I <3 New York! In fact I lived there for a few years in my 20s before kids and it’s an incredible city with so much to do. We held off on taking the kids when they were little (besides one trip with a 2 month old- which was also fun!) because there’s so much walking and didn’t think the kids would enjoy it as much. Now that we have a high-schooler, middle-schooler, and a second grader we thought this would be the perfect time to go. We booked the trip last minute for Thanksgiving week, but this itinerary could have also been easily done for Spring break. Here’s my quick outline of the highlights, keeping in mind that every family will gravitate towards different activities. 

First, ask your family about what things are some must do highlights, so you can make sure to optimize around at least one big highlight per person. Theater? Museums? Interactive Exhibits? Movie and show tours? Sports or Concerts? Food? Shopping? All of the above?? New York’s got you– it’s just a matter of how much you want to sleep in the city that never does!

Itinerary

New York is super flat and walkable and the subway is easy to take, but ideally you chunk up your days into areas so you’re not getting too exhausted. Even with a strategic day you are walking a ton, so build in breaks, playground visits, ice cream and pizza stops.

Day 1: Midtown Manhattan

1. Start your trip with a view! Choose between the Empire State Building or Rockefeller Center’s Top of the Rock Observation Deck. Both are great options, but I prefer the Top of the Rock because it’s where SNL is filmed (the show 30 Rock takes place here as well) and you can see the Empire State building from this view. There’s also this cool new Beam experience (separate ticket). The benefit to Empire State is there’s an educational component about New York history. Either way, book in advance especially if you are wanting to go for a sunset. 
2. Shop around Rockefeller Center, including FAO Schwarz for famous toy store experience (you can play the piano from Big!) and the NBA store for cool sports memorabilia (they have signed Jordans and many other cool items. We also got an embroidered jersey for our basketball obsessed kiddo). Rockefeller has the famous Christmas tree and ice skating during the winter (though the rink is very small, it’s more just to check the box than to enjoy the skating). Walk down Fifth Avenue to see luxury shops, the famous Macy’s on 34th, and visit St. Patrick’s Cathedral.
3. End the day at Times Square for its dazzling lights and atmosphere, visit a show! I highly recommend Aladdin, we all (yes even the teenagers) enjoyed it so much. Second recommendation is Lion King. If you have a kiddo into Broadway you can try to get into Ellen’s Starlight Diner, where up and coming Broadway stars are the servers and sing for you. Don’t expect spectacular food, but it is spectacular entertainment for a Broadway-head!
4. Bonus! For $150 you can surprise the family by putting their photos up on a times square billboard! It is such a cool memory. It’s up at the same time each hour for 15 seconds for 24 hours. So we surprised the kids before the Broadway show with their face on the big screen and then came back after the show to catch it again!

Day 2: Lower Manhattan

1. This is another good “day one” option! For the Statue of Liberty you have two alternatives– the free Staten Island Ferry that goes by the Statue of Liberty and has beautiful Manhattan views. This is usually enough for most. However if you want to step foot on the island and learn more, you can also book the tour that goes to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island (there are several companies that do this). This option will take longer and cost more, but you will learn more. 
2. Explore the Financial District including the Stock Exchange, the Bull, and the Ghostbusters building. Visit the 9/11 Memorial & Museum
3. For the shoppers in the family, visit the famous Century 21. The non shoppers can go to Eately across the street and enjoy yummy Italian treats.
4. Grab a pretzel or a Mr Softee ice cream and walk across the Brooklyn Bridge for stunning views
5. Consider exploring Brooklyn like the carousel, grabbing some ice cream and then walking back. It’s such a cool walk with the views, you’ll get some great family photos. 

Day 3: Central Park and Museums

1. Spend the morning in Central Park, enjoying playgrounds and attractions. We had a blast on this pedicab trip learning all about movie locations, including Elf and Home Alone II – a couple of our favorite holiday movies. We also got tons of family photos from this trip as our tour guide took some very scenic photos for us– huge bonus! Book it here and you won’t be disappointed!
2. Visit the MOMA (for the Van Gough lovers), the American Museum of Natural History (for the dino lovers) or the Metropolitan Museum of Art (Monet lovers). Make sure to check days, they aren’t open every day. 
3. Consider eating at Katz’s Delicatessen for their famous pastrami sandwich – When Harry Met Sally’s famous line “I’ll have what she’s having” is referring to this sandwich! We got one and shared it with some Matzo Ball soup and latkes.  

Day 4: Midtown and Beyond

1. Start at Grand Central Terminal to admire its architecture. Our kids recognized it from some Marvel games.
2. Visit the New York Public Library and see the beautiful Rose Reading Room. The lions in the front are the ones that come alive in Ghostbusters!
3. Enjoy Bryant Park, a lovely urban oasis with activities for all ages. During the colder months there is a great ice skating rink and holiday market here with mulled wine and yummy treats.
4. Walk thru NYU in 14th square park for the iconic arch and lots of street performers.
5. For the Friends fans like us, we went to the Friends Experience near Flatiron. Could it BE anymore fun?? Book in advance.
6. Get original Shake Shack near the Flatiron building. I swear it tastes different than the franchise burgers and shakes!

