Everything & Anything New York City

nvh

nvh wrote: »

Hello hello hello!

Well, i've finally wandered out of the 'Vegas' thread and we're thinking of doing something other than West Coast america so where else to start other than New York? Obviously, there's a lot of pages here but i've tried my best to have a good look around (though not exactly ploughed through every post of the thread) - I have a quick question based on tips of saving cash by staying in Brooklyn etc

The important factor is that we want to keep our flight, hotel and day to day travel expenses (and time to an extent) to a minimum so, we've looked at staying near Central Park, and also in Brooklyn. These are the (standout) cheap hotels offered when looking at package flight / hotels on Expedia.

(have linked to TripAdvisor so you can see there locations easily on the map on the right hand side!)

Super 8 Brooklyn - http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Hotel_Review-g60827-d1751698-Reviews-Super_8_Brooklyn-Brooklyn_New_York.html#REVIEWS

Comfort Inn Central West Park - http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Hotel_Review-g60763-d99447-Reviews-Comfort_Inn_Central_Park_West-New_York_City_New_York.html#REVIEWS

The Super 8 will give us a total saving of £400 over 5 nights compared to the Comfort Inn... so the question is, does it seem worth the saving? I'm guessing we'd end up buying subway passes no matter where we stayed? The quoted time to get to downtown manhatten from the Super 8 (according to Trip Advisor reviews) is around 15-20mins which is probably comparable to how long we travel to get into town from where we live at the moment.

Any advice (of any kind!) is welcome!

Outbound - 27/12
Return - 01/01

Could / would possibly go out a day earlier on 26th and do the extra day (still come back 01/01) if the difference was negligible though (ie. for the Super 8 package, it would cost us a whole £30 for the extra day in NY so tempted to do that)

any further thoughts on these? also found a couple of hotels in Queens that quote 15mins to Times Square on the subway?

Just want to make sure i'm not neglecting something that may be obvious to regulars / people who've been before?

Sorry for pushing - likely to book today though (as can get a higher rate of 5% quidco for the rest of today)

jambocb_2

Evening all,

I'm looking for a bit of advice re booking a 5 night stay in New York. The booking will be for 2 people, we live in Edinburgh but if it helps with the price are happy to fly from pretty much anywhere in the UK. We are looking to book for anytime in September/October/November. I am having difficulty finding a good deal, so if anyone could help it i would really appreciate it.

I've managed to find 5 night's B&B at the park central including flights for £1250 all in, in January. However, can't get anywhere near this price in the 3 month's we are looking to fly out, and due to work we couldn't book a January holiday until November when the price's will most likely have gone up.

Cheers,

CB.

boblibarn

do people book hotels and flights seperate of together , and if so who are you using ?

onesocklizzie

Only two sleeps to go for me.... So excited I might burst! Tee hee! Just a quick question, does anyone know if prescription glasses are a lot cheaper in the states?

kweelo

Hi all again -

well the deed is done and I've finally booked our flights (have ESTA visa confirmations)and accom for the end of the month for my wives 40th birthday. Thanks to all who have helped, especially Mark. We are stopping at the Comfort Inn not far from Times Sq and have flights booked with BA for the times we wanted.

Now to sort out our itinerary and I'm hoping the good people of this forum can help us again. We are only there for 5 days and are obviously keen to try and cram as much as we can into that time.

We arrive on Thurs 12:40 at JFK and am planning on getting a cab downtown to the hotel - hopefully getting there for about 3-4pm ish. 1st night will probably spend time around Times Sq. and take it all in.

Things we have identified that we would like to do (in no particular order) TOTR or ESB (both?), Statten Island Ferry SOL - , Brooklyn Bridge, Central Park, Ground Zero, 5th Ave (shopping!!) and possibly a show, getting tickets from broadwaybox.com (is this going to work out - cheaper than getting tickets from a booth?)

If anyone can help with suggestions - would be very grateful. I believe subway would be cheapest way to get around, but your not going to be able to take in much of the City underground, so am wondering if it's better buying a hop-on/off pass and keeping subway to a minimum.

Food wise, were not really fussed - whilst realizing NY is renowned for it's culinary delights, were easy come / easy go and will eat pretty much anywhere, wouldn't mind a beer or 2! but would like to take my good lady somewhere nice one night.

Hope someone can help - we leave on the Mon night at 2200

Thanks in advance

Kweelo

PurplePow

kweelo wrote: »

Hi all again -

well the deed is done and I've finally booked our flights (have ESTA visa confirmations)and accom for the end of the month for my wives 40th birthday. Thanks to all who have helped, especially Mark. We are stopping at the Comfort Inn not far from Times Sq and have flights booked with BA for the times we wanted.

Now to sort out our itinerary and I'm hoping the good people of this forum can help us again. We are only there for 5 days and are obviously keen to try and cram as much as we can into that time.

