We moved to New York from Copenhagen and stayed for years, exploring the city with our first child as residents. The city is not built for children in any obvious way. It is loud, vertical and indifferent to naptimes. But it rewards families who plan less and walk more, and the range of things a kid can see here in a week is hard to match anywhere. For the wider city picture, start with our New York City guide.
Central Park, and how to actually do it
Central Park is bigger than it looks and swallows days happily. The mistake is trying to cross it. Pick an end and stay there.
With small kids we almost always worked the south end. The Central Park Zoo is compact and can be done in ninety minutes, which is exactly the right length. Heckscher Playground nearby is the best in the park, with water features in summer and a big lawn behind it. Bethesda Terrace and the fountain are worth the walk for the arcade alone, and there are usually buskers. The rowboats on the Lake are a classic, though they are hard work if you are the only adult rowing.
Further up, the Mall is shade and squirrels, the Reservoir loop is for runners and older kids on bikes, and Conservatory Water has the model sailboats that children watch for far longer than you expect. In winter the Wollman Rink takes over the south end.
Bring a blanket and let the park happen. That is the actual Central Park experience, and it costs nothing.
Museums that work with kids
The American Museum of Natural History is the one. The dinosaur halls on the fourth floor will wreck your schedule in the best way, the giant blue whale model hangs in the ocean hall, and there is enough geology, ethnography and space stuff to fill a week. Go at opening, head straight to the dinosaurs, then work down before the crowds build.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art sounds like a hard sell but it is not. Kids go for the Temple of Dendur, an actual Egyptian temple in a glass room with water in front of it, and for the arms and armour hall with the mounted knights. The Met also runs family programmes and hands out activity sheets, and the building itself does a lot of the entertaining. Two hours is a good visit. Do not aim for the whole thing.
The Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum on the West Side has an aircraft carrier, a submarine you can walk through and the Space Shuttle Enterprise. It is a full day and a hit with almost every age. The Bronx Zoo is the best city zoo in the country. In Queens, the New York Hall of Science is hands-on and underrated.
The High Line, the ferry and the free days
The High Line is an old freight rail line raised above the streets and turned into a park running through Chelsea and the Meatpacking District. It is narrow and gets packed, but kids like being up there, and it ends near Chelsea Market, which solves lunch. Walk it north to south and get off whenever you want.
The Staten Island Ferry is free, runs around the clock, and passes close enough to the Statue of Liberty that you barely need the paid version. Twenty five minutes each way, no tickets, and the skyline view from the water is the best in the city. Our kids have done it more times than we can count.
Walking the Brooklyn Bridge from the Brooklyn side into Manhattan, early, is still worth it despite the crowds. Governors Island, a short ferry ride from lower Manhattan, is largely car-free and has seasonal activities with hills to roll down and old forts to climb.
Playgrounds, pizza and our corner of Brooklyn
We lived in Williamsburg, and the neighbourhood has become one of the best in the city for families. Domino Park, built on the old sugar refinery waterfront, has a fantastic playground and a lot of shade. McCarren Park has pools, courts and a big fenced playground.
In Brooklyn proper, Brooklyn Bridge Park is the destination. The playgrounds at Pier 5 and near Squibb are excellent, there is a carousel in a glass pavilion, and the park is free. The Brooklyn Heights Promenade above it gives you the skyline view without the ferry.
Food with kids is easy because the defaults are already kid food. Pizza by the slice, bagels with cream cheese, halal cart rice and chicken, dumplings in Chinatown, hot dogs from a cart, and ice cream on nearly every corner. For something sweeter in our former neighbourhood, our guide to the best cakes and pastries in Williamsburg includes current stops and memories of shops that have moved or closed.
Subways, strollers and seasons
The subway is the fastest way around and the hardest part of doing New York with small children. Lifts are available at some stations but not all, and outages happen, so check the MTA's accessibility status before a route with a stroller. We used a lightweight stroller we could fold in five seconds, or a carrier and no stroller at all. Check the MTA app before you go, because weekend service changes constantly. The ferries along the East River are a pleasant alternative to the L train.
Seasons change the plan completely. Spring brings cherry blossom in the Brooklyn Botanic Garden. Summer is hot and loud, with free outdoor movies, public pools, Rockaway and Coney Island beaches, and everyone leaving the city on weekends. Autumn is the best time to visit, cool and gold and busy. Winter is cold but magical around the holidays, with the Rockefeller Center tree, the shop windows along Fifth Avenue, ice skating in Bryant Park and the Christmas lights in Dyker Heights, Brooklyn.
Our rule was one big thing a day, plus whatever happened on the way home. New York does not need more than that.