New York City, USA (2024)

Highlights

Museum of Modern Art (MOMA)
The Tenement Museum
Lower East Side food tour
Museum of Math (MoMath)
Chelsea and Greenwich
Brooklyn kayaking
Central Park
Bushwick
Manhattan kayaking

Getting there and around

In August 2024 we returned to New York for a second visit, flying with British Airways.

We flew from London Gatwick to JFK. We booked basic economy and didn’t pay in advance to choose our seats. By the time of check-in, there were no adjacent seats together and because the airline places children under 12 next to an accompanying adult, they had to upgrade us to premium economy to make sure the kids could sit with a parent. Win!

This was our first time flying in anything other than basic economy class and it was a real luxury for us. The kids loved the remote control and TV screen set up, and the better quality food. The adults appreciated the extra space and legroom, and the free refreshments!

From JFK we had planned to take the Airtrain and subway to Manhattan. However, our flight was delayed and then our baggage took 90 minutes to arrive onto the carousel, meaning it was 10pm (3am UK time) by the time we exited the airport.

The kids were walking zombies at this point and it was pelting down with rain. We opted for an Uber direct to our hotel, a splurge for us at $95 / £80 but worth the convenience.

We like to walk in NYC, but we also use the buses and subway to get around. Taxis and Ubers are plentiful, but not really necessary as the public transport is frequent and quick.

For NYC public transport we tapped and paid using our contactless debit cards, like in London. The subway fare is $2.90 / £2.30 per journey, with a cap of $34 / £27 over 7 days. This means that once you’ve taken 12 rides in 7 days, any additional rides are free.

Younger children under 44 inches - so about 5 years old - travel for free with a fare paying adult. Despite the official height limit, all of the subway staff directed our kids (9 and 11 years old) to duck under the turnstiles to travel for free, and we saw many other kids doing the same.

Accommodation

For our second visit to NYC we stayed at the Romer Hotel for 9 nights. This hotel was centrally located, on the edge of Hell’s Kitchen and very close to Times Square. It was 15 minutes walk from MOMA to the east and Central Park to the north, and was served by the subway at 50th Street.

The Romer was marginally cheaper than the hotel we stayed in for our previous visit (Broadway Plaza). Overall we liked the room and facilities at the Romer better, but preferred the more upscale location of the Broadway Plaza in the Nomad district.

The room was not huge, but a decent size for 4 people to be comfortable, with 2 queen beds, a bathroom with a bath and shower over, and a closet area.

The lobby was very stylish, with a small shop, and lots of comfortable seating. There was no hotel restaurant but there was a small cafe counter serving coffee and pastries.

For our first morning we purchased croissants from the hotel coffee counter for breakfast. But this was a pricey option and our kids are early risers; so for subsequent breakfasts we bought plastic bowls, cereal and milk from Target for a quick and affordable in-room breakfast. We also grabbed croissants from street food carts when heading out for the day.

We booked this hotel 10 months in advance, when it was renovated and newly reopened (it used to be a Hampton Inn) and was offering lower introductory rates.

With taxes plus a ‘destination fee’ of $35 per night, this hotel cost $2728 USD or $303 (£235) per night. There was an additional $100 per night ‘incidental hold’ fee, refundable at check-out.

The destination fee (or resort fee) at this hotel included free 2-hour bike hire per day, access to a nearby gym, wi-fi, and some discounts at local businesses.

We dislike hotel resort fees as the perks offered are usually of little interest to us. For example, in this case, the bike hire didn’t include kids’ bikes. And we think fast wi-fi should come as standard with any hotel room nowadays.

With Airbnb effectively banned in NYC, and hostels not as attractive or safe a prospect as in Europe, hotels are really the only viable choice for families staying in central New York.

Despite this hotel being the most expensive element of our trip (it cost more than the flights!), Romer Hell’s Kitchen was still good value compared to the price of other central Manhattan accommodation.

Our star rating: 4

Our cost rating: 4

Museum of Modern Art

On our first day in NYC we headed to MOMA which was one of the places we most wanted to revisit and one of the reasons we had returned to the city. We felt as though we rushed it last time, deterred by the crowds.

We booked tickets online in advance at a cost of $28 / £22 per adult (children enter for free). The queue for the security check went around the entire block but moved quickly and only took 10 minutes. As we’d booked online we skipped the queue inside for the ticket desk.

