Our 5 favorite kids friendly New York spots
Our summer vacation in Denmark is a couple of days away, and both myself and the kids are very excited about going. With that said, we’ve had some great weeks since Eleanor was off school. Most of the time we have spent on adventures in this great city together, and we ended up finding some great kids friendly New York spots for playing, relaxing and having fun.
When we go on adventures, a few things are always important to me: First of all the places we’re going have to be kid friendly. I love taking them to museums and to see some of the great attractions the city has to offer, but I won’t take them anywhere that doesn’t welcome kids.
Secondly all places need to be accessible with a stroller. When you go adventuring in New York, you always end up walking a lot, and even though my youngest is close to 3 years old, it’ll take a good while before we can start leaving the stroller at home. For the last two weeks, our Mutsy-stroller has been more or less everywhere in New York. At Central Park, out sailing, across bridges, up in the air on a gondola and at the beach. When we go on trips together with my husband we’ll carry the stroller up and down stairs to the subway, but when I’m alone with two kids, I’ll normally go for the subway stations that have an elevator (it says on the subway map).
Here’s a list of our 5 favorite kids friendly New York spots:
Central Park. This is probably my favorite park in the whole world. Try the old carousel, visit the zoo, have a picnic on one of the many beautiful lawns, go sailing on the lake, sit on a bench and look at the roller skaters and bubble makers, or visit one of the great playgrounds.
Brooklyn Botanical Garden. We love to go and play in this beautiful garden and look at the amazing flowers and trees. In spring the whole garden lights up in pink tones because of the cherry blossoms trees and magnolias, and in the summer you can enjoy the many roses and wild orchids.
The Beaches. When you say New York, you normally think of a big city with busy street and a ton of people. But there’s a lot of different beaches not far away from the city. So far we’ve been to Coney Island and Rockaway beach which are both easy accessible with subway, and even though the areas surroundings the beaches are nothing to write home about, the sand is clean, the lifeguards are plenty and you can easily spend a day both places.
Governor’s Island. This is a small island situated just south of Manhattan and reached by ferry from Brooklyn Pier 6 or Manhattan Battery Martime Building. The Island used to be a military area, but has now been transformed into an amazing space for relaxation, art and play. You’ll find lots of food trucks, small galleries, play areas and outdoor art pieces.
Brookyn Bridge Park / Pier 6. During the past few years, the Brooklyn Bridge Park has been rebuilt into a great recreative space with one of the cities best playgrounds situated at pier 6. Closer to the Brooklyn Bridge you’ll find basketball courts, barbecue areas and small nature spots. From spring 2015 to spring 2016 the Danish artist Jeppe Hein has a fun exhibition on view called Please, Touch the Art scattered over the park area, and during summer you’ll also find a pop-up pool at this park.
Hi again 😉
Amazing that you listed those kid friendly places, nothing beats a mommy experience compared to guides even though they are great. We will definitely visit those spots when we come to New York next april with our boy Léon who’ll be almost two at the time ! We are so excited !
xxx
Hi Luce, Thank you so much for your nice comment. I’m sure you’ll have a great time here in NYC it’s a really kids friendly city, if you just know where to go. On my blog, you’ll find a few different posts about experiencing the city with kids, should you feel like reading more…
Have a great day.
K