New York with Teenagers
The city that never sleeps! Not the most kid-friendly of places to visit… but for teens, it’s pretty spectacular!
We are currently in the middle of planning a trip to New York next May during half-term, so it’ll be a short and sweet break out there consisting of only 4 full days in the Big Apple (with 2 days of travelling either side!), but having been before in a group of adults only, we know what to expect and what the best places are to go and visit!
Here’s our current outline for the trip - and we’ll update when we come back (of course!)
Day 1 - Coney Island
What kid-friendly NYC trip is complete without a trip to Coney Island? (See also Gatsby-fanatic-NYC-trip)
We are planning to start this day off with a very nice Breakfast at Tiffany’s followed by the day in Coney Island, and a walk back over the Brooklyn Bridge on our way back to our Manhattan hotel. Having seen the views from the Bridge in the daytime, we are pretty excited to see the city lit up as we walk over at night!
Day 2 - Woodbury Common and Broadway
A pretty chilled day - Woodbury Common is a HUGE shopping outlet. About an hour away on the coach from the Port Authority, the selection of shops on offer is crazy, and the deals you can bag are insane. If you have a teenager who has expensive taste, this is unmissable! It’s also a fairly early start but you can be done by mid-afternoon, leaving plenty of time to get back to Manhattan and go and see a Broadway show!
Day 3 - Friends / Harry Potter / Statue of Liberty etc.
The BUSIEST DAY! There’s the Friends Experience, a huge Harry Potter store, the Empire State Building, Macy’s, the Vessel and the High Line all within walking distance of each other! Off the High Line at Pier 55 there is now a gorgeous floating island which is not to be missed either!
We plan to have a pretty busy day cramming everything touristy in on day 3, including, if there’s time, a quick boat trip from Battery Point to Liberty Island and Ellis Island. I’ve been able to hop off the boat before and go and walk around both of the islands, and Ellis Island really is fascinating, but, unless you’re bringing a history nerd teen along with you, they’re not necessarily going to find it quite as interesting! So on this trip, it’s more likely to be a quick jump off at each site, some photos and back on the boat late in the day (making sure not to miss the last one!)
Day 4 - Roosevelt Island and the Upper East Side
Hey Upper East Siders…
Anyone who’s seen Gossip Girl or You will know there are sights to be seen on the Upper East Side! Including Logo’s Bookstore (Mooney’s bookstore from the TV Show ‘You’), and a pretty delicious cookie place called Crumbl Cookies - seriously, they’re amazing. Around here there’s an incredible Alice in Wonderland themed tea room too, which has different ‘chapters’ around Manhattan!
And then, you can hop on the cable cars over to Roosevelt Island for a final bit of fun! These run every 7-15 minutes from 59th Street and 2nd Avenue to Tramway Plaza on Roosevelt Island.
