We are heading to NY with 15 year old daughter for her Spring Break the 1st week of March (yes its always that early). I know it will still be very cold there, but it’s our first trip with just her as our oldest is going on a cruise with friends and our middle child, has a different break. NY was her pick as she loves everything about it and has only been one other time. Any particular area we should look to stay in? It’s so vast, I have no idea how to choose. We will be there 4 days and plan to do a ton of walking, people watching and eating. She is really into fashion so any thing related to clothes, makeup, style, etc… would be a bonus. Suggestions on hotels, activities, etc. would be great! Thanks!
Top of the Rock, Bloomingdales, Serendipity for dessert, Empire State Bldg, Statue of Liberty and 911 Museum, The Met, Central Park Zoo, Ellen’s Stardust Dinner, take in a show…maybe Wickec or Phantom?
The Museum at FIT (Fashion Institute of Technology). Mood Fabrics, https://www.moodfabrics.com/.
Go to Ellis Island. It’s educational as well as fascinating.
We loved the NBC tour. Also: 9/11 Museum, top of the World Trade Center, Ellis Island. We’ve seen a lot of shows there and ‘Dear Evan Hansen’ and ‘Come From Away’ are 2 of our favorites that are still there. Not sure the status of Hamilton tickets these days but of course that too! Weather might actually be half way decent then. Have fun!
Best show We’ve seen on Broadway is Beautiful/Carole King. We stay at a great hotel in Williamsburg called the William Vale. We’ve shopped and eaten at Chelsea Market. Lilia in Williamsburg is a great restaurant and her sister restaurant, Missi. You’d have to make a reservation now. We loved Cafe Fiorello near Broadway which is a great place to eat before a show. We’ve also liked Mean Girls which would be great for a girl her age.
Consider staying in the Residence Inn portion of 1717 Broadway and ask for a high floor, corner room. Amazing views, central location, comfy beds and unique, artisitc decor. Tripadvisor has very good overall reviews. (There are less expensive rooms in the lower floors, which are the Courtyard portion of this tall hotel, that still are comfy with a cool, artsy decor.)
I also recommend trying to get tickets to a Broadway show. Try Stubhub, or if you’re not too picky, and dress warmly, and don’t mind standing on lines, you can get half-price tickets to same-day shows in nearby Times Square.
https://www.tdf.org/nyc/7/TKTS-ticket-booths
One restaurant my daughter and I enjoy before seeing a show is a little French place near Times Square called Saju Bistro. http://www.sajubistronyc.com/
A cheap way to see the Statue of Liberty up close is to go to Battery Park and take the Staten Island Ferry, which passes very near the statue. The ferry ride is free!
https://www.siferry.com/faqtips.html
Have fun!!
Is she into fashion, as in MAKING it? This might be helpful to read about the garment district - some of these stores are like candy-stores for those who design and sew and the garment district is very near Times Square, too.
https://www.lost-not-found.com/insiders-guide-garment-district-fabric-stores-nyc/
If you have patience and love a treasure hunt, sample sales can be fun -
I’d probably stay in the Meatpacking District with a teenager. The Standard is cool and right next to the new Whitney which is great, but there are cheaper boutique options around. There’s a good Andy Warhol exhibit at the Whitney right now. Lots to eat down there, and Chelsea Market is fun. On a nice day you can check out the High Line if you haven’t already been there.
TV Show tapings are always fun. One World Observatory. Does she like thrift stores? I can recommend a few if so. Trash and Vaudeville is cool one to browse even if she isn’t that edgy. My teens like St Marks Place. There’s a museum at FIT I think. Oh and I love the Nuyorican Poetry Cafe which has different slams and open mic. You don’t have to be 21 to go. The Strand bookstore near Union Square. If you come up to Museum Mile, there is an Austrian cafe with incredible coffee inside the Neue Galerie and you don’t have to pay to go. It’s across the street from the Met in a beautiful old mansion.
Any interest in heading over to Brooklyn? I can make some suggestions there, too.
Time Out New York always has listings of current goings-on.
My son (19 at the time) really enjoyed walking across the Brooklyn Bridge - and taking the aerial tramway to Roosevelt Island.
