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New York Hotels/Place to stay
Prime
UKRegistered User regular
UKRegistered User regular
We've booked the time off work (late May), saved the cash and are looking to spend 5-6 nights in New York for our first trip to the US (live in the UK).
Trying to avoid the package deals for flights + room if possible to make the money go futher. Any locals have good recommendations for a nice place to stay? The other half is a little worried about picking a place in a "bad" area because we dont know the city. We dont plan on spending much time in the hotel just after a nice enough place to rest our heads at night.
Also is there anything particually uniquely game/comic/nerdy in the area that I should check out?
Trying to avoid the package deals for flights + room if possible to make the money go futher. Any locals have good recommendations for a nice place to stay? The other half is a little worried about picking a place in a "bad" area because we dont know the city. We dont plan on spending much time in the hotel just after a nice enough place to rest our heads at night.
Also is there anything particually uniquely game/comic/nerdy in the area that I should check out?
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Where you stay will likely be dictated by what you want to spend most of your time doing. Are you planning on just staying in Manhattan, venturing out into the boros or going further outside the city? Are you planning on renting a car or sticking to mass transit?
Look into Long Island City or Astoria in Queens, and Dumbo, Gowanus, Fort Greene, Williamsburg, and Greenpoint in Brooklyn. All are fairly close to the city (~30 minutes on the subway), and they're neat neighborhoods to check out. Everyone wins!
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We had planned to stick around Manhattan, but thats only because we dont know any better really and there is plenty we want to do there (touristy stuff to see). Will check out Astoria etc as recommended by Minirhyder for hotels.
We hadnt planned on renting a car but could.
Unless you are specifically planning on leaving the city, don't. NYC has solid mass transit, and driving in the city can be a nightmare.
Edit: And if you do plan on leaving the city, plan your trip around doing so, and only rent the car for that portion.
Unless you have a real reason for wanting a car, like you have specific plans to drive out on Long Island or upstate, I definitely wouldn't bother since it will be expensive to rent and to park.
You can certainly save money staying outside of Manhattan, either in Brooklyn or queens or in Jersey City or Hoboken. NJ may make sense if you're flying in to Newark, but you'll have a little overhead getting into and out of the city every day, and it will be a super expensive cab ride if you ever want to get home.
I'd start with planning your trip a bit. What do you want to do? if it's your first time to NY, you'll probably want to do a lot of Manhattan things - Central Park, Broadway, 30 Rock/Empire State Building, etc. If thast's the case, a home base in Manhattan will make the most sense, though it will be a bit more expensive (though harder to go wrong). If you have designs on seeing a less touristy NYC that includes more of the outer boroughs, you may end finding that a home base in downtown brooklyn or long island city makes sense and will be cheaper.
edit: We'll talk it over and do some planning and I'll be back once I know where we're staying for more "eat here, go there, try this" advise.
I visit NYC a few times a year to visit friends and even then, I'll rent out an Air B&B (https://airbnb.com) most of the time, because my friends live too far out for the limited time I'll be in NYC. Aka, it's a better use of my time to stay in Manhattan and let my friends come in to visit me, rather than to stay with them and commute to Manhattan.
Granted, the only NYC neighborhood I go to outside of Manhattan is Flushings....
I think you're stuck for price - if you're a tourist, you should get something in Manhattan if you don't have a game plan for the other boroughs.
Something you should strongly consider as a tourist is how much you want to view the Manhattan skyline - that's surprisingly accomplishable with many high rise hotels in the cheaper neighborhoods as long as you're not too far north, and there is a lot of stuff to look at, though you may prefer a view including the Empire State Building in the skyline.
You can get views like that on the tons of skyscraper tours, but it looks best at night. If you're interested, ask the hotel about this. It'll probably cost more generally, but it's an experience.
Where you can save a buck is transit to the hotel from the airport and vice versa, which can be excruciating if you want to save money and have lots of bags and are traveling at The Wrong Time. That's the MTA. More expensive options are yellow cab, uber?, or the predatory half-scam livery service that aggressively tries to recruit you from baggage claim on. A bad driver can make it extremely stressful, and for JFK you can easily plunk close to the cost of a day's stay in Manhattan just for that trip if you're not careful.
