6 Rules to Live by When Visiting New York City With Kids

New York City with kids is magical. It is also big, busy, loud, overstimulating — and if we’re being honest, a little smelly.

I embrace the chaos, and I’ll save you from a few headaches and lessons I learned the hard way. Rule number one: Wear good shoes and walk fast!

Here’s how to visit New York City with your family and how to do it right. I love New York and I hope you will too.

First, you’ll never do it all

I always head to New York City with a mile-long wish list, emphasis on the “wish” part. If you overbook yourself, you’ll wind up rushing from place to place with grumpy kids. Plan two or three big activities per day, max, and just accept that you’ll be back.

Determined to see the entire city? You can fly over all five boroughs in six minutes at RiseNY. It’s a 4D interactive ride, the New York City version of Seattle’s Wings Over Washington.

Follow your kids’ interests

The best advice I’ve ever heard about taking kids to New York City is to follow their interests.

What does that mean? My friend’s daughter loved pickles — pickles! — so she found a store dedicated exclusively to pickles. My son is deep into spy novels, so we went to Spyscape, an immersive museum where he got to live his best MI6 life.

On another trip, my playground-obsessed kids set a goal of hitting all 21 playgrounds in Central Park. (We made it about halfway, which isn’t bad for an 843-acre park.)

Find your museum strategy

New York City’s museums are incredible, from the dinosaurs at the American Museum of Natural History to the armory room at the Metropolitan Museum of Art to the Starry Night at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA).

Maybe you have kids like mine who claim they don’t like art museums. (Honestly, sometimes I don’t know how we’re related.) Change their minds at Color Factory, which is room after room of interactive experiences created by local artists. You can sniff, you can touch, you can slide into an enormous ball pit.

Another unanimous family favorite was the Museum of Ice Cream. All-you-can-eat ice cream? Indoor playground? Say no more.

Save money with these tips

New York City is expensive. But with a little pre-planning, it doesn’t have to drain your wallet.

• We used CityPass to hit five attractions at a huge discount. I’m talking about the Empire State Building, the Statue of Liberty, the must-sees. The bundled pass was way cheaper than buying tickets at each stop. Book reservations in the app so you can skip the lines.

  Fun fact: CityPass launched in Seattle in 1997, and has since expanded to 17 cities across the country. I liked that CityPass simplifies decision-making. You hit all the major sights and it’s easy to sort out your itinerary.

• If you have Seattle museum memberships, check if they have reciprocity with museums in New York City. A Pacific Science Center membership, for example, gets you free admission to the Intrepid Museum and the National Museum of Mathematics, both full of hands-on fun.
• Don’t overlook the free gems in the city. Walking around outside is free, and New York City has beautiful outdoor spaces. Stroll along the High Line and go play on Little Island. Speaking from experience, Central Park alone could fill an entire day.
• If you have kids who understand window shopping, the stores in Manhattan are a trip. Young wizards will be wowed by the Harry Potter Shop by the Flatiron Building. Rockefeller Center has The Lego Store, Nintendo NY and FAO Schwarz, each one with lots to see and play with.

Get around New York City, cheap

At $2.90, taking the subway is the best deal in town. It’s faster than buses or even taxis and Ubers. Strollers, admittedly, are going to be a nightmare to wrangle. Some of the stations say they’re accessible, but good luck finding the elevator.

To save your feet, group activities by neighborhood. You’ll avoid schlepping across town and having to backtrack. You could do one day in Midtown (Top of the Rock, MoMA, Spyscape), and dedicate another to Lower Manhattan (9/11 Memorial & Museum, Statue of Liberty, Chinatown).

Hit our favorite budget-friendly restaurants

You can absolutely eat for cheap in New York City and don’t let anyone tell you differently. Don’t eat at the tourist traps — anything in Times Square — and definitely stay clear of the Instagram-hyped restaurants.

Instead, here’s food for travelers on a budget (ahem, families with teenagers to feed). Get some pizza for $1.50 a slice. Hit the bodegas and halal carts. The soup dumplings at 100 Mott Street will ruin you for all other soup dumplings. Go to the excellent deli section at Zabar’s and stock up on knishes and bagels and lox.

You’ll cry all the way home to Seattle.