Himmer family · New York City

Four Days In N.Y.

Fri 14 — Mon 17 August 2026 Base One Dutch, FiDi Party of 7 Sunset Sun ≈ 7:50 PM
Home base

One Dutch

1 Dutch St, Financial District — between Fulton & John. Everything on Sunday is a walk from the front door, and the two big transit days both start at the same station.

Your station: Fulton Center · 3 min walk
  • 23  West Side express — Penn Station, Times Sq, Chelsea
  • 45  East Side express — Grand Central, 59th St
  • AC  8th Ave — 14th St, 34th St, Museum of Natural History
  • JZ  Canal St / Chinatown, Brooklyn
Directions open in
Every leg below has a Directions button that opens live subway routing for that exact hop. Citymapper is the transit-rider's app — it opens the Citymapper app if you have it, the website if you don't. Your choice is remembered on this device.
01

Friday · Uptown Drift

Chelsea → Herald Sq → Midtown → Central Park → UWS → Broadway
Fixed points
AMNH 3:00 · Curtain 8:00
walk 3 min to Fulton St→ACE uptown to 14 St→walk 4 min west≈ 20 min
9:00 AM1h 10m

BreakfastChelsea Market

75 9th Ave @ 15th St · map

Everyone picks their own and you are moving in an hour — the right way to start a day this full. Sarabeth's Bakery, Amy's Bread, Friedman's for a sit-down, Doughnuttery if the kids get a vote.

Two minutes west is the Hudson River and Pier 57's rooftop, if you want ten quiet minutes by the water before the day turns into Midtown.

Ayada Thai's counter — the mango sticky rice — is in this building, but it opens for lunch, not breakfast. You are back here Sunday evening for exactly that.

Stalls open between 8:00 and 9:00, so 9:00 is the safe arrival. For seven people this is the easiest breakfast of the trip — nobody has to agree on anything, and there is no table to wait for.

walk 4 min back to 14 St→ACE uptown to 34 St–Penn→walk 5 min east≈ 15 min
10:30 AM50 min

ShoppingReclectic @ Herald Square

Urban Outfitters basement · 1333 Broadway @ 35th · map

The thrift/outlet floor is downstairs — go straight down, the main floor is just a regular UO. Macy's is directly across the street if anyone wants it.

walk 5 min east on 34th to Park Ave→6 uptown, 1 stop≈ 12 min
11:35 AM30 min

LandmarkGrand Central Terminal

89 E 42nd St @ Park Ave · map

  • MainStand dead center on the concourse and look up — the constellations on the ceiling are painted backwards.
  • DoThe Whispering Gallery: the tiled arches outside the Oyster Bar on the ramp level. Two of you face opposite corners and murmur.
  • SkipThe food hall — lunch is coming on the Upper West Side.
walk 12 min west along 47th–48th to Rockefeller Plaza≈ 12 min
12:20 PM30 min

Toy stopFAO Schwarz & Rockefeller Center

30 Rockefeller Plaza @ 49th St · map

The big floor piano is here, and Rockefeller Plaza and St. Patrick's are the same block — three sights for one stop.

walk 4 min to 7 Av→BD to 59 St–Columbus Circle→walk 2 min into the park≈ 12 min
1:10 PM1h 35m

The long middleCentral Park · Columbus Circle → 81st

In at Merchants' Gate, Columbus Circle · out at 81st & Central Park West · map

Roughly 1.5 miles with stops, and the best hour and a half of the day. Entering at Columbus Circle instead of the 5th Avenue corner costs you Gapstow Bridge and gains you a straight northward walk with no backtracking.

  • 1:15In at Merchants' Gate and straight up to Sheep Meadow — the lawn with the skyline behind it.
  • 1:35The Mall / Literary Walk — the elm tunnel.
  • 1:55Bethesda Terrace & Fountain (72nd, mid-park). Go down the stairs and through the tiled arcade — that's the part people remember.
  • 2:15Alice in Wonderland at Conservatory Water (74th, east side) — kids are allowed to climb it.
  • 2:35Belvedere Castle (79th, mid-park) — small, free, best view in the park.
  • 2:45Out the west side at 81st St.
walk 8 min west out of the park to Columbus Ave≈ 8 min
2:55 PM25 min

Meal gap · filledLunch · Upper West Side

Columbus & Amsterdam Ave, in the 70s–80s · minutes from the museum · map

Everyone orders their own, nobody waits for a table, and you are at the museum door in five minutes. In rough order of how easy they are with seven people:

