Stay cool: 9 things to do to beat the heat in NJ as the summer starts to set in Go: 20 Hudson Yards, Manhattan, 33, /discover/vessel.

The Vessel is located at 30 Hudson Yards, between 10th and 11th Avenues. to 8 p.m. You can purchase tickets ($10/each children under six free) online. What you need to know: After a number of suicides, security has been tightened at the Vessel and climbing the stairs alone is no longer allowed. And as a reward, treat yourself to a nice lunch or dinner in nearby chi-chi Hudson Yards Mall (Recommended: Miznon and Mercado Little Spain). After all, you've worked off lots of calories. The treat for the eyes? Glorious views of the mighty Hudson and skyscrapers galore. Put on a good pair of walking shoes and head to Hudson Yards to get your heart pumping and your eyes feasting. The heart part? Climb the Vessel, a 150-foot-tall, 2,500-step structure that you can think of as a vertical Stairmaster. It is currently New York's hottest attraction. A marvel of design - it looks like a cosmic bouquet of tulips that miraculously sprouted out of the Hudson River by 13th Street (the 2.4 acre park floats over the water) - Little Park offers drop-dead views (hello, Hoboken hey there, World Trade Center) and a breezy lush green oasis in what is arguably the nation's most frenetic city. It took five years to build, but finally Little Island, media mogul Barry Diller's $260-million public park, has opened. Things to do: 11 family-friendly day trips to take this summer without leaving New Jersey Little Island, Manhattan While its denizens are sunning themselves in the Hamptons, you and your family can swoop in and enjoy all the wonderful, relatively new and mostly free things the world's No. You can avoid traffic jams and crowds by visiting the Big Apple in the summer, when its residents flee it. Want to know when is the best time to visit, New York City, arguably the greatest city in the universe?

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