New York with Kids: Travel Tips

On our 11-day trip to New York with our daughters, we learnt to mix paid attractions with free days out, get around without wearing ourselves out and find good places to eat between visits.

Here’s how we organised our days and what we’d check today. Our separate guide to free things to do covers walks and places you can visit without buying a ticket.

New York Pass or New York CityPASS?

With the New York Pass, you choose a number of consecutive days. New York CityPASS gives you a set number of attractions. That difference matters more than the advertised percentage saving.

Before buying, list the places you’d visit anyway. Add up the individual ticket prices, including child rates where available, and see which attractions require reservations.

We grouped our paid attractions together and left other days for wandering. Over 11 days, we could fit in several museums and observation decks and still have quieter days.

If you only want a couple of paid attractions, price them individually too. The difference adds up when there are four of you.

New York Pass by the day

The New York Pass runs for consecutive calendar days. The first day starts when you visit your first attraction and ends at midnight, so we’d get going in the morning.

A seven-day pass worked for our 11-day trip. We kept the other days for walks and free outings.

On our trip we visited the Empire State Building, Top of the Rock, the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island, MoMA, the Met, Madame Tussauds, Madison Square Garden, the Guggenheim and the Natural History Museum, and took a sightseeing cruise. That was our list at the time. Check the current pass directory to see what’s included today.

Coney Island was one of our favourite days. We loved the roller coasters by the sea and had a hot dog from Nathan’s Famous. If you’re using a pass, check the Luna Park offer for included rides. Access varies by season and ticket type.

It paid off for us because we visited a lot of places. To compare, add up the tickets you would actually use.

The Spanish-language guide we received at the time helped us choose places and plan our days. You can now check the attraction directory and entry conditions on the pass website.

Some attractions require a reservation. Follow the instructions provided with the pass and check exactly what your booking covers, especially if there are special times or extras.

On the official New York Pass website you can compare passes and see which attractions need booking.

New York CityPASS by attraction

New York CityPASS includes five attractions and can be used over nine consecutive days from the first visit.

It includes the Empire State Building and the American Museum of Natural History, plus three attractions of your choice from the list. Options include Top of the Rock, the 9/11 Memorial & Museum, the ferry to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island, Circle Line cruises, and other museums and observation decks.

You can also compare CityPASS, C3 and C-All on the operator’s website.

If the two fixed attractions and three choices already suit your plans, it’s worth doing the sums. We wouldn’t cram extra stops into a day just to get more out of a pass.

Where to eat in New York with children

New York has food from everywhere, and eating between visits doesn’t have to blow the budget if you know where to look. Here are the places we tried and what we liked about them :).

Street-cart hot dogs

Street carts were handy for a quick bite or something to take to a park. Alongside hot dogs, they often sell drinks and pretzels. We also found fruit stalls. Ice cream from some carts struck us as rather expensive.

Shake Shack

We liked the burgers at Shake Shack and found it reasonable for four people. The branches we tried got busy, so we preferred to go early.

Katz’s Deli

If you like film locations, this is the deli from When Harry Met Sally. We had the best pastrami sandwich of our lives here (it was also our first). The queue moved surprisingly fast. You can order to take away.

Carlo’s Bake Shop

For dessert we sought out Carlo’s Bake Shop near Times Square, the bakery from Cake Boss.

We loved the cheesecake. It might just be the best we’ve tried :).

Joe’s Pizza

Peter Parker worked at Joe’s Pizza in one of the Spider-Man films. They sell pizza by the slice, and we went back several times. There are several branches around the city.

Burger Joint

Half the fun of Burger Joint is finding it. It’s behind a curtain in the lobby of a luxury hotel. Once inside, the glamour gives way to burgers, which we thoroughly enjoyed.

You’ll find it in the Thompson Central Park hotel at 119 West 56th Street. It was one of the best tips we got for a good meal without spending too much.

Ellen’s Stardust Diner

Ellen’s Stardust Diner has a 1950s setting, and the person serving your burger might pick up a microphone and start singing. It was one of our most entertaining meals of the trip. There was a queue when we went, so try to arrive early.

Nathan’s Famous in Coney Island

If you’re going to Coney Island, the original Nathan’s Famous is near the amusement park. We had one of the best hot dogs of our trip there. Takeaway is handy if it’s packed.

Dallas BBQ

Near Times Square we tried the wings at Dallas BBQ. The portion was so big that our first thought was that we could have shared it :).

Little Italy

Little Italy is a good place to sit down for a while and take a break from burgers. Someone recommended La Nonna Ristorante to us and it didn’t disappoint.

For an afternoon treat, try a cannolo, a crisp Sicilian pastry tube filled with ricotta. There are lots of flavours, though one each was plenty for us :).

Chelsea Market

Chelsea Market has plenty of sweet and savoury options. We tried the famous lobster roll and thought it was pricey for what it was :).

It’s a handy stop if there are several of you and everyone fancies something different.

Something lighter to eat

After several days of pizza, hot dogs and burgers, it’s nice to have something different.

Fruit stalls and delis made a welcome change for us.

Many delis have a counter where they’ll make a sandwich or salad to order. We liked picking up lunch and finding a plaza with tables and chairs outside.

We found it more practical to eat near where we were than cross half the city for lunch. Our planning guide explains how we stayed connected for maps on the go.

Getting around New York

The subway saved us a lot of time over longer distances. Buses came in handy at the end of the day, when a few stops along a long avenue spared us another walk.

We used a weekly MetroCard on our trip. Today, OMNY is the system to use. Tap a contactless card, a compatible phone or watch at the reader, or use a reloadable OMNY card.

The subway and local bus fare cap runs for seven days from your first ride. Always tap the same card or device. A physical card and the same card in your mobile wallet count separately.

If each member of the family wants to earn their own cap, use a separate payment method for each fare-paying rider. Additional taps on one card for other people don’t build a separate cap for them. See the current OMNY fares and conditions.

One last tip for taking the bus

On buses, we found it handy to check the stop before boarding and ask the driver if we were unsure. We got around by mixing subway and bus rides with walking.

Discounted Broadway tickets

For last-minute tickets, TKTS lists what’s available at Times Square and Lincoln Center. We also tried the app on our trip, though the offers didn’t work for us. In the end we went to the theatre box office shortly before curtain-up and asked for the cheapest seats still available. That’s how we saw Aladdin. The box office offered us some cheaper seats in the accessible area shortly before the show. They were ordinary chairs rather than fixed theatre seats, so they could be removed to make room for a wheelchair. We had a good view and loved it. If you try this, ask the box office for the cheapest tickets available to the general public. Under US accessibility rules, theatres can release unsold accessible seating in certain circumstances. Availability and prices depend on the performance. It was all in English, but magic is magic :).

Tipping and pending card charges

Tipping is customary in restaurants with table service. Check the bill first to see whether a service charge is already included. When we paid by card, we sometimes saw a pending charge for the meal first. The final amount, including the tip, showed up a few days later, sometimes after we’d got home.

See also our guide to planning a family trip to New York and the free things we did as a family.