We headed straight to the fifth floor, 1880s - 1940s where we saw the wonderful collection of Duchamp, Picasso, Klimt, Van Gogh and Matisse and Mondrian.

Particular highlights on the fifth floor for us were the selection of Mondrian paintings, and Frank Lloyd Wright’s giant plan and model for the architect’s utopian decentralised city of Broadacre.

It was raining on the day of our visit and the galleries were extremely crowded. As with our previous visit we were dismayed by the behaviour of some visitors: taking numerous selfies in front of pictures, blocking other people’s view, pushing ahead of people, jostling and elbowing, and generally being obnoxious.

It’s important that museums and galleries are low cost and accessible to all, but limiting visitor numbers with timed entry tickets would make for a vastly improved visitor experience.

This time we didn’t let the crowds send us away and instead we recharged our batteries with a delicious Italian lunch at the MOMA’s Cafe 2, and then browsed the museum shop, before heading back to the galleries.

Refreshed, we made our way around the 4th floor galleries with work from the 1950s - 1970s. The kids seemed to connect more with pieces from this era, and we had interesting discussions about what constitutes art while sitting and admiring Matisse’s The Swimming Pool (which is on show from 1pm each day).

After the 4th floor we were feeling fatigued but satisfied and happy. We made our way across the road to browse the MOMA design shop and add beautiful toys, homeware and clothing items to our ‘one day’ wish list.

We finished the day by browsing some of the shops in 5th and 6th avenues. We visited the Rough Trade store, the Rockafella Centre plaza, and Uniqlo.

We also went to the FAO Schawrz toy shop, home to the famous floor piano from one of our favourite films (Big with Tom Hanks). A fun end to a great first day in New York!

The Tenement Museum

On our second day we headed to the Lower East Side, a historically immigrant and working class neighbourhood with an ethnically diverse population.

We visited the wonderful Tenement Museum and joined one of their guided tours ‘Under One Roof’ ($30 / £24 each). On this tour we learnt about the Rogarshevskys and the Baldizzis, a Jewish and an Italian family who lived at 97 Orchard Street at the turn of the 20th century.

The Tenement Museum has done a fantastic job of preserving the building and recreating what it would have been like to live in. Our guide Laura was informative and enthusiastic, and kept the kids engaged throughout. We’d highly recommend this museum for anyone interested in history.

Lower East Side Food Tour

After visiting the Tenement Museum we made our way to Yonah Schimmel's Knish Bakery for the start of our food tour, by John from Free Tours By Foot.

After sampling knish (a sort of flaky dough dumpling filled with mashed potato), we walked around the area trying lots of different delicious foods including:

gelato from il Labortatio del Gelato
dumplings from North Dumpling
enchiladas from Essex Market
pickled mango and pickled chilli from the Pickle Guys
bagels from Kossar's Bagels & Bialys

This was our first time joining a Free Tours By Foot tour and we thoroughly enjoyed it. Our guide was entertaining and knowledgable, with interesting anecdotes about the area and recommendations.

This was a ‘pay what you like’ model, and we weren’t entirely sure how much to pay our guide, but in the end we decided on an amount for the four of us that we felt fairly compensated him for his time and expertise.

Museum of Math (MoMath)

On day 3 we spent the morning at the national museum of mathematics. The kids consistently mention MoMath whenever we reflect back on our travels and remember the things they’ve most enjoyed. They were keen to go back.

The museum has moved to a temporary home on 5th Avenue opposite Madison Square Park. We arrived at opening time (10am) and bought our tickets on the door ($26 / £20 for adults and $21 / £16 for children). There is a slight discount for booking tickets online in advance.

This paragraph has been written by Max:

At the Maths museum we cycled with square wheels, we did very hard puzzles, and we helped a boat to balance using counterweights. I liked MoMath because it was fun doing all the different exhibits. I like maths a lot and this museum really helped me explore and think about maths.

One thing we like about the Math museum is how knowledgable and helpful the staff are. They understand the mathematical concepts behind the exhibits and are on hand to give hints and tips for the puzzles (or solutions if you get really stuck), and are full of enthusiasm and encouragement.

After visiting MoMath we picked up some pizza slices, fruit and cookies from a grocery store, took the subway uptown, and ate a picnic lunch on a bench by Central Park before heading into the Natural History Museum.

