New York is certainly a bit off-kilter these days with emptier streets, fewer people, and less energy than usual, but there are still plenty of ways to make the best of the city’s new normal. We have been getting out and about as much as possible, so I wanted to share five fun things to do outside in NYC right now. Being stuck in the city in high summer, waiting on the babies to arrive, is a bit like the adult-version of creating your own fun as a child. I’m over here running through the sprinkler and entertaining myself by bouncing a ball off a wall, while everyone else has escaped for the South, California or the Hamptons, but hey, life’s about making lemonade, people. I can’t believe there are only a few more weeks left of the summer before Labor Day, so, if you haven’t fled the city, add one of these to your to-do list to embrace the final days of the season.
1. Pool Day
We have stayed at the 1 Hotel in Dumbo and The William Vale in Williamsburg for mini staycations this summer, pretty much just to get access to the pool. Since I’m in the third trimester now, we can’t go very far outside of the city, just in case I need to see our doctors, so we’re turning to these local hotels to get a taste of vacation at home. There are a couple of Covid-related nuances to be aware of if you want to go to either of these spots, so I’ll break those down a bit below.
1 Hotel Brooklyn: They’re only allowing guests of the hotel to access the pool, and even then, you can only reserve a poolside lounge chair for two-hours at a time. I would recommend calling the hotel as soon as you book your hotel room to reserve a pool chair because they fill up really quickly. When you aren’t in your reserved chair, there’s space on the roof deck to sit in lounge chairs, but you can’t access the water. Very complicated, but worth the hassle to hang out in the water on a hot summer day.
The William Vale: The pool here actually did have day passes for non-hotel guests on weekdays, but it seems to have discontinued that since we stayed there. Now the pool is accessible by hotel guests only and with your room, you get a three-hour window in a lounge chair. Same story here, call the minute you book because they fill up fast.
We really wanted to be able to lounge by the pool all day, so we booked our room and then paid extra to book one of their Poolside Daybeds for the full day. This gave us access to the pool all day long on a comfortable, well-cushioned daybed. We stayed on a Saturday night and made a whole weekend out of it. It’s definitely tricky navigating our new normal with so many rules to comply with, but I’m glad these precautions are in place, so these pools don’t turn into a Vegas pool party circa 2012.
2. Outdoor Dining
This one is pretty obvious, but it’s so fun to embrace the way the restaurants and cafés are spilling out onto the sidewalks all over the city. My favorites in our neighborhood are Celestine for delicious Mediterranean and Cecconi’s for pasta and waterfront views. Celestine’s back patio also has a burger pop-up called Bad Trip that we are loving for a quick bite during the week. In the city, we love Le Bilboquet’s outdoor setup, Dante’s new outpost in the West Village, Pastis and Restoration Hardware’s rooftop restaurant.
All of these have spacious seating areas that have been built out to accommodate more outside tables in our new normal. They are also all a bit more elevated to make the dining experience feel like a special treat. If I’m going to sit outside pregnant in the heat, I want an excuse to dress up and make it a moment. I’ll save the casual vibes for my couch and Postmates, you know what I mean?
3. Sail Boat Rental
We haven’t done this yet, but we just booked a boat through Sailo to take a sunset cruise for our anniversary in a couple weeks. It’s always been on my NYC bucket list to go on a sailboat or a jetski with views of the city and the Statue of Liberty, so I was excited to discover this site that lets you book boats with a captain for a couple of hours or the full day. We’ll plan to bring our own dinner on board and hopefully enjoy a good sunset on the water (you know me and my sunset obsession!). This would also be a really fun daytime activity with a small group of girlfriends. You can’t go wrong with a boat day, right?
4. Picnic in the Park
I love this one because it’s one of the few things in the city at the moment that requires no reservation or pre-planning. We’ve been spending a lot of time in the Brooklyn Bridge Park in Dumbo, because it’s so close to us, but also would highly recommend taking advantage of how quiet Central Park is right now too. You could easily spend a day in Central Park, then head to one of the aforementioned restaurants for a full day of fun in Manhattan. Our picnic essentials are simple—a few snacks, some treat drinks, reading materials, card and/or board games, and a large blanket or lawn chairs (if they are allowed in your park!). We learned the hard way that most NYC parks don’t allow chairs, which is the most ridiculous rule ever in my humble opinion, but double-check so you don’t haul the chairs to the park for nothing.
5. Drive-in Movie Theater
I’m dying to go to the new drive-in movie theater—Skyline Drive-In—that opened earlier this summer in Green Point. We’re just missing one very key ingredient—a car. While I’m still trying to figure out exactly how we can strike this off our bucket list, you should definitely hit this up if you have a car in the city. They have 9pm showings most nights that are perfect because you’ll catch the sunset right before the movie starts. You can bring your own snacks or purchase them there, and there’s enough space in each parking spot to set up your own lawn chairs by the car. I have my eye on the Mean Girls showing on August 18th, but you can see the full schedule here.