Thanks for all of your great ideas! We were there in October when we tagged along with a friend and her daughter who were there to visit her college sophomore. We stayed in Brooklyn which we loved and took the subway into Manhattan each day. In Brooklyn we walked down to Dumbo and loved the incredible views of the city and the Brooklyn Bridge. The FIT museum will be a big hit with her and I think she would love to hit some thrift stores and walk through the garment district. She does not make any clothes, but definitely likes to buy them!
Take warm clothes and walk the High Line. You can start at lunch time…and begin at Chelsea Market.
Eataly is a lot of fun too.
I live in the NYC suburbs and still haven’t been on the High Line. I did not that it starts at the (not so) new Whitney location. I haven’t done half the suggestions, but I do think Ellis Island is worth the trip and the Staten Island Ferry is great. You don’t need to actually do anything but wave at the Statue of Liberty IMO. I’m a fan of art museums. I love the Frick, but generally pick the other ones by whether they have an interesting exhibit I want to see. The costume exhibits at the Met are often very interesting.
I’ve never been to the museum at the Fashion Institute of Technology, but my stepdaughter’s niece is a student there and she recommended visiting the museum–there are many fashion exhibits. Here’s the link: https://www.fitnyc.edu/museum/
Your D might also be interested in the Cooper Hewit Museum on the Upper East Side of Manhattan. It’s a museum dedicated to all aspects of design, including textiles. I enjoyed visiting here.
Ellis Island is a great site to visit as is the United Nations (there are tours). Friends of mine went to this restaurant on Staten Island. The night they went the Nana who was cooking was from Eastern Europe (Poland?). This is an articles about the restaurant.
If you walk around the garment district, some of the buildings have medallions or friezes of their old garment industry function (a loom, a sheep, etc.), even though the building today might be a bank or something very different. It’s fun to notice that heritage.
There are very limited tickets available, but if you are interested in Ellis Island (and I agree - it’s very interesting), see if you can do the Hard Hat Tour. It’s a behind the scenes tour of the original buildings closed off to most visitors because they haven’t been renovated. You get to see the hospital wards and some very interesting places - led by a docent of the Save Ellis Island historical group. My teen boys loved it.
Museums always fun. FIT Museum and fashion exhibit at MET mentioned up thread. Here’s link to the MET exhibit.
https://www.metmuseum.org/exhibitions/listings/2018/heavenly-bodies/exhibition-galleries-met-fifth-avenue
She might enjoy the international Center for Photography in midtown. You can also journey north to The Cloisters.
https://www.metmuseum.org/visit/met-cloisters
It’s part of the MET - note the different combo cards listed at the bottom that give you access to multiple museums
If weather is nice, head to the Botanical Gardens in the Bronx (22 mins. on MetroNorth from Grand Central). Follow the gardens with lunch on Arthur Avenue.
Agree re: seeing a play. You might sign up for Theatermania’s email list in advance. They send out discounts on different plays, including Off-Broadway.
https://www.theatermania.com/
If you really want to get an immersive theater experience, look into Accomplice. It’s basically a two-hour scavenger hunt with 10 other strangers that takes you all through the Village.
https://www.accomplicetheshow.com/
Sleep No More at the McKittrick hotel in Chelsea is also different and fun.
https://mckittrickhotel.com/
Enjoy!!!
If she likes fashion, I would take her to Bloomingdales, Barney and Bergdorf. I think those 3 stores are quintessential NY department stores. Bloomingdales at 59th is very young and hip, Barney is edgy (she probably won’t see many of those designers at other places) and Bergdorf is very expensive, but has some of most beautiful clothes. Barney has a very nice restaurant, many local New Yorkers go there. I like to sit at the bar when meeting friends for dinner.
I personally think those stores would be more fun for your daughter than the museums. 
Your daughter will get to see the new spring collections when you come in March.
My girls are also very into fashion. I used to take them to many local department stores whenever we traveled.
If you have time, you could also take her down to Soho. There are many interesting stores down there.
After she gets her inspiration from those stores, you can then take her to Zara and she can buy many of those store’s replicas there.
Slipped my mind, but a fashion girl would be interested in sample sales. You can sometimes get some screaming deals. Here’s a short article on some of the different websites and resources:
https://www.innewyork.com/blog/daily-nyc/shop/5-great-resources-find-all-the-sample-sales-in-nyc