Going to New York City for a family wedding and we have a limited amount of time to find things to do:
Friday afternoon and evening
Saturday morning
Sunday morning & mid-day
We are staying at the Milburn Hotel, 242 West 76th St.
I don’t think there is enough time for things like the Statue of Liberty. And I’m not sure if I want to see Ground Zero.
Does anyone have an idea of a must-see, must-do?
Age/sex?
Musical? (I love Phantom of the Opera)
Ice skating at Chelsea Piers?
From your hotel the Metropolitan Museum of Art should be fairly close. But might be a bit too much to try to do if all you have is a few hours.
Are there kids involved? “Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs” is at the Discovery Times Square Expo from 10am all week through next Monday; I would have given my left nostril to go to something like that when I was young.
Go get a bagel at Ess-a-Bagel (my personal favorite; love their bagel sandwhiches for breakfast) or H&H Bagel.
Oh, two adults age 51 and our daughter age 22.
Restaurants:
Vynl on 51st and 9th
Max Brenner’son 14th St in Union Square
Both are super delicious and have an awesome decor/environment. If you get to Vynl you have to make sure to go the bathroom while you are there and if you go to Max Brenner’s check out the store on the first floor on your way out.
Stuff to see and do:
Aim for stuff indoors. The heat is oppressive right now and the AMNH has central air to go along with their awesome displays. They are also very close to your hotel which will be a plus! If you want more art and less taxidermy you can check out the Metropolitan Museum of Art. You can also check out the King Tutexhibit in Times Square if you find that kind of thing interesting.
The BEST BARGAIN in NYC is the Staten Island Ferry.
It’s FREE!!! The views of New York harbor are spectacular. You will NEVER be disapointed with the Ferry ride.
Take a carriage ride in Central Park. The Intrepid Musuem rocks!!!
NBC has tours, as does Rockefella Center. Check out to see about tours of the UN. Take a walk over Brooklyn Bridge. (If you do this ride the El to the Brooklyn side and walk over to Manhattan, not the other way around. There’s nothing on the Brooklyn side :))
Go to the Empire State building after it gets dark. This is one of the highlights of my entire life. It’s WORTH IT. I always like the Empire State even better than the WTC.
There are bus tours. These are great. The night tour rocks. You can get off and on the bus as much you want and see things.
Thanks for the ideas!!
Shakespeare in the Park! Merry Wives - Free Shakespeare in the Park
They’re doing Merchant of Venice this Friday - with Al Pacino reprising his role as Shylock!
I’m seriously considering heading down to NYC in a couple weeks to see this myself.
And it’s free! (Though you want to make sure you hit the website for the ticket lottery).
Slight disagreement here. If you walk over the the Brooklyn side, you can get ice cream from the Brooklyn Creamery and sit in the park while you eat it. 
Lillith Fair, do you have any hints about your and your family’s artistic and food tastes?
Normally a quintessential New York City experience, but it doesn’t work with the OP’s schedule - you need to spend all morning in the park to get tickets, so it’s better if you have several days or a week. To get tickets you need to wait in the park starting at around 8 a.m. until they give out the tickets at about 1 p.m., and the shows are at 8 p.m. The online ticket thing is a longshot, so it’s not something to rely on if you need definite plans.
If the OP wants to take her family to a show, swing by the TKTS booth in Times Square at 47th Street. You can see the options and the deals are supposed to be pretty good. There will be matinee options. You’ll also get to see the pedestrian section of Times Square. And since it’s quick, you can also get out of Times Square pretty quickly and visit parts of the city that are worth seeing. I like the Brooklyn Bridge idea because of the skyline view. I’m also a fan of just walking down 42nd Street for a few blocks so you get that great view of the Chrysler Building. Or you could take the subway to Grand Central so you see the station and the Chrysler and get to walk around a classic part of town. I’d skip Ground Zero. Personally I think it’s a little morbid but even if you feel differently, there is not much to see. There’s a lot of construction and not much finished.
The park’s a great idea, since the OP is going to be a few blocks west of there. And so are the museums. I’m another Natural History Museum/Hayden Planetarium fan.
My wife and i just spent a couple of weeks in New York. Because we’ve been a whole bunch of times, we tend to revisit our favorite restaurants and attractions.
But one new thing we did on this trip was to make a trip to the High Line, a park constructed on an old elevated railway line. It runs from Gansevoort St., in the Meatpacking District, up to 20th Street, and it’s a really beautifully put together public space.
I took some photos of the park and surrounds when we were there: Link
I highly recommend it, and it’s close to the restaurants and shops of the West Village.
Don’t go to Ground Zero. It’s not that it’ll be an overwhelming emotional experience - it’ll be an underwhelming construction site.
I was going to recommend this.
It’s a very cool spot to visit, but it’s outside, so I didn’t think is would be so great in the heat of the summer. That said, there’s limitless things to do in Chelsea, so it’s never a wasted trip.
Good point. We were there before the current heatwave engulfed the east coast. It was a comfortable 78 degrees on the day we visited.
Greenwich Village food tour. A guided tour that provides you with a snippet of deliciious food and a history lesson from half a dozen differnet local restaurants and shops. Did this last fall, very enjoyable.
BTW, I use the High Line as an example of the kind of great things that can happen when community activists, along with environmentally sensitive city planners never give up on their dream. This thing took decades to make a reality - it’s a tribute to the dedication of all involved.
Friday Night - Louis Hayes is playing at Birdland
I’ve always enjoyed the Circle Line tour which gives you a great view of the Statue of Liberty along with many other landmarks.
Or how about the American Museum of Natural History? Just a couple of blocks from where you’re staying and very interesting.
St. Patrick’s Cathedral is spectacular even if you’re not Catholic and I think Times Square at night fun just for the people watching and the jumbo-trons etc.
Have fun!
The Highline is a great idea. As far as people watching and interesting food goes, I’d suggest St. Mark’s Place in the East Village.
It’s NYC. The question is more like what can’t you do.
Although it’s a major tourist trap, whenever I have people visit, they’re always in awe of Times Square.