What would you recommend?

2 adults and 2 children in New York mid April. Kids are 14 and 9, both boys. So far on our list we have the following to do:

WTC site

Ellis Island/Statue of Liberty

ESB

Rockefeller Centre

Lower Tenement Museum

Central Park on bikes

Grand Central Station

Brooklyn Bridge

South Street Seaport

Also not sure whether to do Grayline ho/ho or just get Metrocard.

Where would you recommend that we eat?

Any suggestions gratefully received

What would you recommend?

Recommendations are always a matter of what you are interested in. You didn%26#39;t specify how long you are staying and that is always a factor.

Certainly try to group activities by location. I don%26#39;t think you%26#39;ll spend much time at Rockefeller Centre and Grand Central Station and they are close to each other as is the Empire State Buidling.

You may want to go to the Central Park zoo. Brooklyn Heights should be over the Brooklyn Bridge where you get nice views of lower Manhattan. There are many nice restaurants and I like Miso Sushi there for Japanese and there is also a pizza place (I think Grimaldi%26#39;s) which has long lines.

Bella Cucina on 87th Lexington I recommend for Italian and you can get more ideas on www.menupages.com.

You can try to get Mets or Yankees baseball tickets that time of year if that interests you or see a Broadway or Off Broadway play.

The Comedy Cellar is a great comedy club in Greenwhich Village (a fun place to walk around) but I believe comedy clubs have age minimums. However if you get hold of Time Out New York Magazine they list some improv comedy shows which may not have age minimums and can be fun to.

Your children may like the Museum of Natural History or the Wax Museum but it is pricey to get in. The Metropolitan Musuem of Art (MMA )is by donation and there is also The Cloisters which is part of the MMA which has nice midieval architecture. You would take the A train to 190th Street and walk through Fort Tryon Park to get there.

Hope this helps and have a nice trip and let us know how it goes.

What would you recommend?

I think your kids (and you) would benefit from a good guide book. If you just pop from one famous attraction to the next, you%26#39;ll miss the real treasure of the city, namely, its neighborhoods. Take time to explore what%26#39;s around the tourist sites to see how we live and work here.

See if you can find the ';City Wallks'; guide. It%26#39;s a box of cards that each tell about a specific area. They%26#39;ll help you explore without getting lost.

And definitely get your metrocards!

We have two boys, 17 %26amp; 12, %26amp; going in early April.

We are planning to do a river cruise which I can%26#39;t see on your list.

Also we%26#39;re staying near Madison Square Gardens so have booked to see an ice hockey game there, which we%26#39;re looking forward to.

For our location the guide book strongly recommends eating at Cucina %26amp; Co in basement of Macy%26#39;s.

Here are some suggestions for places to eat with 14 and 9 year old boys. Please be advised that with the theme restaurants, the food may not be the best that you could get in NYC, the ';fun'; factor makes up for that.

Mars 2112:

http://www.mars2112.com/

Jekyll and Hyde:

http://www.jekyllandhydeclub.com/

Ninja:

http://www.ninjanewyork.com/ninjacastle.html

For good pizza in a converted church:

John%26#39;s Pizzeria

44th St btwn 7th %26amp; 8th Ave

Ellen%26#39;s Stardust Diner - where the wait staff sing (they are good!) This place is fun and the food is not bad.

http://www.ellensstardustdiner.com/

When you go to the Tenement Museum, you might want to follow this walking tour to fill up on some good NYC food that I found on another website posted by RGR:

For the quintessential NYC deli experiences, no place beats Katz%26#39;s, on the corner of Houston (pronounced ';how-stun';) %26amp; Ludlow Sts. You%26#39;re there specifically for the pastrami sandwich. When you enter, you will be given a ticket. Instead of opting for table service, do what the ';natives'; do and get on line for counter service. When you reach the counter, put a $1 for each sandwich in the counterman%26#39;s tip cup and order pastrami on rye. He%26#39;ll give you a piece to taste. If you like it (the best pastrami is juicy and has some fat on it), tell him o.k., and he%26#39;ll make your sandwich, give you some sour pickles, and punch your ticket. Then, continue along the counter for sides 鈥?the cole slaw is good -- and drinks. Find seats at a table in the center of the room. (Tables along the wall have menus on them and are reserved for waiter service.) When you鈥檙e done, take your ticket to the cashier in front. It%26#39;s cash only. Note: For the purposes of this tour, unless you have a gargantuan appetite, it would be best to share one sandwich in order to leave room for more tastings along the way.

