11-day NYC itinerary - any suggestion welcomed

I, my wife and 2 daughters(12 and 7) are arriving at NYC in July 14 and leaving in July 24.

We%26#39;ve never been in NY.

We are staying at Hotel Beacon and have tickets for MamaMia at July 15 and Lion King at July 19.

And we are going to Amherst college to drop my old daughter for summer camp.

Here%26#39;s our itinerary.

Would you guys please look into it ?

Any suggestion would be appreciated.

14(Fri) arrive in the afternoon and spend the rest of the day at central park. OR just take a rest.

15(Sat) Columbia University in the morning, Mama Mia at 2pm, after then carnegie hall, FAO, St. Patrick Church, Rockfeller center with TOTR in the dusk, Time square at night. (Is it too much for 1 day?)

16(Sun) Green Flea Market in the morning, then my aunt who lives in Queens will pick us up to attend the Sunday chapel. Maybe she wants to take us to her house.

17(Mon) Lower Manhattan(city hall, ground zero, stock exchange, battery park..) in the morning and afternoon, take the zephyr yacht (circle line) at south street seaport at 6 pm

18(Tue) Natural History Museum during the day, late evening going to central park for NY philharmonic orchestra

19(Wed) Midtown in the morning (UN bd, Chrysler Bd, Grand central, NY Public library...) then coming back to hotel for rest, Lion King at 8pm

20(Thu) rent a car and go to a beach.(Maybe Hamptons)

Any suggestion??

21(Fri) SOHO, TriBeCa, Greenwich...

22(Sat) Reserve day for anything that might have been missing...

OR just go to central park

23(Sun) rent a car again and head to Amherst, MA. And coming back to NYC late evening.

24(Mon) Pack the back and return the car at the airport and leave.

11-day NYC itinerary - any suggestion welcomed

Know that it will hot, hazy and humid in July - if not every day, at least most of them. Bring hat%26#39;s with visors, sun screen (or make it a point to buy it here) and loose, light clothing. Your itinerary sounds fine - and reasonable. Sounds like you have done some serious studying and good planning. Enjoy. Ta. MMM!!

11-day NYC itinerary - any suggestion welcomed

Gosh, it sounds like a great trip but I%26#39;m exhausted reading it all. I do think you have a bit too much planned for each day, especially that first Saturday. I particularly wonder about driving up to Amherst and back in the same day. That will be exhausting driving unless you will share the driving. It%26#39;s at least 3 hrs. in each direction.

My suggestion is to perhaps combine the trip to the Hamptons and the drive to Amherst and stay overnight somewhere. In fact, you could leave the city on Fri. or Sat. and not go back to the city at all. (Have you prepaid for the entire time at the Beacon?)

There%26#39;s a ferry that goes from Port Jefferson on Long Island (about half way from the city to the Hamptons) to Bridgeport Connecticut. This does not really cut the time of the trip to Amherst, but cuts out some driving and doubling back. You could go from the city to the Hamptons. Spend some time there. Maybe stay overnight and then head to Port Jefferson. Take the ferry and drive to Amherst. Spend a night in or near Amherst and then head directly to JFK.

mapquest.com is a website you can use for general driving information/routes. Their directions are not always perfect (and their timing is sometimes optimistic) but it%26#39;s a good enough guide.

Here%26#39;s the website for the ferry

http://www.bpjferry.com/default.aspx

My only other comment is I hope you will visit at least one art museum in NYC. The Met is amazing.

metmuseum.org

Thank you for the suggestions.

I think I have to prepare some hats with visors.

And I might want to skip some places, otherwise we will be exhausted.

Regarding the daytrip on Thursday,

I saw the movie %26#39;Something%26#39;s gotta give%26#39; and thought that the Hamptons beach was a cool place to visit.

The thing is I don%26#39;t know exactly where to go.

Now, I have a brief map and there are west hampton, south hampton, east hampton and beach hampton...

