Best location/hotel/air b&b to stay in Manhattan?

[BernadetteRostankowskiWolowitz]

Finally ready to start planning a trip to NYC. Its always been on my list and out of my budget, but it's finally doable.

I need help from those who have been recently.

Best season to go in, Best area to stay in, Must See places, recommendations for restaurants etc.

I'm a massive lover of cities/city breaks and love just walking around. My immediate family all hate cities so I'm leaving them behind and have a friend to go with instead.

Is four nights sufficient?

My favourite hotel in New York is the citizenM just off of Times Square, which (when I booked it) was excellent value for money in a perfect location.
If you suffer easily from the cold, don’t go November - March. And don’t go in the height of summer either.
The Chrysler Building, Top of the Rock, Statue of Liberty and Empire State Building aren’t worth it. They have long lines, huge prices, and have narrowed the experience down to something so limited that you’re a sucker if you pay for it.
Don’t miss:
Grand Central Station
MoMA
The Met
9/11 Memorial museum
Ferry to Staten Island
Walk down Fifth Avenue
Browse round Macy’s
Broadway
Brooklyn Heights Promenade
The Morgan Library
Katz’s Deli

Four nights would be doable but it will be a bit of a whirlwind and I think you’ll leave feeling like you haven’t done all that you want to. If you can, stay for six nights to you have time to wander round the villages, parks and markets.

We like the Edison just about on Times Square. It’s not fancy but affordable and in a good position.
Take a bus from the Port Authority to Jersey Mills. It’s a huge mall that is outlet shopping. Ignore all the people on the street trying to get you to go to the other outlet place which is open air and not as good.

What’s your budget per night @BernadetteRostankowskiWolowitz?

We’ve previously stayed at the Arlo Nomad on 31st which was great. Tiny rooms but great location and views (and you’ll barely spend any time in the room anyway)!

We’ve also stayed at the St Giles Tuscany on 39th a couple of times - again a great location and good value.

I think four nights would be fine although if you can stretch to five I think that would be better. We’ve always stayed for a minimum of five nights.

It’s all personal preference really, we usually prefer to stay around midtown but away from Times Square. We always do about 20-25k steps a day when we’re in NYC (comfy trainers are a MUST) and of course the subway will take you wherever you want to go anyway.

Christmas is a magical time to visit NYC, but it’s also incredibly busy and expensive! The best time we’ve been was in May, we were there for a week and had lovely sunny weather with just one rainy day.

Another good tip - instead of paying for Top of the Rock, book drinks at Bar SixtyFive instead. You get exactly the same view for the price of a drink - yes the drinks are expensive but still cheaper than paying for a TOTR ticket and less crowded!

My top food recommendations:

Levain bakery for their amazing cookies

Juliana’s pizza (Brooklyn)

Pershing Square for a proper New York breakfast right opposite Grand Central

There is a good Facebook page for New York if you are on it. It's called NYC - the place to be.

Be very aware of the rules on air B and B in NYC. Mostly illegal.

Thank you everyone!

Would 1.5k on flights and accommodation be reasonable? Happy to add spending money on top.

Not afraid of the walking, best part of any city break. Interesting to know air bnb illegal.

I'm noting down all suggestions!

I think £1.5k including flights and accommodation for four nights would probably be doable, especially if you plan to travel at a less popular time.

Whereabouts are you? If you’d be flying from Manchester it’s worth a look at Aer Lingus. They do direct flights to JFK, but you can save a bit of money by stopping over in Dublin, where you also go through US pre-clearance immigration before boarding your flight to JFK. It saves you loads of time when you land - US immigration queues can be looooong.

Oh that's something to look at. Manchester isn't our local international airport but I wouldn't be averse to using it - its not too far away.

four nights is not enough. We did seven and there was no rushing involved. We did a tourist thing every other day and on the other days we were able to do a walking tour freetoursbyfoot.com/new-york-tours are by far the best. Especially their food tours. Also we could have dinner every night and go to a bar without the urgency of having to be up at the crack of dawn.

i can recommend the holiday inn express on W36th street, its 5 mins from the empire state, close to many subways and does a decent breakfast

Highly recommend Hell's Kitchen area, bit less touristy so plenty of affordable (for New York) food and bar options. Convenient for Times Square etc. we used subway and buses (you can pay with you card at the barrier). Book Statue of Liberty as soon as you know the date, at 3 months out it was already busy! The jazz museum in Harlem was good as was the intrepid air and space museum. I skipped the shows as they are £££ compared to even London, but the met opera was reasonable.

Just got back- you'll need masks for transport and anything state owned. BA doesn't require masks but the American Airlines do

@BernadetteRostankowskiWolowitz

Budget £250 a day for accommodation if you want to be in somewhere decent - they add all kinds of fees to the base rate don't be fooled. £1500 is tight unless that's per person or you are staying in a hostel

I've stayed in Hells Kitchen and by grand central but my favourite was an Airbnb in Brooklyn
Quick subway into Manhattan but Brooklyn was so much fun

I've been 4 times now and still haven't seen all I want to see. You could be there 4 weeks and it not be enough.