When you exit Katz鈥檚, turn left and continue along the same side of Houston St. You will come to Russ %26amp; Daughters, famous for all sorts of smoked fish and many other goodies. It%26#39;s not a restaurant, but they make sandwiches to go.

After leaving the Russes, continue west a couple of blocks until you reach Yonah Schimmel%26#39;s. Get a tasty potato knish, and make sure to ask them to heat it up.

Now it鈥檚 time for the quintessential NY drink 鈥?the egg cream. So, reverse yourself and head east on Houston until you come to Avenue A. Turn left, heading north, until you get to the block between 7th St. and St. Mark鈥檚 Place. Look for a hole-in-the-wall candy shop (no name, but an overhead sign says ';Belgian Waffles';), where one of the women behind the counter will make you a delicious chocolate egg cream.

When you鈥檙e finished licking your lips, go back to Houston St. and make a left (east) one block to Norfolk St. Turn right and walk down Norfolk until it ends at Grand St. Two places to look for at the corner of Grand and Norfolk: Kossar%26#39;s, for freshly baked bialys (another very NY food) and the Donut Plant (self-explanatory).

Next, walking west along Grand St., you will come to Orchard St. Turn right. At 87 Orchard, snack on a pickle from Gus%26#39;s World Famous Pickles. Then, continue to 97 Orchard, b/t Broome %26amp; Delancey, where you will find the Tenement Museum.

Finish up this gustatory adventure with a stop at Il Laboratorio del Gelato, at 95 Orchard.

I hope this helps and enjoy your stay!!

Grand Central Terminal offers wonderful free tours on Wednesdays and Fridays:

grandcentralterminal.com/info/historictour.c鈥?/a>

(Scroll down past the info on the paid tours).

I cannot recommend visiting this landmark more highly - it is truly spectacular, and it%26#39;s history is amazing.

Thanks for your replys so far. We are in New York for 4 nights and 5 days. Grand Central Tour sounds great for 9 year old as he loves trains but the days are wrong unfortunately

Even if you can%26#39;t make the tour, do make it a point to visit Grand Central. There is a small transit museum there, with a great gift shop full of train related items.

Also, and this may sound a bit strange - if you happen to be on the Upper East Side near 96th and Park Avenue (perhaps after you bike in Central Park), this is where the commuter trains head underground (coming in from Upstate New York, Westchester County and Connecticut) so it may be kinda fun for him to watch the trains go back and forth - you can see them coming from miles away, and then they zoom underneath you into the tunnel. Just a thought.

If your 9-year old loves trains, then it is a no-brainer - skip the bus tour and get Metrocards. The NYC subway will be an awesome experience for the little rail fan.

I suggest that you see Aeros at the New Victory www.newvictory.org/show.m?showID=1028515 -- this is a kids/family theater, all seats are good, even the very cheap balcony seats. I havent%26#39;s seen Aeros before but the New Vic has many acrobatics type shows and kids love it.

Also check the family travel section for NYC at tripadvisor.com/Travel-g60763-s401/New-York-鈥?/a> for ideas

I forgot to mention 2 other things

1. Get metrocards. You may also want to do the HoHo, but you must take the subway for the NY experience and your kids will enjoy it.

2. I love the tenemant museum, but you really need to consider whether your kids will respond. The museum is by guided tour only and is very heavy on talk. One tour is aimed at kids, the ';Confino Living History Tour';