I just want to watch nice beach houses and spend some time in an old village and maybe have some delicious food.

Please help me out here.

I would recommend taking the train to Spring Lake on the Jersey shore rather than trekking out to the Hamptons for a beach day, but here%26#39;s a thread with info on both possibilties:

tripadvisor.com/ShowTopic-g60763-i5-k624126-鈥?/a>

But since he has to go to Amherst anyway I think the suggestion about staying on Long Island and taking the Ferry over from Port Jeff on consecutive days instead of 2 separate trips is a great one. It cuts off so much driving time, and they only have to go through the hassle of renting/returning a car once. Are there any beaches on the north shore near Port Jeff? That would simplify his trip even more.

I just took that ferry last year (and also the other one on the end of the island - one each way) so if you have any ferry questions I%26#39;ll be happy to help.

I%26#39;d consider how well your 7 year old will do in the heat and humidity and with so much walking around. I just got back from New York and my preteens got really tired out and our much less ambitious schedule. You can easily do your lower Manhattan activities in a half day, but you may want to take the subway back to your hotel to recharge before coming back down for the 6:00 cruise.

As you are doing on Wednesday we found that taking the subway to one area in the a.m., returning to the area of our hotel for lunch and maybe a short rest and then going back out to one place in the evening worked out just fine. There%26#39;s so much to see and do you wouldn%26#39;t be able to do it all even if you stayed up 24 hours a day.

Central Park could easily take a day if you really want to enjoy it.

I was thinking that you had purposefully scheduled the beach day when you did so as to provide a break from urban traipsings around. But if you%26#39;re not wedded to that idea, then nywhiz%26#39;s and warmwind%26#39;s suggestions re: the Port Jefferson ferry surely warrant investigation. Such a revision of your plans may prove to be pricey (even if you canshorten your stay at the Beacon without penalty), depending on such factors as ferry costs, the charge of returning the rental car to a location (e.g., the airport) other than where you pick up it, and the price of accommodations on the Long Island shore at the height of the season-- if you can find some place still available %26amp; without a minimum stay requirement. Good luck!

LOL. Yes, ';Something%26#39;s Gotta Give'; paints a gorgeous picture. Many of the houses you want to see will be hidden behind high hedges and gates, but you can certainly get a good feel for the area. It%26#39;s about 2 1/2 - 3 hrs. east of Manhattan. You can go on any of the beaches (they%26#39;re public), the problem is where to park. If you stay in one of the inns or b %26amp; bs, I believe they have beach passes for guests. East Hampton village beach would be a good option and there are a number of inns not far. The Maidstone Inn is one option. It%26#39;s not inexpensive though.

Yep, there are 4 town beaches in East Hampton, but they%26#39;re not sprawling ones because much of East Hampton%26#39;s shoreline is *not* open to the public.. rather, it%26#39;s the private bailiwick of those expensive beachfront residences and, e.g., the Maidstone Club.

While there is no charge for the public beaches themselves, you cannot park in one of the beach parking lots without a Village parking permit -- which costs non-residents $250/summer; Main Beach is the only one where you can pay by the day ($15) for parking -- and that%26#39;s possible only on weekdays, not weekends or holidays.

The last time I was there, these same restrictions were in place for all the area%26#39;s beaches, with the exception of one beach in Southhampton and one in Montauk. And although there are indeed establishments which offer parking permits to their guests, that perk should not be considered a given.

So perhaps this (plus the fact that it%26#39;s a more time-consuming drive to the Hamptons) gives you a better idea of why I tout the Jersey shore as a destination for beach-bound daytrippers/short-term summer visitors ;-)

Thank you Stephani.

I didn%26#39;t realize NY is that hot and humid.

Now, we are thinking of bringing a stroller with a shade. My 7-year old girl may sleep in the stroller.

Maybe we can use the stroller as a cart for some stuffs that we buy.

pimple