The Nerd’s oldest fan is coming to visit New York City with her 12 year old son, so she reached out to see if I have any must see attractions. You came to the right place Amy! And everyone please feel free to add to this in the comments below.
Be prepared to walk a lot. This is a walking city like none other. Make sure you all have comfortable sneakers.
If you have a laptop computer definitely bring it with you because your hotel will most likely have wifi, if it doesn’t then a cafe will, and you will want to get online while you’re here. If not, you’ll have to do it more of the old fashioned way, I suppose we have internet cafes here where they supply the computer but they’re few and far between.
Get lost in Central Park, don’t even worry about where you’re going, your son will have a ball exploring the most incredible park in the world.
Use Menupages.com to find the local good food near where you’ll be as you travel around the city, if you have plans made in advance for the day.
Neighborhoods that you’ll want to make sure you tour are Greenwich Village, The East Village, SoHo, Little Italy, China Town, Union Square, South Street Seaport, Wall Street, 5th Avenue in the 50′s & 60′s (FAO Schwartz toy store), Times Square (see a show)
Museum of Natural History, & Museum of Modern Art
As for Pizza, you should go to Lombardi’s, John’s of Bleeker St., Joe’s Pizza in Greenwich Village at 7 Carmine St., but anywhere you go expect the slice to be very good.
Eat bagels, lots and lots of bagels, we have the best bagels in the world.
You could take the ferry to Staten Island, then just turn around and take the ferry back. There’s nothing to see on Staten Island but the ferry ride through the Harbor is fabulous.
Walk across the Brooklyn Bridge and then eat at Grimaldi’s Pizza under the bridge on the Brooklyn side. It’s some of the best pizza in the world.
Go to the top of a tall building whether it be Empire State Building or Top Of The Rock, but go at an off peak hour when it’s not super crowded, the line could get crazy especially at the Empire State Building.
Anyone feel free to jump in with more suggestions!
The Intrepid (www.intrepidmuseum.org) is also always a great time for 12 year olds and adults
The Museum of Natural History, the Planetarium there also, the Guggenheim Museum, Central Park Zoo.
Thanks SO MUCH Nerd! Lots of great stuff!
p.s. It’s an honor to be labelled as your oldest fan
Can I get a map of the subway station at any of the stations or is it only available at Grand Central? If it’s not available at all of the stations, I’ll probably try to get one at one of the bookstores here. Thanks!
Meant to say map of the subway system . . .
They have a map of the subway system displayed at every station, but they don’t give out hard copies at most. Grand Central and Penn Station definitely do give out subway system maps.
Had a GREAT time in NY! Thanks again for all the tips! Grimaldi’s pizza was soooo good and worth the wait. I even bought a t-shirt.
Wish we had had more than 3 days. New Yorkers, as you probably know, have a reputation for being not-so-friendly, but we didn’t experience that at all. In fact, on two occasions we were approached by someone asking if we needed help finding something.
I think my only regret was taking a ricshaw tour of part of Central Park because I think the tour guide was dishonest about some of the places he pointed out. For example, they tell people that one of the fountains is the fountain seen in the beginning of Friends, and I later learned that it is not.
Anyway, thanks again! I HEART NY