  • EasiestShake Shack, 366 Columbus Ave @ 77th — three minutes from the museum. Order ahead in the app and walk past the line.
  • Better foodPlaya Betty's, 320 Amsterdam @ 75th — Baja tacos, casual, cheap, handles a group.
  • Sit downJacob's Pickles, 509 Amsterdam @ 84th — proper comfort food, but a 7-top means a wait. Only if you are running early.
  • Zero walkingThe museum has its own food hall downstairs. Overpriced and average, but it is the safety net if the park runs long.
walk 5 min north to the Central Park West entrance≈ 5 min
3:30 PM2h

Main eventAmerican Museum of Natural History

Central Park West @ 79th St · map

Closing is 5:30 and you have a 7:00 curtain, so two hours is one good loop, not the whole museum. Pick your three, and be walking out at 5:30 rather than browsing the shop.

  • 4th flDinosaurs — the T. rex and the titanosaur. Non-negotiable.
  • 1st flThe blue whale in the Hall of Ocean Life.
  • RoseThe Center for Earth & Space — the sphere.
Walking up probably works — book anywayTickets are sold at the door and you will most likely get in. But it is a timed-entry system in peak August, you need seven in one slot, and you are arriving two hours before close. If you get bumped to 4:00 or spend twenty minutes at the counter, you have lost a quarter of the visit. Booking is free and takes two minutes; it only removes downside.

Use the Central Park West entrance you can see from 81st St.
BC from 81 St–Museum of Natural History, downtown to 50 St→walk 5 min≈ 20 min
6:00 PM40 min

Meal gap · filledFast Dinner · 7:00 Curtain

All of these are 5 minutes from the theaters · map

A 7:00 curtain is the tight one. The museum closes at 5:30 and you are in the Theater District by about 5:50 — that is 40 minutes to feed seven people and get into seats. Not a sit-down. Counter service, and nobody is stressed:

  • BestLos Tacos No. 1, 229 W 43rd — genuinely excellent, very fast, cheap. Standing room, which does not matter for 40 minutes.
  • SeatsShake Shack, 691 8th Ave @ 44th — order ahead in the app on the subway and collect it. Actual tables for seven.
  • FillingSchnippers, 620 8th Ave @ 41st — burgers and mac, counter order, room for a group.
Then eat properly afterYou are out around 9:30 with Times Square lit up. Joe Allen at 326 W 46th serves late and is the theater-world room — a real sit-down at 9:45 beats a rushed one at 6:00, and the kids will have had tacos.
7:00 PM~2h 30m

NightBroadway · then Times Square

Theater District · map

Adam is buying these off the board at TKTS Lincoln Center, so the show picks itself and the rest of you never leave the route. Settle a price ceiling first, and that seven seats together matters more than the title.

Doors open 30 minutes before curtain, so be in your seat by 6:50. Walk out into Times Square afterwards — it is genuinely better at 9:45 PM than at any other hour.

Confirm the curtain the moment Adam has ticketsMost houses now go up at 7:00, but some are still 8:00 and matinees are 2:00. If it turns out to be 8:00, everything loosens: skip the counter food and book a table for 6:15 instead — Becco at 355 W 46th (fixed-price unlimited pasta, good for a group), Havana Central at 151 W 46th (big room, easy 7-top), or Dallas BBQ at 241 W 42nd (cheapest). Parties of six or more get automatic gratuity of 18–20% either way.
walk to Times Sq–42 St→23 downtown to Fulton St→3 min home≈ 25 min
02

Saturday · Big Blue

FiDi → Penn → MetLife → West Village → East Village
Fixed point
Kickoff 1:00 PM
9:30 AM45 min

BreakfastBagels by the hotel — not Penn Station

Leo's Bagels, 3 Hanover Sq · or Zucker's, 146 Chambers St · map

Eat downtown where the bagels are good and the line is short. Penn Station on a game-day Saturday is not a place to make food decisions.

Order takeout for all seven and eat outside or back in the room — these counters are small. Buy an extra bagel each, too: stadium food is expensive and the halftime line runs 25 minutes.

walk 3 min to Fulton St→23 uptown to 34 St–Penn Station≈ 20 min
10:45 AM30 min

TransitPenn Station · NJ Transit

34th St & 7th Ave — NJT level · map

Buy round-trip tickets in the NJ Transit app before you leave the hotel. The ticket machines at Penn on a game day are the whole delay.

