NYC with a Toddler
We’ve taken our daughter a lot of places that are much further from home, but we hadn’t gotten around to taking her 2 hours up the road to NYC. It’s so quick to get to that we had mostly reserved it for our parent overnight getaways. But, we decided it was finally time to introduce her to the Big Apple. It did not disappoint! Below is the toddler-friendly itinerary we used:
Loving the big bed at the hotel
Before I get started, I’ll caveat that she is 2.5, so while she can communicate better and has a longer attention span than a one year old, we avoided things that seemed geared towards older toddlers, such as the Eloise tea at The Plaza. We kept it simple, easy, and not too many timed activities on our agenda.
Getting There:
Sitting pretty on Amtrak
If you are coming to NYC from somewhere relatively close on the East Coast, Amtrak is likely how you’ll travel. My daughter was not eligible for lap child travel since she was over two, but the half price child fare was very reasonable and gave us plenty of room for her to bounce around. In the days leading up to the trip, we built up her excitement about going on the “big choo choo train” and looking out the window kept her busy for the first half hour of the ride. The conductor gave her a mock ticket and she was very proudly waved it around. When all that excitement wore off, we pulled out snacks, then a little bit of Frozen, and all of 1.5 hours later, we arrived in Penn Station!
We immediately put her in her stroller because Penn Station is wild and can be very overwhelming for anyone, especially someone who’s three feet tall. We took a taxi to our hotel because it was the most direct route. We didn’t love having her in the back of the taxi with no car seat, but wanted to get to the hotel as quick as possible. We wanted to avoid that situation as much as possible, so that was the only taxi we took the whole weekend (hello 25k steps in one day)! Has anyone else found a solution to traveling with a young child in a city where taxi travel is common, but they didn’t have a car seat (outside of taking the subway or Uber car seat, which I haven’t had a lot of luck with finding one)? If so, please comment below and let me know!
Agenda – Day 1:
Quesadilla en Pollo
Lunch:
After we got our bags to the hotel, we set out for lunch, which was a few minutes from the hotel. We chose Dos Caminos, a chain of upscale NYC Mexican restaurants for 3 reasons – 1) We’ve been before and knew the food was good 2) they had a kids menu/high chairs and 3) margaritas. Our daughter is a huge fan of tortilla chips, salsa, guacamole, and rice, so we knew that she would get a good (if not carb loaded) meal in for lunch. Do yourself a favor and get the Quesadilla en Pollo – thank me later.
Central Park:
Walks with Dada in Central Park
After we got good and full, we walked over to Central Park. She loved checking out the ducks in the pond, watching the ice skaters, and taking in all the people doing various sorts of activities. There’s also several playgrounds, one being close to the rink with baby swings, so we let her play there for a while. It was nice to take in that she was playing with the iconic NYC skyline as a backdrop.
A Long Walk:
After getting our fill of the park, we changed for dinner. We stayed in Midtown and had dinner reservations at Balthazar in SoHo (gotta have something to make Mom & Dad happy, right?!) – we decided to take the long walk down the island of Manhattan to give her a taste of different neighborhoods and avoid a taxi. It look us about 2 hours, with her getting out to walk once and a stop at Starbucks. After she had a snack, she snuggled into her stroller muff, we reclined her seat, and she took a solid 45 minute nap through Union Square into SoHo. We didn’t anticipate getting any kind of a nap in on this trip, so it was a huge win!
Dinner:
Enjoying French bread at Balthazar in SoHo
I picked Balthazar because as a traditional, French Bistro, it’s rowdy = it’s LOUD and a kid making any kind of noise would go completely unnoticed. I hadn’t been in 10 years, and I knew they had good pomme frites to satisfy the babe, so this was the perfect time to return. Let me tell you – they had high chairs AND they had Crayola crayons to color on the paper that’s over the tablecloths. The waiter and manager were completely accommodating and there were a few other kids sprinkled around (we had a 6 pm reservation). Our daughter loved the fries and the French bread, which kept her occupied for much longer than I anticipated! My husband and I had an amazing meal, including appetizers and desserts and she was enthralled by the food and lots of people watching. It was a win-win and I would definitely return!
Getting snugly for her nighttime tour of NYC
After dinner, we talked back uptown to our hotel, which was about an hour and a half walk. She had slept for much of the walk down, so she laid back and took in the city lights (she thought the Chrysler building lit up at night was a Christmas Tree, awww). We put her down about 2 hours past her normal bedtime.
Taking in Rockefeller Center
Day 2:
After a good night’s sleep and quick in-room breakfast for her of a pouch, we headed over to Rockefeller Center. It was pretty quiet around 9 am on a Sunday and we got some good family pictures and she loved looking at the flags and the rink. The new location of FAO Schwarz is there, so we went in and I think she thought she was in a giant play space. She loved the Melissa and Doug grocery store section, so we let her run around that for a while before dragging her out. We then headed to brunch at Upland, which is one of my favorites. She feasted on fruit and bacon and we had a nice grown up meal. Madison Square Park is right around the corner, so we hit the playground with the Flat Iron Building in the background.
In awe of this magical place
We walked back uptown through Times Square (kept her in the stroller due to all the chaos, but laid her back so she could look up) and straight into the Renaissance Times Square Hotel. They have a fantastic bar/restaurant that overlooks the entire area, so we had a drink and she got to sit in the windows and watch all the lights and people. They even gave her a toy unicorn to play with!
After that, we headed back to the hotel and did a half hour walk to Penn Station to get the Big Choo Choo Train home. All in all, she had a great time (minimal meltdowns) and so did Mom & Dad - a success! Have you done NYC with a 2 year old? Let me know!
