New York - 5 days/4 nights

We visited the Big Apple in August right before the end of summer. We went with parents and our 5 year old son, I should surely say that everyone enjoyed each moment of the trip. We were contemplating between staying in NJ vs NYC as many of our friends pointed out that they has stayed in NJ and commuted every day to NYC for the sightseeing. We did not want to do an extra commute every day as it would surely tire every one out, hence opted to stay in NYC right close to all the attractions. And we were very happy to have made this choice as it saved us a lot of time and our family enjoyed staying in the downtown. We stayed in Mid Town Marriott, it was a wonderful hotel with the friendliest staff. Worth the stay!

Few things to be prepared while visiting New York is the mode of transportation, bus/train routes and entrance pass for all the attractions. We got the New York City Pass C6 book for all of us and it did save us time and money at each spot.

We being in the west coast (San Diego) did not want to waste a full day in travel and hence opted for the red eye flight.

Day 1:
6:30 AM: Reached JFK airport. Took an hour to freshen up and have breakfast. Took a cab to Midtown as it worked out economical and faster considering 5 of us travelling. It costed around $80 and 1 hour.
9 AM: Reached the hotel. Our initial plan was to just drop the bags and head out for sightseeing. But we were very lucky that the front desk mentioned that our room was ready and gave us an early checkin. We took a break, freshened up quickly and headed out to explore the busy city.
The weather was pleasant and hence we took a stroll through the city. We wanted to get on the afternoon cruise (Circle Line Sightseeing Cruise). It was a good 2 mile walk and we enjoyed walking through the sky scrapers. We were on time for the Landmark cruise and it was a 1 and half hours cruise. It was beautiful as we were able to get a view of the full downtown from a distance. We were able to catch a glimpse of the full city including the Statue of Liberty.

After the cruise we came to the hotel for a short break.
In the evening we again headed out to check out the Rockefeller Plaza, M&M store and the busy Timesquare.

Day 2:
Today was the museum day of the trip. We headed to the American Museum of National History

My son was super excited and enjoyed the museum visit. This requires half a day at the minimum so manage your time well. The animal exhibits were mind blowing and looked like real life.

 There were a wide range of exhibits starting from animals, space , dinosaurs and many more. Around noon, we headed out and walked through central park. We had packed a picnic lunch and had a nice lunch at the Central park.

Next around 4 pm we headed to MET museum and spend the evening there till closing time.
After the busy day we headed back to the hotel by cab.

Day 3: 

After breakfast at the hotel we headed out by Metro to the Statue of Liberty. We got on to the nearest metro - 59 st Lexington Av Station and got on the 4 train. We got of the Bowling green station and walked to the Battery Park. We had got the tickets online for the 11 AM cruise so did not have to stand in the line to get the tickets. We had an hour so went around the park. The cruise was awesome and the view was amazing. 

After spending an hour at the Statue of Liberty, we got on the cruise to Ellis Island. Had our picnic lunch there and spent an hour visiting the museum. The view of the downtown from Ellis Island was mind blowing.

After we got back to the Battery Park, we walked to the Wall Street - Charging Bull, Federal Hall, Trump Building, Wall Street, Federal Reserve Bank.

Next stop was the 9/11 museum, it was such a sad sight to re-cap what happened on the dreadful day.

By then all of us were super tired and hungry. We got a cab and went to Saravana Bhavan. Had a sumptuous dinner and headed back to the hotel.

Day 4: 

First thing on the plan was Empire State Building. It was a short walk from our hotel. It was not that crowded in the morning and the view was - no words to describe.

After enjoying the view on the top, we took a cab to the East River Ferry Station, to get on the ferry to Dumbo.  We got off on Dumbo and explored the town. After Lunch at Julianna's Pizza (the wait was over an hour) and took a quick walk around the town. Had some ice cream at the Brooklyn Ice Cream factory before taking a walk on the Brooklyn Bridge. The walk was well worth it.

We had dinner at the Vatan, though a bit pricey the food was amazing!

Day 5:

This was the last day of the trip, and the plan was to head to the top of the Rockefeller Center in the morning. Before that, we went to the UN building and took a walk from the outside. We did not have time to do a tour of the inside. After that we went to the Rockefeller Center and spent some time on the top of the rock. The view of the Empire State building was breath-taking. 

 

Next stop was the Central Library. We had few hours to spend there before the night flight. We took a quick lunch at the Katti Roll Factory and my son enjoyed playing the miniature golf outside the library. Then we went back to our hotel, picked up our bags and we had booked the cab back to the JFK airport through the concierge.

Back to the airport after one memorable fun packed trip!