Taking the Kids: Taking a big bite out of the Big Apple
New York, of course, is always tops on tweens and teens lists of wanna-go places. In fact, according to NYC tourism officials, a record-breaking 17.2 million family visitors with kids under 18 visited New York last year.
If you have a few days before school starts, it turns out August is a good time. Sure it may be hot, but with business travelers scarce, you are likely to get a good hotel deal. (Tip: Stay on a Sunday night for an especially good rate www.nycgo.com/sundaynightstays.) Check out the Empire State of Summer deal at the New York Hilton Midtown with half-off Sunday nights and the chance to win a VIP weekend. For those with teens hankering to explore Brooklyn, the New York Marriott at the Brooklyn Bridge has a new "taste of Brooklyn" package starting at $279 a night with extra credits for food.
Besides hotel deals, it may be easier to get tickets to a Broadway play (download the Todaytix app for discount tickets or a restaurant reservation).
There's always something new to see -- like the One World Observatory-- recently opened at One World Trade Center, the tallest building in the Western Hemisphere. Ready to step into the Sky Portal for a view you won't forget?
Especially with teens, put the National 9/11 Museum and Memorial on the itinerary. (Sign on for a guided tour to better understand the artifacts here. There are also special activities for younger kids. Here's what I wrote about a visit here last winter with a group of teens.)
The High Line, the wonderful park built on top of old New York City freight train tracks, now runs all the way from the Meatpacking District to West 34th Street, and you'll find places to get ice cream, meals and special activities (how about stargazing Tuesday nights?) along the way.
And you'll find plenty of special programs and new exhibits at the more than 150 museums around the city. Got any budding entomologists in the gang? The American Museum of Natural History has just opened Spiders Alive! Did you know only half of the known spider species make webs? While you are there, see the real exhibits behind the characters featured in the "Night at the Museum" films with a self-guided tour.
Tip: When you are visiting a big museum like the American Museum of Natural History or the Metropolitan Museum of Art, instead of trying to see everything (it's impossible), choose just a few exhibits.
Consider smaller museums like one of my favorites, The Tenement Museum on the Lower East Side, which is housed in a historic tenement where immigrant families lived. The different tours showcase the lives and experiences of different families at different eras.
Another interesting bet: The hands-on Children’s Museum of the Arts New York where kids can learn how to animate or record songs, among other skills, and where kids' art from around the world is on display.
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