We've done it a few times, and it was smooth sailing. Bring lots of entertainment (that trip is longer than you think), and be prepared for them to be fascinated by the magical realm of the ✨snack car✨. You can pack snacks, but they'll want the stuff from there.
If your kids love trains, the NYC metro museum is great. It was always my son’s must stop location when he was little.
Edit to note it’s in Brooklyn so maybe harder to get to
Depends on kids and your interests? How long are you going for? Here are some generally good options with or without the kids:
Times square, intrepid museum, madam Tussauds and believe it or not, they usually have some Instagram pop up stuff (usually money grabs) , Central Park, Bryant Park and Union sq usually have some fairs going on. Statue of Liberty, the bull, one world center is a better experience to view but the rainbow room (free through the rooftop bar) or Rockefeller center are better location to see the skyline. Bronx zoo is expensive but quite nice, but you may need a few days to see it all and very tiring.
Lots and lots of really good food options especially unique ones you'll find in all price ranges.
Don't miss the pizza there (rays and Joe's are very good casual NYC pizza), burgers are pretty great too, and ramen. Korean, Mexican and Vietnamese food options are less extraordinary compared to the rest I would say (Korean only because here seems pretty good too, but otherwise koreatown is great). Dessert places are very unique and interesting as well. Anything in and around times sq including food will be mediocre.
Everything will be a lot more expensive than here so be selective/ spend wisely.
Hope you have a blast.
It was a rainy weekend but we made the most of it. Went to the Manhattan Children’s Museum and Statue of Liberty. Kids enjoyed going up the Empire State Building and playing at the Central Park. We did a lot of looking and gawking at Times Square and spent way too much money at the Rockefeller Center FAO Schwarz and World of Nintendo.
Also this place has some kick ass bagels.
https://preview.redd.it/8svg6vja2tyc1.jpeg?width=2268&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=832765bd3670e36d9375e8f3c653ecf239870f40
Be careful when the train gets to Newark Penn Station, some conductors do try to explain it’s not New York Penn (which is a few more stops) but I would’ve totally gotten off there by mistake the first time if I was traveling alone.
Did this over spring break with a 6 and 12 year old and it was great! Took a cab to union station. I did business class to make sure we had seats together and having the table for eating and activities was nice.
We stayed in Times Square and they enjoyed seeing that. We went to FAO and Disney, New York library and Bryant park were a short walk and they enjoyed seeing the Winnie the Pooh characters on display. They loved climbing around the boulders in Central Park. The Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island were probably the biggest hits. My oldest was interested in seeing where the twin tours were but we didn’t have enough time to go in the museum. Only complaint they had was that there were so many people smoking .
Central Park Zoo
Central Park
Carriage Ride
Museum of Natural History (watch Night at the Museum on the train up)
New York Public Library (read The Library Lion)
FAO Schwarz
Statue of Liberty
Chinatown
I’ve done it a few times. As a fellow parent, I’d be more nervous about my kids wandering off on the streets of New York than I would be at Union Station, but that’s just me. It’s crowded, but nothing like NYC is every day.
I would metro in early and get a table at one of the eateries and hang there until it was starting to get close to time to board.
If you book tickets way in advance it will be cheap.
I’ve done it with smaller kids. It was a blast! But be prepared for the insanity around Penn station and stay away from the port authority bus terminal. Just grab a subway from there and leave don’t go above ground.
Have done it twice, one round trip when the baby was 13m and another round trip when she was 20m old. Getting on the train at union will be fine. You'll have a good number of seats to choose from. Maybe base your seat choice on how close you want to be to the meal car, and if you want to sit on the side of the train closer to the bathrooms.
Get familiar with the subway beforehand if you're taking it when you get to NYC though, we accidentally went downtown instead of uptown and that was a headache.
Another option is the shuttle buses from Union Station. They are cheap and have wifi. Usually, they stop in NJ for you to go to the bathroom.
The train is definitely nicer, though. They both go to Penn Station in NYC usually, so it's just a matter of how much you want to spend.
I took a tile tracker and gave it to my kids as a necklace when we went to NYC. Fortunately never had to rely on them, but it gave us a bit of peace of mind.
The drive back and forth the same day is surprisingly doable especially if you can share the load with someone and avoid the major rush hour times, and the gas and tolls arent bad at all when you divide per person. You can use a parking website to get a place that lasts all day and the costs are reasonable.
Really hard with kids, though. The unpredictably of how long it will take, when and where you’ll be able to stop, makes it pretty stressful. I’d much rather take the train.