HOWEVER - I would not go at the moment. It's a very unsafe place to be, Guardian Angels back on subways like the late 80s. Crime rate is through the roof. Lots of homeless being moved out of hotels and onto streets after pandemic.
This is from friends who live in Queens.
They advised me not to go this year

Also our Airbnb was £420 for 4 nights in Brooklyn and I loved it

Four nights is about right imo.

I hate the Times Sq area, it’s too loud! We always stayed on Lexington Ave around the Crysler building/Grand Central areas. Lots of nice hotels on there, both chain and boutique (look at The Lexington, The Concorde, The Cirzpatrick).

My top things in New York-
Helicopter trip
Brooklyn Bridge (walk across Manhattan bridge first for amazing photos of the bridge then back across Brooklyn bridge)
The New York Library and park behind it.
Grand Central Station (look for the whispering walkway with weird acoustics- Google it)
Wandering around Central Park (better than the Highline imo). Skate there in winter.
Take the cable car to Roosevelt Island
Ferry
Hop on hop off bus tour - so worth it.
A show

Ive been going nearly every month for two decades. My favourite time of year there is autumn. (Halloween parade is amazing)

New York Strip Steak House - Downtown. Try the Porterhouse for two - so good!

Just back from NYC and would say May is ideal - British summer temps.
Food - try the concessions in Urban Space - there are a few in midtown. We had a great quick breakfast there - fab coffee and pain au choc (Little Collins) and DH had a BLT Bagel.
At the other end of the scale - Robert with a view of Central Park or the Boathouse restaurant in Central Park.

Not sure if anyone has mentioned it but,
Get the air train from JFK, it's so easy. If you're flying into there
Visit Governors island, it was almost my favourite part.
Hop on hop off bus was brilliant.
Brooklyn is well worth a visit
Staten island ferry is good and you can find a quieter time.
Central Park of course, and as you love walking this is ideal

I didn't do any shopping as such, visited Macey's etc. but we were just much more into seeing everything.

My friend im Queens has said the same thing. She moved there in the late seventies and she says it feel as dangerous as it did then.

@EachandEveryone yep he said it's not a nice place to be
Something about the Mayor and new rules regarding robbery

I was going to take the dcs again because they loved it, he was like 'NO WAY' it's not the place I remember apparently

Oh interesting! Maybe I should put it off for a while then?

Going with a friend so 1500 is per person.

Any suggestions for excellent shorter break trips literally anywhere? Not France/Spain/Italy/Greece as have been to various places there.

I live in NY and used to do room blocks for big events. I recommend the Hudson Hotel - it's by Columbus Circle. Tiny rooms but a great location and a fab bar that's popular with locals.

I also rate The Jane Hotel if you like quirky. For chains, take a look at the places near the Flower District on 28th. I like the Moxy and hear good things about the INNside by Melia There's also a nice Holiday Inn around there, a Cambria and a Doubletree.

RE: Safety, it's def not at back to the 70s levels, but I would strongly suggest avoiding Times Square as much as possible. It's really grotty these days and full of pickpockets and ripoff merchants. I quite happily get the subway to and from work though, and feel perfectly safe.

I did an AMA a few years back - it's a bit dated now, but loads of recs on there.

We've been twice to NY in April and October and had a mix of weather each time.
We loved the High Line
Hired bikes for Central Park which was a great way to see a lot and cover a lot of ground.
Skated by The Rockefeller (April)
Agree Hop on and Off buses are a great way to see a lot of New York
Disagree about not bothering with ESB, SOL and TOTR. Loved them and well worth seeing!
It's worth looking at the Q&A section on Trip Advisor. Ask a question and you'll get loads of responses from New Yorkers, lots of tips and advice.
Also worth writing down a list of sights/places you want to see, then map out an itinerary to make the most of your time there.
It's a fabulous city. Sad to hear of the problems there.

The Library hotel is lovely - small rooms but very comfortable, and the 24-hr coffee and snacks/food/cheese and biscuits they do in their lounge are fantastic, there’s nothing that I hate more than NYC hotels that charge a fortune for a decent coffee (I was once so desperate for caffeine, I paid $40 dollars for a breakfast coffee in one NYC “boutique” hotel that shall remain nameless!) but at the Library there are always hot drinks in their lounge. It’s really welcoming with great service and right in the middle of Midtown near the NYPL - I can’t recommend it enough.
libraryhotel.com/en/rooms.html

definitely see:
MOMA
the Guggenheim
the Frick if you can
the Morgan (which used to do great Friday night music and cocktails, don’t know if they are doing it post Covid but if so it’s great)
Central Park and a walk around the iconic shops on Fifth
lunch in Greenwich Village
see something at the Lincoln Center if you can
yes to not bothering with the Top of the Rock/Empire State stuff, but do go and look at the skating rink

For other shorter break trips you can’t beat Berlin or Barcelona. I love most European cities and speak decent French, Spanish and a bit of Italian and Dutch, but no German at all! But the most enjoyable city break I had in recent years was in Berlin. Fantastic museums and great food.

We/ve also stayed at the Library Hotel and I would echo honeybushbunch's comments - lovely and comfortable and good location.