Track posts lateNJ Transit announces the track a few minutes before departure and everyone moves at once. Stand near the board, not near the stairs.
NJT Penn → Secaucus Junction, ~12 min→transfer to Meadowlands Rail Line→~10 min to the stadiumbudget 60 min door-to-gate
12:30 PM30 min

At the gateMetLife Stadium

1 MetLife Stadium Dr, East Rutherford NJ · map

  • BagsClear bag policy — anything else gets turned away at the gate, and there is no bag check.
  • GatesOpen about two hours before kickoff, so ~11:00 AM.
  • TicketsMobile only. Download them to the phone wallet at the hotel on wifi — stadium cell service dies as the bowl fills.
1:00 PM3h 30m

Main eventNY Giants · Preseason

MetLife Stadium, East Rutherford NJ

Lunch is stadium food — that meal gap fills itself. Preseason means starters play a series or two, so nobody should feel bad about leaving in the fourth quarter.

Leaving early paysSlip out with 5 minutes left and you skip a 30–60 minute rail queue. That single decision is what makes the evening in the Village possible.
Meadowlands → Secaucus → NJT Penn Station→ACE down to 14 St, then walkrealistic: at Penn 6:00–6:30
7:15 PM1h 15m

Crawl · stop 1Salt Hank's · The French Dip

280 Bleecker St · West Village · map

They make one thing: a dry-aged prime rib French dip on Frenchette bread. Expect a line — it moves fast, and one person can hold it while everyone else finds a stoop.

This is a takeout counter with almost no seating, which for seven people is a feature — order, take it outside, eat on a stoop. Nothing here needs a reservation and nothing closes on you.

If a sandwich is not dinner enough: Veselka, 144 Second Ave, is ten minutes east on the way to dessert — a big, cheap, 24-hour Ukrainian diner that seats seven without drama. Pierogi and borscht, and the check stays small.

Check the closing timeThe address is confirmed, but hours at a place like this move around. Glance at it before you leave the stadium.
walk 20 min east on 8th StorL 8 Av → 3 Av, then 5 min south≈ 20 min
9:00 PM45 min

Crawl · stop 2 · dessertSt. Marks Place

22 St Marks Pl, between 2nd & 3rd Ave · East Village · map

Crepes at 22 St Marks. The mango sticky rice you were after is Ayada's in Chelsea Market, so it lands on Sunday instead — this stop is just dessert and the street, which is at its best exactly now: late, loud, lit up, open past midnight.

The night runs west to east in a straight line: West Village → here → the 6 home. No backtracking, and nothing closes on you.

walk 5 min to Astor Pl→6 downtown to Brooklyn Bridge–City Hall→8 min home≈ 25 min
03

Sunday · Water & Height

9/11 → Harbor → Chinatown → Bridge → Hudson Yards
Fixed point
Sunset ≈ 7:50 PM
walk 8 min from the hotel — the whole morning is on foot≈ 8 min
9:00 AM2h

Morning9/11 Memorial & Museum

180 Greenwich St · map

The memorial pools outdoors are free and open — do those first, in the quiet, before the museum. The museum itself is timed-entry and takes about two hours if you read things.

Heavy goingThe museum is emotionally intense and includes graphic material. If anyone in the family should sit part of it out, the pools and the Oculus next door are an easy hour on their own.
walk 15 min south along the water to Whitehallor1 to South Ferry≈ 15 min
11:15 AM1h 15m

Free, and worth itStaten Island Ferry

Whitehall Terminal, 4 South St · map

  • SideStand on the right going out for the Statue of Liberty; the left coming back for the skyline.
  • CatchWeekend boats run roughly every 30 minutes.
  • NoteEveryone must get off at St. George and walk back around to re-board. Count the full round trip at 75 minutes.

Free, outdoors, and the best harbor view in the city without a ticket line.

RW Whitehall → Canal St→walk 8 min≈ 20 min
12:45 PM1h 15m

Meal gap · filledChinatown Dumpling Crawl

Shu Jiao Fu Zhou, 118 Eldridge St · map

  • OrderPork & chive dumplings and the peanut noodles. That is the whole reason to come.
  • CashBring small bills — several of these counters still prefer cash.
  • SevenThese counters are tiny. Order takeout and eat in Columbus Park, five minutes west — it is where the neighborhood actually eats.
  • BackupVanessa's Dumpling House, a block away, is bigger and never has a wait problem.