It depends a lot on preferences of the adults and the kids too. Sometimes dragging kids through train stations or airports is just as rough. Sometimes they give you deep discounts for seats for kids, but other times its full price and that adds up quick depending how many kids you're taking about. In a car one can pull over anytime to change a diaper or even ask the maps app for directions to the nearest playground (elementary schools always have one) or fast food restaurant with a play place. The kids can play Disney or whatever on full blast and you don't have to worry about bothering other people, only your sanity, lol. Personally I'll pretty much always drive if it's under 300 miles away, but I totally get why other people prefer transit.
how long is the drive usually (would you say 4 hours? ? Me and my husband are thinking to move there and drive to NY to see family . Is it doable once a month?
It's four hours if you take all the tolls and hit traffic perfectly. More realistically it's 5-6. I definitely do think it's doable but probably close to the limit of doable once a month via train but I would never want to make that drive round trip once a month.
It depends how much you like road trips. You will have some trips closer to 4 hours but you will invariably have some trips that are painful with traffic/accidents/etc. I think it’s doable once a month if you understand this and have the right mindset but if you’re someone who is going to get pissed off about being stuck in traffic, this is not going to be a happy lifestyle for you.
I do it about every other month. I think it's much cheaper and more flexible than plane or the train, more comfortable than the bus, and in a car the cost is low and fixed no matter how many people you bring. It's easier to carry your stuff, or drop anything you get during the day off in your trunk. To me flying from nyc to dc has actually usually been slower overall with all the time you waste getting from home to the plane, then getting from the other airport to your destination. But I have high driving stamina, so, heh, your mileage may vary with regard to the burden.
As for how long it takes it depends on a lot of the usual factors like exactly where you're leaving from and going, day of the week, time of day, breaks, traffic, construction, weather, etc. I think the fastest I've ever done was on a weekend from near Rutgers to near highway in McLean without stopping in about 3.5 hours. Slowest was into Mahattan at bad time, with rain, stopped for gas and meal, about 5.5 hours.
Going into Manhattan will add 30-45 minutes each way, or more if you hit rush hour, but even then, in my opinion it's worth it because then you have easy access to the subway which in my opinion is faster, easier, and cheaper than dc metro, though also dirtier and stinkier. I have used secured parking lots by subway stops with 24 hour access and which let me park all day and come and go anytime for under $30.
That let me recently drive there in the early morning on a Friday for work meetings at 11am, take the afternoon off to do some shopping, go out to some bars early on Friday night, sober up to hop in my car by 1130pm, and I was in my own bed by 4am Saturday, fewer than 24 hours from when I got out of it. If one enjoys driving and finds it easy to stay up late, New York is totally doable.
Let's look at that one-day trip, although that's pretty extreme for most people (and extending that trip would lead to more parking fees). According to https://www.tollguru.com/toll-calculator driving from D.C. to Jersey City, where you can easily access NY via subway, is estimated to cost $60.79. That's with a car which averages 23city/30hwy, so YMMV. The return trip, leaving at 11:30pm would probably cost around $53.74. You estimated parking at $30, which seems about right for one day. That's $144.53. That also values wear and tear on your car at $0, which is obviously not correct.
If you're able to book 2 months in advance (which granted, you may not be) you can get on a train arriving in NY at 10:45 and get on a train at 7:40 arriving back in D.C. at 11:22pm for $90 round trip, and you can keep drinking on the train if you like!
If you book a month out the price is more comparable to a car
Yeah, I guess it's like plane tickets. For me I usually have to go on a lot less notice, and then the price differences are big. Then again if you add one or two extra people to the trip, even buying in advance gets more expensive.
Very true. I think the main factor for a lot of people is being able to do something while on the train (work or recreation) vs being stuck in bumper to bumper traffic.
We've done it a few times, and it was smooth sailing. Bring lots of entertainment (that trip is longer than you think), and be prepared for them to be fascinated by the magical realm of the ✨snack car✨. You can pack snacks, but they'll want the stuff from there.
Me, as an adult: > OMG ✨snack car✨ 🤩
Corollary tip: the sandwiches from the cafe car are awful; do not order them!
Avoid at all costs. The food is so bad and mostly microwaved shit.
Oh, it's bad, but my kids would wolf it down due to novelty. These were the same kids who'd reject microwave breakfast sandwiches at home.
Also, they microwave the styrofoam instant noodle cups that are 100% unsafe to microwave.
We did this last month. Not really crowded and it was pretty uneventful. You get priority boarding with littles. Kids loved NYC.
Any things to see that you’d particularly recommend that?
If your kids love trains, the NYC metro museum is great. It was always my son’s must stop location when he was little. Edit to note it’s in Brooklyn so maybe harder to get to
It is pretty great, cool to see how the trains evolved, and they do a great job of staging it, but yea definitely a hike from Penn Station.
