New York City museum itineraries: Beyond Museum Mile

Annoyed with the crowds at the Met and the Guggenheim? Follow our guides and discover great cultural havens in Flushing, Queens, the UWS and FiDi—as well as affordable eateries nearby. For up-to-date reviews on shows happening at Gotham’s big institutions, check out our Museums page.

Flushing

Take the 7 train to the 111th St stop and walk to the New York Hall of Science (47-01 111th St at 47th Ave, Flushing Meadows–Corona Park, Queens; 718-699-0005, nysci.org; $11; seniors, students and children ages 2–17 $8). It’s packed with more than 450 interactive, kid-friendly exhibits that aim to make heady subjects like molecules and mathematics, you know, fun. Come April 1, 2013, you can thwack some balls around on the museum’s space-themed Rocket Park minigolf course out back.

Head farther into Flushing Meadows–Corona Park and find the Queens Museum of Art (Flushing Meadows–Corona Park, near 111th St and 49th Ave entrance; 718-592-9700, queensmuseum.org; suggested donation $8, seniors and students $4, children under 5 free). Between perusing current exhibitions, gawk at the huge “Panorama of the City of New York,” a 9,335-square-foot scale model of the five boroughs made for the 1964 World’s Fair.

Time to refuel! Take the 7 to the Flushing–Main Street station; you’re about to hit the Anthony Bourdain–approved Xi’an Famous Foods (Golden Shopping Mall, 41-28 Main St at 41st Rd, basement #36; xianfoods.com), which is so popular that it has expanded to several locations. Fill up on signature dishes such as the liang pi cold-skin noodles, with seitan, cilantro, bean sprouts and chili oil ($4.50) and the spicy cumin lamb burger ($3).

Once sated, walk down Main Street and make a right onto 37th Avenue to the Kingsland Homestead, home of the Queens Historical Society (143-35 37th Ave between Bowne St and Parsons Blvd; 718-939-0647, queenshistoricalsociety.org; $3, students $2), which displays fascinating photographs, writings and artwork (touching on subjects like Quakers and the Civil War), culled from the past 300 years.