5 New York State trips your family will love:

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onsider combining your visit to the vibrant concrete jungle, where dreams are made, with a trip upstate. New York State stretches for hundreds of kilometres north and west to the border with Canada and, within its villages, cities and National Parks you’ll find family-friendly museums, Halloween legends, all-American festivals and the grandest waterworks of them all, Niagara Falls.

1 The Strong

Named the #1 museum for families in the US, this fabulous 280,000sq ft educational institution in Rochester, New York, is really many museums under one not-forprofit umbrella. There’s the

National Museum of Play, the National Toy Hall of Fame

and a division devoted entirely to the history of electronic games. You’ll find a working carousel, a 1950s diner and a butterfly garden filled with hundreds of exotic flapping creatures.

Younger children (and let’s be honest, many adults) will love the kidsize replica Wegman’s supermarket, where they can play at being cashier, deli manager, trolley collector or customer in a ‘store’ full of replica cereal boxes, milk cartons, fruit, meat and more.

2 Halloween Ghouls

Head to New York City at the end of October each year for guaranteed Halloween fun (and sugar!). If you really want to scare yourself silly, plan a side trip to Tarrytown. Just 30 minutes by express train from Grand Central station, the Hudson Valley town is home to Sleepy Hollow and the spooky legend of the headless horseman. The community gets right behind the Halloween scarefest, with cemetery tours, costume parades and Blaze, one of the biggest jack-