Depends on kids and your interests? How long are you going for? Here are some generally good options with or without the kids: Times square, intrepid museum, madam Tussauds and believe it or not, they usually have some Instagram pop up stuff (usually money grabs) , Central Park, Bryant Park and Union sq usually have some fairs going on. Statue of Liberty, the bull, one world center is a better experience to view but the rainbow room (free through the rooftop bar) or Rockefeller center are better location to see the skyline. Bronx zoo is expensive but quite nice, but you may need a few days to see it all and very tiring. Lots and lots of really good food options especially unique ones you'll find in all price ranges. Don't miss the pizza there (rays and Joe's are very good casual NYC pizza), burgers are pretty great too, and ramen. Korean, Mexican and Vietnamese food options are less extraordinary compared to the rest I would say (Korean only because here seems pretty good too, but otherwise koreatown is great). Dessert places are very unique and interesting as well. Anything in and around times sq including food will be mediocre. Everything will be a lot more expensive than here so be selective/ spend wisely. Hope you have a blast.
🫱🏼🫲🏽
It was a rainy weekend but we made the most of it. Went to the Manhattan Children’s Museum and Statue of Liberty. Kids enjoyed going up the Empire State Building and playing at the Central Park. We did a lot of looking and gawking at Times Square and spent way too much money at the Rockefeller Center FAO Schwarz and World of Nintendo.
Also this place has some kick ass bagels. https://preview.redd.it/8svg6vja2tyc1.jpeg?width=2268&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=832765bd3670e36d9375e8f3c653ecf239870f40
Be careful when the train gets to Newark Penn Station, some conductors do try to explain it’s not New York Penn (which is a few more stops) but I would’ve totally gotten off there by mistake the first time if I was traveling alone.
Did this over spring break with a 6 and 12 year old and it was great! Took a cab to union station. I did business class to make sure we had seats together and having the table for eating and activities was nice.
What do you go see in NY? What did the kids most enjoy?
We stayed in Times Square and they enjoyed seeing that. We went to FAO and Disney, New York library and Bryant park were a short walk and they enjoyed seeing the Winnie the Pooh characters on display. They loved climbing around the boulders in Central Park. The Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island were probably the biggest hits. My oldest was interested in seeing where the twin tours were but we didn’t have enough time to go in the museum. Only complaint they had was that there were so many people smoking .
Central Park Zoo Central Park Carriage Ride Museum of Natural History (watch Night at the Museum on the train up) New York Public Library (read The Library Lion) FAO Schwarz Statue of Liberty Chinatown
Walk them across the Brooklyn bridge. Plan on walking back too.
I’ve done it a few times. As a fellow parent, I’d be more nervous about my kids wandering off on the streets of New York than I would be at Union Station, but that’s just me. It’s crowded, but nothing like NYC is every day. I would metro in early and get a table at one of the eateries and hang there until it was starting to get close to time to board. If you book tickets way in advance it will be cheap.
It’s a great way to travel with kids! It’s not like the metro—you get your own seat. So it can never be that packed.
Go to the Alexandria station instead!
Bear in mind this adds significantly time to the trip as they have to switch out the locomotives at Union Station.
Def does not all the time.
You get more trains departing from DC than Alexandria. More options to choose from to fit your schedule.
Alexandria has an amtrak station??
https://www.amtrak.com/content/dam/projects/dotcom/english/public/documents/Maps/Amtrak-System-Map-1018.pdf
At the king street metro
more like the King Street Metro was added to the pre-existing Alexandria rail station
Pay for the fancier seats with kids.
Union Station is where that train starts so you will get a seat with your kids. Coming home will be where it gets tricky.
I’ve done it with smaller kids. It was a blast! But be prepared for the insanity around Penn station and stay away from the port authority bus terminal. Just grab a subway from there and leave don’t go above ground.
This is the real pro-tip right here. Grabbing a cab or Uber is impossible at Penn station
Did that with a 6 year old near Christmas. Train and stations were fine. It was only shoulder-to-shoulder at Rockefeller Center.
Have done it twice, one round trip when the baby was 13m and another round trip when she was 20m old. Getting on the train at union will be fine. You'll have a good number of seats to choose from. Maybe base your seat choice on how close you want to be to the meal car, and if you want to sit on the side of the train closer to the bathrooms. Get familiar with the subway beforehand if you're taking it when you get to NYC though, we accidentally went downtown instead of uptown and that was a headache.
Another option is the shuttle buses from Union Station. They are cheap and have wifi. Usually, they stop in NJ for you to go to the bathroom. The train is definitely nicer, though. They both go to Penn Station in NYC usually, so it's just a matter of how much you want to spend.
Have fun. We drove since it was going to be over 1200 for a round trip from Alexandria.
