28 hour in New York City with kids | New York photographer

Ever since we moved out of NYC to the burbs back in 2009 Victor and I have been going to the city for a ‘staycation’ a few times a year.  We stay at a nice hotel, go to our favorite restaurants, explore a neighborhood, go to book stores and museums and just meander around.   Even though we live only about 20 miles from the city it is always so much fun to go to NYC and be tourists there!  Last year for Memorial Day weekend we decided to bring the girls to the city with us and they loved it!  We’ve stayed in Manhattan with them a few times since then and and it is always such a treat!

I think summer holidays are great for staying in the city; this is the time when most New Yorkers are flock out of the city and it gets pretty empty – you can get a table at a nice restaurant without having to reserve it days in advance, you can see a show or just walk all over without hordes of people there with you.

We managed to do a whole lot this time around – we started with a visit to a TKTS booth where we bought tickets for The Play that Goes Wrong on Broadway:

and then had lunch at our one of our fav downtown restaurants:

we discovered a secret oasis in the middle of hustle and bustle of downtown:

walked all over downtown:

did a little tour of the world without leaving the island (Chinatown and Little Italy are always so fun!)

went to another fav for dinner and saw a Broadway show:

and the next day after sleeping we had a yummy brunch and then headed uptown to the Guggenheim:

where the girls played in interactive exhibit and participated in a family art workshop:

and then we took another cab back to our car, went to Trader Joes to buy provisions for the week and came home!:)

If you are a New Yorker, living in the suburbs of this great city or planning a quick visit to New York city with kids and want to follow in our footsteps here is an itinerary of everything we did and saw:

Practical Info

Hotel

The James – on 29th and Maddison.  Whenever we stay in the city we always stay below 14th street (up to this weekend there were only two exceptions to this – first when we stayed at the Gramercy Park Hotel and then last year – when we stayed on Central Park South with the girls).  So staying at 29th street was quite adventerous for us.  The hotel was great – modern and very conveniently located.  There is a wine and cheese hour daily (unfortunately we did not partake) and fresh fruits throughout the day – this we did enjoy.

Restaurants

Acqua – one of our all time favorite downtown restaurants.  I still remember homemade parpadelle with pesto sauce I got there during our first visit – over a decade ago.  Before moving to the ‘burbs we were cool and lived downtown and used to go there all the time.  It is a bit off the beaten path but if you are downtown or visiting South Street Seaport it is a great little place to go to.  I love everything about it – the location, decor, a cool big mirror that’s great for taking family selfies and most of all – the food!

Rue 57 – another old favorite.  Before we got married Victor used to live on 57th street and that’s when we ‘discovered’ this place – back in 2000!  It is a great bistro that serves great steaks, seafood (their muscles in horse radish cream sauce are to die for!) and sushi!  We even met Usher there once – so if it is good enough for Usher – it is good enough for us!  And now this is the place we go to before a show – and the girls love it as well!

Tipsy Parson – a great little place in Chelsea – we’ve been there a few times for brunch and have not been disappointed yet!  Their biscuits are a must!

Show

We got tickets to The Play that Goes Wrong at the TKTS booth at South Street Seaport.  I love this location so much better than the Time Square one – the line here is so much shorter!  a 15 min wait and we got four orchestra row seats for the play.  I am not a fan of slapstick comedy but this place was pretty hilarious – everyone in the family really enjoyed it!

Museum

We went to the Guggenheim and our favorite part of it was Family art workshop.  Aparently they have them every Sunday!  It was a lot of fun and if you have kids I cannot recommend it highly enough!