Contents:
Instructors supervise as students try their hand at flying helicopters themselves; tours provide aerial views of NYC sights as the sun sets. During a minute lesson, a certified pilot will teach the fundamentals of flying a chopper before taking to the skies. During the minute cruise participants circle the Statue of Liberty, which allows them to snap up-close photos of the famous landmark.
The Motor Yacht Majestic Princess sightseeing cruise ship gives passengers views of the Statue of Liberty and other well-known landmarks. Boat tours lets visitors explore the surrounding areas at their own pace. Guests sip wine, take in views of the NYC skyline, and enjoy live jazz music aboard the Clipper City sailboat. Loop through downtown and uptown on a double-decker bus, which you can hop off to get a closer look at points of interest.
More weather for New York City. Powered by Weather Underground. New York City Urban Adventures. Likely To Sell Out. Bateaux New York Dinner Cruise.
Complete Manhattan Island Cruise. Best Reviewed Highest rated places of interest or tour operators on TripAdvisor, based on traveller reviews. Tours, activities and experiences bookable on TripAdvisor, ranked using exclusive TripAdvisor data, including reviews, ratings, photos, popularity, price, and bookings made through TripAdvisor.
Places of interest and tour operators are then listed, promoting those where there is at least one tour or activity available to book on TripAdvisor.
We found great results, but some are outside New York City. Showing results in neighboring cities. New York City Skyline Cruise. City Sightseeing New York Cruises. New York Landmarks Cruise. Gray Line New York Sightseeing. Check for hours when the Media Lab and Sound Booth are open, places where you can learn how to animate a short film or record a song.
Children under five have their own WEE Arts studio and the Ball Pond lets everyone work off excess energy before you leave. Some smocks are available but its best to come dressed in clothes that can take a bit of paint or glue. Pay what you wish on Thursdays from 4 to 6pm. Temptations abound in this nirvana for chocoholics, a mouth-watering reward for good boys and girls.
How about a Chocolate Chunks Pizza made with melted chocolate and topping choices of hazelnuts, bananas, peanut butter, or roasted marshmallows?
Or maybe a Cookieshake, white chocolate ganache blended with Oreo cookies and ice? The menu of hot chocolates is amazing along with the O. G Chocolate Chunk Cookies, served with whipped cream, berries and melted chocolate. Be sure to make a reservation as the dining room is often packed. It can get noisy, crowded, and a little chaotic at peak meal times and on weekends. Children who dutifully trudge through sightseeing deserve a reward.
At Chelsea Piers, once defunct piers on the Hudson River have been transformed into a acre riverfront sports complex that can be a welcome break. Activities include a bowling alley and indoor ice skating in winter and a summer skate park.
The Field House, which serves many leagues and classes, offers a selection of Drop-In Programs for its facilities between scheduled sessions. These include batting cages, soccer fields, basketball courts, a gymnastics area, and a rock wall. Children age 4 and under have their own indoor play area. Call to find out what is available on the day you want to visit. The 23RD Street crosstown bus headed west brings you right to the entry. Hours vary with seasons: Arrive an hour early for Arts Express, pre-performance hands-on activities inspired by what is on stage.
Many workshops are scheduled with the artists teaching performance skills from puppetry to circus arts to hip hop. These are mostly for ages seven and up though there are a few for ages four to seven. Check the web site for upcoming performances and programs — each listing indicates the recommended ages. Check for current offerings. A restored actual tenement building gives a rare chance to experience what brave immigrant newcomers actually faced in their confusing new world from to Most of these immigrants came from Ireland, Italy and Eastern Europe.
The recently restored addition at Orchard, the building housing the museum shop, brings the story up to the s, adding the stories of Holocaust survivors and Chinese and Puerto Rican arrivals. Visitors can also play-act, taking the role of new arrivals and asking questions about life on the Lower East Side. Children are allowed to handle the household objects. Tours are popular and may sell out, so reserve ahead on line or by phone to avoid waits and disappointment All tours meet at the Visitor Center at Orchard Street.
The Empire State Ride is a long-distance cycling tour that raises funds for cancer research. The seven-day, + mile cycling adventure starts in New York City. Strap on your helmet and start bicycling your way through New York City's prettiest journeys. With most of the path in the shade and a relatively flat ride, you'll 2 likes · Add a comment Instagram · Roosevelt Island Greenway ( miles). In Another biking adventure that calls for a ferry trip is Governors.
The Center has an excellent selection of New York City souvenirs. Walking tours of the neighborhood are available, as well. For help selecting the activities best suited for your family, phone Subways: M15 bus to Grand and Allen streets. This still-growing 84 acre park covering 1. A former industrial space and decaying piers have become a world of gardens, promenades and bike paths with spectacular views of the Brooklyn and Manhattan bridges and the New York skyline. The park has activities galore. Pier 2 offers courts for basketball, handball, bocce, shuffleboard and hopscotch, as well as a roller skating rink.
Pier 4 is a sandy beach with a boat launch. Pier 6 has a volleyball court. Pier 3 is reserved for quiet walks and reading. Several playgrounds are located around the park and an old fashioned carousel awaits near the Dumbo entrance. The pleasantest and most direct way from Manhattan is by boat.
All these stops require a minute walk to reach the park. Piers open 6am to 11pm, playgrounds open dawn to dusk. The late John D. Rockefeller, Jr donated the land and the building, which holds his incomparable collection of medieval art. To make this art more fun for children. On many Saturdays and Sundays at 1 p. Check for workshop dates. Fort Tryon Park surrounding The Cloisters is a treat, with soaring views along its promenades and terraces, plus playgrounds and eight miles of paths, many of them meandering through woodland.