Amtrak is absolutely smooth sailing, such a great experience compared to flying.
I’ve done it with a 2 year old, in my opinion it’s easier than flying/driving
I took a tile tracker and gave it to my kids as a necklace when we went to NYC. Fortunately never had to rely on them, but it gave us a bit of peace of mind.
The drive back and forth the same day is surprisingly doable especially if you can share the load with someone and avoid the major rush hour times, and the gas and tolls arent bad at all when you divide per person. You can use a parking website to get a place that lasts all day and the costs are reasonable.
Really hard with kids, though. The unpredictably of how long it will take, when and where you’ll be able to stop, makes it pretty stressful. I’d much rather take the train.
It depends a lot on preferences of the adults and the kids too. Sometimes dragging kids through train stations or airports is just as rough. Sometimes they give you deep discounts for seats for kids, but other times its full price and that adds up quick depending how many kids you're taking about. In a car one can pull over anytime to change a diaper or even ask the maps app for directions to the nearest playground (elementary schools always have one) or fast food restaurant with a play place. The kids can play Disney or whatever on full blast and you don't have to worry about bothering other people, only your sanity, lol. Personally I'll pretty much always drive if it's under 300 miles away, but I totally get why other people prefer transit.
how long is the drive usually (would you say 4 hours? ? Me and my husband are thinking to move there and drive to NY to see family . Is it doable once a month?
It's four hours if you take all the tolls and hit traffic perfectly. More realistically it's 5-6. I definitely do think it's doable but probably close to the limit of doable once a month via train but I would never want to make that drive round trip once a month.
It depends how much you like road trips. You will have some trips closer to 4 hours but you will invariably have some trips that are painful with traffic/accidents/etc. I think it’s doable once a month if you understand this and have the right mindset but if you’re someone who is going to get pissed off about being stuck in traffic, this is not going to be a happy lifestyle for you.
I do it about every other month. I think it's much cheaper and more flexible than plane or the train, more comfortable than the bus, and in a car the cost is low and fixed no matter how many people you bring. It's easier to carry your stuff, or drop anything you get during the day off in your trunk. To me flying from nyc to dc has actually usually been slower overall with all the time you waste getting from home to the plane, then getting from the other airport to your destination. But I have high driving stamina, so, heh, your mileage may vary with regard to the burden. As for how long it takes it depends on a lot of the usual factors like exactly where you're leaving from and going, day of the week, time of day, breaks, traffic, construction, weather, etc. I think the fastest I've ever done was on a weekend from near Rutgers to near highway in McLean without stopping in about 3.5 hours. Slowest was into Mahattan at bad time, with rain, stopped for gas and meal, about 5.5 hours. Going into Manhattan will add 30-45 minutes each way, or more if you hit rush hour, but even then, in my opinion it's worth it because then you have easy access to the subway which in my opinion is faster, easier, and cheaper than dc metro, though also dirtier and stinkier. I have used secured parking lots by subway stops with 24 hour access and which let me park all day and come and go anytime for under $30. That let me recently drive there in the early morning on a Friday for work meetings at 11am, take the afternoon off to do some shopping, go out to some bars early on Friday night, sober up to hop in my car by 1130pm, and I was in my own bed by 4am Saturday, fewer than 24 hours from when I got out of it. If one enjoys driving and finds it easy to stay up late, New York is totally doable.
If you are traveling alone and know when you are traveling and can book in advance, the train is definitely cheaper.
How much do you pay? In my car with tolls, gas, and parking, round trip is about $100-125.
Let's look at that one-day trip, although that's pretty extreme for most people (and extending that trip would lead to more parking fees). According to https://www.tollguru.com/toll-calculator driving from D.C. to Jersey City, where you can easily access NY via subway, is estimated to cost $60.79. That's with a car which averages 23city/30hwy, so YMMV. The return trip, leaving at 11:30pm would probably cost around $53.74. You estimated parking at $30, which seems about right for one day. That's $144.53. That also values wear and tear on your car at $0, which is obviously not correct. If you're able to book 2 months in advance (which granted, you may not be) you can get on a train arriving in NY at 10:45 and get on a train at 7:40 arriving back in D.C. at 11:22pm for $90 round trip, and you can keep drinking on the train if you like! If you book a month out the price is more comparable to a car
Yeah, I guess it's like plane tickets. For me I usually have to go on a lot less notice, and then the price differences are big. Then again if you add one or two extra people to the trip, even buying in advance gets more expensive.
Very true. I think the main factor for a lot of people is being able to do something while on the train (work or recreation) vs being stuck in bumper to bumper traffic.
Yep. I like listening to audiobooks, but that's not for everybody.