Does New York have to be expensive?

Wig

My OH wants to go to NYC, I have visions of
expensive air ticket
expensive hotel stay
expensive taxi/public transport
expensive sight seeing entry charges
Long distances to be travelled to get from tourist attraction A to tourist attraction B and back to hotel.

?

whatmichaelsays

Wig wrote: »

My OH wants to go to NYC, I have visions of
expensive air ticket

It all depends on your definition of expensive. Typically, £400-£450 return is considered a decent fare.

expensive hotel stay

Hotels in Manhattan are expensive, much like any other major city (£120 a night for somewhere decent is typically a marker). However, you can save money by staying away from the main tourist areas.

expensive taxi/public transport

Taxis are generally expensive but public transport isn't on the whole. You can ride anywhere on the subway for around $2.75

expensive sight seeing entry charges

It depends on what you want to see but I never felt that the entry fees were overly expensive when I went. Certainly no more than any other major city. Empire State and Top of the Rock were about $26 each. Statue of Liberty was around $18.

Long distances to be travelled to get from tourist attraction A to tourist attraction B and back to hotel.

Of course, this depends largely on where you are staying but New York is a very easy city to walk around and the subway is fairly extensive.

heatherw_01

Public transport wise, the subway is cheap and efficient. You can buy tickets that cover multiple days so you don't need to buy a ticket every day.

Buzby

Hotels are the killer - you need to concentrate on properties north of 90th Street - Broadway runs the whole way to Harlem, and we found a reasonable one at 102 Street. No breakfast - but many deli's nearby.

For transport, a Metrocard (like London's Oyster) can be bought and credited from machines at subway stations, and is used on buses too.

VestanPance

Air tickets can be expensive, but that also depends on your idea of expensive. Generally if you shop around you can find a deal or two, also better depending what time of year you intend to travel.

Hotels are expensive in NYC, particularly compared with other cities in the States. You can often get cheaper deals by looking to LIC (Long Island City), which has regular and easy transport links into Manhattan.

Public transport is really cheap in NYC. You really never need to get a taxi. Subway every time. Weekly Subway card is something like $30 and that will take you anywhere in the city.

Entry charges vary, and some places offer free days at a certain time of the week so it can be worth trying to plan ahead. There is also cheap ways to do certain sights, like taking a free ride on the Staten Island Ferry to get a great view of the Statue of Liberty.

There are attractions all over the city. The best way to avoid travelling all day is to plan well. See the sights in one area in one day. Don't plan to do the Met on the upper East side and the Statue of Liberty on the same day, as they are opposite ends of Manhattan. You'll find plenty of resources to help plan the sights you want to see and if you have any doubts this forum has a NYC thread that people would be happy to help with.

To make the most of the city I feel it's best to go with the funds to do what you want, but it is possible to do the city relatively cheaply.

richardw

The unavoidable air fare of over £400 on its own could buy a great long weekend in a top European city.

Hermia

I didn't take one cab when I was in NY. I just walked and got the subway and had no problems. All the central places are in walking distances and the subway will take you everywhere else.

I wouldn't bother with a lot of the more expensive touristy experiences. I thought going up the Statue of Liberty was a massive waste of time. There is a little visitor centre, but you could get all the info online, and then you just spend AGES standing on stairs. Much better to get the ferry and go past it.

There are lots of wonderful museums and galleries and I managed to get some cheap theatre tickets at the booth in Times Sq. Just walking around the different neighbourhoods is a lot of fun.

I did stay in a cheap hotel when I went and if I went again I would spend a bit more.

NY is just like London. The accommodation is expensive, but everything else can be done cheaply.

InsideInsurance

Wig wrote: »

My OH wants to go to NYC, I have visions of
expensive air ticket
expensive hotel stay
expensive taxi/public transport
expensive sight seeing entry charges
Long distances to be travelled to get from tourist attraction A to tourist attraction B and back to hotel.

Considering how far you are flying the prices are not bad - a significant proportion is taxes etc.

Hotels are expensive in the centre but that is the same as any major city in the first world. There are some better value ones available but they are in less desirable locations.

Taxis are cheaper than the UK in my experience but this is often countered by the congestion. Public transport is cheap

Sight seeing is fairly average. Obviously in London you are spoiled by the museums being free but NYC is inline with other cities that charge. You can buy access books of tickets which represent a reasonable saving if you are going to most the venues.

You will find touts selling tickets outside some venues (eg Empire States) who add a premium claiming that there are large queues inside which their tickets allow you to bypass. We didnt buy from these and whilst they are true that it allows you to pass 1 part of the queues when we went the queue it allows you to jump was less than 5 minutes long. The longer queues (Security and for the lift) everyone has to queue for.

Distance between sights all depends on what you want to see. Most of the classic sights are in Mid Town Manhattan and are all in easy walking distance of each other. The Statue of Liberty, Brooklyn Bridge and 9/11 Site are all in/ around the financial district in the south which is just a single short tube ride away and is even walkable at about 90 minutes.

jackieblack

richardw wrote: »

The unavoidable air fare of over £400 on its own could buy a great long weekend in a top European city.

Well of course it could, but you could say that about any transatlantic/long haul trip.

Wig's OH wants to go to NYC

If they wanted to go to Europe, OP would have posted "OH wants to go to Europe"

TBH, Wig comes across as a 'knee-jerk reaction' killjoy who hasn't even done any basic research before writing off the idea as 'expensive' and is looking for an excuse to disappoint their OH

Would be happy to be wrong about this though

Prothet_of_Doom

My parents, did a 3 day stop over on the way to a Wedding in Dayton (Oldest Grandson), so they considered the flight to be free (as they had to get to Dayton via Somewhere). They are fairly frugal when it comes to money, but my mum said they had budgetted to be ripped off, and they were not.

opinions4u

Wig wrote: »

expensive air ticket

Aim for £450 return per person. February is usually cheap.

expensive hotel stay

It's the big one for me. I have £200 a night in my head. You could stay near the airport and commute in daily, but that takes away the special nature of the trip. 3-4 nights and a bit of daytime effort is probably enough to do the city in a decent way.

expensive taxi/public transport

Public transport from Newark airport is pretty cheap. $65 each way will do a taxi for the airport trips. Your legs can do NYC though. No need to ever get a taxi if you're mobile, even if you're a tad unfit.

expensive sight seeing entry charges

Lots of free stuff. $27 each for a big building.

$30 for a river taxi which can actually be a cracking day out as it drops you in different parts of the city and you can get back on when you're done.

Long distances to be travelled to get from tourist attraction A to tourist attraction B and back to hotel.

It's not a beach holiday where you sit in the hotel all day. Get out on your feet, get walking, and enjoy it.

Food can be as cheap or expensive as you like. McDonalds on every street corner. Classier joints all over.

Embrace the bill up front. It won't be cheap. But it is a joy.

4 nights for two:

Flights £900
Hotel for four nights in a centralish location £800 (sometimes BA and other airlines will combine the two cheaply - Flight and hotel for two currently less than £1,200 on BA web site 11th-15th Feb)
Taxis £100

Do it. Plan each day carefully to maximise the time. Enjoy it.

(TD Bank ATMs don't charge you for withdrawals either).