American Museum of Natural History

We purchased our tickets online in advance ($28 per adult and $16 per child).

On the day of our visit this museum was incredibly crowded (perhaps it always is), and we found it difficult to navigate our way around.

This section was written by William:

I didn’t really enjoy this museum as much as other places in New York because it was confusing to find our way around and it was really busy. The exhibits were not as interactive as I would have liked, and I’m not a fan of taxidermy.

The big whale model was sick though. At the Planetarium we saw the ‘Worlds Beyond Earth’ show. My brother Max loves space and he enjoyed seeing how different planets could have life.

We didn’t make it around the whole of this huge museum but we did see lots of the Biodiversity and Environmental Halls, Mammal Halls, and the Rose Centre for Earth and Space.

In hindsight natural history isn’t one of our top interests. We skipped this museum on our first visit to NYC and probably could have skipped it again this time without feeling like we missed out.

Having said that, the exhibits were impressive, with lots of dioramas and specimens, and the planetarium show was very well done.

Chelsea and Greenwich

On a sunny Saturday we got up early and headed to the High Line, an elevated linear park along an old railway line in Chelsea. As this was our second visit we skipped the Hudson Yards shopping centre and joined the Highline via the Moynihan Connector spur route at 31st Street and Dyer Avenue. The modern architecture here is impressive!

The walkways weren’t too busy and the beautiful planting and seating provided plenty of shady spaces to stop and rest. The mixture of old and new buildings, art and sculptures, and the vistas out across the streets below make for a really fantastic walk.

Unfortunately the route was closed between 16th and 23rd street on the day of our visit, so we hopped off the Highline and went to Chelsea Waterfront playground, a cute little play area near the Hudson River.

We then walked south along the Hudson River path, applauding the healthy joggers running in 30 degree sunshine. We reached Little Island, a public park with an outdoor amphitheatre on an artificial island, which was newly built since our first visit to NYC.

At Little Island we sat and had some refreshments and cooled down in the shade before continuing on to the playground at Pier 51. This playground had some nice water features to help the kids cool off.

From Pier 51 we walked along Jane St and then down Bleecker St to Greenwich Village.

We assumed this area was named after Greenwich in London, but in fact its name comes from the Dutch word, Groenwijck, meaning Green District. This makes sense because the area was very green with lots of trees, parks and little squares.

Feeling very tired with sore feet, but pleased with how much walking we had managed, we picked up some pizza slices from Joe’s Pizza on Carmine St ($5 per slice, cash only) and took them away to eat at Washington Square Park.

Washington Square was super busy, with lots of people playing chess, chatting on benches or playing at the playground. There was also a huge queue for the NY Dosas Indian food cart in the park, so we added that to our list of food to try on a future visit.

Before catching the bus back up 8th Avenue to our uptown hotel, we stopped briefly to watch a bit of a basketball game at the West 4th St Courts. We then treated ourselves to gelato from Venchi Chocolate ($7.15 / £6 for one scoop). The gelato wasn’t the best we’ve ever tasted but it was refreshing, with a nice selection of flavours and good service.

This was a lovely day exploring NYC on foot. We had previously been to the Highline and Chelsea, but we hadn’t visited Greenwich or the West Village before. We loved the vibe of this area, with its narrower tree-lined streets, plentiful squares and parks, and cool shops and cafes.

After a rest at our hotel to let our tired feet recover, we headed out for dinner at Planet Taco on 9th Avenue in Hell’s Kitchen. This was a fun taco bar with lots of interesting flavour combos and great service. Highly recommended!

Brooklyn kayaking and Dumbo

The next day, a Sunday, we went to Brooklyn. We walked through the Brooklyn Heights neighbourhood which we explored and really liked on a previous visit. We had actually hoped to stay in this neighbourhood for this trip but hadn’t managed to find accommodation.

We took the subway to Clark St. and strolled down to the water and the kayak dock at Pier 2 on the East River. Here, volunteers provide free kayaking sessions throughout the summer, with family sessions on Sundays. It is highly recommended to make advanced (free) reservations online, which we did. There are volunteers on the pier and in the water to help keep participants safe.

We took two double kayaks out for about 30 minutes. Kayaking here in this setting, at the foot of the Brooklyn bridge, with views of Manhattan and the Statue of Liberty, was wonderful.

