Hotels and areas of New York

[AndrewD]

Hi All,

I'm planning a trip to New York this November.

Can anyone recommend a part of town/hotels to stay in?

Criteria - somewhere central, but not so expensive that I'll have to sell a kidney to fund the trip.

Don't think I'll do any salsa out there (criminal, I know) - it's to celebrate ten years with my lady (she doesn't dance).

Ta,

Andrew.

[tj]

Dunno if you're going to find a cheap hotel in Manhatten or not, but in the past, I've stayed in NJ, and taken the bus into the city. Probably depends on what your budget is.

[noobster]

Everything's expensive. Random small cheap hotels that are still pretty centrally located can sometimes be found on the far west side of midtown, behind Lincoln Center; or possibly on the upper East.

Boroughs may be cheaper - consider Astoria or Brooklyn - but ask about subway accessibility. You'll be able to walk to the train from anywhere in Manhattan but the boroughs are hairier. If you find a hotel in the courthouse area of Brooklyn that's jackpot, as it's the only place where the east-side and west-side subway trains all cross together. Better than staying in Manhattan really, though it may not be much cheaper necessarily.

I wouldn't stay in Jersey if you can avoid it. It's no farther physically than Brooklyn or Queens, but the public transport is a nightmare. Buses are infrequent, slow, and stop running to most places after 1 am. Path train is not bad but doesn't go many places and you'll still have to switch for the subway. And if you ever want to catch a cab home it will cost you an arm and a leg - many cabbies won't even go there. It'll be more hassle than it's worth.

Overall it's more important to be near a good subway stop than to be geographically 'central.' 'Central' to Manhattan is Times Square, but I sure wouldn't want to stay there.

[AndrewD]

Cheers Noobster and TJ.

[AndrewD]

Found out that most of the reasonably priced hotels are booked up BUT we’ve managed to rent a studio apartment in the heart of the village!!!

I’m SO excited!!!

[sweavo]

Durn, don't know how I missed this. This will be no use for you AndrewD but for the record Swiss 1291 is a hostel on 55th street that's pretty shabby (well, it's a hostel) but we got a private room there that was very cool.

Earplugs 100% necessary for all the honking outside, and the only other gotcha was that they needed paying cash up front, and my bank chose hat moment to restrict what I could get through the hole in the wall.

Good job getting a place in the Village, I think that will be really great!

[tj]

Very nice! 8)