Things to do with Jet Lag in New York

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One of the upsides when flying to New York from London is that your body clock is all out of sync and you can find yourself waking up at 3/4am in the morning.

So why do I say that this is an upside? Well there are a few things you can do in New York before the rest of the city really wakes up, and jet lag can really help you beat the queues!

I put a callout for some fellow bloggers to tell me all about their favourite Things to do in New York with Kids.

Things to do early morning in New York!

Empire State Building with jet lag

Queues at the Empire State Building are legendary. People often report 2 hours in the building with just 10 minutes on the observation deck. For something that for a standard pass costs $36.00 for an Adult, $31.00 for a child and $35.00 as a senior that’s a lot of time and money.

However is there a best time to visit the Empire State Building? Yes there is. The best time to visit the Empire State Building is definitely between 8:00 am (when it opens) and 10:00 am to arrive before the crowds do, or after 10:00 pm if you want to wait until most people have started to leave.

It’s a brilliant use of jet lag and the perfect thing to do on your first morning in New York. I mean how much more New York can you get. We even got chance to work out the subway before it got busy, buy coffee at the Starbucks next door and still be in the elevators at the Empire State Building by 8am. We spent a good hour and a half actually on the observation deck and on the floor just below and there was barely anyone around. We had a fab time.

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2. Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island

On morning 3 of our trip to New York we all still had jet lag. Not quite as much as day one but we were still all awake and dressed having had breakfast by 7am! We again took advantage of the early morning and got the subway down to Battery Park where you get the ferry from. We exchanged our Citypass vouchers for tickets walked through security and straight onto the ferry at just after 8.

When we made our way back to Manhattan at around 12pm (full review of Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island to follow) the queues were incredibly long. They were suggesting that you’d have to queue for 2.5 hours just to get on the ferry. My nephew turned to me and said I know now why you make us leave the apartment and get out and about early now Aunty Karen. A visit to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island is the perfect thing to do with jet lag.

Ellis Island Audio Tour for Kids www.minitravellers.co.uk

We used our Citypass tickets to do both the trip up the Empire State Building and visit the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. You can check out our review of the Citypass here.

Things to do early morning in New York!

3. Walk the Brooklyn Bridge

Walk the Brooklyn Bridge before the other 1,000,000 tourists attempt it. We did not do this, and walked back across the Brooklyn Bridge on a very busy sunny afternoon. We still had great views but doing this early morning before everyone was awake would have been a great use of jet lag!

10 ways to make a trip to New York easier with Kids

4. Grand Central Station

One tourist destination that is open early is Grand Central Station which opens at 5.30am with food options opening from 6.30am and stores from 7am. You could always head here and have breakfast before starting your day.

5. Central Park

Central Park opens at 6.00am. You can take a walk or a run with the early birds in New York City.

This is just a short post with some ideas of what things to do with jet lag in New York. The things that are open early in New York.

There are however hundreds more things to do in New York with kids and we have a really detailed post with lot of ideas of Things to do in New York with Kids here, together with 1o Tips on how to make a trip to New York easier with Kids

We also have a New York CityPASS Review 2019: Will It Save You Money?

So in no particular order here are some ideas of things to do in New York with kids!

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2 thoughts on “Things to do with Jet Lag in New York”

barjerow

28th April 2019 at 9:49 am

What a great way to change Jet Lag into a positive.
Clare (The Travelling Wilbennetts)

29th April 2019 at 9:14 am

Heading there later in the year (shhhh its a surprise) and it is a fairly short trip and will need to cram a lot in so will definitely use some of these tips.