This paragraph was written by Max:

The kayaking was amazing because I got to go in a bright red kayak and boss my mum around. The best bit was when we went over lots of waves from jet skis and boats out on the river.

We ate lunch at the Time Out food hall. Unfortunately the Time Out food hall was crowded, service was slow and we all ended up eating at different times, and the food was mediocre. In hindsight a meal at a restaurant would have provided better value and a higher quality experience.

After eating lunch we walked around the Dumbo area, and browsed the Brooklyn flea market. This market was small, with an eclectic mix of second hand and vintage items, and souvenirs.

This was a fun day in Brooklyn, particularly the kayaking which we all really enjoyed and would love to do again!

Central Park

Our hotel was a 15 minute walk uptown to Central Park.

Our plan was to walk through the park stopping off at various playgrounds until we reached the Guggenheim where we had reserved entry tickets.

Unfortunately William wasn’t feeling well and was running a fever so after eating lunch, including some fruit from a nearby grocery store and hot dogs from one of the many food carts in the park, we took the subway back to the hotel.

We rescheduled our Guggenheim tickets to another day. This day was a bit of a wash out, but one benefit of having so many days in NYC is that we have time to spare to do all of the activities and see the places we want to.

Central Park Revisited

A few days later we made a second attempt at visiting Central Park. Our hotel resort fee included vouchers for free bike hire from Unlimited Biking. We picked up our bikes from their shop at 6th Avenue and cycled around the whole of Central Park. We stopped off at different playgrounds along the way.

It was really fun cycling in the park. The rules of the road are applied somewhat liberally by most road / path users, and we had to watch out for electric scooters, horse and carts, and joggers; but we made it around safely.

We had rescheduled our Guggenheim tickets to this day, but we were enjoying the cycling a lot and so we decided not to visit the museum in the end.

Bushwick

We had planned a Free By Foot 2 hour walking tour of the graffiti art in Bushwick, Brooklyn.

However, William was still feeling unwell and wasn’t up to a long walking tour, so we cancelled the tour and did a short self guided visit instead.

We took the subway to Jefferson St, and spent some time in the Maria Hernandez park and playground. Then we went for a delicious Lebanese lunch at Semkeh. We browsed some shops including Vinyl Fantasy, Stems Brooklyn, Better than Jam’s art studio, and Brooklyn’s Natural.

We saw lots of street art and while it would have been great to have the knowledge of an expert guide, we did get a good feel for the area by ourselves. This was an un-touristy area with a diverse mix of eateries with different cuisines, hipster cafes, and vintage clothing shops.

Manhattan kayaking

Max enjoyed the kayaking at Brooklyn so much that he wanted to go again, and amazingly there are multiple places in NYC offering free kayaking sessions.

Manhattan Community Boathouse at Pier 96 on the Hudson River offers free 20 minute sessions on weekends and on Monday and Tuesday evenings in the summer.

Minors under 18 have to go in a double kayak with an adult, and all participants have to sign a waiver confirming they can swim.

This was a beautiful spot to be out on the water, watching the sun set against a stunning Manhattan skyline backdrop.

Lower East Side Revisited

After the bike hire we took the subway to Delancey St / Essex St, as we really liked the Lower East Side area and wanted to revisit it.

We had lunch from our favourite stalls at Essex Market: empanadas from Dominican Cravings, pizza from Unregular Pizza, and cupcakes from Sugar Sweet Sunshine Bakery; and also and also some dumplings from North Dumpling.

Having refuelled, we walked around the area visiting some shops we’d missed during our food tour including Bluestockings Cooperative Bookstore and Montana spray paint shop.

We just really liked the down to earth atmosphere of this part of NYC, which seemed really diverse in terms of both ethnicity and wealth, and more interesting than the commercial and very touristy Times Square area near our hotel.

Final Thoughts

We loved our second trip to NYC, discovering new (to us) neighbourhoods and revisiting the areas and activities we liked best. We felt like we maximised our time while not rushing around or feeling like we had to cram everything in.

There were lots of things we still didn’t manage to do, despite having 8 days.

Still on our would like to do list are:

Brooklyn Museum, Prospect Park and Botanic Garden,
Socrates Sculpture Park, the Museum of Moving Image, and Astoria, and
Alphabet City and MORUS.

Which means we’ll just have to come back a third time in the future!