Winter and snow-day outings with kids in New York

New York gets a few real snowfalls a year, and each one is worth dropping everything for: Central Park turns into a sledding park overnight and melts the next day. On snowless winter weekends, skating and the zoo's indoor houses carry the load.

When it snows, head to Pilgrim Hill by the 72nd Street entrance of Central Park, gentle and long, with the even gentler Cedar Hill next to it for 2-year-olds; the park's website says whether sledding is open that day. On ordinary winter weekends, skate free at Bryant Park on your own skates (penguin skating aids for rent), visit the penguins, snow leopards and tropical house at Central Park Zoo, which are at their best in winter, or go underground to Brooklyn's warm and wonderful Transit Museum.

• 4 places
• 2 free
• 2 stroller-friendly
• closest is 5 min away