The cheapest good meal of the whole trip, and the one where seven people is no harder than two.

walk 8 min to Canal St→JZ or the 45 down to Fulton St≈ 15 min
2:30 PM3h 45m

OpenThe Afternoon Is Yours

Back at 1 Dutch St by 2:30 · nothing booked until you leave at 5:45

Sunday used to have a Brooklyn Bridge walk jammed in here. It is gone — you get the bridge on Monday from Brooklyn Bridge Park, which is the better view of it anyway, and without the 1.1-mile walk in August heat. So this afternoon is genuinely free.

Three days of August walking behind you and an outdoor deck at sunset still to come. Doing nothing is the correct use of these hours. If people get restless, everything below is within ten minutes of the room:

  • IndoorsThe Oculus at the World Trade Center — air conditioning, an astonishing room, and shops.
  • ShortWall Street, Charging Bull, Fearless Girl, Trinity Church — a 20-minute loop.
  • WaterThe Seaport at Pier 17, ten minutes east, with deck chairs and the bridge in view.
A second show has to be a matineeYou cannot have both a Sunday-night show and the sunset deck — a 7:00 or 8:00 curtain is exactly when you would be up at Edge for the 7:50 sunset. One or the other.

So: a 3:00 matinee. Out by 5:00, Chelsea Market at 6:15, deck at 7:35 — the whole evening survives. Jamie Allan's AMAZE at New World Stages, 340 W 50th St, is the pick: high-tech magic, ages 5 and up, two hours, from about $58 rather than Broadway money.

Buying it is the catch. The Lincoln Center TKTS booth is closed Sundays and Mondays, so you cannot walk up to it that morning. Either buy Sunday's seats direct in advance, or use the Times Square booth at 47th & Broadway, which does open Sundays — check its hours before you rely on it.
walk 3 min to Fulton St→ACE uptown to 14 St→walk 4 min west≈ 20 min
6:15 PM1h 10m

Meal gap · filledLast Dinner · Chelsea Market

75 9th Ave @ 15th St · map

The mango sticky rice is here. It is Ayada Thai's — the Michelin-listed Queens Thai restaurant has a counter in the market, and their mango sticky rice is the one people come for. It was never a St. Marks thing.

Which makes this the obvious last dinner: seven people, no reservation, everyone picks their own, and dessert is in the same building. Los Tacos No. 1, Very Fresh Noodles, and Miznon are all here too.

Eating now rather than after also fixes the sunset. You finish here at 7:25 and are on the deck as the light goes — instead of watching sunset on an empty stomach and eating at 8:30.

Worth knowingThe market closes around 9 PM, so an early dinner is the right call anyway. Ayada is a sit-down counter — if the wait looks long, order the sticky rice to go and eat it on the way.
If Edge: ACE 14 St → 34 St–Penn→walk 10 min westorwalk it, 20 min up the High Line≈ 15 min
If Tram: L 8 Av → Union Sq→NRW up to 59 St→walk 5 min east≈ 35 min
7:35 PM1h 15m

Finale · pick oneThe Edge or The Tram

Sunset ≈ 7:50 PM · decide before Sunday, one of them needs a ticket

From the hotel these two are the same distance — about 28 minutes either way, so the tram is not actually closer. But you are not starting at the hotel any more. Coming from dinner at Chelsea Market, The Edge is 15 minutes away and the tram is 35, because the tram is all the way across town on the east side.

Recommended

The Edge

Ticketed · ~$40+ a head · ~$280 for 7
  • 100th floor, outdoor deck, glass floor. The one they will talk about.
  • Faces west over the Hudson — pointed at the actual sunset.
  • Stay past dusk and watch the city switch on. That second half is the better half.
  • Timed entry, and sunset slots sell out first.

Dinner is already doneYou ate at Chelsea Market at 6:15, fifteen minutes south of here. Come down whenever you like and go straight home.

The free one

Roosevelt Island Tram

One subway fare · ~$3 a head · ~$20 for 7
  • Five minutes each way, ~250 ft up, over the East River.
  • No ticket, no booking, no time slot. Turn up and ride.
  • Best on the ride back — you face the Manhattan skyline with the sunset behind it.
  • Round trip is about 20 minutes, so it is easy on a third-day family.

Getting here is the costFrom Chelsea Market it is about 35 minutes across town, against 15 minutes to The Edge. Free, but it eats the evening.