We arrive on Thurs 12:40 at JFK and am planning on getting a cab downtown to the hotel - hopefully getting there for about 3-4pm ish. 1st night will probably spend time around Times Sq. and take it all in.

Things we have identified that we would like to do (in no particular order) TOTR or ESB (both?), Statten Island Ferry SOL - , Brooklyn Bridge, Central Park, Ground Zero, 5th Ave (shopping!!) and possibly a show, getting tickets from broadwaybox.com (is this going to work out - cheaper than getting tickets from a booth?)

If anyone can help with suggestions - would be very grateful. I believe subway would be cheapest way to get around, but your not going to be able to take in much of the City underground, so am wondering if it's better buying a hop-on/off pass and keeping subway to a minimum.

Food wise, were not really fussed - whilst realizing NY is renowned for it's culinary delights, were easy come / easy go and will eat pretty much anywhere, wouldn't mind a beer or 2! but would like to take my good lady somewhere nice one night.

Hope someone can help - we leave on the Mon night at 2200

Thanks in advance

Kweelo

When I first went to New York I arrived at about the same time as yourself. I went up TOTR (no queues so straight up!) took in the view of NY and made myself even more excited for my holiday to begin! Then when it got dark we wandered around Times Square.

I did the subway and would highly recommend it, there are stops everywhere and we would just wander around streets until we found another station, a great way to take in New York plus no getting hassled to tip on-off tour guides and a chance to see more locals

pinksteven

Wow your daughter is very lucky, firstly let me tell you that it will be absolutely freezing in January, I went for my birthday a few years back at the end of Jan. I would advise buying some thermals and make sure you take plenty of warm clothing.
For shopping there is a place called Woodbury common which is roughly a 45 minute coach drive to New Jersey, it's absolutely huge and full of designer shops with seriously discounted prices and you get a discount book as well. Macy's and Bloomingdales both have discounts of around 11% if you take your passport to customer services.
I recently used a company called "the flight centre", they give you tailor made quotes over the phone and through email, you can then review the trip before you decide to go ahead or not, I've booked a trip to Phuket and compared their price to Expedia and saved myself £250 so worth a look. There is also opodo and expedia to look at.
I went for a week before and am going again for another week in August, there is so much to do that you will always be busy either sight seeing or shopping - 5th Avenue has some amazing shops, Tiffany's, Abercrombie & Fitch etc and times square at night time is the place to be - and I would highlly recommend going to the top of the empire state building at night time, the views are absolutely breathtaking.
On my birthday I went ice skating, to the zoo and a horse and carriage ride all at central parc and it was amazing!
I hope this gives you a little bit of infomation to get you started. I spent weeks researching my trip before I went as I wanted to make the most of my time there. If you have any other questions please do not hesitate to ask

gregg1

boblibarn wrote: »

hi have had a quick trawl throught he posts and really need some help, i am planning to take her to ny in january for her 18th birthday, she dosent know so am doing it as a suprise as its somewhere she has always wanted to go , but i have no idea where to start , i know she would luv to go shopping, go to statue of liberty and possibly see a show , her birthday is january 16th so will prob go some time after that , but i have no idea where to start, would luv to stay somewhere central and possibly near central park if possible, we live in the midlands , and have no idea who offers the best deals for flights , please forgive me if im babbling on , im so excited to be doing this with her, and just want itto be amazing, thanks in advance x

my daughter went in April with her friend and they stayed at the Salisbury which they found to be brilliant in terms of position. Very close to Central Park, Fifth Avenue and Times Square. Said they would stay again and believe me my daughter is fairly fussy. It was not posh or anything but fit the bill exactly. Staff were great as well. There was a diner practically next door, and, important for DD and friend, a starbucks and magnolia bakery very close by!!! Does she like Sex and the City - if so I recommend the tour, DD has done it twice now and it is a very good way of seeing parts of the City you may not get to.

She went with Virgin and it cost £832 each for 5 nights which was not bad we thought. We wanted her to go with a reputable company as it was her first trip there without us and it worked brilliantly but I assume you will be going with her.

They did loads of shopping and the hotel was good position for that as well.

gregg1

Savvy_Sue wrote: »

before marky pops in to comment on the concept of 'central' when talking about NYC, do you know how BIG Central Park is? It's mahoosive ...

The Salisbury hotel where DD stayed is close to the Central Park entrance for the Boathouse Restaurant which is great if you want to eat there, which my daughter did.

andrewmp

nvh wrote: »

any further thoughts on these? also found a couple of hotels in Queens that quote 15mins to Times Square on the subway?

Just want to make sure i'm not neglecting something that may be obvious to regulars / people who've been before?

Sorry for pushing - likely to book today though (as can get a higher rate of 5% quidco for the rest of today)

We stayed in Long Island City, Queens and I'd say it doesn't even take 15 minutes on the subway.