NY/NJ Hotel Options?

Lindsay Lohan

We're doing a long weekend/family road trip this summer to cover mostly NYC with my son/niece. Last year we went and stayed in Rahway which was fine, but the ride into the city was fairly long and in the end it looked like we could have stayed closer with the money saved on the longer train ride going towards the hotel costs.

We've been looking around the Jersey City area this year, but I was wondering are there any other areas that we should look that might have lower price hotel options that would be a short jump into the city itself? We're just going 3 nights, looking to keep it around $500ish for the stay so in NYC itself isn't an option (especially with parking).

noir_blood

For 500 bucks, probably not. Maybe Long Island? The city would be about an hour away by train if you stay there.

Well, not if you want to feel safe.

My general recommendation when people are looking for hotels is airbnb.com, but I don't think they're currently allowed in NYC.

Entriech

My wife and I visited NYC back in May, and we had great luck with the Candlewood Suites in Jersey City down by the riverfront. It's a short walk to the PATH Station, and that can get you into the center of Manhatten in 20 or 30 minutes. They're an extended stay hotel, so you don't get daily room service, but you do get large rooms with amenities like a full fridge, cooktop, etc, which can be helpful to cut down costs via preparing breakfast or what have you. They were also far cheaper per night than anything else in the area I looked at.

Also if you're lucky, you'll get a room that faces towards the river so you can see bits of the NYC skyline at night.

minor incident

Jersey City is either nice or cheap, but the two don't overlap heavily. Not to say it doesn't happen. That Candlewood Suites place is probably nice, but it's gonna cost you more than some other places

My suggestion to all visitors is generally to stay in Secaucus. There are tons of buses that run through Secaucus into the city, as well as a train (but the buses are way cheaper, more frequent, and often faster). Secaucus also has nothing short of a thousand goddamn hotels. Really, almost any of them are nice enough, and while not as posh as some areas in Jersey, Secaucus is rarely anything that passes for skeevy or dangerous. It's pretty much full of working class folks, warehouses, outlet centers, and business people staying at the various hotels for conventions or for work travel in NYC.

Basically, if you find a hotel in Secaucus that you like, just vet it to make sure it's near a bus stop that'll take you into manhattan, and you're pretty much set.

Also, I don't know what your plans are in the city, but the busses from Secaucus will take you to Port Authority in less than 20 minutes (barring rush hour), right on 42nd and 8th, which should put you right in the middle of most of the touristy stuff. And if you need to get elsewhere, that's pretty much the best spot in the city to hop almost any train line.

Lindsay Lohan

Thanks for the input - we'll check that area out. I don't think we had priced Secaucus in the past.

Maguano

I grew up in North Jersey and agree with pretty much everything minor incident wrote.

illig

For anyone visiting NYC, I always recommend spending the extra cash to stay in the center of the action.

Sure, you can save tons by staying in jersey, but then you waste hours commuting - and most importantly, you set yourself up for being lazy and not making the most of the visit.

Think about setting out early in the morning, and checking out a few sights. By late afternoon you're tired, sweaty, and carrying all the small things you've bought or picked up along the way - so you go back to the hotel and then waste the evening in front of the hotel TV BC it's too much of a pain to head back out.

I've had friends visit Manhattan , stay in jersey, then end most of their evenings by having delivery Pizza Hut or Red Lobster or other chain crap food most evenings BC they were too lazy to come back out in the evening!

Seriously - get a tiny room in the city center, near the subway. You'll stop by it and refresh several times a day but still be able to enjoy the city all day and night.

If parking is an issue, just park at a path station in jersey for a few days.

Lindsay Lohan

Well, we're travelling with my 8 year old son and my 12 year old niece. If it were just me and my wife I would definitely consider the extra to stay in the city. We went to NYC last year too (without the niece), and didn't hit any chain restaurants that I remember (except maybe for coffee) so that's not a worry at all. I don't think we saw our hotel before 11pm any night last year and that was after a few days in Virginia and 4 days in DC so we were starting worn out. This year we're just doing the long weekend in NYC so we will be starting fresh. We'll just plan a few activities that are lighter on the feet for various points of the days and the kids will be fine without the room to stop by. Plus staying outside the city gives us a free breakfast and a fridge/microwave to have some snacks on hand for late night/morning which does save a few bucks too. Not being cheap - just would rather spend money on more fun things than just food and hotel...

Never been to Red Lobster though - they left Maine after they were told they were required to use local seafood