To reach the Cloisters, take the A train to th Street, a minute ride from midtown, then a ten minute walk through the park or one stop north on the M4 bus. Daily 10am to 5: A great family day is guaranteed! The Luna Park amusement center boasts classic rides like the Wonder Wheel and the Cyclone roller coaster along with plenty of state of the art scream new machines and gentle thrills for little ones including a carousel.
It would be worth the trip just for the New York Aquarium and its spectacular newest exhibit, Ocean Wonders: Enter through a clear foot tunnel with creatures from the Great Barrier Reef swimming right beside you on both sides and overhead as well. The exhibit offers 18 kinds of sharks along with rays, skates, sea turtles—some fascinating species in all. And there are fireworks every Friday night in summer.
Almost every TV show ever filmed can be viewed at this center which boasts an archive of more than , TV shows, radio broadcasts and commercials. Visitors have their own TV consoles and ear phones and can call up favorites past and present, from I Love Lucy to early Sesame Street. Super Bowl ads and Halloween specials.
Themed screenings take place. Recently the cast of Veep and Anthony Bourdain have appeared. This spectacular collection of historic fire engines and equipment from the late 18th century to the present tells the story of firefighting from the days of bucket brigades to hand pumps, horse drawn steam engines to high-tech fire boats. The accessories are fun to see, as well; who knew that some firemen once wore top hats to work?
Prepare for plenty of temptations in the gift shop. A moving memorial gallery to the firefighters lost at the World Trade Center in is tactfully set apart so that families can decide whether they wish to visit.
Check the web site for schedules. The museum is housed in a triple bay firehouse with its sliding doors, brass sliding pole and winding staircase intact. Open daily 10am to 5pm. For a peaceful afternoon and a look at a different side of New York, head for this newest waterfront neighborhood, begun in the s partially on landfill created from the building of the original World Trade Center, and mostly completed by The acre complex, now home to some 10, residents, offers miles of beautifully landscaped, art-studded paths for strolling or biking with peerless State of Liberty views as well as parks and playgrounds with many activities for children.
The two residential sections are centered by Brookfield Place formerly known as the World Financial Center an office complex with many shops and dining places and a big, tranquil outdoor terrace overlooking a marina of sleek yachts and sailboats. Rockefeller Park at the north end of the area, has basketball and handball courts, swings and a Parkhouse with ping pong and billiards tables, a play kitchen and toys, games and play equipment free to borrow from May through October. The waterside walkways continue to Battery Park and beyond. Noisy, crowded, and utterly fascinating, Chinatown makes for a colorful stroll and tasty dining.
Start on Canal Street where food stands are stacked with mysterious vegetables and dried foods, and all manner of seafood shimmering on beds of ice. Turn onto Mott Street, the main artery, for a sampling of lures like chopstick shops, bakeries beckoning with cookies and soft buns filled with roasted pork or beef, and souvenir stands selling slippers, back scratchers, dolls, toys, and bamboo plants, which the Chinese consider good luck. Buy a mini-stalk to take a little luck back home. Stop into the Eastern States Buddhist Temple at 64 to see offerings piled high on altars and over golden Buddha gleaming in the candlelight.
Then return to Mott and choose among the many restaurants for a final Chinese treat. Take the 6, N or R trains to Canal Street. Paradise for fans of Wii or Nintendo games, this store offers the chance to try out all the newest games and find a host of unique souvenirs, including hard-to-find plush characters. The second floor is a mini-museum displaying every console and character ever created, a great nostalgia trip for older kids and many parents. Fans line up outside for product introduction days and to see life-size costumed favorite characters like Mario or Pikachu when they appear for photo ops.
Check the web site for dates.
Monday-Thursday, 9am to 8pm; Friday, Saturday 9am to 9pm; Sunday 11am-7pm. Many of these swank, state-of-the-art facilities become singles hangouts after dark, when age restrictions are the rule, but all welcome families during the day. They include two hours of bowling, shoe rentals, arcade games, a pizza-chicken bites platter and drinks.
Advance reservations are suggested. The Bowlmor at Chelsea Piers Pier 60, 23rd St and West Side Highway, is smaller and less crowded and offers an arcade, a small laser tag arena and an aerial ropes course for children 48 inches and up. Lucky Strike Lanes and Lounge — West 42nd Street, adds billiard tables to the fun and a nice food selections like burgers of the month, tacos, and wings.
Rates are lower Monday to Wednesday. The problem for families is the size of this museum, which can seem overwhelming. You can also buy tickets in advance.
Art activity cards and gallery games to make the most of the visit can be picked up at the museum or downloaded in advance. MOMA also offers many Saturday and Sunday morning family tours and hands-on art programs divided by age, for 4-year-olds, ages 5 to 10 and tweens ages 11 to Most programs meet at the Cullman Education and Research Building, 4 West 54th Street, with registration beginning online ten days in advance.
Check schedules on-line and time your visit for these free events if possible. The lovely sculpture garden outside is a nice break if kids grow weary. If schedules allow, plan to visit on the second Sunday each month when family tours are held at Friday-Wednesday 10am to 5: Sports fans will find action year round in New York at arenas that are as exciting as their teams.
There are exceptional newer venues, as well including the glistening Barclays Arena tours unavailable, at present , host to Nets basketball and Islanders hockey, and retro Citi Field where the Mets play baseball and the food stands get rave reviews.
This popular green oasis right behind the New York Public Library between 5th and 6th avenues is fun for families year round. New York Helicopter Flight. Log in Join Recently viewed Bookings Inbox. The store features story hours for young readers every Saturday and Sunday morning and many author events where older children can meet their favorite writers. Statue of Liberty ferries can be boarded here, as well. Hours vary with seasons:
It is exciting to be part of the cheering crowd, but these arenas are fun to see even when the teams are not in action and all offer behind-the-scenes guided tours.