Don't feel like you need a hotel really close to anything except maybe an Ess-a-Bagel or a bakery in case you want to eat very first thing in the morning. If you're fit and insane you can even take Citibike if you hate the subway. All the nice spots have great transportation.
Have you checked out nycgo.com? I wonder if you'll catch a restaurant week.
Doc: That's right, twenty five years into the future. I've always dreamed on seeing the future, looking beyond my years, seeing the progress of mankind. I'll also be able to see who wins the next twenty-five world series.
http://www.hotelmetronyc.com/ managed to get a good price with flights and transfers and seemed nice enough.
Feel to fire any non standard must sees my way. Really looking forward to my first trip to the US. So much to see and so much food to try
Go to Cloisters/Ft. Tryon Park for a better The Met/Central Park experience, but do still go to the Met/Central Park on the same day.
Go to Juliana's, don't go to Grimaldi's.
Brick Lane for curry, Donguri for Japanese.
Jing Fong for dim sum, Keens for lamb chop or steak.
Five Guys for burgers.
Russ & Daughters for belly lox (not just lox, but belly lox) with cream cheese on a bagel.
Katz's/2nd Ave Deli/Carnegie(whoops, there goes another NY institution closed by hyper-gentrification)/Mile End/Eisenberg's for pastrami on rye. Must be accompanied by an egg cream or a lime rickey.
Halal street cart food, it's what New Yorkers eat.
Walk the Brooklyn Bridge, and the Promenade.
No matter what we say, you're going to see Times Square and probably SOHO.
Liberty is worth a visit, but you should reserve tickets online first if at all possible.
Governor's Island is a good getaway.
Take the subway, don't take the Big Bus Tour type operations.
i stayed at the United Nations Hampton Inn, which is right around midtown and would do it again in a heartbeat. It's two blocks from grand central station, convenient to everything.
The room is small... in that it's sized enough to hold a bed, a toilet, and a suitcase. I think my nightly rate was under $300/night. I'm sure deals can be had.
I would also heavily reenforce other peoples suggestions that you SHOULD stay in Manhattan. Traffic is a fucking disaster. If you think you want a rental car, you're wrong and you're a bad person. It's horrifying. Don't do it. Just get a cab or take a sub or walk. I was there in late May and the weather was fine for walking. I did hundreds of blocks no problem!
Halal carts, uh, if you have an iron stomach they're ok. The better version is in the new York street fairs, which do happen around may. NYU's strawberry festival is in May. St. Mark's place is not as good as it used to be but still enjoyable for young people - look if you haven't guessed I stayed pretty much around east midtown where there isn't anything going on, so my advice only applies if you're stuck there for some reason.
Doc: That's right, twenty five years into the future. I've always dreamed on seeing the future, looking beyond my years, seeing the progress of mankind. I'll also be able to see who wins the next twenty-five world series.
the most important thing to remember about NYC: new yorkers hate doing anything early. This goes for dinner, happy hours, breakfast, brunch, movies, anything. If you want to do something popular, go right when it opens. As long as you're fine with being tragically uncool and eating at 5:30 (or brunch at 11:00 AM) you can sit down at the most desirable restaurants.
if you like cocktails, check out rain's law room. try to get there right as it opens and you won't have to wait. it's pricy, but it's an awesome speakeasy with a v cool atmosphere. also they don't let it get crowded.
a cooler burger experience than shake shack the burger joint hidden in le parker meridian hotel. It does get a long line so go early.
definitely check out grand central if you haven't been. give yourself some time to gawk at the grandeur. get some nyc beer on draft at the little new york shop (it's near the 30+ platforms)
Get some coffee at blue bottle, grumpy's, or toby's estate (the small one on 5th avenue)
a great halal cart is Tariq's at like 19th and park ave. Used to get lunch there once a week. http://www.yelp.com/biz/tariqs-1-halal-food-new-york
eataly is a wonderland for foodies. Try and go during business hours to avoid the crowds. for an extra special adventure, surprise your partner with a "cooking class." I add the quotes because it's not so much a class as you sitting in a beautiful classroom enjoying limitless wine and watching one of their expert cooks make you food. it's pricy but is one of my favorite memories of nyc.
also this applies to @visiblehowl
All these places are small street shops
Doc: That's right, twenty five years into the future. I've always dreamed on seeing the future, looking beyond my years, seeing the progress of mankind. I'll also be able to see who wins the next twenty-five world series.