michael and i did a holiday nyc trip when we were newly weds and ever since, kept saying we needed to go back because it was so magical! we started planning a trip for this november and thought it would be even MORE special with shiloh, so we booked a trip for the 3 of us and just got back sunday night! you guys were so helpful in sharing your recommendations! so today i wanted to recap our trip for y’all, share recommendations, where we stayed etc in case you’re also planning a trip to nyc soon!
before i get into the details of the trip let me just say…this was SUCH a fun and special trip to do with shiloh. she just turned 6 and i think this age was perfect for her first nyc trip. we of course missed lyla (15 months old) but we knew it’d be a totally different trip with a 15 month old haha so michael’s mom was kind enough to keep her for the weekend.
if it was just me and michael, we definitely would’ve loved to stay 3 nights and seen more of the city. but with a 6 year old, 2 nights was the perfect amount of time! we were all wiped by the end haha.
ALSO! i’ve shared before my friend hillary is a travel agent and she helped us book our hotel, gave restaurant recs etc and she is always SO helpful. its free for you to use her and you’ll almost always get perks like a room upgrade or free breakfast! just a little fyi! she’s helped us book several trips now and it’s always been SO easy and so helpful! here’s her website!
where to stay
y’all know i love a swanky hotel. but in nyc to be honest, you’re really not in your room much (or, we weren’t at least). so i think the most important thing is the location! we stayed at the thompson central park and did not have to take an uber or the subway once on our trip because the location was SO convenient. the hotel itself was also really nice and our room was plenty comfortable for the 3 of us! michael and i had a king bed and shiloh slept on a pullout couch. a few other hotels we looked into that are also in great locations:
- langham nyc
- the plaza (dream haha but so expensive)
- st. regis hotel (i’ve stayed here before and it’s so nice)
what we did
again, doing this trip with a 6 year old is very different than just an adults trip haha. but we still had such a blast and shiloh did too! here’s everything we did with shiloh!
- FAO Schwartz toy store
- ice skating at rockefeller center (i kind of wish we would have done bryant park because the tree at rockefeller wasn’t up yet! ALSO…i think bryant park is alot less expensive haha)
- american girl doll store
- rockettes! i’d never seen the rockettes before and their christmas show was SO MAGICAL! shiloh loved it too!
- broadway show – we saw the lion king and it was ALL IT’S CRACKED UP TO BE AND MORE
- central park – there’s lots of playground areas, carousels, etc tons to do in central park! we just walked around here for hours on sunday and it was so fun. we thought about doing a horse carriage ride but didn’t end up doing it just because it felt so nice to walk!
- times square – m&m store, disney store, etc. just showed shiloh all the bright lights and she thought it was so fun!
a few things we thought about doing but didn’t end up having time for:
- national ice cream museum
- tea at the plaza – i really wanted to do this with shiloh but it was SO expensive and i’m not sure she would really appreciate it yet haha
food + coffee recommendations
gosh you could honestly use a good 6 months in nyc to enjoy all of the good food and coffee and desserts haha. but we were only there for 2 days, so here are a few places we ate / a few of my other nyc faves:
coffee
- ralph’s coffee shop – the line is always so long. and the coffee is pretty good, but the inside of the shop is so adorable
- maman – lots of locations! really good coffee and cookies!
- ground central coffee – a few different locations and their coffee is SO good
restaurants
- sarabeth’s for brunch – the food here is pretty good but i just think it’ such an iconic nyc restaurant
- quality meats – omg we went here for dinner and the steak was INCREDIBLE
- oceans – love this place for steak + seafood
- little collins – really cute spot for brunch
- carmines – italian restaurant highly recommend by you guys! we didn’t get a chance to go
- shuka – INCREDIBLE mediterran restaurant i went to with lindy last year and i still dream about their pita and hummus
- abc kitchen – one of mine and michael’s fave restaurants to go to when we are there without kids
- beauty & essex – one of the first restaurants michael & i ever ate at in nyc and still LOVE going back when we can – we also always go in vegas when we’re there
for treats / desserts
- levain bakery – the best chocolate chip cookie you will ever eat
- serendipity 3 for the frozen hot chocolate! i’m honestly not the BIGGEST fan of frozen hot chocolate but this is another just really iconic spot in nyc in my opinion!
- magnolia bakery – get the banana pudding
- junior’s – if you like cheesecake!
I think that about covers our 48hrs in nyc! it was jam packed and we walked our little booties off haha but had SO much fun and it’s definitely a trip we will always remember! thanks again to everyone who sent me their recommendations! let me know if you have any questions in the comments below!
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xo Lauren
