not sure how we are going to fit it all in to 4 days though guess we will have to go back to will NYC become as addictive as orlando? It sure sounds like it

[LOU LOU DISNEY]

Originally Posted by MrsBC

I'm planning the same thing - 2nd trip in June. We didn't do the 911 museum last time, just the memorial, so that's on the list. I've had The RIDE recommended, and a tour of Radio City Music Hall so I need to look into them. We want to see a lot more of Central Park, a museum ?which one and the Highline. Sunday Brunch at the Rainbow Room is back on the agenda too. We might do another walking tour, as we enjoyed the Lower Manhattan one.

See more...

Oooh what's the Sunday brunch thing? It sounds lovely? Still so much to do & see that's what's so great about NYC! Hope you have a fab time. I might if asked you before😊What date in June? We go 22nd for a week!

[MrsBC]

Originally Posted by LOU LOU DISNEY

Oooh what's the Sunday brunch thing? It sounds lovely? Still so much to do & see that's what's so great about NYC! Hope you have a fab time. I might if asked you before😊What date in June? We go 22nd for a week!

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Have a look at my NY photo trip report (below) - the Rainbow Room.

[LOU LOU DISNEY]

Originally Posted by MrsBC

Have a look at my NY photo trip report (below) - the Rainbow Room.

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Oh will do. Thank you.