Day 5: Downtown Exploration

1. Begin in SoHo for some family-friendly shopping
2. Walk through Little Italy and Chinatown, sampling local treats (consider a food walking tour!)
3. Walk through Greenwich Village and visit Carrie’s apartment from Sex and the City (ok that one is just for mom) and the Friends Building. 
4. Visit Chelsea Market for lunch and diverse food options, including my favorite Eggs Benedict on Latka at Friedman’s
5. Stroll along the High Line, an elevated park with interesting art installations and good views. This is an abandoned train line that was converted to a park. Near there is the Hudson Yard Little Island at Pier 55 is pretty cool to see or visit.
6. Consider an Experiential Museum– these are very instagrammable, but also more fun than a traditional museum. We did the Ice Cream Museum (you get ice cream in every room and it’s basically a big playground!) but there are at least 10 different museums like that to explore and popups all the time. Book in advance

Getting around

Remember to use the subway for efficient travel between attractions, and your Google Maps will give you great options and up to date directions. Ubers are not efficient at all (except to get to airport), they end up stuck in traffic. Cabs are slightly better, but nothing beats the subway and walking and enjoying the scenery. You will see all kids of interesting things to do and eat just walking from one place to the next. We bought a 7 day unlimited subway pass for $34 pp (44”+ kids and adults) to cut down on thinking too hard and loading cards. Or you can pay $2.90 per ride.  Logistically, you have to swipe to move thru the gates, so adults should help kiddos swipe and push the gates. We have one adult go first and one last and then collect the Metrocards for next time.

Tip: I like to star any place I’m interested in on my Google Maps, so if I happen to be near something I can pop in. This includes anything on the itinerary list as well as restaurants.

Food

My oh my the food! You can’t go wrong with anything well rated on Google or Atmosfy. HOWEVER! Given our kids are not for waiting in lines and a table for 5 isn’t easy to squeeze in, you either need to make a reservation at places you really want to visit, be prepared to wait (one parent waits while the other is with kids at a playground, etc), or my latest hack– Doordash! Yeah you don’t get the fun of the ambiance, but there are a few dishes I couldn’t wait to have and knew my kids wouldn’t wait for it. Those items were: Pastrami sandwich from Katz (famous from When Harry met Sally), Magnolia Bakery (known for the cupcakes, but their cheesecake is my fave), and Joe’s Pizza, We even doordashed some yummy ice cream from Van Leeuwen’s when we just wanted to put our feet up (their cookies and cream is out of this world). Make sure to have bagels at a well rated bagel place, have New York cheesecake, and my new favorite dish I’ve only seen in New York- Eggs Benedict on a Potato Latke – I don’t think I can eat it any other way after this! And this one is definitely best fresh. We had it at the Chelsea Market’s Friedman restaurant, but it’s offered at a few other places.

If you have kids that will roll with it, a food walking tour is my favorite way to spend a first day! I’ve booked through Airbnb Experiences, Viator, and many others– just look for the best rated ones in the neighborhood you are interested in. I really liked Greenwich Village, Chinatown, Little Italy– you can’t go wrong!

Where to stay

Airbnbs in Manhattan are pretty much non-existent given regulation, so you’ll need to get a hotel. Hotel rooms in New York are super small, loud, and pricey, so set your expectations properly! I have stayed in rooms without shelf space in bathrooms, closets, or much space to even turn around. For our family I wanted adjoining rooms if possible and have yet to find a good site that will let you search by adjoining rooms. 

Neighborhoods to consider:

Upper West Side: Close to the park, bigger family friendly hotels, but more out of the way. If you plan on spending a lot of your time in Central park or museums, this is a good option. People have recommended Hotel Beacon to me for its family rooms and proximity to the park. 

Soho or Tribeca: This is where we stayed because the subway is super convenient to get anywhere. There’s lots of shopping and restaurants nearby. We stayed at the Sheraton Tribeca and enjoyed it for our family– it’s nothing fancy, but had adjoining rooms with 2 double beds, a restaurant, and treats each afternoon. A close second was Soho Courtyard, but they didn’t have adjoining rooms, just side by side it would have been one double room and one king+couch room. 

Lower New York and Downtown: Downtown has gone thru a revitalization in the last 10 years and has some nice new hotels with family rooms. There’s shopping and restaurants, but it can be out of the way except for the World Trade Center and Statue of Liberty. We considered the World Center Hotel because of its family rooms and newness.

Wait…not Times Square hotels? No, absolutely not! Midtown including Times Square has tons of hotels, but it’s is mayhem down there and a little sketchy. You will have some time to spend there for shopping and shows, but I don’t recommend staying down there. 

Ok, but what about New Jersey and Brooklyn? If you have something/someone to visit in Jersey or Brooklyn, those are great options and more Airbnbs as well as more spacious places to stay. But because I knew I wanted to spend most of our time in Manhattan, that is what I optimized for. Hoboken is a fun neighborhood 10 minutes away by Path subway from Downtown, and Brooklyn Williamsburg, Park Slope, DUMBO, and Brooklyn Heights are good family neighborhoods.

Safety

New York is a big city, so always be aware of your surroundings. I have for the most felt quite safe in New York, but with a family you will want to be very aware of traffic, sticking together in crowds, being aware of the right subway stops. We like to discuss game plans for getting separated. It’s a great opportunity for your kids to learn about a big city living and how to feel comfortable with the unknown.

Conclusion

New York in such a special place and I can’t wait to go back! There are endless things to see and do and each visit can be magical in a different way. Thanksgiving week has the magic of changing leaves, the beginning of holidays, and the Macy’s thanksgiving parade, December has beautiful holiday lights, lots of shopping, ice skating, and wonderful smells of roasting peanuts. Spring has blooming flowers and the spring city energy of coming out of hibernation. Summer I only enjoy in June with lots of Central Park activities, but generally I avoid July and August for the heat and stink. 

Hope you have an absolute blast in this treasure of a city!

Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase through these links, I may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. My opinions and recommendations have not been altered based on these incentives.