At seven people the gap is realRoughly $280 against roughly $20. The Edge is still the better view and puts dinner in the same building — but that is the number to weigh, along with anyone uneasy about heights, and the fact that a paid sunset deck in flat grey cloud is the one way this evening disappoints.
7 Hudson Yards → Times Sq–42 St→23 downtown to Fulton St→3 min home≈ 30 min
04

Monday · Bags Down, One More

Checkout → Intrepid → Hell's Kitchen → FiDi → Airport
Fixed point
Wheels up 7:25 PM
9:00 AM30 min

First moveCheck Out · Leave the Bags

One Dutch, 1 Dutch St

Check out, then leave every bag with the bell desk. Hotels hold luggage after checkout as a matter of course — arrange it the night before, not at 9 AM with seven people and a pile of suitcases in the lobby.

Hands free until 3:00 PM is what turns a dead travel day into a real one.

walk 3 min to Fulton St→ACE to 42 St–Port Authority→M42 bus west, or walk 15 min≈ 35 min
10:00 AM2h 30m

Last big thingIntrepid Museum

Pier 86, W 46th St & 12th Ave · opens 10:00 · map

An aircraft carrier you walk around inside, with a Space Shuttle, a Concorde, and a submarine you can go down into. Nothing else on this trip is remotely like it, and it is the rare thing that works the same for a nine-year-old and a fifty-year-old.

  • Flight deckStart on top — three dozen aircraft in the open air with the Hudson behind them. Do it first, before the sun is overhead.
  • ShuttleEnterprise sits in its own pavilion on the deck. It is much bigger in person than anyone expects.
  • SubGrowler, the guided-missile submarine on the pier — narrow, hot, and the part kids talk about afterwards.
  • TicketsBook the 10:00 slot for seven online the night before. It is the busiest hour and the ticket line is outdoors.
Prefer something quieter?Two swaps that fit the same window. The Met, 5th & 82nd, if you would rather have art and one more hour of Central Park — same travel time, opens 10:00. Or stay local: DUMBO and the Brooklyn Heights Promenade, one subway stop away, entirely outdoors and free, with the best head-on view of the bridge and the skyline there is.
walk 12 min east on 46th into Hell's Kitchen≈ 12 min
12:45 PM1h 15m

Meal gap · filledLunch · Ninth Avenue

9th Ave, W 44th–48th · map

You walk off the pier straight into the best cheap-eating street in Manhattan. Six blocks of Thai, Mexican, Greek, Ethiopian and old-school delis, almost all of it counter-priced and used to feeding people fast before a matinee.

No booking, no agreeing on one cuisine, and it is the last meal — let everyone pick their own and eat on the walk if you like.

walk 5 min to 42 St–Port Authority→ACE straight down to Fulton St≈ 30 min
2:40 PM1h

RegroupCollect the Bags

One Dutch, 1 Dutch St

Back at the hotel with an hour in hand — deliberately. You are taking the train, so there is no car to wait on, but seven people with luggage move slowly through turnstiles and nobody wants that hour back later.

Buy the AirTrain or NJ Transit tickets on your phones while you are still on hotel wifi.

3:45 PMto the gate

Departure · 7:25 PMLeave for the Airport

Times below assume a 7:25 PM domestic flight — add an hour if it is international

Standard advice is 2 hours before a domestic departure, so you want to be at the airport by 5:25 PM. By train, working backwards — and the good news is your hotel sits on top of the right lines for two of the three:

  • JFKThe cleanest one. A from Fulton St, three minutes from the door, straight through to Howard Beach with no transfer, then AirTrain. About 65 minutes. Leave at 3:45 PM.
  • EWR23 from Fulton to 34 St–Penn, NJ Transit to Newark Liberty Airport, then AirTrain. Two changes, about 70 minutes. Leave at 3:40 PM. Buy the NJ Transit leg in the app first.
  • LGANo train reaches LaGuardia. It is the MR or 7 to 74 St–Broadway and then the Q70 bus — about 75 minutes with luggage, and the one airport where two cars really are the better call.
Which airport?Tell me EWR, JFK, or LGA and this card collapses to the one plan that applies.

Tonight, only one thing is urgent

Almost nothing here has to be locked in advance, and the things that can break if your timing slips are mostly the ones you can leave until the morning. One exception.

Book tonight

Whenever you like — these are forgiving

Morning-of, in the app

Not bookings, just decisions